Today I attended the CRB meeting at the PRI show. One thing became painfully obvious to me. The classes that are the most organized and informed of the various SCCA processes are the classes that are the most successful at getting what their majority desire. S2 and American Sedan would both be examples of classes that have their act together. These two classes have a proven track record of being organized in letter writing campaigns when it comes to issues pertaining to their class.
I heard at the meeting today that there are over one thousand FC owners out there that the club officialdom feel they must represent. So they feel they can't be unduly influenced by a few vocal folks. Some officials feel they must defend the silent majority.
I doubt there are even 300 SCCA FC racers out there that have raced in class in the past year. I'm thinking it's closer to 100. Which means that in effect 900 ghostly non-racers control what effects us 100 or so real racers. We need to change that.
Also obvious is the fact that the CRB, and various advisory committees, have no idea who the active racers are, or how many there really are. You can own a HP Spriget that hasn't been raced in years, or maybe you are thinking about buying a race car next year, or you might be a vendor selling parts, as long as you are a SCCA member, your letter to the CRB about a FC issue they may be debating might have as much impact as a letter from last year's FC national champion.
Also, surprising to me, many very active FC competitors rarely sign on to Apexspeed. So using Apexspeed as a forum to "get the word out" has its problems. Many FC racers do not have accounts on the SCCA web site, nor have the switch set to notify them online of Fasttrack releases. Let's face it, if you wait for Fastrack to come out, you missed the ball.
I'm thinking of creating a registry of actively racing FC car owners. Currently i'm thinking of just a simple email list, no addresses, no phone numbers. The purpose i see is to have some vehicle to get the word out that there may be a pending piece of legislation about which you should send in your opinion. I'm not concerned what your opinion might be, I'm concerned that the active racers aren't being heard.
So if you want to be part of this project send me a PM, or an email. Tell me the type of FC car you currently own, and the races you have entered as an owner/driver in the past year. If you know guys that don't hang out on Apexspeed, send me their email or phone number, and I'll try to contact them to see if they want to be on the list.