Sept 5th RallyX @ BMW Farm

steve remchak · **Posted:** Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:15 pm

i must say, i feel the need to nominate Mr. Mike Czeiszperger for RallyX VP. but somehow we must find a way to make your name slightly easier to spell Mike. :lol:

RichardNuss · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:02 am

So the next club meeting is the proper time to discuss how to keep RallyXs from getting cancelled?

It is Weds 9-Sept, right? 6:30 at Rudinos in RTP? Do you have to do anything to get on the agenda? How many people usually show up?

The things that frustrate me (in order of priority) are:
1) Inconsistent rules around pre-registration:
- after we got 25 pre-regs in July, no one thought the July event was going to get cancelled, but then the plug was pulled because we hadn't had 25 pre-reg a week before (so why wasn't it cancelled the week before, instead of at the last minute?)
- based on the July experience, we had until 28-Aug or so to get 25 pre-reg for the 5-Sept RallyX. I told people that was their deadline to pre-reg. Then the plug was pulled early. Granted attendance was low, BUT WE HAD NOT HIT THE DEADLINE YET.
- So is the rule really that we need 25 pre-reg a week before the event, or is there something else needed too? Is 25 pre-reg not really enough, because some of the pre-reg don't show up to the event? We need to be really transparent about what is going on - let everyone know what the real deal is. If the RallyX VPs have thoughts or need help, let us know, so we can help, and prevent events from being cancelled. We can only help with what we know about.
2) Why aren't we getting more participants? What are ideas to get more people to come out? Does the schedule need to change? Do we need to publish the events to a broader audience? Do people have a problem with the way events are run? (I like it the way it is, I'm just brainstorming)
3) If we are consistently NOT getting enough participants to hold RallyX events (has happened twice now this year), then can we re-structure the fees or how we run the event to make it work with fewer people?
4) I hate event cancellation due to mud. I understand that driving in the mud is not as fun for some people (me personally - I even have fun in the mud). Would you rather race in mud, or not at all? Because if an event gets cancelled due to muddy track (rain prior to event) it is not going to be rescheduled.

I am not complaining just to hear myself type. I appreciate all the effort that folks put into the RallyX season. I just want to keep it going. I have seen comments on other boards like "you might as well give up on this THSCC RallyX thing, let's start our own thing." I don't think that's the right approach. But when events keep getting cancelled, I think it hurts attendance in the long run. Seriously - my personal feelings - after the 2nd cancellation this year (3rd if you count rain in March) out of 9 yearly events, I was like "I could just walk away from this and quit thinking about it. It's not worth the work on the car to not get to race." And if I was racing my daily driver, that thought might have stuck. But then what would I do with this Audi?

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:53 am

The bottom line to all this, Richard, is that people have to commit to rally cross. Canceling the event early, perhaps is a premature gesture, but with 11 people preregistered it is pretty much a fore gone conclusion that the requisite 25 cars would not be reached.
Your committed and that’s quite evident, you have to instill this commitment in the others that want to rally cross.
I drove passed the OC site the day before the event in March it was not just muddy the entire lower half of the field was under water!! And it rained even harder that night. The site would most certainly have been unusable. You also have to remember that these sites belong to other people, If we rut the ground so badly that the site will need grading we will most likely lose the venue. The OC site is an over flow parking field.
The July event was an impromptu get together not a scheduled event.
I believe an autocross event that would have had only 11 people registered two weeks before the event would have been canceled also, but maybe not, JMHO.
At any rate come to the meetings an get involved, don't just type about it come and do something. Rally cross seems to be showing the biggest impact of the recession although autocross and the track programs have seen some decline also. Things will improve eventually.

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:11 am

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:

Are you saying insurance is a fixed expense? That doesn't make sense since liability is a multiple of the number of entrants.

Michael, My understanding of this is, yes, it is a fixed expense. Insurance covers the event, not just the people participating. Just to answer your question, somewhat. You should ask Bowie for a greater understanding of this at the next meeting.

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

steve remchak wrote:

i must say, i feel the need to nominate Mr. Mike Czeiszperger for RallyX VP. but somehow we must find a way to make your name slightly easier to spell Mike. :lol:

Hey, I was going to nominate you!

What I'm not going to do here is complain about the current RallyX V.P.s. Its really hard to get anyone to volunteer for an ongoing organizational task, and anyone who steps up to the plate earns the right to make the close calls without a bunch of complaints.

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:41 am

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:

Are you saying insurance is a fixed expense? That doesn't make sense since liability is a multiple of the number of entrants.

The liability actually has very little to do with the number of entrants - as the insurance is not really for the participant - it covers the club and the site owner. Remember that waiver you sign when you get there?

Regardless, the insurance is a flat rate regardless of number of participants.

KouroshNeshat · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:53 am

it is very frustrating to hear about a canceled rallyX event, or any event really.

i dont think there is a certain person to blame really, just that sometimes it doesnt work out.

last year, every race was on. and every race seemed packed.

$30 is a decent amount of money, plus the factor of driving there and getting the car ready and much much more. and yes, the past few months have been tough times for a lot of people.

but what i am annoyed about is the amount of "walk on" folks that we get. these are the folks who either forget, or just dont pre-register and show up and race. thats awesome, but i would love for them to at least pre register so we can get that extra few people each race and not be worried about a cancellation the week before.

but who knows, maybe there are no walk on, but thats what it seems like.

Ash, or whoever does the bus stuff, is there a way you can look up how many people register at an event that did not pre register? (if it doesnt take too much time).

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

Dustin Fredrickson wrote:

The liability actually has very little to do with the number of entrants - as the insurance is not really for the participant - it covers the club and the site owner. Remember that waiver you sign when you get there?

Regardless, the insurance is a flat rate regardless of number of participants.

Yup, I understand that, and yet believe the amount of liability the club is exposed to is related to the number of entrants. For example, if the club held an event, and only 1 car participated, the chances of the car damaging the site, or someone getting injured and suing the club is much, much less than an event with 1,000 participants.

RichardNuss · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:27 pm

Thanks guys for the replies to my post. Good points all. I am definitely not criticizing the RallyX VPs, and like I stated, I appreciate the hard work that everyone puts into making the RallyX events happen.

I definitely agree about cancelling an event so we don't damage a muddy site, where that is a concern.

I'll be at the meeting on 9-Sept, and Marek said he'd be there too.

There might be nothing we can do - maybe once the job market picks back up there won't be any issues with attendance. But I'd like to try to help if there *is* something we can do.

And I agree with Kourosh about the walk-ons. Should we experiment with charging $5 extra if you don't pre-register, and shut down the pre-reg a week ahead, if that is the deadline for 25 entrants?

steve remchak · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:06 pm

i must say i personally am glad to see we have new members with fire in their bellys for our programs. such is what has made this club what it is and has been for the past 40 some odd years.

but, from a marketing standpoint, i see no way we as a club can penalize the slack ass bastards that sign up late or just show up for our events.

rallyx is very, very hard on a vehicle. as such, most entrants do not enter their daily drivers. this means we tow our dedicated rallyx beaters to the event.

my opinion, while OCS is a stellar location; it is too far a tow from our customer base. not to mention that OCS has never really said "ehh.. just park it over there, it'll be fine there for the next 6 weeks"

i think we need to consider maybe four events in the Johnston County area as our season untill people can again field a beater for the fields.

but then again, WTF do i care, i am a retired RallyX'r. daaaaammmmn cones, ruin a perfectly good RallyX. :twisted:

KouroshNeshat · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:14 pm

If we can only have more races, then i am 100% fine with just doing them at Kevins and Brets. Heck, all that land, we can come up with tons of configurations.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:24 pm

KouroshNeshat wrote:

If we can only have more races, then i am 100% fine with just doing them at Kevins and Brets. Heck, all that land, we can come up with tons of configurations.

again, who is going to support more than four events per season? trust me Kourosh, i understand. but your zeal doesn't carry over into the rest of the community. for whatever reason.

dust, heat, humidity, cows, too f'n many cones; all detrimental to attendance. oh wait, the cows are kinda cool. :lol:

and in case none of Ya'll have noticed. since our resident Ego-Maniac RallyX Guru has dropped off the radar, the program has suffered.

need i say more?

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

steve remchak wrote:

my opinion, while OCS is a stellar location; it is too far a tow from our customer base. not to mention that OCS has never really said "ehh.. just park it over there, it'll be fine there for the next 6 weeks"

I don't know where you live, but for us Chapel Hill residents the OCS is the closest location by far. In any event I'm in my daily driver and so don't have to worry about towing anything.

RichardNuss · **Posted:** Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:21 am

I am central to the 3 locations - all are about an hour tow.

I like OCS best of all the tracks, but if dropping it from the schedule means we get to run more events (same number scheduled and fewer cancelled), that's fine with me.

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Thu Aug 27, 2009 7:16 am

steve remchak wrote:

my opinion, while OCS is a stellar location; it is too far a tow from our customer base. not to mention that OCS has never really said "ehh.. just park it over there, it'll be fine there for the next 6 weeks"

It's only too far from you 'cause you live in BumFEgypt. :wink:

Most don't. And, the General has stayed behind our shop several times between events. Anyone else is welcomed to leave their beater there too for two back to back events @OC. We're about 5 minutes from OCS.

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