Staying on Track.
I just got back from the “Rocky Mountain Thunder” Club Race, Enduro and Driver Education weekend at High Plains Raceway. This is one of two PCA Club races every year in Zone 9, each held with an associated DE limited to advanced drivers and instructors. Throughout the weekend I got peppered with the same question, “So how is the racing and DE program doing throughout the country?” There were clearly some underlying concerns, as the RMR team did their level best to attract registrants, but the numbers were falling a bit short of ideal. While I had no answer to the situation throughout the U.S., I could only relate what I know about the situation in the zone. I DID however, ask a LOT of questions and got lots of theories. So I’ll stick to what I do know, or have credibly heard. Here you go-
-The number of PCA Club Racers at our two events was down this year. While it is a cause for some concern, the financial impact is not so much that either hosting region wants to drop club racing. Still, solutions are needed, so it’s right to be asking about and addressing the root cause(s). I think of this as a waving yellow flag.
-I’ve heard that this issue is repeated across the middle of the country, and may not be the case in East or West coast regions. Common sense might suggest that proximity of multiple tracks to PCA Club Racers allows more cross-regional participation. We need to attract more people from beyond our two host regions.
-DE events that use “run time” within a Club Race weekend, make a meaningful contribution to keeping the club race weekends financially viable. Keep that plan.
-The two tracks that we rent for PCA Club Races in Zone 9, will be on firm ground financially in 2019. Utah Motorsports Campus is in the process of changing ownership and the outlook is positive. High Plains Raceway has a time tested joint ownership and management structure, with shared ownership among multiple car clubs that have “skin in the game”. We have stability of venues and hopefully stable pricing, though location/ distance remains an uncontrolled factor.
-Growing the number of participants in Zone 9 PCA Club Racing can only come from two sources- inside the zone, or from people traveling here from outside the zone. Additional participants from outside the zone, PLUS total participation by 100% of PCA licensed Club Racers within the zone, are the only ways to make an immediate impact in 2019. That has to be the primary short-term focus.
-However, the strategic long-term assurance of a healthy club race environment has to come from the “local farm team system”. This feeder system means increasing general club membership and growing the driving skills and confidence of many more members. Whether through autocross, Ladies Days, novice or intermediate HPDE- we need more input at the front of the “machine”, to eventually yield more output at the other end.
Toward that end, we ALL need to become ambassadors of the sport. Last Saturday, I randomly met “Gary” sitting on a grandstand bench with his friend. He seemed enthralled with the instructor DE group on track at the time. I told him that DE driving was a “life affirming” activity. I asked him if he’d been on track before. In fact he had been, right there at High Plains, during non-PCA open lapping days. But he said that he’d always wanted to do this with a Porsche and with other Porsche owners. AND that he already had a Porsche. Expecting to hear something like GTI, Camaro, or rental car, I asked him what car he had taken on the track. I was surprised that the answer was -“McLaren”. So after one short conversation about signing up at PCA.org, we will be getting him in the loop with the Rocky Mountain and Alpine Region’s track day calendars. Prior to this, he had NO IDEA of our events, or where to find our calendars. His plan for the day seemed to be to just come out with a friend to hang out. By the way, his Porsche? Well it’s a 2017 Turbo S. It replaced the 2015 Turbo S. He’ll be a new member shortly! Let’s make him welcome and get him into the “feeder system”. So the upshot is for each of us be an ambassador. Others are generally curious and we just need to be approachable!
Before I leave this monthly note, let me say thanks to the dozen of volunteers from PCA National staff, RMR-PCA, SCCA and other car clubs in Colorado who helped Doug Bartlett pull of a terrific weekend of PCA Club Racing. And also a personal thank you to Dan Carlson for lining me up with Hap Henderson, an excellent and seasoned driving instructor who took me through the paces at HPR- a track that is still pretty new to me! Thank you all!
