"Sportscar" magazine

I'm mulling over joining the SCCA. What's their magazine like?

Not that entertaining. Mostly results and club business. Randy Pobst's column is always a highlight - he needs to write for GRM!

Not entertaining at all. Event results. Rule changes. Who's protesting who. All done in exciting Robert's Rules of Order format.

It's a glossy club newsletter, not much of a magazine.

Thanks for the heads-up.

BTW, what the hell is "Formula SCCA" (FE) ?

Join NASA. Their official magazine totally ROCKS!

Salanis wrote: Join NASA. Their official magazine totally ROCKS!

You work for them?

In reply to bigtoed:

No, he doesn't (that I know of anyway), but Grassroots Motorsports is the official magazine of NASA

In reply to fifty:

Didn't he used to, back when he was autocrossing?

stroker wrote: Thanks for the heads-up. BTW, what the hell is "Formula SCCA" (FE) ?

SCCA Enterprises (the Spec Racer guys) are trying to expand. They're hoping these things will be as sucessful as SR/SRF were/are.

http://www.scca-enterprises.com/fscca_srscca.html

IIRC, they say you can buy fendered bodywork and run it in CSR. They're expensive.

SCCA can't seem to grasp that the price they charge is simply too high. If they would give me the option to not get the hopelessly dull magazine for maybe $20 less I'd probably be a member. But they gouge you on membership and then charge you again for the dues to belong to your local region. NASA charges one, lower, fee for everything plus gives you GRM instead of having to pay some outside company to make a magazine nobody much reads. Want to go racing? Then pay extra for a license and even a log book (the log book costs them maybe a quarter to make, yet I had to pay $10 for it). I was pleasantly stunned when NASA gave me a log book for free. And stickers for the race car. And a patch for my suit. And doesn't force me to cover up the 'other' club's decals when I run.

SCCA: love the people, tolerate the organization.

ddavidv wrote: SCCA: love the people, tolerate the organization.

Amen, Brother.

The SCCA is (mostly) made up of wonderful people. However, it is an organization with multiple personality disorder.

There are the down to earth weekend warriors (most members) who compete on their ownn dime and are willing to help out a fellow competitor in any way.

Thenn there are those who compete as though SCCA club racing or autocross is the F1 championship, In my decade-plus expericne with the club, there is a tug-of-war between the two groups. One group wants a venue for tthe Walter Mittys of the world (sorry for co-opting the title GRM) and the other wants to make the club the NASCAR of sports car racing (NASCAR is trying to acomplish this itself).

I actually won a pair of Piloti racing shoes for writing the "letter of the month" two years ago. It was in response to a letter stating that the SCCA should become more professional and less about amateurs. I took the opposite view. The fact that the editorial staff picked my letter, a defense of the little guy, as letter of the month indicates to me that the grassroots competitor has friends at the top. However, the tug-of-war continues.

I'll play devil's advocate. While "sportscar" is an easy 90% boring junk, they've had some REALLY good auto-xing articles over the years. The ones on course walking and visualization immediately come to mind.

I am not such a fan of sportscar either, i look at the pretty pictures, and read Pobst Position, then toss it in the magazine pile.

NASA doesn't have much of a presence in my area, so I joined SCCA last year. I think SCCA depends mostly on your region, I have to say, Detroit region is the greatest group of people I have ever met.

ddavidv wrote: And stickers for the race car. And a patch for my suit. And doesn't force me to cover up the 'other' club's decals when I run. SCCA: love the people, tolerate the organization.

That's funny, I got charged $2 per sticker (SCCA price: $1) and got yelled at for not covering up my SCCA stickers OR suit patch.

FWIW when I originally ran with NASA, before it turned to E36 M3, I ALWAYS covered up my SCCA decals.

I guess it just depends on where you're at... because I'll only run with NASA if the event is worth a years membership and license (like the 8-hour enduro).

ddavidv wrote: SCCA can't seem to grasp that the price they charge is simply too high.

I first learned of SCCA when I was 15, but I was a broke student (and then broke worker) for so many years that I never could afford to join.

I finally joined when I was 36 and bought a Subaru with the complimentary membership. I renewed once, but I found the structure of the organization to be tedious.

If they hope to attract younger members, at minimum, they should offer a low membership price for college students.

Yep, I read Probsts article, maybe the feature article, check out my division report, scan for any names/faces I know, then it gets recycled. Since they pulled the Fastracks out of it (which totally made sense to me) it's a worthless rag EXCEPT, not everyone in the world has a computer (gasp!) and its the only real way to communicate with those members.

The only reason I'm a NASA member is because of the GRM subscription (and that's a pretty good reason!)

Woody wrote: If they hope to attract younger members, at minimum, they should offer a low membership price for college students.

SCCA does have a discount for those under 24, First Gear, but it's $45 a year.

I have all but given up SCCA autocrosses in my region. North East Ohio SCCA has merged with a local car club and has turned into a 35 second drag race. The region is dominated by the over 40/50 age group with much deeper pockets than young adults such as myself, so it is difficult to even be competitive. I have discovered that PCA puts on one hell of an autocross; plus the cars are that much cooler.

I think the SCCA newsletter has been much better since they got a new editor a year or so ago and did an overhaul. Much more tech and product reviews now.

ddavidv wrote: SCCA can't seem to grasp that the price they charge is simply too high. If they would give me the option to not get the hopelessly dull magazine for maybe $20 less I'd probably be a member. But they gouge you on membership and then charge you again for the dues to belong to your local region.

I let my membership lapse when it jumped to ~$70/yr for a basic membership. While SportsCar had improved quite a bit by then, if I'm spending that much for what would basically be a magazine subscription, I'll re-up Motor Sport.

while it is 70 dollars per year for a membership, (45 for me, the under 24 thing), I see it as incentive to run more events. The more events you run, the more the membership saves you. this year, I intend to run a full season of rallycross (11 events), 3 or 4 ice races, 5 TSD rallys, and 4 or 5 solo's, my membership saves me AT LEAST $15 per event, ad that up, and its a "savings" of $375!

In reply to maroon92:

So are the workers at registration better versed with the First Gear program, or whatever Speed Freakz is now called?

I often had all sorts of fun trying to register when I had my phat yellow all-ate-up-with-extreme Speed Freakz comp license.

"Got a minor...need a cold pass!"

"Uh, I'm 21, and running in ITS..."

wow, looks like i have a lot of BS to sort thru once i try to start AutoX this year

I've been an SCCA member for almost 20 years now, and I have seen a lot of changes during that time, and some things that need to change. First, the people in my region are great and some of the most helpful around. I haven't run much in the past few years due to getting married, having two houses, etc., but I plan to do more this year.

Anyway, during that time, they do seem to be a bit more user friendly, but they still have a way to go on a national level. On the local level, it all depends on the members, just like any organization. What really puzzles me is the way they class cars. I know its a tough process to get correct, but some of their decisions leave me scratching my head. I only hope they are getting kick backs from the car companies involved, if not they may be eternally clueless!

I'm in the camp that is not that fond of Sportscar. The new editor has made it easier to read, but they dumped most of the stuff I liked about it; Marque Scoreboard, Fast Track, more regional results, etc. They have added a few things I like, such as Randy's column, and I did enjoy the ghost tracks segments, but for the most part, it's not a must read.

In the end, SCCA is what you make it. If you want to be involved, you really need to join.