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My dad used to make me debate him every night at the dinner table. He wanted me to be an attorney. You guys fight like he and I used to. That's great! I love to debate so lets get at it.
Again however this is just my opinon and not that of the SCCA, RA, Mitsubishi, Subaru, RA, or even my very own AFR.
I don't know where to start but let's go with club rally.
Personally, I don't like the fact that club and pro rally are lumped together. In my opinion, ProRally should be operated by SCCA Pro Racing like World Challenge. I have asked why this isn't so. From the answers I have received, my best guess is that Rally in general is a money losing operation for the SCCA and Pro Racing can't afford to take on a money loser so until we can turn a profit rally isn't going to move. This is just a guess, you will have to ask Steve or Garrett for a more complete answer. I may be wrong about this. Again, this is only my opinion and not the official opinion of the AFR Rally Team.
I agree that club rally needs help but do you really want me to get involved? Or do you just want me to hand over a bunch of money to pay for it and then just leave you alone to play? I hope not. It doesn't work that way. As soon as I hand over money I expect a lot of things in return for it. Whether it is a club or not, as soon as a sponsor hands over money it instantly becomes a business and it needs to run like a business. No matter what the situation, as soon as you bring in a sponsor they are going to have a degree of control over what you are doing. If you don't like that then don't ask for any money. Racing, in any form, is not a charity.
It doesn't seem to me that people realize how little money the SCCA has to spend. They can't afford to pay for organizers to put on rallies either club or pro. The need sponsors to pay for just about everything. The TV contract is a perfect example. That is 100% paid for by Mitsubishi, Subaru, and the Air Force Reserve. None of your membership dues go towards that. If we didn't pay for it then there would be no national exposure for SCCA rally. Is no rally on TV a bad thing? Depends on your point of view. The PRPP is the same way. The reason organizers will get money next year is because the sponsors put it there. I think the organizers want it. Everyone at the Oct 1st meeting sure seemed like they were very interested.
Anyway, I restate my point from my first post. I do not want to get involved in club rally because if I did I would have to ask for some control over it. I don't want to do that. The competitors should be the only ones making decisions for club rally. I want it to grow but all I can do is hope for the best. I can't get involved from a business standpoint because right now it does make any sense to do it.
It kills me to see that people blame the SCCA, and people like me, for hurting club rally. I will say it again. The SCCA does not have to money to support club or pro rally on their own. They do however have a group of sponsors who are willing to sponsor ProRally. Should they turn that money down? Ok, then club and pro rally still have no money. What does that help? Have you looked at the club finances in Fast Track?
The SCCA doesn't have the right to take my sponsorship money and spend it however they want. They take that in an agreement that I will get certain things in return for it. For me that is a TV and print package and the PRPP. We know the organizers need more resources to put on ProRallies and we are getting those resources to them, as best we can, through the PRPP. If they took that money and suddenly gave it to fund club rallies then they would find themselves on the losing end of a court case very quickly. This shouldn't surprise anyone.
I hope that the SCCA, the club rally organizers, and the participants are successful in building club rally. I will help anyway I can short of handing over money because I have none to give. If ProRally becomes very profitable for the AFR rest assured I will make a case to my bosses to allow some money in our budget to help club rally. That is the best I can do. I'm sorry if it is not enough.
Now Wild West.
Yes, Wild West was at the Oct 1st meeting and they played a very important role. I will repeat I like the event and I hope they stay in the championship. But the fact is that the SCCA is the sanctioning body and the rallies in the championship need to get along with the sanctioning body. It is a two way street, but if they can't get along what are the options? The SCCA isn't going to shut down the championship because one rally doesn't agree with them. They are going to continue on with the other events with whom they do seem to work well. Look back into the history of rally. Rallies come and go in a championship all the time. I hope it doesn't happen but..what else do you want me to say or do?
I hope we give Wild West approximately $22,000 or more in support, in the future, as part of the PRPP. I will make sure that it is always availible to them if they wish to work with the sanctioning body to be a cohesive, consistant, supportive member of the SCCA ProRally Championship. In the end, however, the sanctioning body defines what is meant by cohesive, consistant, and supportive. It's the same in NASCAR. What else do you want a sponsor to say?
Just so you know the facts, I didn't know about the letter from the PRB until about 1 hour before the end of the meeting in Topeka. For what that is worth.
OK, now about me being "a SCCA guy"
Why does that offend people? All I am telling you, up front with no emotion, is where we plan to spend our advertising money next year. It's a business decision. We have studied CNAR and OLN and Ramada Express and we have decided that the SCCA ProRally package is, FOR US, a more cohesive package on an established racing network with a better more consistant schedule. I can't afford to be in both places. THAT IS ONLY FOR US. It does not mean the the events are no good or there is something wrong with OLN. IT JUST DOESN'T WORK FOR US. As far as not wanting to get involved with the WRC, I know that if the WRC ever showed up on these shore the money I have to spend wouldn't be enough to buy me bumper stickers on trash cans. However, TV ads on WRC broadcasts are still a pretty good deal and if we can shake loose some more money you MAY see some AFR ads on WRC broadcasts on Speed. It's on my wish list.
Here is something that may surprise you.
I think Ray Hocker is awesome. I think we will look back in 20 years and see that he is the prototypical rally organizer for the 21st century because he is trying to do this for a living, which I think is necessary for this sport to grow, and because he puts on a great show.
We had a great time at Ramada Express last year. The TV show was first class and we had real drama with fixing Tim's wiring harness in the alloted 45 minutes. Plus the special stages on Sunday were just great.
Ray and I talk all the time. I have literally begged him to put Ramada Express in the SCCA championship. But he has other goals for that race and that's cool. He and I argue all the time but when we are done we can still go out to dinner, have a nice time, and talk about the stuff we do agree on like the awesome plans he has for Rim next year. I really look forward to working with him there.
The bottom line is I respect the guy a lot even though we disagree with each other's business decisions. It is never personal. If we find common ground we will work together a lot in the future. I hope we do - he and his wife are both great people.
Anyone who is angered or upset by where we decide to spend money really needs to think about therapy. There is no point in discussing those decisions as they are completely subjective. Most companies would post their internal decisions on a place like this. I am because I want you to know what is really going on. I reserve the right to change my mind about posting it, however.
I have noticed that there are a lot of personal attacks on this forum. Just so you know, they hurt the sport. I'm glad that I got involved before I read Specialstage for the first time because if someone sent me a proposal and I came across this place in doing research I wouldn't have touched this sport with a maverick missile. For what it is worth.
Keep shooting until you run out of ammo
Greg
P.S. Don't call me arrogant. Anyone who knows me knows that I am anything but arrogant. I am trying to be honest with you and tell you what I see from my position. All changes in this sport go through SCCA management, the PRB, and the BOD. Don't make the mistake of thinking that I have any more power then you do with these people.
Again however this is just my opinon and not that of the SCCA, RA, Mitsubishi, Subaru, RA, or even my very own AFR.
I don't know where to start but let's go with club rally.
Personally, I don't like the fact that club and pro rally are lumped together. In my opinion, ProRally should be operated by SCCA Pro Racing like World Challenge. I have asked why this isn't so. From the answers I have received, my best guess is that Rally in general is a money losing operation for the SCCA and Pro Racing can't afford to take on a money loser so until we can turn a profit rally isn't going to move. This is just a guess, you will have to ask Steve or Garrett for a more complete answer. I may be wrong about this. Again, this is only my opinion and not the official opinion of the AFR Rally Team.
I agree that club rally needs help but do you really want me to get involved? Or do you just want me to hand over a bunch of money to pay for it and then just leave you alone to play? I hope not. It doesn't work that way. As soon as I hand over money I expect a lot of things in return for it. Whether it is a club or not, as soon as a sponsor hands over money it instantly becomes a business and it needs to run like a business. No matter what the situation, as soon as you bring in a sponsor they are going to have a degree of control over what you are doing. If you don't like that then don't ask for any money. Racing, in any form, is not a charity.
It doesn't seem to me that people realize how little money the SCCA has to spend. They can't afford to pay for organizers to put on rallies either club or pro. The need sponsors to pay for just about everything. The TV contract is a perfect example. That is 100% paid for by Mitsubishi, Subaru, and the Air Force Reserve. None of your membership dues go towards that. If we didn't pay for it then there would be no national exposure for SCCA rally. Is no rally on TV a bad thing? Depends on your point of view. The PRPP is the same way. The reason organizers will get money next year is because the sponsors put it there. I think the organizers want it. Everyone at the Oct 1st meeting sure seemed like they were very interested.
Anyway, I restate my point from my first post. I do not want to get involved in club rally because if I did I would have to ask for some control over it. I don't want to do that. The competitors should be the only ones making decisions for club rally. I want it to grow but all I can do is hope for the best. I can't get involved from a business standpoint because right now it does make any sense to do it.
It kills me to see that people blame the SCCA, and people like me, for hurting club rally. I will say it again. The SCCA does not have to money to support club or pro rally on their own. They do however have a group of sponsors who are willing to sponsor ProRally. Should they turn that money down? Ok, then club and pro rally still have no money. What does that help? Have you looked at the club finances in Fast Track?
The SCCA doesn't have the right to take my sponsorship money and spend it however they want. They take that in an agreement that I will get certain things in return for it. For me that is a TV and print package and the PRPP. We know the organizers need more resources to put on ProRallies and we are getting those resources to them, as best we can, through the PRPP. If they took that money and suddenly gave it to fund club rallies then they would find themselves on the losing end of a court case very quickly. This shouldn't surprise anyone.
I hope that the SCCA, the club rally organizers, and the participants are successful in building club rally. I will help anyway I can short of handing over money because I have none to give. If ProRally becomes very profitable for the AFR rest assured I will make a case to my bosses to allow some money in our budget to help club rally. That is the best I can do. I'm sorry if it is not enough.
Now Wild West.
Yes, Wild West was at the Oct 1st meeting and they played a very important role. I will repeat I like the event and I hope they stay in the championship. But the fact is that the SCCA is the sanctioning body and the rallies in the championship need to get along with the sanctioning body. It is a two way street, but if they can't get along what are the options? The SCCA isn't going to shut down the championship because one rally doesn't agree with them. They are going to continue on with the other events with whom they do seem to work well. Look back into the history of rally. Rallies come and go in a championship all the time. I hope it doesn't happen but..what else do you want me to say or do?
I hope we give Wild West approximately $22,000 or more in support, in the future, as part of the PRPP. I will make sure that it is always availible to them if they wish to work with the sanctioning body to be a cohesive, consistant, supportive member of the SCCA ProRally Championship. In the end, however, the sanctioning body defines what is meant by cohesive, consistant, and supportive. It's the same in NASCAR. What else do you want a sponsor to say?
Just so you know the facts, I didn't know about the letter from the PRB until about 1 hour before the end of the meeting in Topeka. For what that is worth.
OK, now about me being "a SCCA guy"
Why does that offend people? All I am telling you, up front with no emotion, is where we plan to spend our advertising money next year. It's a business decision. We have studied CNAR and OLN and Ramada Express and we have decided that the SCCA ProRally package is, FOR US, a more cohesive package on an established racing network with a better more consistant schedule. I can't afford to be in both places. THAT IS ONLY FOR US. It does not mean the the events are no good or there is something wrong with OLN. IT JUST DOESN'T WORK FOR US. As far as not wanting to get involved with the WRC, I know that if the WRC ever showed up on these shore the money I have to spend wouldn't be enough to buy me bumper stickers on trash cans. However, TV ads on WRC broadcasts are still a pretty good deal and if we can shake loose some more money you MAY see some AFR ads on WRC broadcasts on Speed. It's on my wish list.
Here is something that may surprise you.
I think Ray Hocker is awesome. I think we will look back in 20 years and see that he is the prototypical rally organizer for the 21st century because he is trying to do this for a living, which I think is necessary for this sport to grow, and because he puts on a great show.
We had a great time at Ramada Express last year. The TV show was first class and we had real drama with fixing Tim's wiring harness in the alloted 45 minutes. Plus the special stages on Sunday were just great.
Ray and I talk all the time. I have literally begged him to put Ramada Express in the SCCA championship. But he has other goals for that race and that's cool. He and I argue all the time but when we are done we can still go out to dinner, have a nice time, and talk about the stuff we do agree on like the awesome plans he has for Rim next year. I really look forward to working with him there.
The bottom line is I respect the guy a lot even though we disagree with each other's business decisions. It is never personal. If we find common ground we will work together a lot in the future. I hope we do - he and his wife are both great people.
Anyone who is angered or upset by where we decide to spend money really needs to think about therapy. There is no point in discussing those decisions as they are completely subjective. Most companies would post their internal decisions on a place like this. I am because I want you to know what is really going on. I reserve the right to change my mind about posting it, however.
I have noticed that there are a lot of personal attacks on this forum. Just so you know, they hurt the sport. I'm glad that I got involved before I read Specialstage for the first time because if someone sent me a proposal and I came across this place in doing research I wouldn't have touched this sport with a maverick missile. For what it is worth.
Keep shooting until you run out of ammo
Greg
P.S. Don't call me arrogant. Anyone who knows me knows that I am anything but arrogant. I am trying to be honest with you and tell you what I see from my position. All changes in this sport go through SCCA management, the PRB, and the BOD. Don't make the mistake of thinking that I have any more power then you do with these people.
