drivers working races

[JLawton]

Dick,

I'll volunteer to drive the pace car!!

[Greg Amy]

I'll volunteer to drive the pace car!!

Ten bucks says he and DiMinno "get together" anyway...

[dominojd]

Ten bucks says he and DiMinno "get together" anyway...

And he wouldn't even be driving the pace in our race group?

[gran racing]

Take it from someone who knows, they are not on Craigs list!

Now there's an idea! Why wouldn’t that be a good place? Maybe it's time to post another Ad then? Craig’s list could be a viable way to draw some new interest.

I could be off with this but wonder if it wouldn't be helpful to replace the word volunteer with something else. When I hear volunteer, I think I'm doing the organization some type of favor. These positions offer people the opportunity to become a part of something really cool.

Leigh, nicely said.


For the life of me I do not understand why we don’t use our Speed World Challenge tool better when they are at the track. The past two years I had to deliver something to the truck while at Lime Rock and it took forever to locate it. My wife and I walked by it a few times not even noticing it, staff had no clue where it was, and when we did find it very little if anything was there to explain the club or various opportunities – et hm, potential volunteers. It just seems like such a waste of a great opportunity. And yeah, I’d happily volunteer for something like that.

There are numerous ideas people have but often when mentioned, they receive significant resistance of even being considered. I think some of that stems from the whole old guard aspect. Often times when ideas are mentioned it gets met with “don’t you think we have already tried that or a quick no! That won’t work.” Then there’s people who try to lay a guilt trip on others for not doing as much as they think is enough. I know I personally experienced that, got frustrated and decided to try to help the club in a different way.

[Ed Funk]

:cool:I'm betting that Jeff can drive the pace car faster than Joe!

[Greg Amy]

:cool:I'm betting that Jeff can drive the pace car faster than Joe!

And I'll bet you you're wrong...

IT'S ON!!!

[Jeremy Billiel]

See we accomplished something with this thread. We already have a pace car volunteer.

[dickita15]

For the life of me I do not understand why we don’t use our Speed World Challenge tool better when they are at the track.

Good idea Dave, and I will use this as a jumping off point to mention that Brian Meglioa, who is on the NER BOD is heading up a new publicity marketing group integrating Pit Talk, the regions website and other recruiting methods. Given Brian’s technical savvy I do not think being a part of this new group will require many if any face to face meetings. If any of you in New England this may a way you can make the club better contact Brian. His contact info is at NER.org.

[gran racing]

That would be cool. I'll have to remember to contact Brian about it. (He and I are doing a "how to start racing" class at a vocational school in March. Should be fun.)

[raffaelli]

Many times I have walked past the SCCA booth at LRP during the pro series events to find no one there. This we particularly discouraging to me as I was trying to find out how to get started after repeated non-returned calls and emails to the people I found on the NYR website. Especially the day I took my wife to see what it was about and there was no one to speak to. In general, I find that SCCA does not do a great job at new member recruitment. I think a booth with a couple of cars, some flags, a TS computer, maybe even a quick tour would go a long way.

I think the racers and volunteers actually recruited me. One of the grid workers at LRP one day said to me ‘When are you going to join me on this side of the fence?’; Jake G getting in my M and showing me the ropes a bit on the track and around the paddock; and overhearing the following conversation Person 1 “Look at how slow that guy is (laugh).” Person 2 “Yeah but, he is out there.” All of that helped push me over the edge. Maybe by design, not sure. Funny how that all happened on the same day.

FOM recruited a buddy of mine. I brought him to LRP. FOM’s crew talked to him about SM and racing in general. He is now building a Mustang for AS.

Jeff L, Dick P, Joe D, Greg A, Andy B, Kelly (SM prep guy) and Matt K all recruited my crew chief. He showed up to the school to help out. Saw how ‘cool’ those guys were to him all weekend. He committed to me as crew chief for 09. He is currently building a CRX to solo this summer and club race next.

Linda L and her main squeeze Bart recruited my wife. She sat with me in T&S during the NARRC Runoffs this year when I decided to bail and not race. Since then she has mentioned she wants to do that again and possibly work in communications. She (we) has acquired amateur radio license to prep. We are trying to clear our schedule to do the Flagging school in March. We view this as a family event, time at the track does not cost me any family time equity (well, at least not that much anyway).

[dickita15]

Dick,

I'll volunteer to drive the pace car!!

I think I can make that happen.

[Knestis]

I did pretty much every specialty at least once before I started driving, between '79 and '86 and, while I enjoyed most of them more than not being at the race track (old-school T&S sucked), I enjoy driving more than any of them. I don't even spectate at races much, unless it's a really cool event, it's really close, and it's not a big time/$$ production (e.g., GA at VIR when I lived in Greensboro and could go up just for the day).

I had a HUGE advantage when I started driving, since I knew how the systems work, knew the people, etc. But I'll tell you - I saw an even GREATER lack of understanding when I started my "second" racing career and did my school to get re-licensed in 2004. I talked to two other students who'd never even been at the track on a race weekend. They knew what HPDE-type events looked like, but had no idea about the SCCA, specialties, processes, etc.

(The caliber of DRIVING was much better this time around however, with the huge growth in track day opportunities. When I did my first school, most of the students knew the Club but had NEVER driving on-track.)

THAT SAID, I think it would be a great idea for Novice license programs to require that new drivers spend a couple of days out on the corners. It gives one an entirely different perspective on the relationship between flagger and driver, to be the piece of meat out there among the high-speed metal boxes.

K

[NutDriverRighty]

In response to the comment about T-shirts counting as payment for F&C, my wife will happily clean out all of my dresser drawers and send you the plethora of white T-shirts that I have. It's come to the point that I don't even take them anymore.
If it's an especially cool shirt or a cool event (like working the Petit), I'll take one, but otherwise they stay at the track.

[quadzjr]

THAT SAID, I think it would be a great idea for Novice license programs to require that new drivers spend a couple of days out on the corners. It gives one an entirely different perspective on the relationship between flagger and driver, to be the piece of meat out there among the high-speed metal boxes.

K

I believe that to be a great idea!

[1stGenBoy]

I'm with Jake on this one. I take care of at least two cars on a race weekend and sometimes more in addition to driving. I give back in other ways too. Race chairmain for a BIG vintage event ( 600 plus cars),ITAC ( until this year),Chief driving school instructor,region comp committee,etc,etc. I just don't have the time on a race weekend that I'm driving in to flag or help out in other ways. I also agree that has part of the Novice experience you should be required to flag or do something that gets you an understanding of what really goes on. The flip side to that is how do you enforce that with the pro schools?

[Jeremy Billiel]

So how much extra are drivers willing to pay to guarantee an event to drive at? The volunteer situation is getting to be a HUGE problem. Especially now given the economy...

We, as drivers, need to help work on a solution. I can tell you that in the North East the drivers are cheap asses when it comes to contributing to the workers fund.

$25
$50
$75

[tnord]

or maybe the people putting together the schedule should just put fewer dates on the calendar. fewer race weekends consolidates both the driver entries, and the volunteers to make for better events without the need to pay workers, raise entry fees, etc....

i'm not really willing to pay much more. throwing money at this problem isn't necessarily the answer.

[67ITB]

So how much extra are drivers willing to pay to guarantee an event to drive at? The volunteer situation is getting to be a HUGE problem. Especially now given the economy...

We, as drivers, need to help work on a solution. I can tell you that in the North East the drivers are cheap asses when it comes to contributing to the workers fund.

$25
$50
$75

This surprises me. Call me naive!!!!
Ever since I started Club racing I have made it a point of making a "worker" contribution of 20-25 buck per race. (as many of you know I am NOT finiancally well off, I am a Government employee)
Looking at what we spend on this hobby I always looked at that $$ as well spent so I can play, and not have to worry about working course....... when the car needs to have a tranny swapped out between qualifying and the race....... Or the thermostat craps out....... Or the front wheel bearings crap out.......

I started out autocrossing for years and it was no fun to have to run from the car, to go work (in the rain or heat) for a session, back to work on the car, and then out to race again.....and try to grab a bite to eat or drink....... So that 20-25 bucks if priceless for piece of mind. and helps to make my weekend a little more relaxing.


Matt

[JLawton]

I think I can make that happen.

Don't tease me Dick!!!

[gran racing]

I'll preface this by saying I sincerely appreciate what volunteers do for our club and am very appreciative.

So, in general, racers would rather pay an additional $225. per event for workers?

You might not like the answers but for a significant number of people they'd turn to other clubs or racing businesses. Jerry, since you put a NER spin on it I can pretty much guarantee NASA North East would see an influx of new racers.

What we as drivers are forgetting, that many times flaggers do not have the means, ability or desire to literally race, but they do enjoy being part of the "club" and enjoy the social side of the event.

Excellent point. I don't care what organization you're talking about - American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, SCCA... - the reality is people volunteer because it benefits them in some way. That benefit could be because they enjoy the position, it makes them feel good to help others, they've been impacted by the cause in some manner, and so on. That's not a bad thing but is a reality.

Jerry - What if we put a mandatory $50 increase in the entry fee for the workers fund, that ultimately can help to pay for at least gas for the flaggers?

There are price points where people will turn to other options but in general people would rather pay a few extra bucks (probably not $50). I know when I was doing HPDEs there were two clubs I tried. One was a bit cheaper but it was necessary to work the corners for a session or two. The other one was a bit more expensive but drivers never had to work the corners. I did the less expensive option once and became a regular of the other organization.