New black & white SCCA patches

[starfmguy]

So, in SCCA, you now have to have one of the new $3 black on white or white on black SCCA patches on your driving suit ? This was a surprise to me, and is apparently protestable & tech seems to want to enforce it too (see March 2021 Majors at Thunderhill CA). (Would they really disqualify you for that?)

Did you know that? I did not. I cannot find any notice of this change, even searching for it now, let alone "prior notice" (besides I liked the blue letters better...).

When & why was this changed???

It is in the new GCR I guess, section 9.3.29 C, of which I scour every page every year for new little changes like this (NOT)...

I try to keep up, but I just did not "get the memo".

Anyway, just a "heads up" I guess, so you don't get caught out by this...

Mel

[Purple Frog]

Here is an "off-the-wall-idea"... SCCA just raise the cost of a competition license $3 USD, and send the patches out with each hard card...

I so fear this $3 patch tempest will cause more formula cars to not come out.

[E1pix]

Tisk, Tisk, SCCA.

[Teuobk]

When & why was this changed???

It was in the GCR as of at least July 2019, with a footnote that the 2018-era patches would be allowed until December 31, 2020:




Not sure about why the change was made though.

Jeff

[Lotus7]

Not sure about why the change was made though.

oh, I'll hazard a guess ...
cheaper for scca to source B/W than color?
then someone thought how to sell even more?

edit: yeah, before I get flamed, yes its only 3 bucks, but its a needless 'enforced' change; just sell the new ones to the new guys, leave the established members alone until they need a replacement.

[JHerscher]

So speaking for those of us who got their patches stitched on the outer layer of their custom suits, I wonder how well a black Sharpie would work?

[Rick Iverson]

I so fear this $3 patch tempest will cause more formula cars to not come out.

I have a half dozen colored SCCA patches, and I will continue to use them. And why, you might ask? BECAUSE I PAID FOR THEM. If any SCCA official deems it necessary to disqualify me from an event that I have paid gobs of dough to participate in because of the color of a patch, it will be my last. Many other venues out there to play hard.

I have been doing this since 1973, and I will drop this fiasco faster than third period French if this is enforced. SCCA needs to realize this is NOT a growth industry. Cripes sakes, I remember eight groups. Now you have, what, 277 classes? Used to be fun.

[Farrout48]

Every few years, there seems to be a new required car decal of which we need 3. The changes seem to be brought about by a new sponsor or "Club Racing" becomes "Road Racing". They tend to get sent to every licensed racer free of charge. Usually, this is how the racers learn of the new requirement. Sometimes there is an email sent to everyone.

As someone who raised their right hand at various times in my career (USN, DoD, Government Service), I happen to like the red/white/blue of the old patch and am in no hurry to switch.

[EYERACE]

This B&W thing will not be as big a flub as "New Coke" years ago.......but some things are better left alone.......especially if it's a logo that's been around for many years. Though art work associated with the SCCA has changed over time, the big letters SCCA have been red for decades such that it catches one's eye by its being that color and it also makes it identifiable as being the SCCA.
Black / white doesn't stimulate the retina all that much and will only be a unique visual impression for the SCCA after decades.

I'll guess no reason was given for the change. Whoever thought the color change necessary gets my vote for idiot of the year.....no.......decade !!

I guess I'll put a B&W on my suit........but I'm going to leave the red one on too

[Messenger Racing]

I like the new one and started running it in late 19 or early 2020.

I do not think I have been abused by SCCA. Radical thinking I know.

[R. Pare]

I'll guess no reason was given for the change.

It is simply economics -keeping it all black is less expensive to make.

[Gary Godula]

It is simply economics -keeping it all black is less expensive to make.

Even less expensive than that is to recycle...ie, continue to allow the use the existing color ones. WTF people....

[Rick Iverson]

Spot on, Gary. The DoD keeps Deanie and me on wiener water soup, every dime counts. Flawed thinking at the onset.

Even less expensive than that is to recycle...ie, continue to allow the use the existing color ones. WTF people....

[Steve Bresee]

Hey Mel,

I wrote to the SCCA about this after I was told I needed a new patch at the first race this year at Sears Point. I told them I liked the Red White an Blue one. I got two responses. The first was :

This change has been in the works for a while. There was a 2 year transition for phasing out the old patches that ended last year. You are welcome to leave the red, white, and blue SCCA logo on your suit. You will need to add either the black with white lettering, or white with black logoed patch to meet GCR requirements.
When I complained,
The second was :

There were a few reasons for the change:

• There were no art files from the red, white, and blue version
• Vendor was unknown
• The SCCA shape of the lettering on the patch was not consistent with our basic SCCA logo
• It was determined it was time for an update

No art files? I'm pretty sure there is a new unused Red White and Blue patch sitting somewhere. A digital picture can be made into a vector file and used to make a new embroidery file. (My wife and I owned an Embroidery shop of 15 yrs)

Vendor unknown? . So there isn't a file of 1099s for payment to a vendor that made them in the past?

Somebody decided to change the basic Logo... I guess

Who decided it was time? I don't remember voting on any change...But then I have been a member for 34 years... maybe my memory is fading.

[EYERACE]

Any rule about me putting the B&W patch on the suit upside down ???

[John LaRue]

For the sake of God what is the big deal? $3.00 and some thread? Really??

There were issues with the typestyle of the patches we all had used; apparently they had never been approved - they just found there way into the market. So, when the files could not be located SCCA decided to update the logo and gave over a year's notice. Every organization does it; IMSA switched out the logo for the 50th and required everyone to use a special gold colored insignia for one year.

So, cut the old one off, buy and sew a new one on and let's go racing.

[EACIII]

The bid deal is not the $3 but the sewing on of the patch. I am not very good with a needle and thread and will most likely have to go to the clinic to stop all the bleeding.

Just more change for the nothing else but the sake of change. Plain dumb.

Ed

[E1pix]

Eyepatch.

[Jerry Kehoe]

This type of stuff really makes me glad I left SCCA after 35 plus years. Maybe they were all Hall Monitors in school!

[SteveG]

The bid deal is not the $3 but the sewing on of the patch. I am not very good with a needle and thread and will most likely have to go to the clinic to stop all the bleeding.

Just more change for the nothing else but the sake of change. Plain dumb.

Ed

https://www.badgemagic.com/

It can be purchased at Amazon.

Steve

[problemchild]

I so fear this $3 patch tempest will cause more formula cars to not come out.

To rage about this is as much a waste of energy as the rule change in the first place.
Get your car ready and go racing!

If anybody is going to park their car, or skip an SCCA event because of this issue, please contact me and I will paypal you a gift of $3. Formula cars only!

[Rick Iverson]

To rage about this is as much a waste of energy as the rule change in the first place.
Get your car ready and go racing!

If anybody is going to park their car, or skip an SCCA event because of this issue, please contact me and I will paypal you a gift of $3. Formula cars only!

Respectfully Sir, I beg to differ.

It is not about the money, it is all about the absence of critical thinking. The older patches, given enough time, would have been rendered obsolete due to age (read: tattered, wash faded, new suit and want to spiff it up with a new patch). But to mandate every licensed competitor in this organization to remove a PERFECTLY usable patch is bereft of common sense. The time to do so, the expense, the pain in the butt. Nonsensical.

To spend thousands for what, three (3) twenty-minute practice sessions and a twenty-five (25) minute race, and to be challenged over an SCCA patch. Thinking was horribly flawed. Again, and this is most important: WE ARE NOT A GROWTH INDUSTRY.

May I surmise that there is no one in authority whom might say, “Opps, screwed up. Never mind”. Not in a million years. Laughable.

[problemchild]

Again, and this is most important: WE ARE NOT A GROWTH INDUSTRY.

I have been trying to organize some useful ranting about the reform needed to the SCCA process for decades. The club operation is based on a 1950s business model for an amateur sporting organization. We have "good ole boys and gals" making decisions that effect hundreds of thousands of dollars of race cars, obsoleting or inserting cars, killing or creating classes, etc. That far more people get excited about a $3 patch, then the operation of our multi-million dollar racing club is puzzling.

So go ahead ...... use a sharpie to recolor, or protest by refusing to sew on a new patch ...... that will show them!

[Rick Iverson]

You are right. What was I thinking about

I have been trying to organize some useful ranting about the reform needed to the SCCA process for decades. The club operation is based on a 1950s business model for an amateur sporting organization. We have "good ole boys and gals" making decisions that effect hundreds of thousands of dollars of race cars, obsoleting or inserting cars, killing or creating classes, etc. That far more people get excited about a $3 patch, then the operation of our multi-million dollar racing club is puzzling.

So go ahead ...... use a sharpie to recolor, or protest by refusing to sew on a new patch ...... that will show them!

[EYERACE]

Some of them were not Hall Monitors......they were Patrol Boys. Thanks for the note about badgemagic

How soon before cars will need the black & white too ??? I only ask because I anticipate that's likely the next unnecessary change

[Gary Godula]

The bottom line is that this is a rule change that benefits nobody. It is completely useless, and for the BoD to make a rule on something this useless is stupid....even more stupid that us arguing about it. A complete waste of (insert your favorite curse word that rhymes with firetruck)-ing time.

I am surprised no one has mentioned how many drivers may have had the patch/emblem embroidered into their suit when it was made. This might have been a safe bet when the suit was made, but now, you cannot assume that the BoD will hold onto anything for half a season.

And people wonder why Vintage Racing and ChampCar/Lemons Racing is growing like it is.....

[billtebbutt]

That guy that banned himself last month..............

cheers,
bt

[Phil Creighton]

We go from sanctioning body to sanctioning body - change patches and in most cases decal s(multiple) very time. Its not a big deal!.
We tell our guys to get velcro on their suits so they can change to.............
Its not a big deal and certainly a waste of brain cells talking about it.
Phil

[rdracr]

Still looks like it was designed by a third grader.*

*Meaning no slight to third graders.

[EYERACE]

patch in hand.

it does look nice.

will leave red patch on suit and pin B&W on suit upside down anyway

[Jerry Kehoe]

patch in hand.

it does look nice.

will leave red patch on suit and pin B&W on suit upside down anyway

So maybe the real question is why did it have to change anyway? Did someone have nothing to do so figured this was really important? What the Hell difference does it make? Patches did change from time to time in the pro series because series sponsors used to change other than that it seems hard to imagine any change matters because who the Hell cares?

[mmi16]

For the sake of God what is the big deal? $3.00 and some thread? Really??

There were issues with the typestyle of the patches we all had used; apparently they had never been approved - they just found there way into the market. So, when the files could not be located SCCA decided to update the logo and gave over a year's notice. Every organization does it; IMSA switched out the logo for the 50th and required everyone to use a special gold colored insignia for one year.

So, cut the old one off, buy and sew a new one on and let's go racing.

Making it a big deal about NOTHING. SCCA is SCCA in Red White and Blue or Black and White.

Send Check Cash Automatically

My suit passed Annual Tech at Sebring with the old patch. F'm

[cory mcleod]

Cost of new patch from Tech at VIR Super Tour: FREE

[TrackBrat]

There is a good chance tech at your local event can have them.

For those that are complaining about sewing or issues with sewing(I am not great myself) go to your local dry cleaners. Good chance they will be able to sew it on for you and the cost is very minimal.