BRR-SCCA

I noticed the Solo Novice Coordinator is the only unfilled spot we have. How does one go about getting this position? I feel with my personality I would be a good fit for this job. It would be a great way for me to help the club. Any thoughts or comments???

I thought that Steffen usually helped out the novices?

It would be great to have help in each and every position. I am not sure about Steffan having that responsibility, but I am sure he will chime it.

I don't think we ever had a set novice coordinator. It kind of rotated between me and a few other folks seeing as when I would be event chair it was hard to do novice course walks....etc. for all I care we can self appoint ourseves co novice coordinators. Whatever is in the best interest

We do need someone to take responsibilty for this position. If we had a designated person it would be one more thing off of the event chair.

sinutz wrote:We do need someone to take responsibilty for this position. If we had a designated person it would be one more thing off of the event chair.

I concur. Erik. Want the spot or want to say we will both handle novices as a team? Not only do we religiously both try to bring new memebers in but we are both good with helping new members and connect with them well

I think one really important thing we need to do that we don't usually do is get them a ride along buddy before they go out. It is really easy to tell someone what to do but its another for them to be in your car and show them what it is like. I imagine they wouldnt get lost as often and it would probably help improve their skills at the first event.

Steffen, I can take this and maybe you could be my back up for the events that I may not make??? That way your more free to do the event chair things. Also I wouldn't mind riding with anyone if they don't mind. I usually hang out in the grid for most of the day anyway.

I cannot remember which club did it, I think it was Tar heel down at Danville. They had Orange tags that people could pick up and wear and basically it meant to the novices that the person wearing the orange tag was willing to ride along and help the novices. The idea got rid of the thought of "I dont know who to ask".

RHDwillis wrote:I cannot remember which club did it, I think it was Tar heel down at Danville. They had Orange tags that people could pick up and wear and basically it meant to the novices that the person wearing the orange tag was willing to ride along and help the novices. The idea got rid of the thought of "I dont know who to ask".

I forgot all about that... yea they did. also if anyone needs classing help just give me a holler.

RHDwillis wrote:I cannot remember which club did it, I think it was Tar heel down at Danville. They had Orange tags that people could pick up and wear and basically it meant to the novices that the person wearing the orange tag was willing to ride along and help the novices. The idea got rid of the thought of "I dont know who to ask".

I can get behind this idea.

yes i could get behind it aswell, and would be willing to wear one.

RHDwillis wrote:I cannot remember which club did it, I think it was Tar heel down at Danville. They had Orange tags that people could pick up and wear and basically it meant to the novices that the person wearing the orange tag was willing to ride along and help the novices. The idea got rid of the thought of "I dont know who to ask".

Great idea! Sign me up to wear one also

Not to blow the lid off an idea in progress but we're already about to implement an orange hat for safety stewards.

Is there another color we can choose?

We could just change the text or add something to differentiate. Emailing Commonwealth Promotional in my other window about the idea.

BTW: I think this is a great idea. Also remember that we're dealing with a lot of guys and gals that are coming into this with a sense of pride and fear of embarrassment that we have all lost over multiple beatdowns and spins over the years. When you hear lots of off course calls on a driver, lots as in two, you should approach them. Kindly shake hands compliment their car (icebreaker!) and offer to help them find the course. There's a lot of shy or prideful folks out there who might not admit they need help until you kindly let them know it might be a good idea.

How about standard BRR shirts, but a unique color? The club gives these shirts to the members willing to volunteer for novice help. I think we still use vests and/or hats for the other positions we talked about.

That would work, or just who does the novice walk can offer help to everyone through out the event or be a person to come to with questions. I feel like this is something i can do, im very social and can speak to anyone. I wouldnt even mind working in the grid and keeping an eye out for all novice drivers and offer suggestions for the length of the race. I also kind of stand out so its easy to find me. Maybe try something simple like this for the first race or two and see how it goes to see if we can save the money for new shirts hats etc. Also if I need a hand or dont have an answer for someone I know most of the regular racers and can get help from said racers.

Hamburglar wrote:That would work, or just who does the novice walk can offer help to everyone through out the event or be a person to come to with questions. I feel like this is something i can do, im very social and can speak to anyone. I wouldnt even mind working in the grid and keeping an eye out for all novice drivers and offer suggestions for the length of the race. I also kind of stand out so its easy to find me. Maybe try something simple like this for the first race or two and see how it goes to see if we can save the money for new shirts hats etc. Also if I need a hand or dont have an answer for someone I know most of the regular racers and can get help from said racers.

+1 on this. We may be overthinking things with the snazzy hats/shirts/etc. and forgetting the basics. If there are multiple people who would like to help even better. Just keep an eye out for off course runs (the most obvious sign) that someone is having trouble and hop in with them. Mick, Scott K, Tim R, Ray Schumin and Lynn Combs weren't wearing uniforms that said "Help" during my early years of autocross but were always willing to help....Ok Ray and Tim had the mustaches to help point them out but that was it.

Going forward we should remember the guy who welcomed many of us at our first event with a smile, handshake and helpful advice. Pay it forward and be someone else's Mick Seal.

I will do the novice walks and help with off course. I cant be the person Mick was but I can try to help fill that void.


Also maybe this year could we help with the off course??? When someone goes of and it is radio in, could the person giving out time slips wright down or tell the driver what section they went off in IE it was called in from station 2. Help narrow it down for the driver to improve.

I'm usually open to give rides to novices, assuming they're running after I do.

One thing that I had experienced this weekend at a CCR autocross, was they had assigned above average drivers to the novices to do ride alongs. He took the PRO class and assigned us all someone to ride with to give pointers and help prevent them from getting turned around on course. This seemed to work well, with a course that was 70 plus seconds with lots of turns we didn't have anyone get completely turned around. I think we could make good use of this concept, we probably wont have a 30 plus novice class so we could assign some of the more experienced drivers to each novice and keep them together until the "instructor" feels they are ready to do a lap by themselves. We could gather a list of names to assign novices to, having one person riding with them will give a good flow of consistent information. This DID NOT count as our worker assignment!