The first convention I attended was in 2006 in Kansas City. Craig Garfield, our Solo Chair, felt that my husband, Steve, and I would benefit greatly to see Solo and the SCCA at a National level, to expand our horizons beyond our Region’s program.
He was absolutely right about how eye opening an experience it would be. We were taken aback at how often Solo Chairs from other regions would ask us (seemingly totally out of the blue) how we do things in DC. Then, when we’d answer their question, they’d look at us like we had 5 heads because they couldn’t fathom the scale at which we were doing it all. Each successive Solo-oriented session we’d attend (and we attended every single Solo-oriented session there was), this became more and more apparent. By the time we left, I was even more proud of our Solo program than I already was.
That convention was also my first real exposure to the other racing disciplines and programs the club has as well as the politics that go with them. I didn’t know just how established and prominent the Club Racing scene was while in stark contrast, how the Solo and RallyCross programs were overshadowed. Heck, Road Rally and PDX didn’t even seem to make the radar. I came home totally overwhelmed by it all.
Fortunately (or unfortunately?), that convention was also my springboard to running for our region’s Board of Directors that year. It was time to learn about more than just the way Solo operates and see if I could help the Region in a different way.
This led to attending a second convention in 2008 in San Antonio. This time, I was going as the Assistant Regional Executive, and this meant that I was there to learn, frankly, the politics of Club Racing as well as the issues that are unique to Jumbo Regions face. (For those of you who don’t know, WDCR is classed as a Jumbo Region.)
Club Racing’s politics are beyond the scope of this little blog so I’m just not going there.
But I also had no idea how often National implements “programs” that pad the National office’s income (all in the name of membership!) and yet at the very same time, completely screw over us Jumbo Regions. At first, I thought this was WDCR being a prima donna about National’s programs. But then, in the first ever Jumbo Regions session (a meeting only for Jumbo Region REs and members), it became clear that our prima donna attitude was very much shared among the Jumbo Regions because we all face very similar issues, issues that the smaller regions just don’t have so what National implements doesn’t affect them as much if at all. This session received such good feedback that it started the quarterly Jumbo Region conference call with National to discuss issues more than once a year.
I left that convention overwhelmed again, but this time because I was trying to absorb the details.
I’m on a flight to Las Vegas for the SCCA’s National Convention and this year, I’m going as the RE. That means I won’t be just learning the politics, I’ll be the politics. I’ll be immersed in nothing but SCCA politics for the next 5 days.
I intend to blog, not quite at the “live blog” level, but when I can, and will update you with any new information I hear and thoughts I have as I go through the weekend.
Cheers!
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-Evanthe
Don’t drive faster than your angel can fly.
(edit: I meant to post this on Wednesday evening when I got off the plane, but I forgot in all the chaos... sorry!)