SCCA License Waiver

[Exeter229]

Without another identifiable forum to pose this question, here it goes.

I took a driver school in 2018 and ran 5 regional weekends. Meeting my 2 weekend requirement, I was issued a full competition license card last fall (2018). Due to engine issue, I made it to one race last year, but unfortunately never turned a wheel in anger due to another engine issue. I packed up and was issued a refund by the SCCA region (FYI - Steel Cities is a great division to race for and PittRace puts on a great race weekend)

Getting everything sorted and ready to race this year, I had to renew both membership and license. Total, I was $195 poorer for National, regional and license fees. I then was then notified my competition license has expired due to 1 year of inactivity and go through the paces to get it signed off by the regional waiver person, who is authorized to charge me $25 for his troubles.

Here is my questions / rants:

How does the SCCA justify letting licensing lapse after 1 year, require an administrative injunction, to which I have to pay for?

I paid ~$200 for a pretty PVC card and a monthly magazine. The person I talked to in Topeka couldn’t look at my profile and see I’ve just race last year? That person couldn't automatically re-instate my license? I’ve never met the waiver person in my region. He doesn’t know me or can justify my re-instatement from on-track experience. He know the same thing that Topeka knows, I ran y-races in x-time. I could see the requirement with a large gap (say 10+ years, or maybe outside your physical waiver timeline), but otherwise his input is clerical and speculative at best.

To summarize:

Why does the license expire after 1 year?
Why isn’t the administrative task of waiver sign-off not an easy in-house task?
Why is there a processing fee?

This whole endeavor is just frustrating. Honestly, it is not even the money. If the fee was $100 I would still pay, but spitefully, I have to ask because I do not see the justification, all I see the inefficiency. In an ever-increasing competitive racing market, it seems SCCA would want to make these transitions seamless and non-intrusive. My experience with SCCA as a whole has not been favorable in the 2 years since I got my license. I can only imagine less bull-headed people hitting the same resistance I’ve seen, and if they would have kept going. In the interest of self-preservation, I feel the fee structure needs to be reevaluated, as well as systemic processes evaluated.

All the best to everyone

[Farrout48]

One thing you did not mention. What age group are you in - which then determines how long your physical is good for. 14-39 - 5 years, 40-49 - 3 years, 50-69 - 2 years, 70+ - 1 year If you got your physical in 2018, then it may have to be renewed as well.

How many years did you sign up for when you initially got your competition license?

Believe it or not but SCCA is trying to retain drivers. But if your competition license has expired with inactivity, they will ask you to get the waiver. In SEDIV, the licensing steward is very supportive of drivers. I have not heard of her charging $25 to send an email to SCCA authorizing your renewal. Your license would be renewed easily here.

[10rmotor]

How long has this 25 dollar waiver "fee" been a rule? I've gone through the waiver process a few times over the years and not paid it ever. Now, I do know the licensing steward for our region, maybe that helps.

[Exeter229]

One thing you did not mention. What age group are you in - which then determines how long your physical is good for. 14-39 - 5 years, 40-49 - 3 years, 50-69 - 2 years, 70+ - 1 year If you got your physical in 2018, then it may have to be renewed as well.

How many years did you sign up for when you initially got your competition license?

Believe it or not but SCCA is trying to retain drivers. But if your competition license has expired with inactivity, they will ask you to get the waiver. In SEDIV, the licensing steward is very supportive of drivers. I have not heard of her charging $25 to send an email to SCCA authorizing your renewal. Your license would be renewed easily here.

I meet the 5 year window, with 3 years remaining on my med exam. I got my competition license in ~Dec '18. Was good until Dec 30th2019. I tried to renew in January (over the last few weeks)

http://www.greatlakes-scca.org/syste...structions.pdf

[problemchild]

.... as well as systemic processes evaluated ......

While there is much more choice for CW racers, our OW community has very few options.

The good news is that the unwavering and unapologetic arrogance of SCCA, combined with their mid 20th century business model, and their calculated attempts to kill OW classes, means that failure is imminent. Unfortunately, we will have to bottom out, before some alternate group can rescue us. I sure hope we are getting closer to that point. S>O>S

There are still thousands and thousands of awesome workers and people within SCCA, that deserve better treatment, just as the racers do. As long as we work hard with our racer friends to keep our class healthy (whatever class) in our area, we have a commodity that will have value to promoters and race organizers. Don't waste your time with Adhoc committees and writing letters. Work with your fellow racers to grow and protect your own racing ( NEFV, FVCC, F1000, FRP, NWFC, GLC, RCFFS, FFCS, FRP, etc)

PS .... If anyone wants to see SCCA arrogance at work, read the Appeals Court case at the end of the March fasttrack. After forcing a racer with a USF car to race in FX (rather than in FC where he should be), they penalize that racer whose car would not start on the grid, for passing 3 cars that waived him by on the pace lap. Then the assistant chief steward Pedro Prado took it all the way to appeals court to make sure the racer got screwed. So, some local racer in an uncompetitive car, that won't start, and whose race is already ruined, gets to spend hours and hours playing SCCA politics. Talk about persecuting a guy already having a bad day. What an embarrassment to SCCA! I wonder how the cheerleaders will spin this one .....

[Purple Frog]

I'll go out on a limb and argue for the rule.
By passing the authority to a local official they can better ascertain whether the waiver is a good idea or not.
What if somebody did a driver's school, then in the next 5 events crashed out. Then skipped a year to afford all the repairs.
A local steward, knowing all that background, may say that person needs another drivers school, or some other solution.

Anyway, in the SEDIV we have had an outstanding driver's rep for many years, and the process is painless.

[Exeter229]

I'll go out on a limb and argue for the rule.
By passing the authority to a local official they can better ascertain whether the waiver is a good idea or not.
What if somebody did a driver's school, then in the next 5 events crashed out. Then skipped a year to afford all the repairs.
A local steward, knowing all that background, may say that person needs another drivers school, or some other solution.

Anyway, in the SEDIV we have had an outstanding driver's rep for many years, and the process is painless.

Like I stated previously, the waiver person doesnot know me from any other person on the track. Additionally, and disciplinaryactions would be documented in Topeka as well as any divisional/regional office.

Don't get me wrong, I emailed the person and he kindlyresponded within a few hours saying "...no problem, welcome back, can'twait to see you on track." My beef isn't with the man himself. He's volunteering his time to facilitate my getting back on a track....

Per my original post, (1) why is that contact even necessary,and if it is (2), why is is there a fee in addition to the other licenses /membership fees.

[SteveG]

Ignoring the hyper-critical chicken little SCCA sucks post. The license waiver rule has it's place as PF states, local knowledge of a driver is critical in the process. To renew my license this year, I had to get a waiver because I took last year off, even after holding a competition license for >30 years. It took less than 8 hours from the time national sent me the email that I needed a waiver to getting a confirmation from national that my license was on the way. I simply sent a single email to our divisional license steward, the rest happened because of his effort (Thanks Mr. Meeker).
Now, the $25 charge is ridiculous IMHO. I'd be sending out some flaming emails to a lot of SCCA officials about that.

Steve

[Garey Guzman]

Like I stated previously, the waiver person doesnot know me from any other person on the track. Additionally, and disciplinaryactions would be documented in Topeka as well as any divisional/regional office.

Don't get me wrong, I emailed the person and he kindlyresponded within a few hours saying "...no problem, welcome back, can'twait to see you on track." My beef isn't with the man himself. He's volunteering his time to facilitate my getting back on a track....

Per my original post, (1) why is that contact even necessary,and if it is (2), why is is there a fee in addition to the other licenses /membership fees.

I have needed two waivers and even the first one after 5 years off (but 2 or 3 years in the region), were painless. I sent an email to the Region asking what I needed to do. They sent me an email with the contact. I asked, she granted. No fuss, never heard about $25, etc.

BTW, if they don't know you, that's probably a good thing. They remember people who have to come see the Stewards! If they haven't seen you due to on-track action, they may presume that you are not a problem.

[Farrout48]

I meet the 5 year window, with 3 years remaining on my med exam. I got my competition license in ~Dec '18. Was good until Dec 30th2019. I tried to renew in January (over the last few weeks)

http://www.greatlakes-scca.org/syste...structions.pdf

That particular set of instructions looks like it was written many years ago and is so out of date as to be funny. The $25 fee is ridiculous. National/Regional licenses have been gone for years. Today and for the past 10 years we use email for everything. Last year, I even scanned and emailed my physical to SCCA.

Our SEDIV rep has been helping out drivers for years without a fuss. She would be a perfect model for the rest of the Divisions to emulate.

[Exeter229]

... The license waiver rule has it's place as PF states, local knowledge of a driver is critical in the process....

Again, the information available to the division is the same as Topeka, correct? I understand requiring cheif stewards to sign off on log-books for your license; direct inspection and review of on track ability.

However a regional or division level person, of whom most never meet, has no better opinion than members on this forum.

I hope my criticality is recieved only towards this one process / fee...not towards the volunteers manning the booths and countless other task necessary to keep us all on track. Again, my interaction with the waiver person was awesome, and a check is already in the mail to him. I just hope in the future this can all be avoided.

[Peter Olivola]

Again, the information available to the division is the same as Topeka, correct? I understand requiring cheif stewards to sign off on log-books for your license; direct inspection and review of on track ability.

However a regional or division level person, of whom most never meet, has no better opinion than members on this forum.

I hope my criticality is recieved only towards this one process / fee...not towards the volunteers manning the booths and countless other task necessary to keep us all on track. Again, my interaction with the waiver person was awesome, and a check is already in the mail to him. I just hope in the future this can all be avoided.

I think you are under the misapprehension that the Division Licensing Chairman doesn't know what's going on. On the contrary. One of the requirements of the position is to keep and be kept informed of driver issues. Much of what that constitutes never makes it to the national office or is only buried in the observers reports which are filed and not set up to be reviewed for license renewals.

I don't know the specifics of your situation, but if you're dissatisfied with the service you're receiving your first escalation should be to the division Executive Steward. I strongly recommend taking your concerns up with that individual.

[Steve Demeter]

I renewed last month. Was shocked to find out that the two year option went away in 2018. Last time I renewed was 2018 apparently just got in under the wire. Physical age group is still good for 2 years.

Seems like a good time and money and hassle saving thing was done away with eliminating the two year option. Just MHO.

[Fred Michael]

I renewed last month. Was shocked to find out that the two year option went away in 2018. Last time I renewed was 2018 apparently just got in under the wire. Physical age group is still good for 2 years.

Seems like a good time and money and hassle saving thing was done away with eliminating the two year option. Just MHO.

I just renewed and found this out as well. Seems like a stupid idea after finally making it easier to get and keep licenses after many years of being a bit archaic with the renewal required every year. Nothing in SCCA is ever easy.

[FVRacer21]

Having had a SCCA license for over 40 years, the rules today are so lax as to be almost laughable.

Back then, if you missed a year, or did not make the requisite number of races you either dropped down a license grade or - gasp - had to go back and do a school again. After achieving a national license, I took 3 years off and to get my license back had to go to a school. Horrors ! I used it as a test day and to shake the cobwebs out. Of course there were 6 spring schools in the NE in those days...

I have used the waiver procedure at least 4 times and had no problem paying the $25. In those days you had to make a copy of all your paperwork and forward them to the divisional licensing chairman who then mailed them on to Denver, I mean Topeka (lucky I did not say Westport!). The fee probably went to pay for the postage, copy fees and phone calls (long distance cost money then.)

There was no email, overnight shipping - heck even fax was a revelation when we started using it late in the 80’s.

It was not unheard of for people to miss races as it your paperwork was not right the registrar would send you home. No e-mails on Saturday morning to see that you paid your membership Friday night.

Half of you are saying “okay Boomer” and the other half is having flashbacks...

That’s okay - nostalgia can be fun.

ChrisZ

[rsmart]

SCCA has a process designed to put licensing decisions into the hands of divisional officials who can look at circumstances leading to the need for a waiver. Looks like it worked as designed to your benefit. Welcome back to the full competition list!

[Dave Harmison]

Aaaa

[Amon]

While there is much more choice for CW racers, our OW community has very few options.

The good news is that the unwavering and unapologetic arrogance of SCCA, combined with their mid 20th century business model, and their calculated attempts to kill OW classes, means that failure is imminent. Unfortunately, we will have to bottom out, before some alternate group can rescue us. I sure hope we are getting closer to that point. S>O>S

There are still thousands and thousands of awesome workers and people within SCCA, that deserve better treatment, just as the racers do. As long as we work hard with our racer friends to keep our class healthy (whatever class) in our area, we have a commodity that will have value to promoters and race organizers. Don't waste your time with Adhoc committees and writing letters. Work with your fellow racers to grow and protect your own racing ( NEFV, FVCC, F1000, FRP, NWFC, GLC, RCFFS, FFCS, FRP, etc)

PS .... If anyone wants to see SCCA arrogance at work, read the Appeals Court case at the end of the March fasttrack. After forcing a racer with a USF car to race in FX (rather than in FC where he should be), they penalize that racer whose car would not start on the grid, for passing 3 cars that waived him by on the pace lap. Then the assistant chief steward Pedro Prado took it all the way to appeals court to make sure the racer got screwed. So, some local racer in an uncompetitive car, that won't start, and whose race is already ruined, gets to spend hours and hours playing SCCA politics. Talk about persecuting a guy already having a bad day. What an embarrassment to SCCA! I wonder how the cheerleaders will spin this one .....

Thankfully he didn't have to deal with the SCCA officials in the Atlanta area several years ago.

[mmi16]

If the 'real' complaint is about the $25 - then maybe racing is not for you.

[Hartley]

While there is much more choice for CW racers, our OW community has very few options.

The good news is that the unwavering and unapologetic arrogance of SCCA, combined with their mid 20th century business model, and their calculated attempts to kill OW classes, means that failure is imminent. Unfortunately, we will have to bottom out, before some alternate group can rescue us. I sure hope we are getting closer to that point. S>O>S

There are still thousands and thousands of awesome workers and people within SCCA, that deserve better treatment, just as the racers do. As long as we work hard with our racer friends to keep our class healthy (whatever class) in our area, we have a commodity that will have value to promoters and race organizers. Don't waste your time with Adhoc committees and writing letters. Work with your fellow racers to grow and protect your own racing ( NEFV, FVCC, F1000, FRP, NWFC, GLC, RCFFS, FFCS, FRP, etc)

PS .... If anyone wants to see SCCA arrogance at work, read the Appeals Court case at the end of the March fasttrack. After forcing a racer with a USF car to race in FX (rather than in FC where he should be), they penalize that racer whose car would not start on the grid, for passing 3 cars that waived him by on the pace lap. Then the assistant chief steward Pedro Prado took it all the way to appeals court to make sure the racer got screwed. So, some local racer in an uncompetitive car, that won't start, and whose race is already ruined, gets to spend hours and hours playing SCCA politics. Talk about persecuting a guy already having a bad day. What an embarrassment to SCCA! I wonder how the cheerleaders will spin this one .....

I was the guy having a bad day. Thanks for bringing this matter up Greg. What you failed to mention was that the chief steward reviewed my video during my appeal and saw the 3 point bys and totally absolved me of any wrong doing. The junior steward Prado who originally prosecuted/ persecuted - (pick one) my case would not accept the CS decision and decided to appeal the CS decision. Yes I was in ‘court’ for several valuable hours instead of fixing the car issues. I think what made Prado mad was he thought he had caught me red handed trying to get my qualifying spot back after getting a push start and all the cars passed me. What are the odds I get 3 point bys on one pace lap but I did and have it on video! I have to admit that if I was guilty of anything it was a bit of arrogance/ confidence/ self righteousness - (pick one) that I had done nothing wrong
(this time????)! Going back to the scene of the crime in 3 weeks so I better be careful what I say. Merry Christmas to all including the stewards!