March 2020 REmarks
#FunWithCars
That’s the hashtag you’ve probably seen in various forms on SCCA materials. It summarizes what the club’s primary purpose is – its “why”. We often forget this when we get caught up in our daily routines or the minutia of event operations. Sometimes we get so focused on our tasks, we forget why it is we joined the club in the first place.
It was the excitement of autocross competition that triggered my joining. 1994 was the initial year of a “street tire” class and I was having quite some success as a rookie in a 1993 Ford Probe GT. To qualify for year-end trophies, one had to be a member of SCCA by June 30th. Guess when my membership expiration date is?
Perhaps for you it was the thrill of watching a race from the “best seat in the house” — a corner station. Or perhaps being led down some curvy back road in rural Wisconsin on a driving tour. Was it the excitement of wheel-to-wheel racing, or perhaps the sheer fun of enjoying your performance street car at a track day? The reasons are varied and unique — but they all involve #funwithcars.
It is this “why” that should be first and foremost what we share with those outside the club — when they ask about SCCA, your best response should be something like “wouldn’t you like to have fun with cars too?”
The weather is turning warmer, the days are getting longer and the schedules for our various club activities are now almost complete. Please make sure you visit the club website for the latest event information. While a good portion of our information is distributed via social media, the website is the official source of club information. If you choose to bookmark the site, you would be best served to save this link — scca-chicago.com/calendar.
The staff at SCCA headquarters have been hard at work overhauling the membership portal and as some of you noticed, it’s a work in progress. We ask that you be patient as they do the hard work to undo years of poor data management — it will definitely be worth it in the end.
To better communicate with the membership, SCCA has launched a new digital communications strategy aimed at providing you the content you want in more streamlined, easy-to find ways. That means fewer emails in your inbox, dedicated space on the website for announcements from program leaders, and overall better ways to stay up to speed with SCCA.
We will be working within this strategy at the region level and it will follow these guidelines:
Monday – Club Business and Membership (Inside Line, FasTrack and membership reminders)
Tuesday – SCCA Newsletter
Wednesday – Region Day (PistonPatter)
Thursday – SCCA Program specific communications
Friday – Last minutes news/updates
Bottom line is we’ll try not to bother you on the weekend when we’re all off having #funwithcars 😉
See you at the track!
Erik Vandermey
Regional Executive, Chicago Region SCCA
