Thanks for the kudos Robert about what we’re doing here in NorCal. First off…the SE30 race platform that Mike Mills and Carter Hunt have built is a huge part of the success formula. A stable set of rules helps enormously as well as a fun and safe car to race in.
We do have a high level of camaraderie and sportsmanship which I am proud to be a part of. We’re lucky to have started out with a great bunch of guys which set the tone from the get-go. Below are some things I think contribute to our success:
Having a BMW-Related Business Getting Behind the Effort.
We were extremely lucky having [b]Valley Motorwerks /b get behind Spec E30 back in 2007. Walter Ford, the owner of VMWerks, enthusiastically got behind the effort and generously donated his time and money. He’s been very generous to racers and prospective racers in the region offering discounted parts and service to folks. Midnight Oil Motors in San Diego is doing the same in SoCal right now and that region is taking off as we speak.
Having a Website Dedicated to Your Region.
I was lucky that Walter knows computers as well as he does (he’s a former IT guy, before he started VMwerks). Together we both got the website up and running and I think it has helped bring in new folks as they can get information about the class and what it takes to start racing. Our goal for the website was to convey information to someone who knows nothing about road racing and wants to start. It does take some level of work to keep the website active and up-to-date but once you have it up and running updates are pretty simple.
Project a Welcoming Attitude to New SE30 Racers.
This is really important in my opinion. We all remember when we first started in this sport. Everything is new and strange and is a lot of times an intimidating experience. We go out of our way to welcome the new guys in, offer them a paddock spot with us and will offer them advice and tips to get them started off right. Catching them early while they are still in HPDE is even better. If a person is running an E30 in HPDE with the goal of racing SE30 then we try to offer him a paddock spot with us. They get immersed into our “culture” of camaraderie and sportsmanship early on.
We Paddock and Socialize Together.
NASA Brass know that by setting aside designated paddock space for the various race groups naturally fosters friendly relationships between racers. We’ve seen guys coming into SE30 with an “outsider” attitude…but they quickly come around and join the group because of the genuine camaraderie that is evident with our group. It’s human nature to want to join in on this. We have a couple of SE30 potluck BBQ’s per season, normally up at Thunderhill since it is out-of-town for everyone and thus have a “captured audience” so-to-speak. We also try to hang out together at the local restaurants the Friday before the race weekend. Thunderhill especially lends itself for this as it is remotely located to where everyone lives…so going up Friday night we reserve a big table and meet at the local Mexican restaurant for drinks, food and merriment!
We Always Remind Ourselves that Racing Should Be Fun
In our driver’s meetings we constantly remind ourselves that we are doing this for the fun. This is not professional racing…we want to bring ourselves and our cars home in one piece at the end of the weekend. We all know that Chip Ganassi is not sitting in the stands scouting new talent from the pool of SE30 racers. We remind ourselves that taking extreme chances in this sport is not worth it. We’re lucky that our group is mostly made up of mature professional people and business owners who understand the message. We work with the young guns early on and try to inject some reason and sanity into their racing.
NASA Support
NorCal is lucky to have a seasoned and reasonable Chief Scrutineer in NorCal (Alan Blaine) to keep everyone in check. Alan is great to work with and keeps everyone on their toes with respect to safety and rule adherence. Jerry Kunzman has been great letting us “run with this”. He’s a hands off manager as long as we operate within NASA’s rules he’s OK with what we’re doing. The Prizes and Cash awards that you see listed in my post all came from within our group. Our racers go out and ask for support…folks respond. Our motives are pretty simple…we ask ourselves what can we do to inject more fun into this event? You are seeing the results.
Cheers,
Scott
and we do race as hard as any other class in NorCal!