we used to have races in Memphis that would get 10-16 Sm, 17-25 at Gateway.. 25 plus at Hallett every race. Now we don't even have any races in Memphis, Gateway is 2-5 cars if that and hallett still our best race but nothing near what it was. Total attendance is down.. Yet, when our division is basically all but dead, we appoint our area director as president of the club? It is bad enough we stayed within the old school SCCA for this position to move the club forward. But I have no logical explanation as to why would choose the person who headed the weakest and failing division within our club?
The club ABSOLUTELY needs some new direction and new ideas.. When I am still below the "average age:" at 48, we have an issue. We need to generate new members and keep them. We lose as many members as we gain yearly. Collins had some numbers and they were STAGGERING as to how many we lose yearly.
If regional racing falls, it is the first block, majors and racing in general will be next. For the club and club racing to be successful we MUST have a healthy regional program.
To give a perspective, I'm relatively young (25) by SCCA standards and so far I've attended driver school and 3 regional races. Before getting involved in the sport, I did a lot of research on the class, competition, regulations, organizations, costs and how well I thought it would fit what I'm looking for.
Initially, I was blown away by the internet man-drama that was happening. Mind you, I was doing my research last fall where the runoffs debacle was occurring. All winter long all these parity discussions were happening, people pointing fingers at others for cheating, the sky was falling I was sure of it. I couldn't help but look out the window, ask myself what am I getting into and just hoping the snow would finally melt.
While I was fortunate to purchase an NA, those around me begun asking questions, how are you going to keep up with the 99's, your car isn't competitive, etc. Before I showed up to an event, I thought every 99' would just motor around me every straight away, I wouldn't stand a chance. You have to spend (?)XX,000 to keep up with the top prep cars! I just didn't want to believe all this non sense.
Back in May, I raced for the first time and wouldn't you know it the sky wasn't falling. Nobody was pointing fingers, it was actually a place I wanted to be, lots of really cool people! I got beat by those that I deserved to get beat by; it wasn't remotely close to a parity problem. It was due to a lack of skill and preparation! Fortunately, things have only gotten better the more races I go to.
My recommendation for those who post on here often that are concerned about parity and club #'s. Forgo the negative image that gets portrayed online. Before you start pointing fingers and/or accusing the workers of not being held to the highest standard, think about the consequences, it can't help SCCA's image or your own. All the BS on this board was nearly a no-go for me for racing in spec miata and may be others current ideology as well.
I've come to realize that the parity debates are so minimal; yet so difficult to improve because of how close things already are, which are very track dependent! Please don't blow this parity debate out of the water, its much closer than every other class I've witnessed so far. I've done my own acceleration calculations and simulations to understand the difference between 3-10hp down a straight away. My flamesuit recommendation is drop the weight even further on the 1.6; remove the turn signal for power degradation over time, pull the plate on the NA 1.8, keep the 99/vvt the same, and lets go racing and enjoy more battles with some friends
-Erik