Why you should join an SCTA Club

[JohnR]

There has been lots of discussion on other threads regarding the SCTA rules and who/how they get made. Some people who run BNI only feel they have been left out of the rule making process. If this describes you then read on...

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 an SCTA 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. Nowhere in here does outsiders positions get represented.

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 and who actually runs this thing. If you don't join then you will literally not have a vote when it's decision time.

[PorkPie]

we voted in a guy who lives in GERMANY!

NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, this was not me  

[desotoman]

Wow, the top 3 clubs in membership control 1/2 of the vote for SCTA officers. I think it is time to limit how many SCTA members clubs can have. It gives those clubs Presidents too much power for suggesting who should be voted in.
Tom Gerardi

[Leon]

They may have the votes for elections, but it's individual votes not a club vote.  They still only have 3/10 vote for other matters.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Tom, I don't understand your figuring.  I see that the High Desert Racers have one-fourth of the membership of the Sidewinders yet get exactly the same number of representatives to the SCTA as do the Sidewinders.  By that figuring, each H D R member has four times the "voice" that a Sidewinder does.  Or - the Lakers have one SCTA seat for every ten members, the Gear Grinders have (about) one vote for every 40 members.

I see it as the "small" club's members having MORE power (if you care to use that word) per member than that of the big clubs.  The top three clubs (in terms of membership) have nine out of a total of thirty votes, or thirty percent.  Yet they have 343 members out of 672 -- that's more than half the total membership of the SCTA member clubs, but get only thirty percent of the votes.

No issue with the way votes are apportioned -- just being anal about the math, that's all.

[desotoman]

Hi Jon,

As far as the running of the SCTA goes what you say is correct.

However when it comes time to vote for SCTA officers, every SCTA member gets to vote. Example: If one of the Presidents of an SCTA club decides he wants a certain person in office, and lobbies his club to vote for that person through newsletters and at meeting, the President of a large club has a lot of clout on who gets elected.

In the past I have seen this happen. Do we want to let this continue, or would it be better to limit SCTA membership to say 100 per club and have more clubs. More clubs mean more people to pull duty's as well. Just thinking out loud.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Okay, Tom -- I said I'm new -- I did't know about the one member/one vote for officers.  Now I do, and thanks for not making too much fun  of my ignorance.

[Bob Jr.]

Hi Jon,

As far as the running of the SCTA goes what you say is correct.

However when it comes time to vote for SCTA officers, every SCTA member gets to vote. Example: If one of the Presidents of an SCTA club decides he wants a certain person in office, and lobbies his club to vote for that person through newsletters and at meeting, the President of a large club has a lot of clout on who gets elected.

.

Iteresting desoto.     I have been a Gear Grinder for 9 years and the only discussion I can remember about the officer vote was to make sure you got your ballots in..  Maybe this happended before I got to the club, but I have not seen it...