What can I do to help?

[team-gpracing]

I understand that the most important thing that the club needs is a boost in race weekend volunteers, but is there anything else I (we) can do to help out the club when we aren't at a race weekend?  I don't want to make excuses for my ability to help during a race weekend, but if there is anything that can be done to help between the races, I would be interested in hearing the opportunities.

Also, what about getting people involved more that aren't directly related to our sport?  I know tons of people turn out for amateur drag racing, circle track, moto-x, etc.  Why do I rarely see spectators at SCCA events?  It's not because it isn't interesting.  In fact every friend/family member that I have brought to the track has had an incredible time.  What about flyers at some of the other motorsports events in the area.  Or advertising on the radio or at sporting events.  Or some blogging/forum presence on some of the other clubs and automotive group websites in our area.  I know we set up "booths" sometimes at pro sportscar events, but I think there is a market out there for volunteers and spectators.  The people are out there, we just need to make them aware that we exist.  When I was a kid, I remember that getting to help out at the local circle track was a huge deal. 

One last question, are the other regions suffering from this problem as well?

[Fvracer27]

I understand that the most important thing that the club needs is a boost in race weekend volunteers, but is there anything else I (we) can do to help out the club when we aren't at a race weekend?  I don't want to make excuses for my ability to help during a race weekend, but if there is anything that can be done to help between the races, I would be interested in hearing the opportunities.

Also, what about getting people involved more that aren't directly related to our sport?  I know tons of people turn out for amateur drag racing, circle track, moto-x, etc.  Why do I rarely see spectators at SCCA events?  It's not because it isn't interesting.  In fact every friend/family member that I have brought to the track has had an incredible time.  What about flyers at some of the other motorsports events in the area.  Or advertising on the radio or at sporting events.  Or some blogging/forum presence on some of the other clubs and automotive group websites in our area.  I know we set up "booths" sometimes at pro sportscar events, but I think there is a market out there for volunteers and spectators.  The people are out there, we just need to make them aware that we exist.  When I was a kid, I remember that getting to help out at the local circle track was a huge deal. 

One last question, are the other regions suffering from this problem as well?

I just stated the same thing in a few posts up.  So I'm not the only one that feels this way.  I agree with you on this .

Mark

[Miata88]

Communicating is the most important part of our success.
Road Racing has a core group of about 20 people that do 95% of all the work.
I personaly have been on the BOD, for 5 years.
Since I started and even before that there were many communication issues that needed addressing.
What we really need, for those who can't give time at the track is a group to handle publisity.
A committee to oversee/direct Pit Talk, the Website and our overall means of communicating to our membership.

I mentioned the 20 people above because we are all overloaded with the day to day work of just putting on events.
We need a couple (or more) key people to take this on and organize it.
Can anyone of us tell you what to do? No not really, it will require attending some meetings (some) and understanding how things work.

If this is something of interest, please take the first step and call me!

Thanks for listening,
Jerry  508-561-6001

[team-gpracing]

Sounds great Jerry, I will give you a call.


I would love to keep this thread churning though.  I hope that I can help the club in this aspect, but if I can get ideas and support from all of you, that will make an even bigger impact.

Please, if you have an idea on how someone like me can help to bolster not only the volunteers and spectators, but the driver base too, please post it here.  If you know members that don't use the forum, pick their brain and post it here.  Or better yet, get them to join the forum and become part of the online member base.

[CT Miata]

Jerry and all,

I just saw this string which goes to show how often I use the forums.  I agree with the notion expressed here that visibility of the volunteer opportunities available but I am struck by the fact that there is little/no information on our own website regarding volunteer opportunities.  There used to be information on F&C on the website but it was difficult to navigate to the information; I don't even know that it is still there as the search enginge wasn't working.  One thing we could consider is a Volunteer link on the homepage, if someone can provide help with construction, I'm sure the worker specialties would provide the content.

F&C continues to reach out in order to recruit volunteers.  The NEDIV flag schools formerly held at LRP are not viable- they are expensive to run and have not recruited volunteers willing to come up to NHMS.  We have also had a presence at NHMS over the past couple of years at the NHMS FANtasy drive and conducted a mini-flag scholl last spring at NHMS with poor results. We had also offered to have participants from a car corral at last year's Rational come out on station and flag with us.  While we had several eager takers, most of them were from CT and we never saw them again after that event.

If anyone has other suggestions including contacts with other motorsport related organizations, I am happy to hear them.  Some enhanced visibility on the NER website would be a good start.

Mike Ostrander
Co-Chief of Flagging and Communications

[pzahornasky]

FWIW, one of the planned additions to the web-site is a 'help wanted' section.  Club Racing is not the only program that has issues with filling volunteer positions.  Not to mention that we (the Region) occasionally have 'one-off' jobs that need to be done.

[team-gpracing]

A couple questions.....

I was reading in the Pit Talk that we tested a handout pass at the last NHMS event.  How did that go?  It sounds like a great idea!  I would love to be able to hand out "free tickets" to friends to encourage them to come to the track.  This seems like a great way to get people involved in our sport that may not be interested in racing.

Do we ever set up a booth at the pro-racing weekends at NHMS?  Nascar/Indy/etc?

Jerry, when is the next club meeting and where?

How do we go about hosting an event like this?  Seems like a great way to get non-racers to the track.

[team-gpracing]

*bump*

Anything?

[Miata88]

Our events at NHMS are non spectator.
We are limited to 3 pit crew per driver, per our track contract.
our "guest pass" is really nothing more than a driver adding crew.
So, we can't "hand out passes"... however one can invite additional crew!
Yes we do car shows and the like but they generally yield little to nothing!
Our next club racing meeting is October 12th.

[roblav]

We went through all this a ton on the BOD.  My beef has always been that SCCA tracks the wrong metric.  We used to have a briefing every month concerning the number of NER members.  Who cares?!!!!   We want participants, not just members.

Go to a BOD meeting as well as Jerry's Club Racing Board.  Jerry's done both for a long while and needs a backfill.

[team-gpracing]

Our events at NHMS are non spectator.

That's a shame.  Well I still think the guest pass is a great idea, even if it's essentially just an official invite to be crew.  I would think that it gives someone the idea that they have a "ticket" to an event and are more likely to use it than pass up the chance.  Aren't teams allowed "overcrew" at a certain price per head? 

We want participants, not just members.

And I would think that over time, members and spectators become participants.  If someone knows they want to go racing, they buy a car and pick a sanctioning body to do it with.  If you get people excited about competing by being a part of the SCCA first, they'll most likely join the SCCA when/if they decide to start competing.  Short of poaching from other racing organizations, I don't really see how you can get more competitors except to get them in before they're competitors.

[team-gpracing]

Had an idea.  How about a simple a-frame sign that gets taken to every event and placed at the entry to the track that reads...

DO YOU LIKE RACING? WE NEED YOUR HELP!  WORKERS NEEDED FOR SCCA WEEKENDS.  INQUIRE AT REGISTRATION OR VISIT NER.ORG FOR MORE INFO

And maybe add "we have beer" at the end.   

[flynnracing]

To team-gpracing, I have ready our posts and these all seem like fantastic ideas. I race but am not all that involved with the club regarding organizing events etc, but that is partly because it seems frustrating that people go about things the way they do and ultimately arent open to suggestions like yours. SPECTATATORS and creating the appearance of a high level and prestigious racing program is what scca needs to be doing to bring in spectators (future drivers, flaggers etc) and participants. If you go to a Grand Am race or even Porsche Club race you will see what I mean. People dont even know that racing is going on so how can they get involved. If they do show up there is no fanfare, no booth like you discuss, no announcer at new hampshire (everyone loves the announcer durring racing at LRP), no significant celebration for winners (besides a beer mug for first place) and not even a sign by the track or posters in local restaurants etc. There needs to be a marketing campaign and money spent on this. As a business owner, I can tell you that until this all happens, there will be dwindling participation. There are just too many other options for people these days.

There was an unmanned "booth" at the vintage festival at Lime Rock, and you should have seen it. It was one of the most embarassing things I have seen in the sport. There were messy handwritten signs on cardboard asking fo SCCA participation, no color photos, no posters, nothing. If you had a booth there with a clean GT1 car with driver answering questions and bright shiny professional literature I am SURE it would have garnered different results. Instead there was cardboard signs next to million dollar ferraris. Its simple - SCCA needs to attract MONEY. People with money to spend on racing and race teams.   

[Miata88]

One person can only do so much!
Ideas are great but who is going to follow thru? Me? don't think so!
I've only so much time to give......
I won't bore you with my stuff but if you (whoever) don't step up than it's probably not gonna get done!

Please don't feed me the "No one asked me!" It's your club, I'm an equal member just like you! Why should I have to ask, no one asked me!
You have to look around and think, how can I help? Then find the time and help make things better!
First time in 12 years I never got to put a tire on the track at NHMS and I only missed one event!

Sorry for the rant, i'm a little tired. Just go back from the drive to Ithaca,NY for the Nediv Mini Con. So we could set our NER race schedule, NARRC schedule and National race schedule and all rules.
Also, started planning for the 2014 season now!
and tomorrow is the NER BOD meeting!
and I should make posters and man a booth too???
Please!

[team-gpracing]

Well that wasn't a very positive response.   

How about this Jerry?  You know when you go to Thanksgiving dinner at your brother's house and you ask him what you can bring, and he says, "Umm, well, we're making the bird and the stuffing and the potatoes.  Mom is making the pie.  We still need green bean casserole and cranberry jello.  Can you bring that?". 

What if we had a list of stuff that needs to be done and we peddle it around at tech and here on the site.  You get people to sign up and take on specific tasks.  A to do list of sorts.  You know us racers love our lists.

Of course that may require people to visit this site.  It blew my mind today when I saw 4 new posts in club racing.  Where are all the BOD/CRB members on this site?  Is it because there aren't any in Road Racing?  They should be checking at least every couple days and posting.  No excuses.  Pit Talk is practically dead.  We don't send communications at the track except for the supps.  The forum is where the information needs to be.  We're wasting a valuable resource.

You can complain all day that people who care like Flynn and myself aren't proactive, but the problem is that WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE THERE IS NO PROTOCOL SET UP TO LET US KNOW!!!!  You tell us to get involved and help, but you don't tell us how.  See my last post for instance.  Do you want me to make a sign and post it at the entrance of the track with no approval from anyone?  Months ago I asked you if I could write an article for PitTalk, informing everyone about this forum.  I got a positive response, but when I asked to be put in touch with someone at the magazine.....nothing.   

You have to make it easy for people to help the club, not difficult and discouraging.

Sorry for the attack, but without support from the club, interest wanes.  I don't want to discourage people that care.