The 200 Club

[bak189]

If you race BNI (Bonneville) only,
and do not belong to one of the SCTA clubs, you will get little or no feed-back on rule changes, until they are printed in the rule-book.
The M/C meetings held on the salt, most of the time only tell us what rule changes we might see the following year.  If one fills out the paper-work for a rule change,
(M/C) and are not a member of one of the SCTA clubs......no feed-back

[aswracing]

Glen, thank you for explaining the process to me. I've never seen it documented anywhere.

I'm not a member of one of the clubs, and I don't live in Southern California.

So basically, if I understand correctly, the process for me goes like this: there's a meeting in October where rule change proposals are presented, presumably by the rules committee and to the club reps, and I request the minutes of that meeting and then comment by e-mail or phone to the appropriate people, and I need to do that before the club reps come back with the votes from their respective clubs? I assume the date of the final vote is discussed in that October meeting and will be in the minutes?

Can I comment to all the club reps, too?

Can you see why this process is confusing and cumbersome to someone outside the 12 clubs, and how we might not know about it, and as a result get blindsided by rule changes?

The rule change that happened last year was a total surprise to me. I had spent thousands building a new engine that was rendered illegal in one fell swoop, before I even got a chance to race it.

Personally I think proposed changes ought to be published where all can see them without jumping through hoops, and there needs to be a longer time period for comment, and changes that could cost people money need to have a longer lead time for implementation. Is that unreasonable?

[bak189]

Aswracing......the best way to have input on the rules is to belong to one of the clubs.....However, I for one do not belong to any SCTA club, exept for BNI....so I have been blind-sided by many rule changes in the past 25 years in my class......
sidecars  (No passengers...complete
do away of a class in which I hold a record enc.)  Can I sell you a set of AMA/FIM approved racing leathers. Yes, I know of I want more info. and input....join a club
.....so to a certain extent it is my own fault (I feel so BAD)

[bak189]

Aswracing.....see you on the salt in Sept.    All M/C BUB Meet

[Glen]

On the SCTA web page the is an assocoate membership provision. This might get you more information for non members of local clubs..

[JohnR]

Hey AWS, forgive me but I have to turn this into a presentation on why this does not have to happen in the future. This whole discussion just highlights why you should be a member of the SCTA. The SCTA makes the rules and the BNI just organizes an event. Being a member of the BNI DOES NOT give you any input with the SCTA.

If you want to have some input on potential rule changes then you must be a member of the SCTA. If you are not a member then you dont have a vote. (I mean that in a literal sense of the word, not that your opinion is not valid).

You can email/call as many people as you want but if you dont have a voice in a club's vote on it's position on given rule, then you dont have any real say in how the club reps vote. Those reps simply vote how the club voted internally on each rule change and I can pretty much assure you that the individual clubs don't really care what Joe Blow from the internet thinks. They are only concerned (rightly, IMO) with what it's actual members think. As a rep for the Sidewinders, I am going to make my position known when we discuss the changes during the club meeting. At the Board meeting I will represent the clubs position.  

I am not a motorcycle guy but I was aware of this proposed rule change in October (?) of last year, 2 months before it was made official. A draft was circulated to every club and I know we (Sidewinders) discussed every proposed rule change in detail and then the club members voted on each one. This was not a secret and was tossed around for MONTHS before the board voted on it. It was common knowledge to SCTA members.

In short, if you are not an SCTA member, then you can't really expect to be totally "in the loop" on SCTA issues. Sure, you may catch some here and there, but for the most part, you will be left out of the loop on these types of issues. And I assure you, 90% of the stuff happening at the SCTA does not ever see the light of day on this forum.

The real question I have is, why not join the SCTA??? If you are spending thousands of $$$ building machines to compete in SCTA events and have an opinion on how they should be run then why not join? Just because you are running Bonneville only is not a reason to not join the SCTA. The Sidewinder club president is a BNI only runner but he is the Club President!

All clubs I am aware of have some sort of "long distance plan" for those who can't do local duties so thats not a show stopper. Heck, at the last Sidewinder meeting, we voted in a guy who lives in GERMANY! Once you are in a club, you can get everything and have a say in how things are going to be, not just be reduced to commenting after the fact!

And don't just join any club, if you really want your voice to matter then join a small club. The SCTA assingns club reps (votes) according to the following breakdown.

10 to 15 members ? 1 representative
16 to 30 members ? 2 representatives
31+ members ? 3 representatives

So joining a smaller club gives you the most "bang for the buck"

Club Membership at the start of this year
Sidewinders=124
Gear Grinders=123
SDRC=95
LSR=73
Milers=70
Rod Riders=48
Hi Desert Racers=31
Super Fours=28
Gold Coast=25
Eliminators=25
Road Runners=20
Lakers=10

You can contact any of these clubs via the SCTA website. Most if not all will be at Speedweek. Join now and have a say in the 2007 Rules. Don't join and you are setting yourself up for another suprise come January. It's entirely your decision if you will be a participant when the new rules are proposed and voted on.

Sorry to go on for so long. Wonder how many points this gets me???

[Freud]

Excellent presentation, John.

You should feel like a teacher. You have presented detailed information to the class.

The next thing is to see if any of them use it.

FREUD

[bak189]

You are right, John...............
very good presentation.
But then I do my best work in the dark......hey, no club would want me.....I would never join a club that had guys like me in it!!!!!!!
But still you are RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jimmy six]

I feel I need to chime in on what John so eloquently stated...Each club works differently. I mean very differently. The club I'm in sends out Club AND SCTA meeting minutes to every member every month. You can send stuff to the President to be discussed but if you don't go it may not meet what you need or want.

Some clubs have only one meeting a year. How do their members get info, I don't know. Some clubs do not send out SCTA minutes at all. Some never hear about what's discussed at the Rules meetings. Many Club reps never write down anything. They wait for the official minutes to come out..

Like John says choose wisely.

[landracing]

As in favor of AWS racing...

There were many rule changes that never went to the committee to be discussed or get input from. THey just showed up.

The written and proposed rule changes from members, were re written and put into the rules with totally different wording and meaning.

What happens when there is no M/C rule meeting during speedweek? Then we are "SOL"... And how many m/c riders want to get out of line they have been waiting for hours in to run, to goto the m/c rules meeting. I proposed to them they have it at night when racing is not taking place???

Im a member of a SCTA club and I still dont have a clue what goes on in the motorcycle stuff.

People have offereed to be part of the motorcycyel committee, you know a volunteer, and they were denied. So I guess they dont want more input...


Jon
[/b]

[bak189]

I know this thought has been posted in the past.....but how about
a all motorcycle SCTA Club...there are enough bikes running at El Mirage and Bonneville to make for a fairly large club....would this club be excepted by SCTA/BNI?
How about it Dan and Glen...what do you think???
This would be one way, to have some control of the M/C Rules....at least I would think so.....just a thought....and who knows I might even join in.

[JohnR]

Im a member of a SCTA club and I still dont have a clue what goes on in the motorcycle stuff.

Jon, your club did know what was going on and voted on accepting the M/C rules. I think you should talk to your clubs leadership about how your information flow broke down. But thats a club issue, not an SCTA issue. Choose your club wisely, don't join one just because your friend is in it. btw, I dont know what club you are in so I am not picking on anyone!

[landracing]

On the SCTA web page the is an assocoate membership provision. This might get you more information for non members of local clubs..

Ask Jon Wennerberg on how well that system is... I think it was quoted that he got a couple issues of a newsletter...

Here is what you get for $60:

"SCTA Associate Membership
The SCTA Associate Membership is for individuals who do not want to actually race a vehicle for one of the clubs at El Mirage dry lake, but would like to hold an associate position and receive all of the literature about the racing season.  
 
THIS MEMBERSHIP WILL INCLUDE:
SCTA poster, SCTA membership decal, SCTA  T-Shirt, and SCTA/BNI Rules and Records book. "

You still dont get voting rights, or club news the important stuff...

jon

[Glen]

Jon
Jon W. joined the Gear Grinder club as an associate member. This gives him the monthly news leter and reps notes. The club is a large and has several out of town/area members because of what the club provides in support and information. We pride ourselves in doing this. The Gear Grinder club has been around since 1938 and still going strong. The ratio of motorcyclesvs cars is pretty even at about 50%. We also have more female racers then any other club. Lots of members in the 200 and 300 mph clubs. Susan Robertson is the 1st female over 200mph on a bike at El Mirage, she has done this two times. We have members in Canada plus many out of state racers in the associate program and yes they get all of the information to keep them in the loop.

[landracing]

My fault glen, I was under assumption when he had an "SCTA Associate Membership" He was talking about the SCTA... Not a Club Associate Membership.

Jon