Farragut hugely popular car rental stingo

Ok I will reply to a couple things.

There is no communication in the Region.  Yep, hearing you.  Trying to change that.  Some thoughts here:

1. Using a blog which is RSS enabled.  You want information pushed to you?  Go get an RSS reader, and you will have information pushed to you!  http://www.wdcr-scca.org/RegionExecsBlog/tabid/1401/EntryID/6/Default.aspx  for more info.
2. Our announcements sections are RSS enabled, too.  I haven't posted the links to those yet because the page isn't pretty yet, but I'm getting there, among the 5 million other things I have to do.
3. The Board minutes are posted with all votes recorded specifically with how each person voted.  It's been like that for over 2 years now.  Thank Jim Thill for enforcing that.  Yes, I said, "Thank Jim Thill." 
4. The Board minutes being posted rather late - ok for the last year, that's on me.  I was the Secretary.  I let my real life (like my job and my family) get in the way of writing the notes, sending them promptly to the board to go through the perverbial ringer (add a week to the timeline) and then to post them (yes, I posted them, too!). 

Email blasts (i.e. push communication) have issues.

1. Email providers are increasingly locking down their systems to try and reduce spam.  That means that a lot of times, emails don't get delivered.
2. Email addresses change and we aren't notified. 
3. People don't like to get bombarded with email due to do information overload.  If you send too many emails, they start ignoring them.

Website staleness:

1. Someone has to CREATE CONTENT for a website to be effective and fresh.  Last I checked, despite repeated requests, no one is submitting content for the Straightpipe, printed or electronic.   So why should expect content to be created for the website?
2. As web-mistress, I have other responsibilities than creating content, like making sure the website is up and running another IT-specific things.  I also have the responsibility to post what content people have created.
3. As RE, it's my job to create some content.  I will address as many issues as I can and as I see reasonable.  But I cannot create it all fresh content all the time for the whole website.  But since people aren't stepping up to the plate to help me, then the website will remain stale.

So can I "step up and do what's right?"

Yes.  I can. 

But I can't do it alone.

Since I am largely snowed in, and have some time, I would like to provide some perspective on the fundamental problems of National racing and WDCR as a whole.

Fundamental problem 1:  The world has changed in many ways that affect our sport.  The recession should be a wake up call to all of us that the business model of easy credit that sustained the country and each of us is over.  That said, SCCA and WDCR need to take a careful look at the business model that we each currently operate under.  If anyone thinks we are going back to the way things were, they need to think again.

Fundamental problem 2: As Evanthe notes in her blog from the convention, the business model of the National Office and the business model of the regions are fundamentally different.  National wants to maximize revenue by maximizing membership and National level participation.  We, the regions, need to maximize participation in our events.  That said, National makes decisions to increase the number of competitors at the Runoffs, i.e. by making it easier to attend, that directly affect our ability to hold financially viable National races by reducing the incentive for racers to travel to more than one or two double events.

Fundamantal problem 3:  We have too few racers chasing too many events at the National level.  This is especially true in the NEDIV.  But, no one will provide the leadership, ie. gumption, to seriously address this issue.  There are two less Nationals this year in NEDIV--the reasons for one I will get to in a moment--but there are still too many.

Fundamental problem 4:  We also have fundamental problem number 3 at the regional level.  There are too many regional races in the NEDIV as well chasing too few drivers.

Fundamental problem 5: Much has been said about our BOD.  Much of it negative.  People will be people.  They will disagree.  They will not act like adults.  However, our current organization structure, save the organization of the Solo committee, is highly inefficient and not prone to good decision-making.  In particular, I sugest everyone read closely the By Laws.  If you do, you will see that effectively no one is really in charge and able to make a decision.  As evidence of that, I point to the NON DECISION on the National race for 2010.  The BOD did not vote for one, but it also did not vote against one.  It voted to change the event held in August to a regional and then FAILED to vote either for or against a National in April.

Fundamental problem 6: We do not have as a region two essential items to running what in fact is a $750,000 a year business.  First, an accounting system that shows us how much we take in in revenue and how much the expenses are for each event.  This failure is at the heart of the NON DECISION on the National.  Also, part of this failure, is the lack of a fundamental agreement on how to distribute our common costs among the various programs we operate.  Second, we do not have a long range plan for what we want to accomplish for our members and how we can get more of them to participate.

So, what would I do to deal with these problems. 

1. Amend the By Laws and CRC charter to put the RE and Director of Club Racing firmly and clearly in change of the region and its biggest activity.  It works in Solo, it can work here as well.  Let the BOD set policy and, BTW publish it as policy, and let the RE and DCR run things.

2. Revise our method of accounting so that we know where our money is going and we can make clear informed decisions about how to best serve our members.  

3. Develop a business plan that looks to the Region's best interest first and foremost.  A friend of mine has suggested succeding from SCCA.  Another has sugested forming a new division with NCR and SNJR.  Not bad ideas, albeit radical ones.  But it is clear to me that SCCA national and NEDIV are not going to look out after our best interests, so we might as well start.

4. Pass out cards to all members that say two things.  "No one is shooting at us."  "Be positive."  Basically, my principle "personal" reason for resigning was that the constant negativity and unwillingness of so many members to put the interests of the region ahead of their own, had worn me out.  This is a club.  This is supposed to be fun.  What happened 10 years ago is irrelevant.  The world is changing.  We either change with it, or we ride off into the sunset.

See you at the Driver's School in March.

James