[johnkshirley]

The rumor mill at Wild West has the SCCA considering selling the ProRally Championship like they did TransAm.

I can not believe the BOD and PRB would just give up like that.

I know the Performance Rally Department has lost money in recent years but this could be changed if the department was more efficiently operated and had a better working relationship with it's sponsors, the manufactures and the organizers.

Please let us not lose another SCCA property because the powers at be can't get their act together.

John K. Shirley
SCCA Memeber
SCCA Co-ClubRally Steward

 

[Widget Codriver]

>The rumor mill at Wild West has the SCCA considering selling
>the ProRally Championship like they did TransAm.

See what happens when you sit in a race car? You miss all the juicy gossip!

>I can not believe the BOD and PRB would just give up like that.

Nor I, but stranger things have happened, right here in our own back yard.

>I know the Performance Rally Department has lost money in
>recent years but this could be changed if the department was
>more efficiently operated and had a better working
>relationship with it's sponsors, the manufactures and the
>organizers.

John, I have always admired your tactful phrasing. }>

>Please let us not lose another SCCA property because the
>powers at be can't get their act together.

FWIW, it could be tough to sell the series if only because it could be easier to build a replacement.

Tony George created the IRL from scratch and he did it the hard way by creating a different rule book. NASA (National Auto Sport Assn, not the really cool NASA!), on the other hand, did it the easy way: create a series and welcome the SCCA racers with lots of seat time, reasonable fees, and less perceived bureaucracy.

If an alternate series rises up and is embraced by organizers, workers, and competitors, selling our own series wouldn't be worth the dime we'd get for it.

Our challenge is to offer our membership the best racing experience in the country. (Define 'best' any way you like.) We can make the SCCA better--I think. It's just mighty hard to say how right now.

 

[Carlos Lopez]

Hey John (Shirley):

Just for argument sake, what do you (or anyone)think the series is worth? If the organizers own the events, the competitors own their cars, the forestry service owns the roads, etc,etc,etc, ( I could go on but I think I made my point) What could they really be selling? The name?, the insurance?, the licensing? the sanctioning? Hmmm? Seems to me that if you and Ray can put on such great events without having SCCA involved (except for maybe the competitor licensing) that it cant be worth that much. Come to think of it... If all the other events jumped ship (except maybe for STPR and Maine, those two I think would go down with the ship, and I think Pike's Peak is a joke) What kind of "championship" could you run with 3 events?


Carlos Lopez
E.T. Racing
Car # 151 ( or maybe a number starting with 8)

 

[daphne]

FWIW, it could be tough to sell the series if only because it could be easier to build a replacement.


It's not a question of building a new series, it's all about the value of the SCCA ProRally brand. Does it mean something to the manufacturers? Sponsors? Fan base? TV audiences?

Aside from the rule book and brand, what else does SCCA ProRally own? The events? Organizers? Competitors?

WRC has a strong brand that must be worth a king's ransome. But the SCCA? Not sure about that one. Take the assets (rules/structure and brand) and subtract out the liabilities, including pending litigation, etc. and you might not have all that much value.


Our challenge is to offer our membership the best racing experience in the country. (Define 'best' any way you like.) We can make the SCCA better--I think. It's just mighty hard to say how right now.


John, I agree with you, but I have to ask, do you really think the SCCA wants us to make it better? Do you think the SCCA and membership share the same vision? The more I read on SpecialStage these days, the more I believe we do not. And unless we work together to create a common vision, there isn't going to me much to sell.

 

[Morgan]

With all due respect, Tony George had the Indianapolis 500 going for him. Plus, both the IRL, CART and more importantly, Open Wheel racing has suffered because of the split. It has taken five years to get where the IRL is now, and it's still not as popular as CART was prior to the split.

 

[Jonesi]

snip...
>including pending litigation,

What pending litigation?

 

[Widget Codriver]

I agree, Tony G had the premier venue on his side, and that open wheel racing has been seriously hurt by the split.

What it suggests is that the success of a series is defined not only by its competitors but by the events. If the organizers no longer support the SCCA, we (SCCA) are hosed.

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John Dillon       John @ WidgetRacing.com
            www.WidgetRacing.com