Defining a Healthy Hobby?

[LawlessMan]

Up here in the northeast, we rarely see a problem of too many boats like those described by the clubs in the more temperate areas. Our racing season is limited to 5 to 6 months at most. With good weather, we start in May and end in late September or early October. And our schedule has to compete with holidays and the bigger National race events. Part of the problem stems from the fact that our club is mainly older folks, some of whom go south to race in the winter (lucky them), and also that some of our racers come from hundreds of miles away just to race for one day. As the membership in the club dwindled over the past 10 or so years, it became impossible to put on a two-day race. It is hard to have a big race when folks have to stay miles away at a motel for 2 or 3 nights in order to get in a little practice time on Friday, race on Saturday and drive home on Sunday, so they can be back home for Monday. Moreover, as much as they are asked to commit, some of our racers cannot predict in advance whether or not they will actually be able to attend, so requiring pre-payment of registration fees is hard to enforce. So, our biggest problems are 1) Getting enough boats to fill some classes and having to run combined "franken-classes", 2) having enough non-racing drivers to work as pit persons, and 3) having anyone left after the end of racing to clean up. We are fortunate to have a dedicated racing site and a very cooperative landowner who has literally bent over backward to make things really great for us. The pond area has been continuously developed to make our races even better and more comfortable to attend. It isn't the pond, it's the geography and weather that are our nemeses and until we can figure a way to control that, we are in the position of having too few boats and bodies at any given race to fill some classes and work the pits.
My last observation is a little harsher: It seems that a new mindset has come about that sees the races as an entertainment event rather than a participation event. You come, you pay your registration and then you hibernate in your own little area until your heat is called. Then when you are done racing you get out of Dodge as fast as possible. I live less than 50 miles from our pond, but I admit that sometimes I am as guilty of that as some people coming from a lot further away. I do try to get to the pond early on Friday and help with setup, but sometimes I have to leave right after the awards because of work or family obligations. It isn't unusual to see folks arriving after the racing has already begun, or to see them leaving after their personal final heat. But can we afford to turn the latecomers away? No. Can we afford to bar the early departers? No. The hard truth is, if we did, there would be no one to race.

 

[Tom Foley]

Up here in the northeast, we rarely see a problem of too many boats like those described by the clubs in the more temperate areas. Our racing season is limited to 5 to 6 months at most. With good weather, we start in May and end in late September or early October. And our schedule has to compete with holidays and the bigger National race events. Part of the problem stems from the fact that our club is mainly older folks, some of whom go south to race in the winter (lucky them), and also that some of our racers come from hundreds of miles away just to race for one day. As the membership in the club dwindled over the past 10 or so years, it became impossible to put on a two-day race. It is hard to have a big race when folks have to stay miles away at a motel for 2 or 3 nights in order to get in a little practice time on Friday, race on Saturday and drive home on Sunday, so they can be back home for Monday. Moreover, as much as they are asked to commit, some of our racers cannot predict in advance whether or not they will actually be able to attend, so requiring pre-payment of registration fees is hard to enforce. So, our biggest problems are 1) Getting enough boats to fill some classes and having to run combined "franken-classes", 2) having enough non-racing drivers to work as pit persons, and 3) having anyone left after the end of racing to clean up. We are fortunate to have a dedicated racing site and a very cooperative landowner who has literally bent over backward to make things really great for us. The pond area has been continuously developed to make our races even better and more comfortable to attend. It isn't the pond, it's the geography and weather that are our nemeses and until we can figure a way to control that, we are in the position of having too few boats and bodies at any given race to fill some classes and work the pits.
My last observation is a little harsher: It seems that a new mindset has come about that sees the races as an entertainment event rather than a participation event. You come, you pay your registration and then you hibernate in your own little area until your heat is called. Then when you are done racing you get out of Dodge as fast as possible. I live less than 50 miles from our pond, but I admit that sometimes I am as guilty of that as some people coming from a lot further away. I do try to get to the pond early on Friday and help with setup, but sometimes I have to leave right after the awards because of work or family obligations. It isn't unusual to see folks arriving after the racing has already begun, or to see them leaving after their personal final heat. But can we afford to turn the latecomers away? No. Can we afford to bar the early departers? No. The hard truth is, if we did, there would be no one to race.

Travel is no different in the South . Florida is larger than you think lol . As well we travel to South Carolina and Alabama , Georgia and Louisiana . No matter what the race it seems it's several nights in a hotel , eating out etc . I only live 60 miles from the nearest race site so I can drive back and forth .

 

[DannyWeimer]

I believe the hobby is healthy but the number of people that are willing to work the events is what's suffering. I have seen it and experienced it, where you only have 3-5 people working and the other club members are racing. Every club has this problem and the event suffers because of it. We must fix that problem first and then the numbers will come back. I agree we have too many classes to host events offering all of them and try to run 4 rounds in 2 to 3 days even with the perfect weather and everyone working. I also believe that if you register for an event you don't get a refund to help eliminate the congestion problem. I don't like the idea of limiting entries but clubs should limit how many times they wait on them! Bottom line if we don't have healthy CLUBS putting on events the racing hobby will suffer and go away.

Very true