2010 NEDiv Roundtable

[Jeremy Billiel]

Ahh... The roundtable does not need to happen in person as the internet is much more fun.

So there are a lot of correct statements in all of these responses. Here they are in no perticular order.

1. Volunteers due stick to particular regions and will usually work their preferred region first.
2. Regions do talk a lot about the races and who is do what, when.
3. There are still too many events
4. There are too many SCCA regions in the Northeast
5. The politics due come into play often.
6. Its no secret that when regions put two races on the same weekend typically someone loses. Last year it was NJMP
7. Regions try to use series like the NARRC to draw cars and make marginal events profitable.
8. The events that are succesful have NOTHING to do with the region. They have EVERYTHING to do with car counts, track time, fun, uniqueness, etc...
9. The Pro IT was never intented to replace regionals, but it did and the drivers made that clear with their wallets last year.
10. I must be missing something?

 

[Andy Bettencourt]

I think what Jerry was saying was that WORKERS care what Region is hosting an event - because that is effectively their employer for the weekend and each Region does things differently and certain things or certain friends can make the difference in the desire to volunteer.

We as drivers my not care who hosts the event, but we are indeed just half the picture. No drivers, no fun. No workers, no fun.

At the end of the day, we have a ton of events to choose from. That is great. But Regions need to understand (and I think they do) that there are only a certain amount of 'entries' in a given year. If you water down those entries over too many races, nobody wins. In today's day and age, each Region is I am sure very concious of not losing money. But from a drivers standpoint, it will be frustrating is a Regional Official comes on here worried about losing money on an event when it was double-booked with some other event inter-divisionally. I think everyone can understand that.

I like the way it's going, but we can continually improve.

 

[Andy Bettencourt]

And I think the TeamDI pro-it series is by far the best series that I have ever witnessed for IT in the northeast. They truely understand what the drivers like and how to do it! Longer races, big events, fun atmosphere, podiums with awards and pictures, a cool website...ect. they are the goal and what i feel should be the expextations and example for the NARRC. even the NARRC Runoffs (new englands largest event) cant compaire. For me though even with all that... the car counts were low in ITB and I missed racing with all the other regular NARRC competitors. The regions, doing what Greg shows, are hurting car counts and ruining what i enjoy about SCCA in the northeast. I think they ARE lucky others aren't around...

Stephen
Those businesses that don't see their competition are their own competition.

First, you can NOT compare Pro IT to NARRC (or any other Regional series). Pro IT is an IT and SM series ONLY. They don't have to worry about 7 other run groups etc. It's a great series, inside an event. Pro IT could NOT stand on it's own without everything going on around it. Think about that a little when you hold it up as the goal. It's an AWESOME series, but it is a small fish swimming alongside the big fish.

Second, NASA is a good organization. They cater to a different croud than seems to be up here. We have too many racers and the tracks are too small for them to succeed in their structure. Look at how they run events and you will see it would be hard to fit. The Regions run great events up here...and has been said, we have too many of them. NASA is solid, but not much room for them right now. A real fear is that WHEN we give up events and dates, NASA could grab them. The Regional teams know this and it contributes to their reluctance to relase dates. They ARE thinking big picture too.

RR in the NE is not broken, we just need to strengthen in some spots and losen the grip in some.

 

[lateapex911]

8. The events that are succesful have NOTHING to do with the region. They have EVERYTHING to do with car counts, track time, fun, uniqueness, etc...

Actually, the Regions DO have a lot to do with that. NER has adopted some great formats and those draw racers. There are some racers who do track time vs entry fee math and decide where to go based on that. So the regions that come up with the best events will have an extra draw.

But it's still only one aspect of the 'where to race decision".

 

[dickita15]

So for me, conflicting event weekends are certainly a decision. But honestly, it's probably irrelevant whether they are on the SAME date, as I'm not super likely to attend both on back to back weekends.

I think Jake hit on a key point with this. While the NJMP-NHMS conflicts are irritating I do not think the fact that they are on the same weekends or just close make a whole lot of difference to the drivers. The core workers however it does effect as there are a few key skilled people who support both tracks.

There is very little date flexibility with the tracks. You can make small changes some of the time. This year at NHMS there were two changes, at the region’s request August got move 1 week earlier so there was more separation from Cheap date in September, and the movement of our memorial day event to the first week in June on the track’s insistence I believe because they had some who wanted all three days on the holiday.

I am hopeful that next year we can try to move the July Pig event a week either way as that conflict not only with NJMP but the Glen national as well and truthfully that is the bigger problem in my thinking.

NER’s first obligation is to build a series for the drivers who run the series the most. NERRC has good spacing an honestly they need to please the guy from Boston who runs most of the races at NH more that the guy from southern Ct who runs once or twice a year. You want to please everybody but all you can do is the best you can do.

NJMP is an immature track from a scheduling point of view and it will take a few years to figure out what the right level of racing events and what the schedule should look like.

 

[ner88]

Guys, I don't take it personal.
But, to assume we don't understand or care is wrong.
There is no simple solution, it is a work in progress.

 

[lateapex911]

Dicks point regarding the workers is probably the biggest issue. I'm not in the inner circle, but, from my view that's the thinnest resource, and much of it is shared by multiple regions. Mattberg will tell you that we have too many white suits at the track...I dunno about that. But I DO know that EVERY race I go to I'm going to see Karen Peterson, or other familiar faces. That's great...I like Karen! But, she and the others have only so much vacation time/patience/money...

I know Jerry and the entire regional staff of NER are well aware of that, and I know the whole issue is like trying to wrestle an octopus with claws into a handbag with no latch, I just hope the regions (et al) aren't overdoing it with the number of races available to us workers and racers.

(It would be interesting to look back say to 97 and see what the regional schedule was...how many events and where.)

 

[ner88]

Heck, we only need to look back as far as 2007, pre NJMP.
When Palmer is ready the situation only gets more complicated.
These are all new problems to us but with a little patients and time we will work thru them.
Last weekend at the Round table the eight racing regions spent all day Saturday working out the Nediv National racing program. Not to many left happy but in the end everyone gave a little(ok some more than others) to develope a plan that was best for the division.