Der Gasser- Letter to Editor

[Darren]

If you don't pay for the registration then you won't mind missing run groups so much.  The focus is always on the students first anyway, and driving for us, as instructors is secondary.

NASA instructors get free registration, free lunch, T-shirts, and are treated very well.

[George3]

Brian, what you are saying is all true and correct.  I am also not on the same insane schedule that I had last year.  But, it appears the novice groups are still coming out in spite of everything. 

Maybe the speed council needs to reach out to some of the instructors that were icons of the club years back.  The Don Bauman's, Skip Chalfont's, etc, etc.  Incentives are good, but don't give them 3  students.  Sorry, bad joke and a sore spot.

[George3]

Darren wrote:

If you don't pay for the registration then you won't mind missing run groups so much. The focus is always on the students first anyway, and driving for us, as instructors is secondary.

NASA instructors get free registration, free lunch, T-shirts, and are treated very well.

Darren, you and I both instruct for NASA. I can honestly say they have the best Instructor program and perc's. That's why we like running with them. At WGI they couldn't give me enough free goodies. It was a pleasure to feel appreciated... for a change.

[Phokaioglaukos]

On-line forums are great in lots of ways, but RTR also has a monthly member meeting, and I think there is food and drink provided too. The meetings are held in different places so as to be readily accessible to as many members as possible during the year.

How about attending the next meeting on September 23rd  at A W E Tuning  2385 Maryland Rd, Willow Grove PA 19090 .. 215-658-1875  Social @ 7pm, meeting @ 8pm. You can make your voices heard there in person.

Maybe Bill will come and explain more of the background to his letter to the Der Gasser editor.

[bobt993]

Chris, 

Good point.  Put up or shut up.   It is hard to change what you do not know is broken.   Gather your thoughts and grab the floor at the next meeting.  Could be veryyyyyy interesting.

George brings up a good point.  I have instructed with a bunch of organizations now:  PCA, BMW, NASA, Audi, and Promotion.   The approach NASA has is worth looking at.  Other instructors I know that have attended their events really prefer the format and overall appreciation they get.  I am speaking objectively because a have mainly been racing at their events and only observe the DE routine.  Hard to explain, but some of the intangibles add up.    Larry mentioned a good deal of instructors moving on to racing and this is true also.   BTW Myles and the crew have been doing a great job for RTR and the current economic situation is the biggest factor. 

[APXD 30]

Darren wrote:

Aren't we the Volkswagon club now? VCA?

Hip-hip hooray!

Now, to the topic of this post, the existing executive board had an incredibly difficult charge this year---managing through a challenging economy and an unfortunate incident that took all of us by surprise. Kudos to the those who uncovered and dealt with this issue from the beginning.

As far as meeting folks at RTR meetings, I never thought this was difficult and just about everyone likes to talk about their cars. Joining in '03 what was challenging for me as a newbie was securing a spot for DE. As you'll recall, you had to get to meeting by 5:30 to form a "line." I recall suspiciously few folks on line and some who "knew the handshake" carrying multiple registration forms for people who weren't physically there. It seemed that newbies would get wait listed once or twice before actually being able to attend. The transparency of the new online system was a real step forward.

Regarding instructors, why aren't students buying them a beer apres track or offering them lunch? They are volunteers who spend at least 2-3 hours with them each weekend.

[Lainey]

I bought Fred lunch the first day of DE as a "thank you" - (a very small one I might add)

[Porshagod]

George3 wrote:

I for one, support the need for hard copy print issues of Der Gasser. We don't need 12 monthly issues, but I think we need more than we have now.

I agree 100% and that we should go back to the 10 issue format. BTW- I am also a member of the Gold Coast Region and they publish 12 monthly issues of their newsletter every year, 30+ pages, and in COLOR! So why is there such an issue with the DerGasser?

I understand cost is an issue, so I propose that we let members choose how they would like to receive the their monthly newsletter, either by mail or online. By mailing copies ONLY to the members that ask, that should greatly reduce the cost of publishing and postage, thereby offsetting to costs of the added issues.

[Terry]

I guess I'll jump in as well. As to the former president/letter-writer, I was pleased to see that my personal (and previously unpublicized) view of his personality is shared by others. I sure felt stiff-armed and condescended to. Nonetheless, he may have something of value to say, and we should try to separate the message from the messenger. Now as to what I think he was trying to express, there is clearly a schism developing in the club and that is unfortunate, burt suggesting two clubs, one for the people we like and one for the losers, is just dumb. Economic hard times bring stress and the situation with the treasury makes it worse. We need to consider all reasonable options to keep the club solvent, maintain our activities, and try to get through this patch. That may mean higher fees, more perks for instructors, more work for instructors, or something else entirely. It should not mean that we should doubt the good faith and motives of our elected and appointed volunteer officers. Finally, when I started with DE in 2000, it was my impression that instructors commonly had two students each, and that was accepted as normal. We got the ratio down over the past few years but I do not consider it to be an imposition to carry two students when needed. It was particularly tough at Summit Point because the Red-Black group was combined into double stints, so you were on the track 80% of the day, but I suspect that with solo signoffs, people leaving early, cars breaking, etc, the workload could be brought down provided we develop a system. So my one concrete suggestion is that instructors must report changes in their student assignments on a real time basis and the CI or his delegate(s) can then shift people around fairly. At present, it is really an honor system and most instructors will help another if asked, but won't volunteer their availability if lucky enough to get a vacancy.

[George3]

Lainey wrote:

I bought Fred lunch the first day of DE as a "thank you" - (a very small one I might add)

That will most definitely earn you points !!