22 replies to this topic

[GoRacingTV.com]

Red Tape
By: Mike Collins

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many blog entries for my Red Tape series. I choose Red Tape as the title for my column as I find that the more you race and the more competitive you become, the more Red Tape you need to deal with. Sports Car racing is no longer for the racer, it's for the organizers benefit, depending where you race depends on the type of Red Tape you will encounter. I race with several sanctioning bodies on a pretty regular basis and volunteer my time with some of them in an attempt to make things better. Some may think I complain alot and I do. But I also offer solutions and my time and talents to help fix them. I do hate those that complain but don't actively want to help find a resolution for their specific problem, they just want someone else to fix it. READ MORE...

[john mueller]

BooM !!!

Be kind when you get to us Mike

[LarryKing]

NASA is a business, right. Perhaps an 'honorarium' would help.

[Jim Drago]

Mike,
Very hard to read on Go Racing TV.. My eyes are really going

[davecarama]

Agree... Black BG and white letters... it reminds me of the Beyonce "stare at this for 30 seconds and then look at the wall" photo... But I did read it, and I am impressed with the brass ones you have to post like that.

I'd like to "subscribe"... maybe you can also post it here? on good ol' Mazda Racers? In the blog section?

[David L]

BRAVO

[Muda]

I finally understand why SP has the only reasonable, efficient registration/tech process.
I guess I owe all the thanks to you Mike!

[Ron Alan]

Mike,
Very hard to read on Go Racing TV.. My eyes are really going

Jim...when you are on the site go to tools on your browser and ZOOM to 150% or what ever it takes to read it. I to couldn't read it at 100%

Mike,

Are you running for a position in your local government(necessary evil)? I'd vote for you. Can you say Zars?????

[LarryKing]

What's a 'Zar'?

[Bench Racer]

Mike, fine job of ruffling feathers.

A quote posted on another site this morning. "They are all busy with their own agenda, until you adjust their focus..."

My worth is they don't understand, it's not about them.

[LarryKing]

Mike, will you be presenting this at the 2012 National Convention?

I think you should.

[Butch Kummer]

A bit harsh, but sometimes you gotta hit people with a 2x4 to get their attention. Unfortunately the people that would most benefit from Mike's comments will either (1) never read them or (2) not recognize themselves.

OTOH - if Mike includes myself and/or Atlanta Region in his tirade then I must be part of the problem rather than part of the solution. What I CAN say, however, is that we no longer require helmets or suits be brought to Tech (except for the ARRC by GRM where we check for other organization's patches on the suit) but most drivers still bring them anyway.

Mike - If you REALLY want to get your point across you need to name names. This is like a drivers' meeting at Impound where the Operating Steward castigates the entire assembly for "driving like morons" and everyone looks at each other asking, "Is he talking to ME?"

YMMV...

[John Nesbitt]

Interesting blog post. Mike makes some valid points about the way the SCCA works. It is unquestionable that events sometimes appear to be more for the benefit of the <pick a specialty> than for all participants.

As a driver (FF), volunteer (steward), and participant in the management of the stewards, I see and experience this from several angles.

A couple of thoughts about why we are where we are:

1. SCCA is a club; NASA is a business.

Each has intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. SCCA may have deeper social connections among members and be able to call on stronger loyalties. A business has a clear pass/fail measure and a strong external discipline (i.e. the market).

The big difference is that a business has a clear hierarchy, with a single person in charge. SCCA’s “power structure” is extremely diffuse. It takes infinite effort to make any significant change.


2. I am a relative newcomer, but my sense is that SCCA formed its culture and mindset 20, 30, or more years ago. The world has changed a great deal in that time.

SCCA is no longer the only game in town. We no longer the same leverage over tracks and competitors; both have many other options. Social and economic changes since the 70’s have attacked the Club’s member base.

The Club has many nimble competitors focused on particular market segments. The pro F1600/F2000 series (in my world) have hived off a whole chunk of entries by focusing on one small segment. By contrast, SCCA stages events for every class everywhere. Think Fedex vs. USPS, and consider how USPS is doing.


3. As Mike points out, we do see empire building. This is a natural human behavior in any organization. The Club is weak here because there is little direct market discipline on staffing and procedure.

So we experience things like having to bring our helmets to Tech or having to sign a paper waiver even when we have an annual waiver.



What to do?

1. Push back.

Mike pushed back on the helmets-to-Tech practice at Summit Point. I was a member of the SOM that upheld him. The requirement is gone.

If something bothers you, talk to the Chief Steward. Explain the problem. Ask him/her to fix it. Contact the RE, Director of Competition, or whoever has their hands on the levers for the Region. Ask them to change the practice.


2. Vote with your dollars.

I live and breathe and bleed Club racing. But there are tracks/Regions I no longer subsidize with my entry fees because of the way they run their events.

Regions have a dual personality. They are clubs, but they are also small-to-medium sized businesses, with significant cash flow and risk from staging events. Sooner or later, they will either respond to market signals or go out of business.


3. Get involved.

If you care about SCCA, don’t just sit on the sidelines complaining. Get involved. There are many ways to participate. Lobby your Region board or national BOD member; they actually do listen. Volunteer for your Region’s Competition Committee and help set policies. Run for office.

Note also what Kim mentioned in her response on the blog. This is a voluntary organization. A very small number of committed volunteers do some extremely large fraction of the work.
Mike has stature and standing in posting his blog because he actually contributes in many ways to the Club and to his Region.


Finally, remember change is very, very difficult in a club, especially a large, diverse club like SCCA. If you expect to get it done in one push, you will be disappointed. As the BOD Chairman observes, this is a bit like turning an aircraft carrier around in Baltimore harbor.


Thanks to Mike for his blog post and for starting a conversation.

[davew]

As is Mike's personality, He says it like he sees it. No sugar coating in his world. And 90% of the time I agree with Mike's intentions. Not as often his methods.

That letter should be required reading for any and all SCCA higher-ups. By that I mean every Steward, Regional officer, BoD member, CRB member, Chief of all specialties, and/or paid SCCA staff. From the girl who answers the phone right up to the President.

Mike picked on Tech and the helmet sticker issue. It was during a SMAC call that this issue was discussed with members of the CRB. At first I thought Mike was just being Mike. But once we discussed it a few minutes, I realized Mike was correct and that the event staff was just not willing to read and understand what the rule book actually says.

3 weeks ago at Sebring we ran my B-spec car in SSC. Now I could go into a complete tiraid about how SCCA has completely dropped the ball on B-spec, but that is for another time. In a 5 car field of real SSC cars, we should come in 5th by a long ways. Somehow we managed to finish 3rd. Pit exit showed a generic sign "Top 3 in class go to impound". No way where we top 3, I was paying attention to the STL race in the same group. We went back to the trailer, discussed the race and went to get lunch from the concession stand. Result sheets are posted on the wall behind the concession stand. So I went to take a look. To my surprise we actually finished 3rd.

So I hike up 3 flights of stairs to talk with a steward. At this point he has no knowledge that we did not go to impound. Just as I am about to leave the Stewards office, a radio call comes from tech. Tech wants to disqualify us for not going to tech. The STeward and the Tech official get into a discussion, that Tech does not have the power to disqualify anyone. Only the requirement to write a report stating the facts and deliver it to the Stewards. Tech guy just did not want to hear this. He was adimant that we should be disqualified. The Steward corrctly moved us to last in class for failure to report to impound.

This story shows the complete lack of understanding of the GCR by the Chief of Specialty, at a large National event. It also displays the "empire" that one worker is trying to build.

Tech workers have become the "sticker and patch police". Yes, there are a few excellent tech "inspectors" who really know what they are looking at. But most are only qualified to check for the correct patches and stickers. Is this really what the competitors want? Is it what SCCA wants?

Suggestions for upcoming topics:
B-spec, how SCCA is screwing up a perfectly good idea
Stewards, too fat and slow to make quick decisions when needed
Explain the differences betweek Formula B, C, E, M and 1000. And why they all need their own class.
How to convert the SCCA aircraft carrier into one of those rally style speed boats we watch on ESPN at 2am
The Runoffs, too long, too expensive, too much drama.
SCCA, a class for everyone, and everyone gets a trophy
Pro Racing, will they ever get it right?

Gotta love the guy who is willing to open his mouth and stand up for what he believes in

Dave

[Muda]

I tried to get something changed last year. It needed approval from the central office. The region sent it up and it never got done. So guess what, NASA is going to do it for 2012 in our region. I didn't ask them, they just saw the same need I did and moved it forward. And it'll be a money maker for them.

[wheel]

Dave,
This one I can't let go by. If it wasn't for Tom Start and SCCA, B-Spec would not be a class anywhere. SCCA is giving birth to B-Spec, not screwing it up.
While I grant the tech person didn't know how it is supposed to work, you finished 3rd and didn't go to impound, yet you ended up where you should be because the system worked.
Your other list, however, has some merit. We are working on Runoffs, Formula, Class wheeler - whatever we bring, we get a trophy, etc.

Plus, you could probably use a three flight walk up. Good for the circulation.

wheel

[Tom Sager]

It would be easy to pile on here and point out the various SCCA shortcomings and as a 30+ year member there is plenty of material to work with. I attended my first club race as a spectator in 1964 at Watkins Glen at the age of 3 and barely has there been a year since then that I didn't attend at least one event as a spectator, crew, worker, solo driver or racer.

Driving home from events is usually a very good time to reflect on racing and sometimes I can't believe how lucky we are as amateurs to compete on the greatest tracks in the country and in such a fun and competitive class as SM. I know so many people who envy this who could never do it for a variety of reasons and I think we're fortunate in this day and age that environmentalists, lawyers and insurance companies haven't killed what we're doing.

As a mostly volunteer organization, it's hard to be overly critical and I'd have to say that I am often a customer at a variety of businesses staffed by full time trained people that give me poorer and less firendly service than I get from SCCA. As a group, we racers could be criticized for not giving back to the organization what we could. That's not to say that we don't have some very devoted racers that have done plenty for the club. After participating in some NASA weekends in 2011, I'd call the experience "comparable" to SCCA. It's a different business model and there are some differences but pretty similar to me from a participation standpoint.

SCCA to some extent lacks a mission. It's not really for profit, although it needs some positive cash flow to survive. It's for fun for most and a luxury at that. It has a lot of turnover in terms of membership and a relatively small paid staff. What we as racers pay to the organization as a percentage of our overall race budget is pretty small. It does, however, have more competition from other organizations now than ever. When it becomes "unfun" or too expensive, both workers and participants can find something else to do or somewhere else to do it. As members, we all have some responsibility to keep the club healthy and leave it in good shape for the next generation. If we're not willing to step up to that, then we should ask the club to hire more full-time professionals and raise our fees to pay for it. I don't think we should blindly continue with the belief that there will always be somewhere for us to race our cars.

It was good of Mike to write his blog. My action item for this year will be to find a way to give back a little to the club and hope that in 2012 racing doesn't become too expensive or unfun.

[LarryKing]

I can't believe how lucky we are as amateurs to compete on the greatest tracks in the country

+100

The first time I raced at Daytona I couldn't stop thinking "I can't believe they let a smoe like me out on track here."

FWIW my limited budget is making me choose which group I race with this year, SCCA or NASA.

SCCA wins.

[Chris Adams]

I've never road raced with SCCA, only Autocross. I am not opposed to trying SCCA as I am a member, but NASA has been my choice mainly because that's where my friends have raced, many of them in Time Trials.

I am curious as to what Mike has to say about NASA. :popcorn:

[dstevens]

Great post Meat. Lot's of other good opinion from guys like Dave W and Wheel. These are the kind of discussions the club should be having. If this was on the program at the convention, I'd go. I did sign up for the guided tour of Wynn/Penske Ferrari. The grass isnt' always greener on the benevolent dictator side though. It's more about people than it is orgs. I'd like to see more of this sort of discussion.