Trophies for Regional Champions?

Yea, money goes in one big pot. So you set aside x amount for year end trophies. Big ones. You have draw the line somewhere, and in some of your customers minds, your best customers, you drew it in the wrong place. Obviously you know the value of trophies/plaques in a racers mind, as you chose to spring for those at each event. You did that out of the "big pot". Write year end trophies into the pot, and make the tough choices to make it work.
Maybe you cut out the WERA stickers, maybe you cut some other convinience junk out. Who knows, but something can give. All I know is that it seems absolutely silly to conciously plan a racing organization (which you have done by your own admission) where regional champs dont get big ass trophies. People race for tropies, and you know it because you hand them out at every race, and wouldn't think of stopping that practice.

And Sean I know your a nice guy, and making the tough choices puts you tween a rock and a hard place, but if it was easy we'd all be rich. So a seemingly smarmy reply that WERA wouldn't notice/care if folks sat out a race to get their money back does not give that warm fuzzy customer service feeling, nor does it follow your arguements logic. On one hand you say that the # of trophies in question is large enough to have a negatively appreciable effect on WERA, yet the number of racers involved in a Regional Champ boycott would be so small as to NOT have an effect. Which is it? Are the numbers we're talking here big enough to have an effect or not? It seems your arguement tries to have it both ways.

Since you mentioned it - what if you throw your budget out there . . . how long do think it would take these guys to cut $20 of fat per class? Someones cell phone would be in the toilet pretty quick . . .

 

I can say that I agree with the warm fuzzy thing. I took 2nd at the national @ Gateway, and the only thing better than crossing that finish line is the look that I get when people notice that trophy on my mantle.

I also can understand where Sean is coming from. I once inquired about putting on a Putnam track day for some friends and it was astronomical. But, it is a buisness, and everyone is out to make money. And that is just the nature of things. So with that in mind, here is an idea: at the first race of the year, since we have had all winter,(well unless you live in the South) to save up, have a $1.00 add on charge to everyone's race fee, that should well enough cover the charge for the trophies, and if it doesn't, set up another at the end of the year to make up the difference. (Seriously, I spend more than a buck on food and beer at the end of the day) This way there is a pot for the trophy fund at the end of the year and those who gave it their all, get the trophies.

This way, no one gets pissed and says, "well I'm not paying because I'm not winning." At the beginning of the season, Everyone starts equal. And if not, then you have all season to make up for it.

 

Sean, Sean, Sean. I get it. I do. I totally understand where you're coming from. Just from working for Wera this year, I understand the astronomical costs of racing. I had no idea how much it costs to lease a track for the weekend and I was floored! I also have some concept of the expense of staffing a race........WOW!

BUT, as the wife of a racer who may win a regional this year, a wife that works EVERY Southeastern race weekend, a wife that sacrifices lots of things so that her husband may run with scissors, a wife that works overtime so that her husband can stay in a nice cool hotel and eat in a nice restaurant instead of camping and eating crap at the track (and so that he can spend HIS overtime $$ on Dunlops), I also understand the gripes of the other riders.

The Monday after a trophy weekend, Jeff has the level out, making sure to hang the new one/ones perfectly in line with the old ones. I think everyone understands the concept of club racing and that recognition is the only thing as much fun as racing. The discount card and #1 plate are great, considering the amount of bucks these guys shell out race after race. Anyone who has won a regional championship more than likely has a wall full of plaques, so one more may not be any more significant than a "certificate suitable for framing", but a mention at the banquet in front of their peers would be excellent and couldn't possibly cost much more than not.

Just a wife's $.02.......keep the change.

 

Ditto. Well said!

 

Hey Felix! Where ya been?

 

What is the minimum requirement to be invited to the GNF Sportman Events? Hopefully it's top 5 in each region's standings. I'm really not interested in finding out how fast Larry Pegram is on a borrowed SV/FZR/EX/DUC/GS.

How bad do you want to piss us off? $30/weekend for 10 weekends is much more significant.

 

Only IF that person plans on running another full season. A lot of guys don't. In fact... winning that Championship may be the culmination of X number of years in racing, and after that they plan to slow down, or quit. Two of the people here already mentioned that they are not going to be racing due to family additions.

Beyond that... 10 years from now, that discount card ain't worth beans. A nice big shiney trophy IS. It stands for something. It shows that at some point in your life, you were a winner - a champion. Maybe I'm alone here, but that means something to me, and will last a lot longer than some card that I might use one year instead of cutting back on pizza delivery for the summer.

I'd *gladly* take a $25 instead of a $30 card if it meant that the dollars removed bought a nice trophy. (lessee here... $5 x 10 = $50!! Look, yet another way to have trophies at the end of the year!)

But see... WERA says they can't use a spreadsheet and figure out how to shave $40 for each class from the current budget and put that money toward trophies... even when several examples of how to do so have been put forth. For some reason, unlike every other business in the free world, they can't seperate funds in their budget and rely on the "big pot" method of accounting.

Sorry... but that kinda rubs me the wrong way, and indeed - as Jonathon (JEM) says, the customer is really not being served well here.

Sean, I know racing costs a lot. It costs a lot on both sides - the customer, and the organization. To say that WERA, as a racing organization, cannot guarantee trophies to regional championship winners - who should be considered as its most valued customers in regard to the regional series - is absolutly absurd. We're NOT talking hundreds of dollars here. We're talking less than ONE RACE ENTRY FEE. If I can find more that that in various jacket pockets and couch cushions, a "professional" race oraganization should be able to do the same.

Respectfully,
- Brian Roach

PS -> if you run over me with that damn 4-wheeler at road-A, I'm suing.

 

I might be the only that thinks a championship should consist of more than one race. How about a double race format? That way if you did win and won both races you could claim to be a National champion. In my eyes winning one race does not make you a "National Champ". Yeah you beat everybody on that day but everyone has bad and good days.

 

Steve - The GNF is by invitation only for the top 15 in each region in each class. No invite means no racing (and we've already had a number of riders asking for grid spots and they've all been told no).

Al - the discount card is similar to your license but we also send a certificate stating your accomplishment with the WERA seal on it and everything and that is suitable for framing (best use I've seen is Emily took one that Pat won and had it framed along with a poster size blowup of him racing that year - way cool).

Tracee - I've always wondered about the winner take all thing but what they heck - it works well enough. It would also be darn near impossible to run two races for each class and have them be more than 4 laps which would piss everyone off even more. For those that want to chase points championships we do have the Nationals (and yes I realize that you don't have a National class to run the 400 in...).

Brian - What difference does it make how we do the accounting? It still comes out the same at the end of the year - we either make a profit or take a loss. Your examples are nice but you keep missing that you ARE talking thousands of dollars not just $40 or $50. As an example take a $30 trophy, then multiply that by the number of classes we run (22 off the top of my head), that comes to $660. Now multiply that by 5 regions and you have $3,300. Make it a nice $50 trophy and you're up to $5,500... If you can find me a trophy company that can do 110 trophies for $30 please let me know. You can break it down any way you want but if 101% of the budget for the year per class has been used to pay for the expenses of running races that year and still budget for the off season and track deposits so that we can do business the following year then it doesn't leave anything (per class, per region or any other way you'd like to break it down) for trophies. If however we only use 99.7% then yes we have the .3% left that you'd like us to use for trophies...

My point is simple - either we have the money or we don't. We can easily make the money by raising fees to cover this expense or by cutting costs elsewhere. We can free up the money by offering less on the discount cards - however more riders we've talked to want the cards than want trophies. For them it makes more sense to cut down on next years expenses than have one more trophy considering they have a bunch of them already from working their way towards the championship.

It's simple - some riders want the cards, some want trophies and of the people who have won regional championships they prefer the cards over the trophies if they have to make a choice. You are one of the riders who prefers to have the trophy over the card which is what is slanting your views to that direction and is the basis for your entire argument. WERA (and me personally) would prefer to do both if possible which is the basis for my argument. Most riders however don't really give a crap since they won't win either one and these are the riders that do not want to pay any more for entries than they have to (which is the basis for Evelyne's argument and hers counts more than ours) - and this is what limits the budget to the point where trophies on top of the cards is not a normal item that we allow for. So, if you want trophies and no cards (or cards for lesser amounts) you have to convince the other regional champs to go along with it. If you want trophies and cards then you have to convince everyone that races with WERA that increased fees or one less ambulance at a few events or fewer cornerworkers or officials or less insurance coverage (since none of the tracks require the excess medical coverage we buy we could actually do away with it and seriously reduce our overhead) are worth it (of course then you have to convince us too which is highly unlikely). If neither of those works then we'll stay with what works which is cards as a main priority and trophies when we can on top of the cards.

And I would never run over anyone with the Mule - well most of the time anyway

 

I have to agree. We've all accrued points over the season. Why isn't the GNF like a double or triple points event that is added to the points we've accrued all year. The one with the most points(best finishes in case of a tie) gets the #1 plate for that class.

I find that far better than a "Winner Take All" format.

 

I only looked at the Mid-Atlantic Points for D-Superbike and Formula II, but top 15 includes anyway that's ran a total of TWO events.

Well, it sucks to think that someone could run TWO events(at their home track no less), then come to the GNF and be a Sportsman National Champion.

 

True dat. Next year, I'm planning on doing only Suzuki Cup Events, no matter which Org they're run under.

But that should still be about 5 WERA events, so that's still a cool $150.

And yes, I would accept $130 with a bitchin', shiny widget that says,
"2000 Mid-Atlantic Champion"

 

Because then the regions with more races would have an advantage over those with fewer races.

 

While it is technically possible is it realistic that those people who ran two events and will be gridded in the third wave at Road A are going to win? The GNF almost always winds up being exactly what it is intended to be - close racing between the fastest guys in each region with the best one that day taking home the championship. Winner take all doesn't allow for a rider having a bad day but then again - why should it? To be a champion you should always be fast and have your equipment working - no excuses. The only exception I can see to that is getting blatantly taken out by another rider...

 

Except for the fact that each region has a different number of events, different calliber of racers, etc. This actually has more issues than the current method. (Say, in one region, there's a dominant fast guy... and in another region, there's three - the one guy wins everything whereas in the other region the three are all trading the podium spots... etc)

- Roach

 

Okay Roach - keep going on the trophies - I only have one more post to hit 600

I love a good debate. Keeps my brain from going mushier than normal staring at GNF stuff.

 

Thanks for all of the answers to our questons, Sean.
If you want to be called a National Champion then you better be ready for the GNF's. Hopefully this has been your goal all season. I hope I will be.
See ya at the GNF's.

 

And that's MY point - you chose not to, and I think that's wrong. I don't think it should be a choice between a trophy or a discount card. I think most people expect another trophy (not a plaque, larger, and less disco-like ), and then the discount card is that "extra" mile from WERA. I never thought to ASK if we got a trophy... because I just kinda assumed we did. Silly me

At this point, because the season's over, we're pretty much stuck with the "Maybe you'll get something". Unavoidable, so there's no use wrangling over that one.

But the fact of the matter is that at the beginning of the year, you could have budgeted $4 per class per weekend to put toward regional champ trophies. You chose not to. That's $.40 per rider even if only 10 riders enter the class. Hell, in the 600 classes it'd be like $.20.

I don't think this is that hard of a task, and see this as a failure on WERA's part to see their regional customers as valuable assets. $.40 per rider to do something "extra", beyond the discount card, sounds like a great way to improve the satisfaction of your biggest customers.

But hey... maybe I just don't know anything about investing or business

As with all debates, I'm hoping that this discussion will make it into WERA's planning for next year, and perhaps cause you to think about it.

Whew!

- Roach

 

We'll definitely work on it - we had been going from the other angle that the cards were the reward and the trophies were the extra. Keep in mind though that WERA's take on this came from the riders. I believe we did do trophies at one point and switched to the discounts but I'm not positive.

 

my $.02

I think i'd be more partial to WERA concetrating its resources into furthering the sport and upgrading its equipment. Instead of giving a handful of racers metal trophies instead of woodies, how about buying and providing transponders for all races and putting money into advertising and promoting events?

James