Run for CA$H instead of trophies

Brad Mackey · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2004 6:19 am

Talking with Steve Pierce yesterday, he related how SCCA chapter in Central FL has optional points system in place in lieue... no, lueie... no, luieu... no, anyway, you get the drift, of trophies:

Top Two (or maybe it was Three) Trophy finishers have the option of getting a ticket punched instead of taking a trophy. Kinda like a Subway sandwich ticket. Win 6 (4, 8, whatever) trophies, taking a "punch" instead, and get a free autocross entry. Or maybe we award two punches for a win, one for 2nd.

Not sure what the current cost of trophies is, but there must be some point where this could be cost-effective for the Club, and more beneficial to the competitor. Not to mention the logistics savings of keeping a large trophy inventory, dragging around a big box, etc. We could keep a smaller box!

Not to denegrate the value and satisfaction of earning and displaying a THSCC trophy, but there are some superior drivers among us who finish in a top trophy position at EVERY event who might opt for some financial benefit. It's like, how many wood plaques can you hang in your garage before the wall falls down?? Food for thought, man. Have at it...

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2004 4:47 pm

My brother told me about the punch card thing. He lives in Tampa and races with several clubs in the area. He thought it sounded like a cool idea for those who win alot. Me personally, I don't win events that often (might have something to do with there not being a whole lot of FS cars around so I get bumped to BS!!!) so I'll take my wood when ever I can get it.

Chuck Frank · **Posted:** Sun Jan 18, 2004 11:42 pm

To me running for cash doesn't become very appealing until you can at least win enough to cover the event's entry fee, this just sounds like selling your plaque back to the club.
VMSC has a "pro" class with real cash prizes tho.

Peter Baio · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2004 1:56 am

What about a separate class to run for money. Something like each entrant to that class would pay an extra five bucks per event to enter. That extra five from everyone in that class would go to the pot. 1st place get 60%, 2nd 30%, 3rd get 10% from the pot. That would help the guys that really want to be competitive get into it a little more with out sacrificing much from there wallet. You pay to play, And this class could still be awarded the regular trophies. It wouldn't offer much but with say ten entrants into the class, for the first place winner it would atleast cover that days entrance fee's. I think i key thing would be keeping the pay to play coast low to keep it more attractive to everyone, without putting a dent in there wallet and ultimately creating a bigger pot.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:08 am

If you win so much that they trophy is worth less to you than the cash or you have so many trophies are can't find a place to hang them on the wall, I guess it is a good deal. I can only dream of having that problem. :roll:

In the grand scheme of things event fees is not that much. A first place trophy (heck, just one) in STS would be priceless for me.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:22 am

Peter Baio wrote:

What about a separate class to run for money. Something like each entrant to that class would pay an extra five bucks per event to enter. That extra five from everyone in that class would go to the pot. 1st place get 60%, 2nd 30%, 3rd get 10% from the pot. That would help the guys that really want to be competitive get into it a little more with out sacrificing much from there wallet. You pay to play, And this class could still be awarded the regular trophies. It wouldn't offer much but with say ten entrants into the class, for the first place winner it would atleast cover that days entrance fee's. I think i key thing would be keeping the pay to play coast low to keep it more attractive to everyone, without putting a dent in there wallet and ultimately creating a bigger pot.

A plan like this opens a whole new can of worms. At this point we are no longer just amatures, and true "pro" status comes into play. Technically you have to claim any winnings on your taxes (at this level, easily offset by expenses), but there is also the chance that the club will have to start dealing with the IRS as well...

Money also can corrupt the fun a bit. Suddenly "overlooking" something not quite legal isn't going to happen, and we don't want to have to start dealing with protests, etc.

I don't think a cash pay out is the solution, but as teh official trophy guy, I *do* want to see us cut down on the amount of wood awarded at any given time.

Scott

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:36 pm

NASA used to run a ProKhana back in 2001, which was a dedicated heat to drivers competing for money. I know Scott, Jim Pastorius, Dick Rasmussen, Eric Peterson, Mike Whitney, Shawn Whipple, myself, and a host of others have all competed in it way back when. As the word got out, a lot of the National level heavy hitters started coming to town, from as far away as NY sometimes. Needless to say, it became quite the show, but it does add a whole lot of complexity to an already complex setup process for the autocross VP's. - AB

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2004 5:12 pm

Aaron Buckley wrote:

NASA used to run a ProKhana back in 2001, which was a dedicated heat to drivers competing for money. I know Scott, Jim Pastorius, Dick Rasmussen, Eric Peterson, Mike Whitney, Shawn Whipple, myself, and a host of others have all competed in it way back when. As the word got out, a lot of the National level heavy hitters started coming to town, from as far away as NY sometimes. Needless to say, it became quite the show, but it does add a whole lot of complexity to an already complex setup process for the autocross VP's. - AB

The primary reason that I ran the ProKana with NASA was that it ran at my preferred time of day and I could run the number already on my car if I was quick about preregistering. However, the challenge of trying to beat the non Mod folks on PAX was an incentive also. The odds of winning back the higher entry fee were minimal at best in my case.

Don't get me started on the problems for a fiberglass car where the numbers have to be consecutive for the whole darn event and when you manage to sign up limits your number choices!

Chuck Frank · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:58 pm

I guess someone could set up a "side bet pool" for anyone who wanted to participate in it... a few bucks in a hat.

Emmie Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:27 am

I don't care about winning $, but I voted for the $ over the trophies 'cause most that I have I don't care anything about & they are just clutter around the house collecting dust (literally!).

There must be a bunch more people with the same clutter issue as, when Carl asked for folks' unwanted trophies to try to recycle the wood, he got a lot of old trophies. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the dash plaques off well enough to reuse the wood, so just had to toss 'em. So, it seems that promoting the year-long trophies more again or coming up with an alternate "award" ought to be a popular idea. :whoknows:

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:54 am

FYI

When we lived in California there were two basic approaches to trophies.

Events put on by individual clubs as part of a Northern California Series had event trophies. As you all know, that is a lot of work but each club only did it once or twice a year. The overall group also had a year end award banquet with trophies. Trophies were either standup or plaque type. One of my last year end trophies was so tall we could barely fit it in to a Lotus to take home from the banquet.

Events put on by SCCA did not have significant event trophies. Literally too much work and money for the few people involved since SCCA autocrossing was the "little guy" in Northern California at that time. As I recall event winners received small checker flag stickers similar to what the road racers received. They were kind of neat to have. Some folks put them on the interior of their cars. The year end trophies were pictures of your car in action in a wooden frame with engraved info regarding class, your name, and the year. John Kelly (North American Pylon) took the pictures. These were neat! Kelly and I lost of few of our picture trophies when Hurricane Fran destroyed our detached garage where the trophies were hung.

Dick

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:09 am

DickRasmussen wrote:

As I recall event winners received small checker flag stickers similar to what the road racers received. They were kind of neat to have. Some folks put them on the interior of their cars. The year end trophies were pictures of your car in action in a wooden frame with engraved info regarding class, your name, and the year. John Kelly (North American Pylon) took the pictures. These were neat! Kelly and I lost of few of our picture trophies when Hurricane Fran destroyed our detached garage where the trophies were hung.
Dick

Hmmm....that sticker idea gives me another thought. How about little magnetics that look like cones as trophies? Like a refrigerator magnet with the finishing place on it. You could line the car with 'em like kills on a WWII fighter plane. Or make them stickers like Dick said and put them on your helmet or whereever.

FYI, I ran with a SCCA club in Ohio a couple of times and they didn't give trophies either. You had your choice of items (with the club's logo on it) like a hand towel, shot glass, or beer couzy. I thought it was crappy at the time, but now I see the reasoning behind it.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:37 pm

DickRasmussen wrote:

The year end trophies were pictures of your car in action in a wooden frame with engraved info regarding class, your name, and the year.
Dick

Just to be clear, the year end trophies used the normal trophy formula regarding first, second, third, etc.

Rob Keehner · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2004 4:35 pm

I really like the sticker or magnet idea too instead of trophies.

Dale Schendel · **Posted:** Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:20 am

the money thing isn't appealing becuase ..well let's just say 83 corolla. but the sticker or magnet idea is cool.

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Run for CA$H instead of trophies

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