Stuff I've learned and some clarification

#1

While I troll alot on forums I only respond rarely. I used to respond alot more and be much more involved. I don’t so much anymore because there are multiple forums for every class we have in NASA and the reality is that for me to monitor all of them would be a full time job. This is pretty much the same with all Regional Directors.

I have watched the interactions on Bimmerforums and here on Spec E30 board. I am very happy and very pleased that the competitors that I choose to call my racing peers have chosen to, ultimately, play nice.

I have been in several forum wars over the years. If I wasn’t the target I was standing very close or ended up being dragged into it. All of them started with a dispute over a rule change. Two of the worst were with Honda Challenge and American Iron.

Here are a few things I have learned.

The biggest key to success of a series after a logical and reasonable set of rules (notice I didn’t say “perfect set of rules” because such a thing doesn’t exist)is the comraderie of its drivers and the charisma of its leader. It took me a few seasons to realize just how important this intangible is and how quickly its delicate nature can be compromised.

The fastest way to turn your passionate undertaking of racing and the investment of time/money into a big pile of steamy poo is to engage in a bash battle online. As you may surmise, my position as Regional Director of a NASA Region demands that I communicate with ALOT of people, many of whom are trying to figure out how to get started and many of whom follow these forums in order to do research before commitment. If a potential candidate for a class or for NASA in general gets on a forum where there is constant turmoil, there is a good chance that they will look elsewhere. Online battles can kill or severly stunt the growth of the series temendously. This point should not be taken lightly.

Tooling on officials, sponsors, or other drivers is an absolute no-no. This will end up having people taking sides. Joking around and kidding is actually great but keep in mind that when you are tooling on someone that forums and email do not convey tone as well as a phone call does. Be VERY careful.

Officials get paid very little to nothing in order to organize an extremely complex event so that drivers can come and play. We are officials because we love this stuff and we are out here to have fun just like the drivers. Our mantra at MA is that we should always remember that we are teachers and that we are always on the driver’s side. It is our belief and our practice in everything we do. There are hard decisions that have to be made sometimes but I can assure everyone out there that the decisions are made for the good of the entire organization and done so with fairness as the guide.

Sponsors are rare. I cannot stress the importance of supporting them once they decide to play. For every sponsor we get there are 20 we didn’t. The ones that we do get make the decision more on emotion than on business sense. Most of the time they just plain like the people involved and are happy if their involvement can help and they can at least break even. They are true friends of the racer. As big as this racing thing is in all of our heads, we must remind ourselves that to a potential sponsor we are a very small market. A sponsor looks at these forums prior to making decisions, just like potential drivers do. If they see a community divided they have no interest in helping out. In the specific case of Bimmerparts, when they approached me to purchase the windshield banner in the Mid Atlantic they did so with a dollar figure in mind. I have always been of the mind that anytime we get sponsorship money in that it should pay first for any hard costs associated with the program and then the rest should be for the benefit of the drivers. I have always been of the mindset that I would rather have a huge party with lots of people eating burgers than sit by myself and eat steak so if we can make the racing cheaper or more financially palatable then more racers will come to play more often. Apex Performance provides help to make the parties on Saturday night better. Bimmerparts money helped Carter to support the website and any other costs associated with management of the series and 100% of the rest went to the drivers, which was a $2200 payout. Bimmerparts and I agreed that success in competition should be rewarded but also that the love should reach other drivers at random.
Bimmerparts is back this year. They are a great group of guys and they volunteered to front some money to stock the spec exhaust AFTER everyone that needed one now got theirs. There was a concern that as the series grows in spurts that there may be times when the supply could dry up temporarily. Bimmerparts was willing to help the series by acting as a bank (or accusump for all super gearheads) in case supplies got low at some point. They just wanted to cover costs of extra shipping involved. Unfortunately there were a few people willing to assume the worst and then voice their opinions on a public forum. No one ever called me or called Carter or called Chris at Bimmerparts. An assumption was made and you know what happens when one assumes.

I would never advocate restriction of speech but what I strongly advocate is that if one is concerned, disgusted, pissed off about anything, that they voice their well thought out opinion, complete with alternative solutions, directly to those making decisions before they vent on a public forum and then have a little patience.

There are no conspiracies. None of the leaders have time for the planning and plotting that comes along with them. :slight_smile: While you may still be a doubter, or maybe not, I can assure you that we are all in this for the fun. When it ceases to become so we will no longer be here and the playground will go away.

We live in a society of instant communications and instant gratification. We come together from different geographic, economic and cultural backgrounds, but the one thing that ties us together and makes all of this work is the love of cars and of racing. We truly are brothers in speed and we all need to remember to have patience and trust in our brothers. I don’t mean to sound like a preacher because I am not. I am one of you guys. I race with you and unfortunately due to my event commitments don’t get to relax enough with you. I have watched successful series with beautiful comraderie come crashing down because of inuendo and mistrust.
I am very proud to be associated with a group of guys that has shown reason and patience.

I pen this only to support that trend.

My best to you all!!!

See you at VIR (Except for the SE guys cause they’re scared):wink: :stuck_out_tongue: :slight_smile:

Peace,
Chris Cobetto
Director, NASA Mid Atlantic Region
2006 and 2007 Spec E30 National Champion (beeeeeeeotch) :cheer:

#2

Chris,

I personally appreciate your post and, as a fairly new SpecE30 racer and a Moderator on Bimmerforums, I understand exactly where you are coming from. But, as an attorney who deals a lot with corporate transactions and related matters, I must admit that I am absolutely horrified that anyone would approve a single source provider of an exhaust system that is mandated by the rules. It flies in the face of good governance and competitive business practices. The organization that is “SpecE30” has taken away my right to seek an alternative provider in the face of bad service. Here I am, a week before the season starts, with a broken exhaust on my car trying to convince some exhaust manufacturer to let me buy an exhaust in the next few days so I can race. That manufacturer has no incentives to meet my needs, because the SpecE30 organization has allowed him to corner the entire market. That is simply wrong.

Then to see a vendor, who happen to be a Bimmerforums sponsor as well as a sponsor of the series, post a “for sale” thread wherein he is selling the same exhaust for an additional profit that I desperately need, but have been unable to acquire…it is just too much. Every aspect of this arrangement looks bad, and although you used the word “assumption”, a much better word would be “perception.”

However, that being said, I understand that I have every right to walk away if I don’t like the “rules.” But I will stay because I really like the people who race in SpecE30, I like the people in NASA-SE, and I have spent a lot of money preparing a SpecE30 car for competition. But there should be no expectation that people will sit by and remain silent in the face of perceived wrongs. It just so happens that in the Internet age, some of the complaining will take place in public forums. The gentleman who posted that ill-advised thread on Bimmerforums made a marketing mistake. With every mistake comes consequences. We are adults and should understand that by now.

Again, thank you for all that you do and I look forward to meeting you in person some day.

Bill

#3

Who didn’t tell Bill about the no Lawyers rule!?!!:wink: :slight_smile:

Look forward to meeting you as well…I mean…if you SE boys can drop your knitting and come on up to VIR. :wink: :slight_smile:

Peace,
C

#4

I guess now I have to come to VIR. $$$ down the drain this sport is.

#5

nasachris wrote:

:stuck_out_tongue:

#6

Great post Chris, very well said. I hope everyone will take your “experienced” advice to heart. One of the reasons that I don’t participate on the boards and post much anymore is because of the bickering and complaining over petty stuff. I can only imagine that this is a turn off to new prospective SE30 racers. I can only hope that when we start racing again that the nature and subject of the posts will change.

#7

nasachris wrote:

[quote]Who didn’t tell Bill about the no Lawyers rule!?!!:wink: :slight_smile:

[/quote]

Oh crap, no one told me either!!!

:laugh:

#8

An open letter to Chris Cobetto:

Chris,

You make some very good points in your “Stuff I’ve learned” post. I respect your opinion, your experience as a racer, an organizer and as one of the members of our brotherhood (and sisterhood) of speed.

I would never want to be (nor perceived as) a divisive force within the group. But… putting those wishes aside, I must confess, I am one of those who publicly voiced distaste with BimmerParts reselling the Spec E30 exhaust. My comment was short, concise and consisted mostly of the red-faced mad emoticon (:mad). While I made these comments without giving a whole lot of thought to how those comments would impact my fellow Spec E30 racers, I stand by what I said and will not deny I said it.

In my opinion, this new spec exhaust thing has been mishandled at every turn. And just when we were all ready to move on… a Mid Atlantic sponsor posted an ad for the hard to come by exhaust. Selling it at a higher cost. Using someone else’s photograph—I might add. All explanations aside… it just looks bad.

To my knowledge… there has been only one approved supplier that has been announced. So if we are to follow the letter of the law… BimmerParts was not that approved supplier of the exhaust.

Per the Rule: 9.3.4.1.1. The system exits from beneath the body in the same approximate location(s) as the original (3.3) system. The spec exhaust system must be purchased from the Spec E30 approved supplier (will be announced at www.SpecE30.com) and may not be modified in any way. The following parts must be used and assembled as designed by the manufacturer. 1- PPS30101 Forward Section with Collector 2- PPS30102 Middle Section 3- PPS30103 Muffler/Tailpipe Assembly 4- PPS30104 49.5 mm Clamp (2 req. - optional) 5- PPS30105 59.5 mm Clamp (2 req. - optional)

I don’t know if my lone comment caused the thread to be deleted or if it was the accumulative effect of all of the other replies being unfavorable to the exhaust ad or if it was the marketing misstep itself, but it is awfully disheartening to voice your opinions (in large numbers) to the “power that be”… only to have it fall on deaf ears. Either way… I apologize if my reaction to BimmerParts post on Bimmerforums has caused any additional headache for you, Carter or any of those who are trying to secure support for our series.

My comments were not intended to hurt the series. In fact… it was quite the contrary.

I am and will continue to be an ambassador of Spec E30. Sharing my passion and commitment to these cars, the NASA series, my fellow drivers and the wonderfully flawed rules to which we all play by.

I believe we all want the same thing for the Spec E30 series. And that’s probably why we have such strong opinions about the direction of things. Maybe there’s a better way to factor in these differing opinions?

In the meantime, I will try to be more mindful of how my comments impact us as a whole. I will try to direct my comments to the proper parties. But above all… I will try to do the things I believe will make this a series we will all be happy to be a part of.

Now let’s race!

#9

Chris,

Great post. I would like to add that communication experts will tell you 55% of all communication is body language, 35% in tone and inflection and 10% is the words themselves. So, email and msg board postings are often misinterpreted by those that are read them. It is something I constantly harp on my employees about.

It’s funny how we can see things so differently with the same facts and history. Let’s take the exhaust issue that Scott feels has been mishandled at every turn, I see the issue being handled correctly at every turn. It does not make either of us right, but does tell us we are both missing some facts, or we interpret events differently because we are different people.

For example: I see SPEC E30 series administrator Carter Hunt talking openly about a possible spec exhaust in February of 2007, I see the issue discussed and researched for 9 months before making a decision. I see NASA Nationals also researching and ultimately agreeing that SPEC Exhaust is the right decision. I see NASA giving racers plenty of time i.e. June 1st to comply ( really don’t see what all the fuss is about), I see Carter Hunt doing a fantastic job finding a very inexpensive spec exhaust and someone willing to sell it to racers at below market value. I see Bimmerparts supporting our series and saving me tons of money ($400 on my engine rebuild alone) I see Bimmerparts offering me parts at 5% above dealer cost. I see Bimmerparts making a mistake by reselling the exhaust at what is the more accurate market price when supplies are still tight, but I see that a simple bad business decision, we all make them, I am sure they ultimately will see the small error in judgment. To error is human after all, but it certainly does not even come close to erasing all the good points they have earned in supporting our series. I see Carter Hunt and NASA talking to experts in racing about the value in a spec exhaust to our series, I see Carter Hunt spending his own money on dyno’s to try to help keep this a drivers series, I see all kinds of people spending their time and money to help spec e30, to help me have fun following my passions.

We all can sometimes stand to close the trees to see the forest!

Carlton:
Ps any racers who are building new cars and don’t have access to the spec exhaust I (and assume other racers) have our old exhaust and we can bring them to the track for anyone to borrow.

#10

Good post Carlton, How’s the second car coming? I’ve been remiss in getting pictures to you, do you still need them?

#11

yes, I could still use them. I have the car mostly apart, need to cut sunroof out, take dash out than get roll cage done.