pullg

Depending on the region, it'll be largely transparent to competitors. The region has to cough up something like $15 for each non-member to cover the cost -- how much, if any, of that they pass on to the competitors is up to the region (I don't know what CFR is planning). The region sends the list of names off to the National office, who then spams the newbies mailbox with recruiting material...and I think they can apply the "temporary membership" cost towards a regular membership, whether they actually had to pay out or the region absorbed it. IMO, it's another one of those bad recruiting ideas that'll either go away or cause regional autocross programs -- many of whom began as independent clubs and linked with the SCCA for the favorable insurance coverage -- to break loose from the club. The autocross programs in many regions gets little, if anything from the rest of the region, and in some of the smaller ones, it's the bulk of the participants.

On the other hand, that's what they get for hiring an auto industry exec to run the club...is there a U.S. industry that's suffering more because it's lost sight of its purpose?

Native

Thanks. Got it covered. But I'm with Loren - we'll need to play "meet the parents" with any first-timer minor. I know of once before we didn't, and while no harm was done, after further discussion and thought we won't any more.

Jordan Y.

I went to an SCCA club racing day at Sebring once just to see what it was like. There were two other kids my age who were there with their fathers racing, then the rest of them were 40, 50, and 60 years old. 75 percent of the cars running were 30 year old RX-7s and VWs and even older Formula Fords and the like, the same cars these same guys have been running for the last 20+ years. There was some younger blood in Spec Miata and one unlimited class that had a mish-mash of crazy, random cars running, but the average age was over 40 and it didn't seem they were drawing young blood in.

In autocross, HPDE, whatever, SCCA has crazy and complicated rules and classes and you pretty much have to build your car from the ground up to fit into a class because pretty much any street tuner car somebody would build today is going to have that one chassis brace or engine part or suspension part that is outlawed and puts you in XP. "Oh, you have a triangulated strut tower brace, go race against tube frame aero cars". "Turbo? AWD? No road race for you!" Whereas NASA, FAST, etc, tend to be much more open. Just the impression I get, and the impression I'm sure a lot of other youngsters get when they start looking in to the sport and are put off by the three jillion pages of SCCA classing rules. My old DSM would have been in some insane class where it would have been tens of seconds slower than the pace even with a pro driver at pretty much any SCCA event and it was just a run-of-the-mill average mods turbo DSM.

jaball77

Please ignore Jeff. Apparently he's not taking his medication...

The truth is that the SCCA is just as friendly for beginners and have just as much fun as any other club. We have novice walkthroughs of the course at every event and dedicated novice instructors as well.

I've been trying to attend both FAST and SCCA events when I can... Seat time is always nice!

pullg

In their defense, the SCCA is the only amateur racing organization out there with nationally-consistent rules covering almost anything you care to race from the last 50 years at any level from local to national competition (although the road-racers are admittedly cool towards turbos, believing difficult-to-police boost mods will make them class killers). That's an extremely tall order! The closest NASA, and obviously the marque clubs, have come is with marque-specific (or close to it, as with American Iron) classes where the performance differences are far smaller.

The SCCA autocross rules are explicitly designed for national competition, and in fact, the rulebook allows local regions to modify or ignore any of them other than the safety rules. NASA doesn't have a common set of autocross rules, and even the TT rules are not used universally or without modification. In fact, not that many NASA regions run autocrosses, and two attempts to hold NASA-X national championship failed. The FAST ruleset was deliberately designed to be simple, and it works great for the local group of drivers here, where variations in driver skill often even out modifications or differences between cars. It surely wouldn't work for national-level competition...it might not even work away from Tampa!

Having helped with the design proposals for the Street Touring (at least what became STS) and Street Modified categories (both were member-initiated proposals), I can tell you there is no such thing as a "typical" street tuner car...we looked hard! And serious competitiors -- remember the rules are designed to cover national competition -- will exploit everything in the rules. I'm surprised you couldn't find a home for the DSM in Street Mod, though...the category was pretty much invented to make a home for modified turbo cars, and the guy who was the key proponent drove a modified DSM.

Mars_302

street mod was no fun at times driving a mustang compared to everyone else. It did make you try hard though.

Spin Out

You know, I decided to drop my SCCA membership because it was just too expensive (even when it was offered as a Xmas gift from a family member). This on top of the recently raised event prices. I just planned to go to fewer SCCA events this year. Now, if I'm reading this right, I'll have to pay for a temporary membership?
I'll stick to the reasonably priced events with free lunches.

w0rd

I don't think the SCCA rates are going to change, as they are already too high.
If you aren't going to SCCA events because they are too expensive. Send an email to the solo chairmen and let them know.

SOLO II Chairman
Tim Reardon - reardo_t@bellsouth.net
SOLO II Co-Chairman
Dat Nguyen - dnguyen1@cfl.rr.com

pullg

?? IIRC, the non-member price for west coast events is now $30...granted, they don't serve the famous FAST lunch, but it's hardly highway robbery, especially considering the number of runs you're getting. And as I said, the "temporary membership" aspect may be invisible to the competitors...it's the region's choice how much, if any at all, they choose to pass on. I have no window into the decision process, but Jeremy's probably right -- after having to raise event fees recently, CFR might choose to eat most or all of the cost for at least this season. National office buffoonery notwithstanding, CFR and every other SCCA region I've run over the years with does a pretty good job.

bam2002

Its been a while since I have been to a SCCA event . But I recall having to pay an extra 10 bucks if I was not a member over the standard cost. Making it the most expensive event, plus there was a late fee if you didnt make it to the sign up desk by a set time. So it could end up being 15 more than other events.
I am actually looking for more seat time. to go out and spend a day at a event for 5 sub 1 minute runs is not worth my time. I want to get at least 8 runs. Or I actually plan to start doing track days with up to 3 hours of track time in a day.

B