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Stan
Thank you for posting this data. It is very helpful to me and I am sure others as well
I want to use the data on chart 10 so I scaled the age distribution data and checked it by summing. The new member data adds up to 100% but the all member data only sums to about 80% which seems to indicate some data is missing or incorrect. I would suspect the 19-35 bins since they differ quite a bit from the new member data.
Do you have a way to check with the source to see if I am missing something?
Thanks again
John
Thanks for catching that, John. I will check and get an answer after this weekend's Dbl Natty at T-hill. Stan
Stan,
As long as we're proof reading Subaru is spelled incorrectly on the first graph. Don't know what kind of circulation the graph is subject to, but you may want to fix that.
Thanks for all your hard work! Hopefully many appreciate the effort!
I will pass your concerns to the Club Racing office... :p :D
I'm no statistician (though I play one on TV) but I found slide #8 interesting/disturbing. It shows that most new members leave after just one year with the SCCA. Less than 50% of new members renewed their membership. Wow.
That means most new members don't like what they see and bail out. That's sad, especially considering it's a minor miracle when newcomers discover the SCCA at all.
The #1 reason for leaving was because it's too expensive to participate. But a close #2 was because of "people and actions of the SCCA." Ouch. That ranked above issues like "travel time," "life changes," or "other clubs" as reasons for leaving.
We all know it's expensive to race but to leave because you didn't like the club itself? That suggests a big mismatch in expectations. New members joined expecting one thing and got something else -- then left the club immediately.
Is the problem with managing expectations? ("No, I'm sorry, but the sessions are only 15 minutes long.") Or is it over rules disputes? ("No, you can't add a turbo to your Miata.") Or something else entirely?
If I ran a small shop I'd be worried if more than half of my customers said they'd never come back, and most of those said it was because of me. :skull:
In clubs, especially those that charge membership fees, It's not that unusual to loose 50% of first year members.
I think during the "Johnson years" we tried to pretend we were something we were not.
I for one am not concerned about total population. But more so how strong is the active membership.
Better to have a few good people, than the ranks swollen with folks that just read Sportscar once a month.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quickshoe
As long as they spell 'Mahzdah' correctly! ;)
I had two friends sign up with SCCA to crew for me and get into the hot pits etc. One then proceeded to become a father twice in short succession and so his $65 and free hours are focused elsewhere, at least for the next 20 years. he is still a rabid fan of SCCA and FF and did like what he saw. big time.
The other just lapsed his membership and will sign back up again now that he has a car to run in solo1 stuff. So at least some of those one year types are not disgusted with the club. On the contrary, they think SCCA is cool, but they are not as invested as you or I
As racers, we are both competitive and highly involved. We have a large emotional investment in the club and in racing. This makes it hard to be neutral or ambivalent. The SCCA does a lot of things right, but it also makes its share of mistakes. It's hard to get over the mistakes, and some people just can't do it.
I still get pissed off over what I see as major mistakes of the club, but I know that no one in (first Bridgehampton, then Denver, and now) Topeka is intentionally out to ruin my life. They are doing what they believe is the correct thing based upon whatever information they have at the time.
This is one of the reasons that I like to see groups like NASA and FPRA. I believe the competition is good--not only in racing, but in business. As these groups start to impact the SCCA, it will either become a better organization, or it will become a dinosaur.
Larry Oliver
International Racing Products
Larry,
As much as I revere Bridgehampton, it was for the track. HQ was never there. Before Denver it was in Westport, CT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry
I could be way off base here, but......
Didn't Subaru have a program where they paid for the first year of memebership to SCCA when someone bought a WRX? I thought there was a marketing program a little while back where they had this. I remember it because they caught a bit of grief on web forums when they were buying SCCA memeberships but some dealers were turning down warranty claims if a vehicle had been used on the track.
The reason I mention this is that maybe there were memeberships handed out to some new WRX buyers and they just never renewed because they weren't really interested in the club in the first place.
Oops, just went and looked at the file. The Subaru issue is dealt with in there.
SCCA will never be everything to everyone in Motorsports.It is an organization of members many of which have various differing opinions about what are the most important issues are for our club.We have many people that are the backbone of this club and even they have different pinions on what direction this club needs to go.I recommend if you have any opinions that you feel strongly about get involved and add your input.I have found the system to be slow reacting but it does react.We need new people with new ideas to add to the mix .The people who have donated their time to this club are be appreciated but I think after so long they are ineffective to bring about any change.Get involved and help make the club what you think it should be. SCCA is still the best choice for amateur motorsports.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I love the club. I'm one of the thousands who did renew his membership year after year.
My point was, the statistics show that a lot of new members drop out after one year and that the 2nd most-popular reason given was because they didn't like the club. Some left because of children and other lifestyle issues, some left because of cost, some left because they no longer compete, and so on. Those are all perfectly valid reasons for leaving.
My surprise was that so many listed "actions and people of SCCA" as their reason for leaving. It seems like that should be the #9 or #12 reason for leaving, not the #2 reason (almost tied for #1, in fact).
That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the club. Far from it. But it does suggest that those new members didn't know what to expect.
I don't know quite what to make of it, but it does seem worrisome that so many new members seem so disenchanted so early on.
You are correct, that was about 4 to 5 years ago. My guess is Subaru was hoping to stem the tide of Miata combined with proverbial thumbing their nose at Mitsubishi, which was finding out about customers racing/etc and then denying in-warranty claims for common $$$ problems with their cars when used in a manner of racing.Quote:
Originally Posted by VehDyn
It is interesting that so many get out after one year. I have seen similar statistics in kart racing.
Members leave when they are not involved or engaged in one or more activty.If they don't need to be a member to be involved they will not renew their membership.It is important to get members involved and treat them properly throughout that event.We are working to improve our officiating to have a better enviroment for our competitors and participants as well as our workers who we depend on to hold our events.
Hey everyone, new member here! Is the 2012 presentation/information available? Would be very helpful for a school project.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stan Clayton
-Brandon
Heh! I was wondering why Stan's data only went up to 2006... :o