Credit where Credit due

[Purple Frog]

I spent $425 dollars last weekend. Which in my little world is a substantial amount of money. That expenditure allowed me to race two SARRC races at Road Atlanta.
Don't do the math, it will scare you, because that $425 bought only 76 minutes of track time. (15 lap races in a fast class do not take 30 minutes. )

What i received was a fun weekend. Why? Because every SCCA worker seemd to be going out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. Registration was smoothly run by pleasant people that seemed genuinely glad to see you at their window. Tech was like a happy family reunion. The drivers meeting was run by folks that were understanding, willing to listen, and give intelligent reasons for their decisions. The stewards seemed to be walking through the paddock often, being visible and checking things out, not sequestered in the tower. It was a hot summer weekend, yet the grid folks were downright cheerful even during the last session on the last day. Throughout the heat the corner workers were fantastic. Many of the corner workers had no shade throughout the day. The flagging was great. Snappy blue flags to get others out of my way, rapidly deployed debri flags to save me from Jacek's Valdez experience, etc. Then, after a late race on Sunday, the corner workers were all standing and waving, and clapping after watching an intense race long battle.

Oh yeah. Arriving in the middle of the test day? No problem, sign a waiver and drive right in and start setting up. (Catch a clue WGI)

Also, Mrs Frog loved the live timing and scoring that she could watch from the beach in Florida.

The Atlanta Region deserves 5 stars for customer service and friendliness.

Were there issues? Yes. The same old Club Racing issue for formula cars. All formula classes qualifying together. FBs and FAs mixed in with FV . It worked out, but it was like being in a pinball game. I can only imagine what it was like for a FV. Then we had FS racing with FV. In this case the field was small and Jacek was very careful and considerate of where he passed, trying not to ruin races for a class' lead. Still it is not a good plan. The FVees only get to run 13 laps in a 15 lap race, sort of diluting their experience.

[Revs2-12k]

Great Job Atlanta Region!

Many thanks from a first timer at the track & 1st visit to the Road Atlanta podium <- Which was quite a pleasure....

Our team struck up conversations with a number of Atlanta Region Officials, Grid, Registration & Tech Staff (I detest the word " Workers ") All were quite pleasant & our newbie questions were answered in a polite & jovial way.

The Blue cooler full of Ice Water & White Towels at the scales was a nice touch. I'm going to make sure NC Region knows how much such a simple thing is appreciated after a long hot race.

[paulgauzens]

I spent $425 dollars last weekend. Which in my little world is a substantial amount of money. That expenditure allowed me to race two SARRC races at Road Atlanta.
Don't do the math, it will scare you, because that $425 bought only 76 minutes of track time. (15 lap races in a fast class do not take 30 minutes. )

What i received was a fun weekend. Why? Because every SCCA worker seemd to be going out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. Registration was smoothly run by pleasant people that seemed genuinely glad to see you at their window. Tech was like a happy family reunion. The drivers meeting was run by folks that were understanding, willing to listen, and give intelligent reasons for their decisions. The stewards seemed to be walking through the paddock often, being visible and checking things out, not sequestered in the tower. It was a hot summer weekend, yet the grid folks were downright cheerful even during the last session on the last day. Throughout the heat the corner workers were fantastic. Many of the corner workers had no shade throughout the day. The flagging was great. Snappy blue flags to get others out of my way, rapidly deployed debri flags to save me from Jacek's Valdez experience, etc. Then, after a late race on Sunday, the corner workers were all standing and waving, and clapping after watching an intense race long battle.

Oh yeah. Arriving in the middle of the test day? No problem, sign a waiver and drive right in and start setting up. (Catch a clue WGI)

Also, Mrs Frog loved the live timing and scoring that she could watch from the beach in Florida.

The Atlanta Region deserves 5 stars for customer service and friendliness.

Were there issues? Yes. The same old Club Racing issue for formula cars. All formula classes qualifying together. FBs and FAs mixed in with FV . It worked out, but it was like being in a pinball game. I can only imagine what it was like for a FV. Then we had FS racing with FV. In this case the field was small and Jacek was very careful and considerate of where he passed, trying not to ruin races for a class' lead. Still it is not a good plan. The FVees only get to run 13 laps in a 15 lap race, sort of diluting their experience.

Thanks for the kind words. Sent them to the boss along with a req for a raise! ;-)


Credit goes to a lot of people for being "customer first" minded. But also to that red GTA car driver for finding ways to make it easy as possible.

I hear ya about adding the FS in FV - I'll own up to that decision. Jacek wanted to race ASR & FS so tried to accommodate that. Got his promise not to affect FC or FV drivers. On "shortening" the FV race - actually the FCs lapped them twice so result would have been same anyway - that played into my thinking when we did it.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished - oiling Turn 10 was an unintended consequence.

[PRS56]

Hi Frog:
I don't mean to highjack your post, but I had a similar good experience racing at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix sanctioned by VRG at Beaver Run this past weekend. Event information was forthcoming prior to the event and they kept to schedule for the test day and race weekend. The race officials worked to insure a safe weekend and the open wheel class had at least 20 entrants, mostly Formula Fords. The FV's got moved over into what I believe is considered small bore. Everyone was very driver friendly and I got in alot of track time over 3 days. T&S had the sheets up in record time and my tech inspection was painless. Not much more to be asked of an organizer. I wasn't sure coming over from the SCCA ranks how it would be, but they did a fine job. The final cap was when I saw an exit poll this morning in my email box asking questions about my experience. That's how you build a customer base.
Regards,
Greg Kokolus
PRS #30

[glenn cooper]

I was up on Friday for almost the whole day, never saw ya... Waaaah! (

[Purple Frog]

On this trip I didn't get to meet my literary idol... the Coop.

But i did get to have a pleasant conversation with Ben Cooper (Apexspeed's Brands). I knew from this site that he was a gifted fabricator, but now I know that he is a well spoken, well mannered gentleman. Ben has sold the beautiful FB car he developed and as an old Reynard fan he is now thinking of building a Reynard FF. His heart and background is with FF.

Although he rode up on a bike, it was unlike the rides Russ, Scott, and Sean arrived on. Ben was on a single speed mountain bike. Think of the terrain around Road Atlanta, then imagine doing it on a one speed. I was impressed.

[glenn cooper]

I missed SeanO, Russ McB, Scotty, Frog, AND my Lil' bruva Ben?

This may take awhile... Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

[Purple Frog]

Coop,
You would have been a hero if you had shown up with your RV with the A/C on full throttle.
It was Hotlanta.
First time in years i tried to do a race without the RV. Wow, this club racing ain't for wimps.

[FV07]

Since were on the complementing SCCA band wagon here, let me complement DC region. Ran the MARRS event this weekend at Summit Pt. and had an excellent experience. Race was black flagged d/t a nasty incident in turn 1, Response to the incident was fast and professional. Fortunately no one hurt.

Came in and had to sit for 10 minutes or so before they let us back out. 95 degrees out. Had bottles of cold water, (with straws!) and umbrellas for us all. Wow, that really helps.

On restart, a CSR decided that it was alright for HIM to line up with me as the leader right before the green flag while everyone else stayed single file as per GCR. Two stewards let him know in no uncertain terms that uhh... thats not exactly the way to restart and basically gave him a bunch of crap that he fully deserved. They did exactly what they should have done with no prompting or complaints from any of the other drivers.

Grid did an excellent job of keeping things running on time to get everyone done before a nasty storm came through.

Great job.

Jim A.

[Purple Frog]

Got to thinking about it during happy hour last night.
I'm standing in the paddock in my driving gear. With me is Sean, Russ, Scott, and Brands. Rossela is wrenching a customer car next door. Just passing through was Coop, and on the phone was Jim Morgan.
So out of the old gang of racers, one guy was racing and seven were just spectating.
That is the state of affairs in formula car racing today.

[formulasuper]

Got to thinking about it during happy hour last night.
I'm standing in the paddock in my driving gear. With me is Sean, Russ, Scott, and Brands. Rossela is wrenching a customer car next door. Just passing through was Coop, and on the phone was Jim Morgan.
So out of the old gang of racers, one guy was racing and seven were just spectating.
That is the state of affairs in formula car racing today.

I'll be back. New engine's in the mail. May make Daytona, Clt, Barber, SIC, ARRC.