Daytona in May--long

its66

New member
I don't know how else to get the word out , so I'll start here. I'm also going to cross post in the Enduro sub forum.

CFR has decided to make the May national/ECR, a Regional/ECR instead. Rick
Balderson, CFR's RE gave a detailed explanation in the August Checker. (online at www.cfrscca.org) Basically, the region wants to try this for a year, and measure the response. The PTB feel that changing this to a regional weekend would free up some time constraints, and allow all competitors to have good track time, and fair scheduling.

As one would figure, some national competitors are not happy. They are VERY vocal. These same guys have been lobbying behind the scenes for years to get the ECR/regional competitors excluded from that same event. They are the guys who are responsible for ECR competitors not having a practice session for the last two years. They are also the same guys responsible for a Schedule which had the large bore IT cars qualify Saturday a.m., yet be the last race on Sunday. This event used to have one enduro group each day.

Now they are citing decreased ECR attendance, and lobbying to pull the ECR, and reinstate it as a National race only. They can't see that some of the decrease in ECR attendance is due to the schedule changes, which were pushed for by the same group of guys.

They are tossing out numbers to support their claims that the national weekend is more profitable, and have even publicly claimed that the national guys are "subsidizing" the regional racers. One of the erroneous claims is the number of regional competitors in CFR. By using the number of registered regional license holders vs. the number of national license holders, they are skewing the numbers. How many IT racers hold a national competition license??? I know many. I bet you do too.

I realize the national program is important to the 50 or so CFR guys who actually pursue national points. We are not being given the same respect. We(IT competitors) recently lost the January event. If we don't speak up, we will lose the May race also. If it is a regional, the national competitors can still race, everybody gets to play. IF they end up getting it reinstated, and continue to squeeze the region to push the IT guys out, then 120-160 competitors DO NOT get to race at Daytona in May.

This group of national competitors, mainly from the SRF camp, will be out with Surveys this weekend at Daytona. They have an audience with the BOG to present some of their version of numbers, and results of this survey. IF you care to continue racing at Daytona, or would like to see the weekend improve, I urge you to chose that you are in favor of the weekend being a regional. I'm not sure of the wording on this survey, so I don't know exactly how the votes will reflect by the time they are interpreted, and sent to the BOG.

I will also be there with a petition. My petition simply states that we support the region and want to try it as a regional weekend, so that ALL competitors will have a place to race. At this point, the only people the BOG has heard from is this small faction of national racers. If they (BOG) doesn't hear from the other side, they can only assume that we don't care. You can figure what will happen if we don't at least let them know that we want to race too, and the regional racers do count. If you are interested in hearing more, or helping support the regional racers in CFR, stop by.

I would hate to see us lose another race date, especially for a reason such as this.


PS....I've managed to stay out of the politics of the club..until now. They finally managed to suck me in!!

(black helicopter mode off)
 
Jim is not stirring the pot Chris; he is trying to protect a valuable asset to the regional racers. Admittedly, I too have attempted to steer clear of this issue. You know me, loud but passive.

Until now.

I am a 20 year SCCA member. I love this club, mostly for the great people I have been fortunate to meet because of it. I can certainly understand the National racers feelings about loosing "their" race. As Jim points out, we (IT) were added to the January National only to be removed a few years later. If I was racing for a points championship and had to choose races for whatever reason, I would certainly rather race on the long course at Sebring in January than the short course in June. Do you see where I am headed with this?

Part of the National racers argument include, the hardship (real or perceived) that this change will create for them to gain points in their quest for a Championship. I don't really want to get into all the numbers but there is a very small percentage of National competitors from CFR that actually take it all the way. Good for the ones that do. I applaud them for that. But the bottom line...

This club and closer to home, CFR, is a business and needs to be run as such. To remain successful a decision was made to "test" (my word) a change to the May Daytona weekend. To free up the time constraints placed on the weekend by the GCR. To make the weekend fun for EVERYBODY. You see, EVERYBODY is included in this event. Get it?

I tend to get long winded when my passion meter starts to peg so I'll dial it down now. I will be hanging out all weekend at Daytona and will certainly entertain any and all conversations.

One more thing. I was looking at the numbers for this weekend off of DLB. 369 entries spread over 38 classes. Of those 38 classes, 10 make up regional only classes including SM. Those 10 classes show 202 entries! I don't do public math but that’s an impressive percentage.

See you all this weekend.
 
One more thing. I was looking at the numbers for this weekend off of DLB. 369 entries spread over 38 classes. Of those 38 classes, 10 make up regional only classes including SM. Those 10 classes show 202 entries! I don't do public math but that’s an impressive percentage.

See you all this weekend.


Not afraid of public math.. 26% of the classes make for 54% of the entries/cars/ or, more importantly PEOPLE/MEMBERS.
 
Kinda reminds me of this past weekend.

Bob Zecca, Daryl Anthony, and company arrange to have a Pro-IT race at Lime Rock Park this past weekend during the National weekend. The National guys paid ~$450 for their two-day weekend, while the Pro-IT guys paid $380 (?) for a single-day, 15-minute qualifier (during lunch) and 40-minute race (at the end of the day).

We heard some grumblings from a few National racers because of this. When it was pointed out to them that we brought in 38 additional entries (the max the track allows at one time; I think we had to turn some folks away) in only one group, that was running off-time thus costing them nothing in track time, and that without those 38 entires their entry fees would have been as much as $75-100 higher, they kinda got quiet...

Gift horse: mouth, and all that...
 
Kinda reminds me of this past weekend.

Bob Zecca, Daryl Anthony, and company arrange to have a Pro-IT race at Lime Rock Park this past weekend during the National weekend. The National guys paid ~$450 for their two-day weekend, while the Pro-IT guys paid $380 (?) for a single-day, 15-minute qualifier (during lunch) and 40-minute race (at the end of the day).

We heard some grumblings from a few National racers because of this. When it was pointed out to them that we brought in 38 additional entries (the max the track allows at one time; I think we had to turn some folks away) in only one group, that was running off-time thus costing them nothing in track time, and that without those 38 entires their entry fees would have been as much as $75-100 higher, they kinda got quiet...

Same deal here. I seriously doubt that the 200 or so drivers that made up this years National field would be willing to replace the revenue lost from 160 ECR drivers plus second drivers. National guys down here aren't used to ponying up $500 for a single weekend, even at Daytona.

The other unmentioned aspect to this is the crossover from SM. How many SM drivers would stay home from the National if the ECR went away and the price went up? I bet its more than a few.
 
One of the erroneous claims is the number of regional competitors in CFR. By using the number of registered regional license holders vs. the number of national license holders, they are skewing the numbers. How many IT racers hold a national competition license??? I know many. I bet you do too.

I'm up for renewall now, and they want an extra $10 for the National license. Doesn't do me any good so I won't be paying it. Maybe more are cheap also?

Grafton
 
Sorry I won't make it to Daytona for all the fun this weekend. Working too hard and too long lately.

KUDOS to Rick B., Robin and the other CFR directors for having the gonads to stand up for what is best for CFR and our regional racers and still letting everyone in the SCCA join in with us and have some fun at the most premier race track in America. Tough decisions demand real leadership and we have great leaders who really care for what is best and are willing to take on the tough issues and adjust to the dynamics as we go forward.

Jim, let me know how I can sign on to your petition. Good luck to all my CFR friends this weekend. Be safe and have fun. And have a few beers for me too!
 
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