Convention Notes

[Tom Donnelly]

I want to add to my previous statement.

What I really wanted to communicate is that in perusing the DA site, I perceived an "if you are not with us, you're against us" attitude that may or may not be factual. I can't speak for anyone but myself but I have quite a dollar investment in my current car. I will be able to adapt to gradual change, but dramatic shifts could cut down on my seat time. If this were a pro series and not just for fun, I could see the need for rapid change, mainly to meet a target market. The spectators and sponsors. The fact that we don't have any is a problem, but if we did, the cost might increase as well due to sponsor/spectator demand.

What got to me the most was some casual comments about bump drafting and rubbing.
I really don't want to ding my car for no damn good reason, and I'm not a PCA "berm"
driver. And the spec miata bumper car attitude carried by some drivers has put several of my friends in the hospital with serious injuries and I don't call that fun.

If you want overly agressive driving, try a dirt track. Its fun and fair since you don't have to guess about getting hit. You will.

And the SCCA workers are volunteers. They're in it because they are car freaks too. And they work for FREE. And are trying to have fun too. Get off their backs. They are well trained and could save your butt someday. For free.

If you want perfection, wait till you get to heaven, cause you won't find it here.

Just my opinion.

Tom

[lateapex911]

Well, let's not let Matt think that it's all about him, or his head will really swell, and his Neon will join the Goodyear blimp.

Not to be too much of a killjoy Matt, but I was approached regarding items in the strategic plan, as well as the plan itself, long before DA was close to a reality. I think that the issues raised come from collective sources, and from talking to those in the positions of power in our club, there is general distrust regarding sites such as DA.com, that have obvious axes to grind.

I think DA.com has some valuable contributors, but I do sense an "Us vs. Them" slant overall. There are those who try to add balance, but the core keeps popping up.

It is, like all web BBs, a place where actual truth isn't a criteria, and where opposing viewpoints and responses are often ignored. The trouble is the old saw about the same piece of misinformation being repeated so many times that it becomes truth...

I also imagine that things like "16 stories" which DA.com jumped on in a salivating fury, only to back away from it later, left a thorn in the side of the BoD, among others. Much valuable time, time that could have been spent working on an IT wheel diameter rule, or something productive, was wasted researching the validity of the 16 claims.

I think we would all have a much better understanding of the issues if we got involved with them....workers who race, and racers who work, and I grow tired of shrills with no background experience spouting off senselessly.

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by lateapex911 (edited February 12, 2004).]

[RSTPerformance]

Just quickly looked at DA.com... why did we need another forum? I thought we did enough bitching over here!!!

I was thinking of becoming a member (of that site) and saying nice things about SCCA and bad things about the compeating clubs just to see how long it took before I was booted from the site... Then I decided anoying Matt wasn't worth my time.

Anyway back to the convention, I am glad that the powers to be recognize the things they mentioned (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), it proves they do deserve the roles they have and that they are trying to make a club that is fun for everyone.

Thank you

Raymond Blethen

[Anubis]

Tough to get much driver advocacy by constantly ripping into the race officials that allow you to drive.

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Lance Snyder
Atlanta Region F&C

No more the small one, the weak one, the frightened one.
Running from beatings, deflating.
I'm becoming more than a man. More than you ever were.
Driven and burning to rise beyond Jesus.

I watched the Indy 500, and I was thinking that if they left
earlier they wouldn't have to go so fast.

[Banzai240]

Originally posted by RSTPerformance:
Anyway back to the convention, I am glad that the powers to be recognize the things they mentioned (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), it proves they do deserve the roles they have and that they are trying to make a club that is fun for everyone.

On an additional positive note, the officials of this club seem to be opening themselves up to new ideas, and, at least at the moment, seem more accessible and willing to work together than I've seen in my short time in the SCCA...

I think things are getting better, and positive moves are being made.

Drop them a note once in awhile when you think they've done a good job. I have, and they really appreciate the positive feedback.



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Darin E. Jordan
SCCA #273080, OR/NW Regions
Renton, WA
ITS '97 240SX

[Mattberg]

"Tough to get much driver advocacy by constantly ripping into the race officials that allow you to drive."

...the race officials that ALLOW [me] to drive?

Yup. That's the attitude I'm talking about.

[Joe Harlan]

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">I think things are getting better, and positive moves are being made.</font>

And this can be directly tracked to many people including folks on all of these forums.

I also think it is stupid to think that any official allows me to race. Let's not ever forget who writes the checks.

[dickita15]

not to start a them vs us but you check is pretty useless if no one steps up and runs an event.
dick

[Geo]

Originally posted by Joe Harlan:
And this can be directly tracked to many people including folks on all of these forums.

I also think it is stupid to think that any official allows me to race. Let's not ever forget who writes the checks.

Well, unless those officials and other workers volunteer, you're either not racing or you're writing a bigger check.

I wonder how much more it would add to the cost of a race weekend if the officials and corner workers were actually paid a fair wage for their time?

I think you and other have misinterpreted the meaning behind "the officials that allow you to race." That doesn't mean you race at their whim. That means without their being gracious enough to volunteer their time, we wouldn't be racing. Or we'd be writing a bigger (probably much bigger) check.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com

[Banzai240]

Originally posted by Geo:
Well, unless those officials and other workers volunteer, you're either not racing or you're writing a bigger check.

Not entirely true... There was a time when the officials were actually driver's from the groups that were not on the track...

It use to be common (still is with some organizations) for the drivers to take to a corner station, flag stand, etc., once their session was over, and actually work the event. When I got my novice license, it was actually required.

Driver's have gotten so "lazy", for lack of a better term, that they've now just turned their fates over to these volunteers. That's fine, but unless you are involved, don't complain about the outcome. You can't expect someone else to do all the work, and then bitch about how the work was done. Not unless someone is on your payroll...



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Darin E. Jordan
SCCA #273080, OR/NW Regions
Renton, WA
ITS '97 240SX

[ITSRX7]

Originally posted by Mattberg:

...the race officials that ALLOW [me] to drive?

Yup. That's the attitude I'm talking about.

And has been stated above, the fact that [you] read it the way you did, is the problem. We all knew what it stated.

AB

------------------
Andy Bettencourt
06 ITS RX-7
FlatOut Motorsports
New England Region #188967

[ITSRX7]

Originally posted by Joe Harlan:
And this can be directly tracked to many people including folks on all of these forums.

I also think it is stupid to think that any official allows me to race. Let's not ever forget who writes the checks.

These boards are productive in a variety of way but getting things DONE is NOT one of those ways. Chat is chat. The do-ers have always been do-ers and the talkers have always been talkers. There isn't much that frustrates a do-er more than a talker that complains about the 'doings' - and doesn't do themselves.

Just because the people who DO things for the SCCA, participate on the boards doesn't mean the boards are productive at the 10,000 foot, 'making SCCA chage for the better' level.

And see my above post on how you took the 'allowing me to race' comment. Birds of a feather flock together at DA.com.

AB

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Andy Bettencourt
06 ITS RX-7
FlatOut Motorsports
New England Region #188967

[sccaflagger74]

Regarding volunteering and workers. We (workers) would love to have more drivers help out. We get a small group in the DC region that volunteer but we could use more. Regional drivers come on out to the National races to work and vice versa. Don't want to stand on the corners? Try registration or T&S. Grid and Pit could use help. Volunteer at an enduro you aren't driving in. We would love to have more people and I'm sure it would help cut down on worker burnout if we had more help.

We'd LOVE to see more drivers in whites!

Cheers,

Bob

[cherokee]

There are right ways and wrong ways of doing things, or talking about things. Comments I have seen like "plant your own dope..." have no place anywhere. 99% of the things we talk about here is pretty nice and even...sure some times topics have gotten pretty...passionate<sp>... but I think we all respect each others ideas.

[sgallimo]

Originally posted by Banzai240:
... It use to be common (still is with some organizations) for the drivers to take to a corner station, flag stand, etc., once their session was over, and actually work the event. When I got my novice license, it was actually required....

Right on Darin! Besides working corners, start, pit, grid, T&S, registration, and race control, don't forget about all of time spent before the event begins: deciding what the event will be; getting the date scheduled with the track, division, and scca; getting the sanction numbers and insurance coverages; creating and publishing the supplementary regulations and entry forms; getting all of the right EV equipment and personnel scheduled; creating and ordering event giveaways (t-shirts, dash plates, etc); creating trophies (have you ever tried picking up and assembling 300 trophies?); getting the radios, fire bottles, flags, water jugs, brooms, etc to all the right folks.

And the time after the driver's have gone home: packing up all of the radios, fire bottles, water jugs, brooms, flags; recharging radios for the next use; compiling the timing sheets, reports, points, protest documentation; reporting points to all of the right keepers of the points; depositing or destroying driver's checks; making sure the track rental and any food and drink charges are paid; taking care of trophies that weren't picked up at the event.

We've got monthly Region Board of Director's meetings, Competition Board meetings, mass membership mailings - membership lists, schedules, upcoming race notifications, newsletters, etc (when was the last time you stuffed membership lists and fridge magnets into more than 600 8.5x11 envelopes, sealed them, put on 4 stamps and address labels, and hauled them to the post office?), and track upgrades and maintenance - the track isn't paying for our corner stations, scale room, etc. (which means us volunteers installed those nifty gazebos you see at VIR). All of the supplies necessary to hold events and support a Region must be purchased, maintained, stored, and inventoried. Someone has to handle the merchandise (decals, patches, GCRs, shirts, etc). Somebody has to wash, dry, and repair over a hundred flags.

There is a almost unbelievable amount of volunteer work being done that is not visible to someone simply attending a racing event. Participating in a race (driving OR working) is a completely different thing than putting on a race. Likewise for maintaining a Chapter or managing a Region. It's just like dropping your luggage off at the check-in counter at the airport and picking it up at baggage claim at your destination. You would simply be amazed at the number of people and the amount of machinery, energy, and effort required to make that simple, behind the scenes thing happen. It's no different here.

Given the sheer volume of people that are working on the care and feeding of this beast that we call racing, it's not surprising that we have some bad apples. And I know we do, I've seen some of them. But I submit that the percentage of bad ones is a small number (even if a large number of those bad ones are in positions of influence). Yes we need to get the bad ones to straighten up or leave. Yes we must remember that while they are volunteering their time, they volunteered to do A job for us. If they aren't capable of doing the job or aren't willing to do it properly, we need to ask them to step aside and then we need to step up and provide another volunteer to fill that post. There is no us and them. There is only us. If there is a problem with the way the club is being run, it is our problem.


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-Scott Gallimore
-ITC #88 Pulsar

[planet6racing]

Scott:

Thank you for posting that! I've been becoming more aware of the things that go on in the background that I, as a driver, don't see, but I had forgotten about all the little stuff (like the mailers, flag care, etc.). This just reinforces my thoughts of working corners this year when I'm not racing!

I guess I should put the rest of the races on my schedule and make sure I have the time to work them!

------------------
Bill
Planet 6 Racing
bill (at) planet6racing (dot) com

[gsbaker]

Scott,

Man, that says it all.

Bravo workers!

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Gregg Baker, P.E.
Isaac, LLC
http://www.isaacdirect.com

[cherokee]

Without the SCCA workers where would road racing be in the US?

We have sooo much to be thankful for. SCCA workers are the best.

[B Schley]

Agreed, SCCA workers do a great job. Yes, we have all probably had some kind of run in with officials, tech etc. But, in the end it is because of these dedicated VOLUNTEERS that road racing events are put on, if everyone would remember that, lighten up and remember we are racing for trophies, plaques and medals, it would make for a much better environment. Remember, the racing is done on the track, not on the internet.

--Bill

[Geo]

Many great points here. Scott, I think you've opened more than a few eyes. I hope you have.

We live in a consumeristic society. We often think that the writing the check makes us gods. Never forget that we race in SCCA club racing. As such, our check don't even begin to cover what is necessary. Without those gracious volunteers, yes even the grouch in tech, registration (ours in Texas are absolute sweethearts so it can't be them), or wherever, without their gracious gift of their time, we wouldn't get to do what we love so much.

Perhaps rather than bitch at some of these people, we should all remember to be kind to them and thank them for their time, even when we strongly disagree.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com