Scca It Is Time For Change Now!

[jjjanos]

No, but if a NER event starts to hurt because of the new tracks in NJ (heck, we'll include Pocono for the heck of it), they should give up a weekend even if they've been running that event for many years prior.

Of course, but that's not what I thought you were suggesting.

So when I sign up for a race, I won't know how much my fee will be until after the first session?

Easy enough to solve. Entry fee is $x for this group. Rebates may be issued if the car count exceeds y.

You've also over simplified the "where to register" issue. The problem is locating that registration site. Most of the events I register are on one site, which also list Summit Point races. It appears one can register for those events on the site but no, there's a different site that a person would have to do some research to learn hopefully still in time. Not impossible but possibly more difficult and confusing than need be.

As easy and simple as it could be? No. I should be able to go to scca.com and register for any scca event right there on their website.

Difficult and complicated to turn away entries? Not by a long shot. Anyone incapable of finding most online entry forms shouldn't be in a racecar. Anyone frustrated enough to boycott an event to protest the small effort needed to enter shouldn't be in a racecar - clearly a case of red mist.

I do not believe that any national organization allows single point entry for every event they sanction.

The issue isn't classes... the issue is # of run groups. I have no problem having a run group consisting of 50 classes as long as it puts 50 cars on course. I think most people wouldn't either, at least from a resource utilization stand-point.

MARRS drivers wanted more track time and more racing. We dropped two run groups this year and offer a 10-lap race on Sat and a 20-lap on Sun. The combinations are not optimal, but given the constraints we faced, were the best we could do in the face of steward opposition.

The Regions are listening but remember that they do need to hold onto the dates. Give up a date and you won't get it back. It's OK to lose the date if you think things won't get better in 2 years... otherwise, you suck it up for now and wait for better days. Kind of like dealing with pregnancy hormones in the SO.

[Ron Earp]

As easy and simple as it could be? No. I should be able to go to scca.com and register for any scca event right there on their website.

Amen to that. Just contract it out to DBLRacing or the other big one that already has solved the problems, no need to re-invent the wheel as the SCCA is prone to do.....

[spdmonkey]

The Regions are listening but remember that they do need to hold onto the dates. Give up a date and you won't get it back. It's OK to lose the date if you think things won't get better in 2 years... otherwise, you suck it up for now and wait for better days.

This is the issue as I see it from afar. Here in GLDiv there were some regions that gave up dates and now the (good ones) are gone forever. In fact we have the opposite problem. Not enough races. I am chairman of the Champ Series and we have half as many races this year as we had 5 or more years ago. I have drivers calling me all the time wanting more dates, but regions gave them up for a variety of reasons and the drivers ultimately lose. Yet we have other regions that hold races which the drivers don't show up (me included) for a variety of reasons. I think each division has its own set of issues that need to be solved separately. No across the board changes are going to help. I know we in Ohio Valley region have listened to drivers and picked up a date that was dropped to host a second double regional. We also this week opted to move to online registration. As Regional Executive of the region I'm happy to say that we attack the issues head on. Not every region does that and thats what brings this issue up.

Be careful how much you pare down. You might end up like GL after the split

db

[Beran]

Is this too many regions for the number of tracks we have and geographic area covered?

Blue Mountain Region (97)
Regional Executive Merlin A Miller (484)824-4253

Central New York Region (5)
Regional Executive Mike Donofrio (315)451-7169 [email protected]

Central Pennsylvania Region (59)
Regional Executive Ronald A Dotts (814)355-4293 [email protected]

Finger Lakes Region (62)
Regional Executive Michael L Toombs (585)328-2617 [email protected]

Glen Region (71)
Regional Executive Edward A Zebrowski (585)330-6142 [email protected]

Mahoning Valley Region (80)
Regional Executive Stephen R Kryder (330)854-4889 [email protected]

Misery Bay Region (104)
Regional Executive Gary Neckers (716)355-4389 [email protected]

Mohawk Hudson Region (65)
Regional Executive Jack Hanifan (518)438-3754 [email protected]

New England Region (22)
Regional Executive Chris Franson (860)306-7424 [email protected]

New York Region (23)
Regional Executive Christopher Morales (516)978-6472 [email protected]

Northeastern Pennsylvania Region (25)
Regional Executive Thomas P Knorr (610)863-4709 [email protected]

Northern New Jersey Region (26)
Regional Executive Darrell T Anthony (973)697-5891 [email protected]

Philadelphia Region (31)
Regional Executive George J Bloeser, Jr. (610)965-0585 [email protected]

South Jersey Region (84)
Regional Executive James P Tornetta (609)893-5701 [email protected]

Southern New York Region (37)
Regional Executive Darryl P Lindsay (607)642-8973 [email protected]

Steel Cities Region (39)
Regional Executive James R Farrar (412)751-5235 [email protected]

Susquehanna Region (92)
Regional Executive Steve Limbert (717)432-4116 [email protected]

Washington DC Region (42)
Regional Executive James Noel (301)668-8804 [email protected]

Western New York Region (43)
Regional Executive Dale R Kunze (716)774-2714 [email protected]

[dickita15]

To be fair less than half those regions are “Racing Regions”. SCCA does other things besides race even if most of us here do not notice.

[jumbojimbo]

DB is correct. GLD has an awful regional schedule. 3 champ events in the first 4 weeks of the season then 17 weeks until the next champ event? In between a couple of restricted races mashed into national weekends. The only bright spot is IT-Fest in August.

Compare this to the NASA midwest calendar. Races are pretty much 4 weeks apart, usually the same weekend of the month. Now that's a race schedule.

How do we change our schedule? How do we get a fricking June regional race date? Some region has a to find an available weekend at a track, hopefully not ORP, sign a contract for it and then wait for the fall scheduling meeting? And give up their current date in he meantime, which gets snapped up by someone else?

I completely disagree with jjanos. I think the incoherent image we put out with a hodge podge of registration methods, results postings (if done at all), etc does hurt attendance.

I don't understand why we don't have a page at the national level with online registration, entry lists, results, protest results, pictures, video, lap times, blogs, etc. Sure, you can post your video on myscca, but who goes there? Even if you do, you can't easily see all the video from a certain race, it's a mess.

As several people have pointed out, people want to race at events with lots of other people in their class. We need a place to see who is registered so we know we are not gong to be the only car in class And an organized national results page would help novices understand that there really are people out there racing in regional races. Lack of visibility is killing us. The days are long gone when a tiny region can mimeograph some entry forms and send them snail mail.

[TAC]

DB is correct. GLD has an awful regional schedule. 3 champ events in the first 4 weeks of the season then 17 weeks until the next champ event? In between a couple of restricted races mashed into national weekends. The only bright spot is IT-Fest in August.

Compare this to the NASA midwest calendar. Races are pretty much 4 weeks apart, usually the same weekend of the month. Now that's a race schedule.

How do we change our schedule? How do we get a fricking June regional race date? Some region has a to find an available weekend at a track, hopefully not ORP, sign a contract for it and then wait for the fall scheduling meeting? And give up their current date in he meantime, which gets snapped up by someone else?

I completely disagree with jjanos. I think the incoherent image we put out with a hodge podge of registration methods, results postings (if done at all), etc does hurt attendance.

I don't understand why we don't have a page at the national level with online registration, entry lists, results, protest results, pictures, video, lap times, blogs, etc. Sure, you can post your video on myscca, but who goes there? Even if you do, you can't easily see all the video from a certain race, it's a mess.

As several people have pointed out, people want to race at events with lots of other people in their class. We need a place to see who is registered so we know we are not gong to be the only car in class And an organized national results page would help novices understand that there really are people out there racing in regional races. Lack of visibility is killing us. The days are long gone when a tiny region can mimeograph some entry forms and send them snail mail.

I invite all drivers to sit in on their fall divisional meetings to see just how crazy scheduling can be. In the Nov. GLDiv. meeting the tentative schedule had a Champ Series Double Regional in each month plus the I.T.Fest. By the end of the meeting 1 hour later, there was the I.T.Fest sitting in the middle of the calendar and not a Double Regional between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

[jumbojimbo]

I invite all drivers to sit in on their fall divisional meetings to see just how crazy scheduling can be. In the Nov. GLDiv. meeting the tentative schedule had a Champ Series Double Regional in each month plus the I.T.Fest. By the end of the meeting 1 hour later, there was the I.T.Fest sitting in the middle of the calendar and not a Double Regional between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Whoops, this is in the NE forum so I gues we are way into highjack territory here. But let's continue anyway although it sounds like the NE issues are different from the GL issues.

What do you think were the factors that impede GL getting a nice clean schedule with regionals every 5 weeks and nicely spread nationals?

One problem I see is how we make the schedule. It seems regions need to pick dates and sign contracts long before the scheduling roundtable in the fall. How can a region pick a date and sign a contract without knowing if that date will be allowed on the schedule. I could be wrong in how this actually works, but it seems like a chicken and egg problem. In June a region can't schedule a race next year, in Nov we cry and moan at the poor dates regions have as options. How can we make a schedule in Nov when the dates are already set or tracks are already booked and we have no options?

I think it is odd how in the NE discussion there is talk of cutting the races that don't make money. That doesn't seem to be an option in GLD. Either people saying such things in NE don't know what they are talking about, or NE is different from GLD. In GLD it is nobody's business except the orgainizing region whether a race makes money. And it is the regions decision whether to organize a race a not. So in GLD an unprofitable race can drag on for years before it dies.

But, the problem is that if a race dies, it dies permanently. That date is lost and our schedule shrinks forever. Once a date at a track is given up it is quickly sucked up by NASA, BMW,etc. Even the opening of a new track like Bluegrass has not added any dates to our schedule. Perhaps it will next year, maybe Indy will put on both a regional and a national like they used to do. If so, do they need to reserve a date now with the track? And they that date will either get approved or not in Nov?

I'm curious what you think the other factors are in the ugly GLD race schedule. What causes this year after year and why is it getting worse?