It came to my attention last night that my name has appeared on this site. I'll attempt to be brief, but I'd like to state what I think is happening:
Late last week, either Thursday or Friday (11/17 or 18), I got a phone call from a person who identified himself as "Matt Weinberg". He acted as if I should know who he is (I don't) and we talked for probably half an hour about this and other topics. I notice that my name first appears on this post about 10:30 AM on 11/18, so based on the timing of the post(s) and the similarity of the names, I'll assume "mattberg" is the person I talked to on the phone.
The best thing to come from this discussion is that I now know why Toni Creighton (whom I admire and respect) was upset with me during lunch at the Mid-year Meeting that I would "let this happen". From what she's posted here, apparently she (and perhaps others) heard the following:
"We need to have meeting to discuss how to cut back on the number of races each SEDIV region can hold."
That is NOT what I heard, nor apparently what Barry Hair or (Capt.) Bob Anderson heard (and no, we were not all in the men's room together <g>). What I heard (paraphrased) was:
"We've got some serious problems with the SEDIV racing calendar. New regions wanting to build racing programs are having extreme difficulty finding dates, the proliferation of events is causing worker & official burnout for some regions and we may soon have to cancel events because we cannot staff them adequately. We do not have time to solve these problems today and the schedule is jammed on Saturday and Sunday at Jekyll, so let's have a meeting Friday evening that is dedicated to discussing these issues further with the hope of at least starting down the path of finding a solution acceptable to all."
One suggestion thrown out for consideration (it was not even a proposal, much less a motion) was to limit each region to one National, one single SARRC, one double SARRC and a drivers' school. Another suggestion was to clear the calendar completely and have each region sequentially "draft" each weekend in turn until all regions and/or weekends were full. Yet another thought is to remove the mileage limits for conflicting events on concurrent or consecutive weekends and let the marketplace decide. NONE of these suggestions were made into a motion and I suspect that NONE of these suggestions, if made into a motion, would have a chance in hell of passing at this time!
The Friday night meeting a Jekyll will NOT be an REs meeting only, if for no other reason than some regions have Competition Directors (like myself) that would be directly affected by any actions taken. As far any agenda, the biggest benefit is getting the regions to engage in open conversation about the issues faced by each of us. This is not a Florida issue, it's not an Atlanta Region issue, it's not really an Area 12 issue, it's a SEDIV issue that involves all of us.
What I suspect will come out of this meeting (assuming there are survivors) is a proposal of scheduling guidelines for (no sooner than) the 2007 season and beyond, which would include clearly defined procedures for (new) regions wanting to find a spot on the calendar. I would also support requiring that said proposal not be voted upon until the 2006 Mid-Year Meeting, which would give all regions (and drivers) adequate time to consider specific guidelines and provide input. Finally, I don't see any changes in the scheduling of events in the state of Florida - every area of the division (and the country) has problems, but staffing and supporting races doesn't seem to be high on the Sunshine State's list.
No black helicopters, no clandestine meetings, no covert ops - just some people who care about (SCCA) racing trying to find a common ground in an effort to make it better for all of us. If/when a "real" proposal is floated with specific points, all the membership will have adequate time to comment.
I also feel a need to respond to some of Mr. Whineberg's other points, then I'll close:
Perhaps the Atlanta Region lost the Labor Day weekend at Road Atlanta because we have no business talent. You are entitled to your opinion. When the AMA moved their Big Kahuna event to Barber the year after Road Atlanta spent $40K installing the Turn 3 chicane, track management went back to the AMA and asked what could be done to help them amortize that investment. The AMA reportedly said the only weekend they'd consider running Road Atlanta was Labor Day. Since that weekend rivals the Petite for attendance, the track (reluctantly) made a business decision to move us off our traditional date. Even in the heyday of the Runoffs, SCCA hasn't packed spectators into the track like the AMA weekend does - dollars and cents decison. If the France kingdom suddenly decides to host a wheelbarrow race the first weekend in August at Daytona, I'll guarantee you CFR gets bounced off one of the biggest (and most fun) weekends they have.
As far as no region owning a track, I also disagree. Part of the reason we have so many events at Roebling is because of location, but another big factor is that we (through Buccaneer Region) have control of the scheduling. And because it's a "non-spectator" track, there are no big Pro events coming in to wipe out traditional weekends. One of the things I want to do as Asst. RE of Atlanta Region is investigate the feasibility of us building a racetrack. Maybe I'm tilting at windmills and maybe we'll find that the obstacles are insurmountable, but SFR did it at Thunderhill and I need to be convinced we can't.
Finally, your comment about Sandy Pence being Mrs. Fletcher Williams is technically accurate but philosophically incorrect. Having worked (and yes argued) with both of them for a number of years, I find that a more accurate statement is that Fletcher Williams is Mr. Sandy Pence !
I'm finished now...
Butch Kummer
2006 Asst RE, Atlanta Region
National Competition license #76908
SCCA member since 1980
Butch Kummer
Former SCCA Director of Club Racing (July 2012 - Sept 2014)
2006, 2007, 2010 SARRC GTA Champion
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