How about a new club to join the SCTA?

[Dynoroom]

As to how to pull duties at events, I don't have an answer for that, I wished  I did.

Hope this helps, not trying to stir up the pot, just my opinion.

See you on the salt
Clay

Clay, and there is the problem. The clubs exist to "be" the SCTA and the SCTA exist because of the clubs and the duties they perform. Those duties (see the SCTA website) are split up among the member clubs as stated before, so that is why a non local club is a tough pull.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Seeing as the SCTA's main function is to support LSR at El Mirage, and in light of the loss of a club and this year's rain in Utah, can the SCTA remain sufficiently viable as an amalgamation of clubs to continue its support of Speedweek and World Finals?

[Stan Back]

I sure don't know who else could take it on and get the experienced volunteer help it needs to be successful.

[RichFox]

When i started running at El Mirage they were getting around 62 enterys at a meet. They were running a long time before I got there, and I expect them to be running for a long time in the future.

[Glen]

They have been around 76 years and have gone through  lean years but still survive. A new club that would be active would require at least 3 years to be efficient to be a good club duty wise.
Do you have enough people that you need to add a club and understand what is expected of them 6 times a year.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Glen - and everyone:  I haven't taken a poll to see who might be interested in a new non-SoCal club.  And I haven't thought of a fair way to do the EM duties that are a big part of being a club.  I'm just thinking of the keyboard.

As for would we have enough?  Unh, I can think of hundreds of potential members, including some from South Africa, Sweden, Australia, France, and lots of other countries other than the US.  And in this country we have hundreds of people that might be interested in joining a club.  I don't think quantities will be an issue --- even if one in fifty of the "eligible" racers wants to join the new club - assuming we do manage to make it happen. 

Duties?  That's still to be figgered out.  Where can I find a list of the total duties that have to be done by club members at an El Mirage meet?  How many people must be there, and what are they -- course stewards, course walkers/cleanup, set-up of what stuff, and so on?  I haven't looked at the EM procedure rules/list -- and if that's where they are I guess I can find them.  Or so can anyone that wants to know.

Again, I'm just testing the water to see if there's interest in trying to form a club.  It isn't happening yet -- just asking about it.  And mostly because it gives us something to talk about during the newly-started non-race season.

[Milwaukee Midget]

More spaghetti . . .

What if a club of "outliers" were formed and the members of such a club would be adjunct members of current clubs?

By that, outlier members would be assigned tasks currently divvied up between the established clubs and work with a designated club as an adjunct member, with the understanding that in order to run at El Mirage, the adjunct members would have to first pull a volunteer shift at El Mirage.

You would then have volunteers for Elmo, and if the member decides they want to compete, the club that "sponsored" the outlier would receive any points earned by the outlier.

Just a thought.

[JR529]

Glen - and everyone:  I haven't taken a poll to see who might be interested in a new non-SoCal club.  And I haven't thought of a fair way to do the EM duties that are a big part of being a club.  I'm just thinking of the keyboard.

Something to keep in mind, The EM duties are not a big part of being in an SCTA club, they are essentially the only part. You help put on the meet so you can race in it. The SCTA is a blanket organisation created to enable a bunch of racers to band together to put on events. It exists solely to put on the racing meets for the benefit of it's membership. And essentially all of those chores are local, "boots on the ground" duties. That's why the long distance issue is such a difficult issue to solve.

This is the reason why I think a dedicated long distance club could never happen. There is very little benefit for the SCTA or SCTA member clubs. However, I do think long distance members could be members within a normal SCTA club since the local infrastructure is already in place and the clubs will always have jobs that could be done from a remote location (website, mailings, merchandise sales etc...). If the long distance membership of a club was kept to a manageable proportion, say 20%, the club could probably shift the duty load to other willing members for a $ subsidy. But if you had 80% long distance members or more in a club then the local members would head for the doors faster than you could say overwhelmed!

[Dynoroom]

JR has that about right. The Land Speed Racers of SoCal has about 65-70 members currently. We have members in Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alabama, that I can think of off the top of my head. The member in Texas only runs Bonneville currently, but wanted to be kept up to date on SCTA issues AND help the organization. He has someone pull his duties and compensates them in some way. On the other end of the scale the member from Alabama called me early in 2014 to volunteer for a patrol duty when he would be coming to El Mirage for an event. Many other clubs do the same but the bottom line is SOMEONE has to do the work.

Carry on with you ideas, as I'm not against a new club I'm just showing you why it might be difficult.

[Glen]

Why not start some clubs for ECTA and run for points and the rewards at the end of the season. They are big enough with the draw for the mid west and east coast. Hows that sound. I am sure SCTA would work helping set this up  and get thru the learning curve.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Why not start some clubs for ECTA and run for points and the rewards at the end of the season. They are big enough with the draw for the mid west and east coast. Hows that sound. I am sure SCTA would work helping set this up  and get thru the learning curve.

Speaking for myself, I want to see both a strong SCTA and a strong ECTA. 

But for me, it's primarily about Bonneville.

As SCTA holds sway over Bonneville, my inclination is to be supportive of SCTA-BNI.

As Michael pointed out, one of the SCTA clubs is having trouble maintaining membership, which makes dividing duties harder for the whole organization. 

So here's a couple of questions that this brings to the fore . . .

A.  Is there sufficient membership in the SCTA clubs to effectively cover the El Mirage events and still permit the members to get their laps in?

B.  Is there sufficient membership in BNI to maintain racing at Bonneville?

I'm looking at a year where both BNI events at Bonneville were called due to weather, and it causes me to consider what someone outside the clubs can do to maintain both racing at Elmo and at Bonneville.

From an outsider's point of view, Bonneville is SCTA's baby, so a strong SCTA is in my interest.  But if one of the clubs might fold, what does that say about the rest of the SCTA clubs?

As a non club member, I have no access to the information to properly assess the relationship or the health of the clubs, the SCTA or BNI.

76 years is a long time - the oldest auto racing sanctioning body in the country.  The only thing that's ever stopped it is WWII and rain.  It's volunteer, so I expect quirkiness in the organizational structure. 

But Sears was around for 119 years until K-Mart bought them out.  Fiat owns Chrysler.  Things change.

Is the structure in place one that continues to make sense for Bonneville?  If it is, would wider club participation be better for the whole sport?

Would outside support from clubs not directly affiliated with SCTA who are interested in maintaining Bonneville be a better approach than trying to join the SCTA?

Geez, I'm just an automated pasta machine . . .

[Jack Gifford]

... the oldest auto racing sanctioning body in the country [SCTA]...

IMCA (International Motor Contest Association)- 1915 to present.

[Peter Jack]

... the oldest auto racing sanctioning body in the country [SCTA]...

IMCA (International Motor Contest Association)- 1915 to present.

You're right Jack. It's definitely evolved over the years but it's been around that long for sure.

Pete

[SPARKY]

In todays political climate---WE ALL---- should be thinking on how we can get as many people from around the USA and the world involved if we want to be able to continue to race on "PUBLIC LANDS"---we better start organizing to get our message out!!  I support anything that will get more of us involved---and if you want to race you had better understand that SCTA needs help along these lines ----even if they don't recognize it---otherwise ---lsr on public lands will go the way of the urban drag strips---GONE!!

I love being a GG with all their history---but---this access to OUR public lands, which is under sever attack, I would join a full service club of "OUT RIDDERS" OUTLIERS" "OUT of STATERS"   with the understanding MANY responsibilities go with it, many am not even aware off. 

I am sure that there are enough committed  non CA racers that with a "can do attitude" something could get done!

[RichFox]

It seems to me that it might make more sense to consider BNIs relationship to the SCTA than to have an at large SCTA club. Perhaps BNI could be restructured to make it more of a stand alone organization with greater input into SCTA-BNI affairs. All BNI members would be voting members and would be better informed through Email or the web page.