42 replies to this topic

[nickatgt]

I'd like to thank everyone that read and responded to my previous post about the proposed change to the Atlanta Region schedule for the March Double National. We had a Region Board meeting last night and decided to keep the schedule the same as was originally planned and submitted to the SE Div site. That means that the March 15 - 17 race weekend will be a double "Majors" event.

There were pros and cons to moving the event but in the end we decided that perhaps the "loading" of Majors in May in the Eastern Conference was a larger issue for attendance than the "out of conference" competition from the COTA Majors event, the week before our March event. I know the comments here were supportive of the change, we did consider your inputs,

We hope everyone will be joining us in Atlanta for the March Major and kick-off your Spring racing with us. We are looking forward to seeing you at the track.

As always, I look forward to your questions or comments.

Nick

[Jim Drago]

If you don't mind, what were some of the reasons for keeping the event that way? The changes seemed very well thought out and accepted as a good change? I would only think going back will be thought in the opposite way? I am sure my guys will want to try and make it, but it will definitely put a strain on us to try and do so and may force us top choose.

Jim

[FTodaro]

That is to bad, it will likely knock me out, I cannot recover from COTA in time to make Atlanta, the set ups are totally opposit and there is 28 hrs of drive time in there, going home and back to Atlanta.

[Jim Drago]

I think it will severely hurt attendance. While I love Road Atlanta, probably my favorite track.. If forced to choose, there is no choice, at least not in year one. Just my opinion, but I think it is one shared by most. I am sure there was a reason it was changed back and the conflict was probably unavoidable
Jim

[Todd Lamb]

Pretty sure a majority of the SE SM racers will be at COTA and not at RA the following weekend...sometimes rolling with the changes and catering to the needs of your market is important, and I think this was one of those times.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

<sub>90% chance I will miss ATL this year, I am already committed to COTA, very sad as I have put in a lot of time at ATL and have improved much, was really looking forward to running some consitent times this time around which would have me in the hunt for a spot in the top 8 in a very tough field.

The change back seems very crazy to me... It would be nice if the reasoning behind the 180 turn were posted up.</sub>

[Bruce Andersen]

Same here, planning on doing COTA (seems to be the event of the year). The revised (old) date for the majors event at Road Atlanta worked for me, changing it back will not work out for me. It would be great to be able to do both events. So if there is anyway to re-evaluate the change back to the orignal/previous date, that would be great.

[Danny Steyn]

Likewise - Hotels booked for COTA already. Cannot miss that race

[Jim Creighton]

I was at the Atlanta Region Board meeting when the final decision was made to stay with the traditional date of March for the Double National. Iwas there only because I had been elected as a two year Director starting in 2013.

The first thing to note is the original post by the Atlanta Region said they were considering the date switch between the March & May date, not that it was a done deal. The Region officials were a little miffed when the date was announced immedialetly as a change.

Next, the date switch was contingent on NCR giving Atlanta permission to run a Double SARRC race the weekend after the VIR SARRC race, something they had not received. The SARRC rules prohibit back to back SARRC races within 450 miles.

Next, when the original decision was made, the Board did not fully understand the Majors rules, specifically, that out of Zone points could not be carried back to another Zone like out of Division National race points can. They felt many drivers would now look within their own Zone for more races and travel less to out of Zone races.

Next, the May Majors date put the Atlanta race right in the middle of 3 Eastern Zone races in a 5 week period. Everyone on the Board agreed that most NEDiv drivers would skip Atlanta since most drivers can not deal with 3 Double weekends in 5 weeks. And there had been a number of posts on other boards from NEDiv drivers that they would have to skip an Atlanta May Majors.

If any driver is even remotely considering running for the Eastern Zone Championship and is from SEDiv, there is no way they could win or even finsih high if they skip Atlanta especially the Florida drivers of which there is a large contingent.

Atlanta Region took quite a financial loss at the Barber Double Rational in Sept. Many drivers who earlier had indicated they would run the National portion because they wanted to race at Barber did not attend. The Board feeling was they could not afford to lose the NEDiv racers with the May date, something that was almost certain to happen.

I offered my opinions, gave the raw numbers from past races but did not vote since I do not join the Atalnat Region Board until January. What I do hope is all of you understand the decision and try to support a Region that has long strived to provide you with fun race weekends even when the finances were tough. Without your support of Atlanta Region, I can assure you that additional cut backs will have to be made.

Now, don't shoot the messenger. You asked for an explanation and I posted it best as I recall. I'm not going to debate the decision here.

I'd be happy to speak further with you in person at Sebring which now is only 14 days until the first test day. See you there.

[Jim Drago]

Jim
Thanks for the response. I'm sure not what anyone wants to hear, but there are always other factors considered in these schedules.

The Barber deal? I can't understand why hat is not a successful event, my only thought is it is just too close the Runoffs?

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Jim C, thanks for your thoughtful response. I think the Atl Major will be majorly impacted in the SM group, it may not be so much in the other groups, Only time will tell. I love racing at ATL, and you guys always put on a great event, and have good tech, and friendly workers. Hope I can make it this year, but probably wont be able to swing it.

[Tom OPM]

I can only speak for my group that is going to do COTA. That race will just be too big an event to miss. We will get back Mon-Tues and have to set up at the track Wed for Thurs test. Just not a workable schedule in my opinion. I am sure there are other considerations than just the drivers and teams doing COTA, but I think you will lose a lot of them.

[Alex Bolanos]

What a shame, there's no way we can make it after doing COTA. I knew the move to May made too much sense to actually be implemented... I guess we'll just do the ARRC, have a great year Road Atl!

[davew]

As hard as it is for Tom to do an "away race" and a home race. Imagine how hard it will be for people trying to do back to back away races.

I do not forsee any of my guys doing Atlanta.

[FTodaro]

To bad there cannot be some kind of a fix, maybe swapping dates with another region or club. I know how much I enjoy doing this event and seeing everyone but I would have to say its darn near impossible for most of the COTA crowd to make it. To much driving and prepping to do in 2 or 3 days depending on where you live.

[Jim Creighton]

Tom, I'll come up to the shop and help you for a couple of days if you decide to skip Atlanta. If you come on to Atlanta, I'll stay away.

For the others, this is much the reaction we got from the NEDiv guys when the race was announced in May. In addition some of the Florida drivers didn't like the 4 month gap between Majors. This way, it spaces them every two months.

As I said/asked, hopefully some of you can make both races. I do understand since we used to run Palm Beach and Texas World on back to back weekends and it was a task. But, I did it with only one guy at the shop and three cars plus they were prod cars. Of course, we got so good at it that we could change a motor in 30 minutes including lunch. But, wait, only Danny changes motors between sessions. Oh, I'm not being nice now. Time to go.

Everyone have a great Christmas and I'll see you at Sebring.

[nickatgt]

Jim summed up the decision process very well. I posted here and several other sites to get feedback on the proposed change. The SM community is an important part of our racing program and we truly value your participation. A couple of things that Jim outlined influenced our decision. Even though the public feedback on the MazdaRacers board had supported the change we received a similar amount of private feedback and public from the other boards saying the proposed change wouldn't work for them. We were between a rock and a hard place and chose what we felt was the best for the Region's racing program in the long term.

When it came down to it, here is our thinking...

We want to support the Majors program in the Eastern Conference and having the second slot (after Sebring) and kicking off the Spring season with a Major is a great tradition to start and maintain.

We want our Major to be a special event and having it as the middle event in a string of Majors (actually every 2weeks) in the conference is going to effect the event. We received a lot of feedback about these scheduling issues from other forums.

We had a few logistic issues trying to reschedule the other races, Jim pointed out trying to get agreement in making the March race a SARRC race. Another issue was the inability to schedule a Road Atlanta test day in May.

Finally there was some thought that the newness of COTA will wear off and sticking with the traditional March Spring kick-off is the right thing to do for the long term.

I hope this explains our thinking. I hope you can understand why we did what we did. I take full responsibility for the decision. Not an easy one for the new guy. If there is anything that we can do to help you make the March Major, please let me know.

I hope I will see you sometime at Road Atlanta in 2013 if not in March some other time. We want to make RA the best for your racing.

[Keith Andrews]

Thank you for your candor. I think that goes a long way with everyone.

[davew]

The rest of SCCA could learn a lot from this thread. Be open, honest and do your best. You will not please everyone. But if you try really hard and it can't be done, we have to applaud you for your efforts.

As I posted elsewhere, 2013 is going to be a cluster f.... Hopefully the powers to be will announce the 2014 program early enough to stop the whining about 2013 and start looking forward to 2014.

Dave

[Brocodile]

I want to second the opinions of Jim, Keith and Dave. Offering an explanation of the rationale counters the tendency of many to assume that the decision was simply arbitrary. Many competing interests were involved and no perfect solution was available. It's clear you made an honest effort. Thanks Nick and Jim for spelling it out for us. Unfortunately, those chasing the Majors championship now have their own decision to make. So it goes.