Tony,
First off I am going to step on sacred toes. I find the need for an additional membership an unneccessary expense since Enduros can be run under SCCA.
I recommended this a few years ago but it was shot down by the RDC since they had too many entries and weren't interested in anymore but maybe now it will work: SoCal allows for tag teams. Same class but different drivers and cars. I would be willing to do this with a teammate if we each ran our own cars. They say that there are provisions in the timing and scoring to run different transponders on the same entry.
It also allowed for a 5 min. (I think) mandatory break between cars to equalize the field.
Bob

I agree the RDC relied too much on the Enduro to generate memberships, in the past few years they have been working hard to add value and I think their efforts justify the membership dues on their own.

Dave, Such As?
Tony, Your Thoughts?

It's like Bohemian Grove, we can't tell you unless you are a member, sorry.

Tony will probably tell you, he can't keep a secret.

We are working hard to redefine the RDC. For you non-San Franciscans, that's the Racing Drivers Club. Once in the 50's, it was a parallel sanctioning body and club in its own right, now it is a service organization for the Region.

The face of club racing really has changed these past few years; it is a very tough environment out there for amateur racers. Now sitting on both the RDC Board, the SF Region Board, not to mention the SFR Autox Steering Committee, I can tell you I had only a vague idea of how the money and participation flowed through the whole process. And it is looking like one of those, "everything you know is wrong" scenarios where any preconceived notions I had died with the first spreadsheet.

Re the RDC specifically, here is what your 35 bucks gets you: This year it will send one of our workers to Drivers School with full boat tuition and a car, run a mentoring program for newly licensed drivers, conduct ride-arounds for out-of-region drivers so they can see which way the corkscrew goes for the first time, donate on an on-going basis to the Worker Appreciation Fund, donate to Social to prepare free dinners for all (not just workers) at some TH events, we buy the Sierra Navada beer at social and chip in for better food at Social, not to mention provide for and organize the RDC Enduro. Most importantly, it keeps most of your 35 bucks for a capital improvement fund. Things like the weigh scales and TH oil change dump are RDC projects. This year, we are looking at selected track corner turn lighting to ease the burden of some un-weather protected turns so workers don't have to stand in the rain all day and show us a yellow.

Think of it a a service organization (the ladies auxiliary?) that is always looking for value added things to do to make life better outside the constrained responsibility of the Club proper. Because the RDC is now totally an electronic format newletter, what we saved in postage (a big expense before) can now make it possible for all of our workers to be members for free. We started the website (I'm the webmaster-that was a comical learning curve) and have tried to make it a value useful clearing house tool.

The Enduro (and the Drivers School) do not break even, but both the Region and the RDC are actively looking for ways to add value and up attendance (at both), hence my post. I've been around the Club for a while now; way too many folks really just want to pay their money (and the less the better) play, and be done with it. It's a club, it doesn't work that way. The numbers are never what they seem, either for the Region or the RDC, but those same folks want to believe what they believe. That's just life.

Here is my shamefully transparent ploy to boost RDC web traffic: http://www.racingdriversclub.com/

tony

I knew we could depend on Tony!!!!!

Back to the original question of how to increase participation in the Enduro ...

I don't think that the RDC membership fee is the issue - it's really peanuts compared to all the other fees we pay for racing. For example, since the Enduro has lately taken place at Laguna, the cost of Laguna entry fees, lodging, food, transportation, etc. are really the key factors if you're looking at the financials.

I would focus more on the coordination problem. Looking at the current format, you need to get more than one driver. You need to decide whose car is going to take the wear and tear. You need to work out how to share the cost. You need to to work out what's going to happen financially if Tony gets crunched in your car in turn 6. You need to get track support. A lot of issues here which are created by both the requirement to have more than one driver and the length of the event.

I like Dave's idea about multiple 2 hour events but the wrinkle I would add is that it could be single or multiple drivers. From my perspective, I'd run as a single driver (jeez, all that track time at Laguna!), but multiple owners of the same car would also be very happy campers. Keeping the event time down to a safe and reasonable level for one driver is, of course, the key concern. Two hours seem to be about the max you could expect any (normal but slightly older) SCCA driver to keep it together and keep it safe.

Just my 2 cents on the issue.

Rich Kenny
#33, San Francisco

I forgot to add that this might also fit nicely into a 3 day format. Use the new and improved "two days, two races" schedule, but expand the weekend to the old 3 day schedule and add in a two hour enduro. It could work. We'd all be dead tired, of course, but WOW, what a weekend.

Rich Kenny
#33, San Francisco

Hi Tony,
Glad you asked for ideas regarding the 4 hour Illgen. The race has a great tradition and heritage and I was honored to win it this year. I plan to continue competing in it but it needs to drop the 2 required 5 minute stops. Pit strategy and pit crew performance needs to be an integral part of the race. By getting rid of those unnecesary and artificial stops of a minimum of 5 minutes you may attract some serious entries that run the NASA WERC series. Stopping to get a pit time tag and swapping driver sheets may have been quaint back in the day but not really needed now. NASA gives out really lame trophies and their awards ceremony is nothing like what happens after the 4 hour so I think targeting those guys for the enduro would be worth the effort. Having a first rate pit crew give you fast stops and help you win the race makes those guys feel great too. I think 4 hours is just the right length. In 2010 we had a great BBQ on Sat. afternoon and that was very well done and helped get everyone together. I'm a huge fan of the event so if I can help out let me know.
Jim

A couple of 2 hour races thrown in during the season that wets the appetite and that can be run by one driver in his own car without the extra stuff mentioned in the other posts would really be great. I'm against having formula cars in any event like this.
Jim