Time to change the crb

[RSTPerformance]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...

I came an inch away from quiting SCCA altogether last year with the bullshit that I feel that I was dragged trough (and dragged everone else through).

I typed up my resignation for Stewarding to the President of SCCA and the rest of the SCCA Stewards but never sent it in after taking a few breaths... but the letter is still in "my documents" on this computer.

Last weekend I went to our regions annual meeting and was reminded why I love SCCA so much; the local people whom I see as part of my family. I enjoy spending the weekends with them racing, and volunteering my time to help work events. I can't imagine my life being much different but as I grow older the competition for "SCCA time" is growing fast (family, friends, marriage, kids?, work, cash flow, boats?, golf, and any other numerous ways to entertain the "adrenalin" side of me).

Some of the people whom thought I might leave were worried that it was other Stewards that I might have a problem with. While I think that program needs a lot of work, the CRB is my biggest problem. I have a problem being involved in a club where the members receive such disrespect. I have run plenty of businesses to "get the big picture" but I just don't understand the big picture that the CRB or BOD is seeing. It is time for change, and I think it needs to start with getting member voted CRB members to represent us to our BOD.

Go to www.crbscca.com and put in a request. I have:

The CRB has continued to fail at listening to member input, and with the recent resignations from ITAC and Stewards positions as a result of the CRB actions is a detriment to our club. We are loosing good members and leaders whom listen to member input.

This is supposed to be a club that is member driven not a business run by a the CRB's blind recommendations to the BOD. The CRB members have far to much power & control to be such an influence when the positions are not voted on by the members of our club.

I would like to propose that all CRB positions are filled by membership votes. I also recommend that in an effort to save this club from failure all current members whom have served more than 6 months respectfully step down.

Thank you for your consideration.

It is time to stop complaining here to the ITAC and time to support them with our own direct requests to change the CRB.

Raymond Blethen

[StephenB]

With all do respect I dont think emailing the people that are the problem (in our point of view) is going to help. Do you have the names and emails to people that actually may listen, the ones that we did vote in to represent us?

Or maybe with the help of Andy and Jake we could just start our own rules and call it NARRC ITR,S,A,B,C. Kinda like they did with SSM when corporate SCCA took over that class. We only need an average of 6 cars per class for it to be considered a regional class... we could start something new... as they did 25 years ago.

Stephen

[RSTPerformance]

Stephen - With all due respect GO POUND SNOW!!!

JK lol

I agree, if we had someone to e-mail that would be good. I am thinking of calling Terry Ozment ([email protected]) to see where/what we might be able to do. My guess is my name is flagged in the corporate office and I wont get through... lol.

My hope with sending in electronic requests through www.crbscca.com is that the new CRB electronic filing process is monitored by someone at the SCCA other than just the CRB.

Start a new thread for the new regional IT class idea... I like it.

Raymond

[mossaidis]

All staff, board and committee contact information is available on the SCCA extranet web site.

http://www.scca.org/contentpage.aspx?content=89

CRB
http://ams.scca.com/netforum/eweb/dy...&committee=CRB
ITAC
http://ams.scca.com/netforum/eweb/dy...&committee=ITC

[gran racing]

It needs to go to the BOD.

[924Guy]

[email protected], right?

[ner88]

Grab a plane, head to Vegas, they will all be there this weekend!

[924Guy]

Thought I'd share it, in the hopes that it inspires others to share their opinions through constructive criticism... (even if it is a little long )

Greetings. I am writing as a long-time (10 year) IT competitor and interested SCCA member, on the subject of the IT Advisory Committee and the Comp Board. I am hoping that my input will provide useful and help ensure the continued health of the IT classes.

Over the recent few years, with the leadership of the ITAC and the support of the CRB, SCCA has made some modest changes to the IT classes; first and foremost, a modest but fundamental change to the nature of the classes, in striving to achieve some decent competitive parity within the classes by adjusting the class goals, and secondly, by adjusting classification details of a number of cars to support that goal of parity.

The results speak for themselves. Since I started racing IT in 2000, the classes have changed from being dominated by only one or two cars to supporting a wide range of equally-competitive models. The broad base of competitiveness, accompanied by the ease of entry to the class, has led to some of the best racing, both locally at Regionals, and at the biggest events of the season for IT, the IT-Spectacular and the ARRC. I've had the distinct pleasure to be able to compete in both of those in the past few years. The competitive environment clearly shows that the IT classes not only meet, but exceed their goal. Not only are they a very affordable entry-level class for beginning racers; with sufficient commitment and focus, they can provide access to some of the best amateur racing in the country!

The last couple of months, however, have brought about some changes in the CRB and ITAC which raise substantial concern about the future health of IT. While the classes, as they stand, are very well-positioned at the moment, it has become apparent that a true strategic vision for the future of IT is either lacking or not shared within the rule-making organization. Confusion and doubt about this and related matters has now lead to the high-profile resignations of a large portion of the ITAC - the very group, the individuals who have been instrumental in making these classes so successful to date.

This should raise concern to the Board, given that the IT classes are, more or less, the bread and butter classes of IT racing. SCCA can afford to neglect them no more than Toyota can afford to neglect making the perfect Camry - even if they're not quite as sexy as the GT or Formula classes. Today's success, taken for granted, becomes tomorrow's failure.

Transparency and accountability are critical instruments for the Club to meet the needs of its members. In order for the Club to continue to prosper, in the face of both a very difficult economy and strong competition, the Club must be able to clearly demonstrate, on a daily basis, how well it is meeting the needs and wants of its members. While the recent institution of an electronic letter tracking system by the CRB is a step in the right direction, there is still much more to be done to make transparency and accountability a reality.

Therefore I would urge the Board of Directors to please investigate the status of the IT Advisory Committee, its relationship with the CRB, and the vision for the future of the IT classes. Please make sure that these classes, a key part of the backbone to the Club Racing program, are ensured a viable future, and not mired in stasis and allowed to decay, as other classes have been allowed to do in the past.

Demonstrate SCCA's continued leadership in amateur racing now, by establishing the groundwork for a strong future.

Thanks for your time and your service to the Club.

Vaughan Scott
Detroit Region, member # 280052
[email protected]

[924Guy]

Grab a plane, head to Vegas, they will all be there this weekend!

Crap, I'm in Yuma - that's only 5 hrs away, right? Too bad I'm busy... LOL

[mossaidis]

Well stated Mr. Scott, that's a great letter.

[Jeremy Billiel]

I sent my letter in

[RSTPerformance]

I received a message from a BOD member whom said that concerns should be sent to the BOD. Looks like some important people are listening! Send in your letter supporting or addressing your concerns of the CRB. 2 OR 3 PEOPLE SENDING LETTERS IS NOT ENOUGH!

My letter that I sent to the BOD is below.

Dear BOD-

I am writing to ask for your comments on the current performance of the CRB. specifically in the area of listening to member input and the current/ongoing issues and differences between the CRB and ITAC.

Based on my experience with the CRB last year I almost left SCCA after nearly 25 years of membership. I believe that the ITAC has been listening to member input and making recommendations to the CRB. Based on my experience it appears as though the CRB is continuing to make recommendations or worse yet fail to make recommendations to you (the BOD) that are in line with OUR membership. This raises great concern to me and my experience last year has made me very biast however I would like to understand this issue with an open mind.

Viewing forums can be misleading thus I ask for your input and thoughts on the issues that have caused the recent resignations from the ITAC. I personally feel that ignoring this issue would be disrespectful to the IT community that has grown and supported this club so much over the past 26 years.

I would also like to ask your thoughts on how well the CRB communicates with its members? Is this an area you feel needs improvement? I personally feel that when members provide input and/or requests it should take less than a year to respond. Based on my experiences it has taken about 1 year to get a reply if a reply is given at all. I also have had to send e-mails to the entire SCCA world begging to be herd to get a reply - I am sure you have seen my name before, it was my last resort.

It is my impression that the CRB feels that the discussions that take place within the CRB are confidential and should not be discussed with the members. I ask your thoughts on this? If the club is member driven shouldn't the minutes that take place be open to the members so that the CRB can recieve input from the membership? I personally feel that the monthly conference calls should be open for any member to listen in on while on mute. I certainly understand that open calls without mute will cause far to many conversations that would prevent the CRB from accomplishing anything. At the end of the call the lines should be opened up for comments and/or questions. I think that one major issue plaguing the CRB is its lack of communication with the members. Technology has advanced a lot in the past 50 years and we have plenty of options to communicate with the members better.

Lastly I would like to ask how members are selected to serve on the CRB and ITAC? I feel that the CRB positions have more power than the BOD itself and thus should not be "appointed" seats and should be filled by a member election much like the BOD. What are your thoughts?

I thank you for your time and honest reply that includes the BOD position with these important topics. I think these are areas that need significant improvement and/or communication to prevent the loss of more brilliant, dedicated leaders from our membership.

Thank you again;

Raymond Blethen
Member # 270386

[kgobey]

The problems we are having are as you stated and more. NASA is a business, they aren't a club, the SCCA is run as a club... NASA is run as a small business, the parts of the SCCA business are run like a corporation...

Large business take s along time to change, change is shunned as it's also expensive, and a stodgey old fashioned company like SCCA is a very slow resistant entity.

Clubs hate change, they despise change, it's the nature of clubs to keep it the same for a long time, in fact the silly things Prod racers say about IT racers comes from a tradition of badmouthing regional guys that goes back 40 years or more, and even there it was based on assumption.

Whereas small businesses have to change, they love change, they thrive on it... The nature of modern business relies heavily on it, in fact without change NASA would still be running the Nuespeed cup and the SCCA would still be hating the E36 and we'd be arguing over the minimum weight of our SN95 Mustangs and trying to get them into ITGT...

Until the SCCA sees a need to compete with NASA, the desire to allow for change all this heartache is for naught.

Ray, I love your letter, you are the type of member I strive to be, and I wholeheartedly give you my support and encouragement. But I do this as someone that did not renew his SCCA membership.

[Knestis]

...

Transparency and accountability are critical instruments for the Club to meet the needs of its members. In order for the Club to continue to prosper, in the face of both a very difficult economy and strong competition, the Club must be able to clearly demonstrate, on a daily basis, how well it is meeting the needs and wants of its members. While the recent institution of an electronic letter tracking system by the CRB is a step in the right direction, there is still much more to be done to make transparency and accountability a reality.

...

Wow. Perfect.

K

[924Guy]

Thanks!

I tried to focus on being non-partisan and offer constructive criticism.

I also try, when writing these letters, to keep in mind what the person or group I'm writing to is interested in; in my mind, I must assume that the BOD's concerned not only with the general goal of healthy racing groups, but retaining and growing the member base, in this case as associated with Club Racing...

See also a comment I posted in the "Chairman resigns" thread regarding the appropriateness of competition adjustments for a Regional-only class... wish I had thought of it previously for inclusion in my letter...