What is up with Mazda vs SCCA???

[TimBuck]

G- thanks for the follow up. I appreciate it. I had hoped I somehow misread those posts. We (Mazda) would never ask for and never accept any "special consideration" from any sanctioning body. We at Mazdaspeed live and breath racing (case in point- I'm here with you on my day off, while taking cell calls from OTHER Mazda employees who are at the CalClub Regional at Buttonwillow. Grrrr!) and take a lot of pride in what we do for both our brand and our sport. It must have touched a nerve with me!

We have not threatened to take our ball and go home. We have asked our customers (the Mazda racers) how they feel about the situation. Our reaction will be dictated by their (your) responses.

Question- If you were investing a lot of time and money in a corporation that had some real problems in how it was being run, were showed little appreciation for said investments, were the butt of some poorly administered rules by said organization, then were told by a member of its Board of Directors that you aren't needed... what would you do?

btw- the first racecar I ever drove was my buddy's ITC Fiesta (he called Team Fiasco!)

[ScotMac]

I'm here with you on my day off, while taking cell calls from OTHER Mazda employees who are at the CalClub Regional at Buttonwillow. Grrrr!) and take a lot of pride in what we do for both our brand and our sport. It must have touched a nerve with me!

We have not threatened to take our ball and go home. We have asked our customers (the Mazda racers) how they feel about the situation. Our reaction will be dictated by their (your) responses.

[/b]

I think it is great that Mazda is putting effort into building the sport and supporting drivers. However, Mazda needs to remember that they are not doing it for completely altruistic reasons. I don't see Mazda giving any money to me to run a Fiero. It is definitely a symbiotic relationship. Mazda gets good publicity/advertising for their cars, the drivers get support for their racing, and SCCA gets more entries/publicity/etc.

Question- If you were investing a lot of time and money in a corporation that had some real problems in how it was being run, were showed little appreciation for said investments, were the butt of some poorly administered rules by said organization, then were told by a member of its Board of Directors that you aren't needed... what would you do?

[/b]

Tim, you just complained that you resent the implication that Mazda was receiving special treatment due to its investment, and then you make the above statement implying that Mazda desires "appreciation" for their investment. Please be careful...this "appreciation" could be easily misconstrued.

In general, SCCA has be very careful how they treat all the manufactures, in order to ensure impartiality. I would like to think that SCCA tries to encourage/appreciate all manufacturers equally, regardless of investment. However, we also obviously have the business side of it...difficult balancing act.

Until we get ALL the details of the current situation, it very difficult for anyone here to make a judgment in terms of who exactly was at fault, and what needs to be done.