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