SCCA Questions...

[kristinmbs]

Hi, Im Kristin! Im Weirdstyles.net Fiance and Im writing a report on the SCCA. Rob told me there's a few of you who are part of the SCCA and you may be able to help me. Any chance you guys can help me with a few anwsers?

Alliances within the SCCA?
Zones of Tolerance: accepted violation of unwritten rules. What can you get away with?
Discretionary Insubordination: violation of written rules or policy

What are the psychological effects of membership? personal reactions (apathetic, cynical, upbeat, promotes independence, superiority, helplessness)?

What are the Cultural effect(s) of membership?

What are some external pressures on the SCCA? Pressures for change (legal forces, business/commercial forces, ethic/racial, youth trends)?

I know it seems hard; that is why I need help. Thanx.

[weirdstyles.net]

Lemme clarify these questions for ya...

Alliances within the SCCA?
What kind of alliances are formed within the SCCA? Clubs, groups, etc.,

Zones of Tolerance: accepted violation of unwritten rules. What can you get away with?
Are there "unwritten rules" or general conduct that people are genearlly able to "bend" or bluntly disregard?

Discretionary Insubordination: violation of written rules or policy?
What are the penalties for breaking the written rules?

What are the psychological effects of membership? personal reactions (apathetic, cynical, upbeat, promotes independence, superiority, helplessness)?
How does SCCA racing make people feel?

What are the Cultural effect(s) of membership?
How does the SCCA impact culture? (Think multinational Rally here)

What are some external pressures on the SCCA? Pressures for change (legal forces, business/commercial forces, ethic/racial, youth trends)?
Are people/businesses/the law etc., trying to change the SCCA and effect how its managed?

Hope I cleared this up, Im not too familiar with the SCCA although I would like to be soon...

[Rennen]

This is one weirdass question :loco: hahaha

I let my membership expire, so I might not be qualified to answer this at the moment, but since I was, and will be, a SCCA member, I'll give it a shot.

I have been autocrossing and rallycrossing under the SCCA's banner for only two years now. I get to attend autocrosses in three distinctly different regions. One is small and friendly, Another is large, fiercely competitive, and cliquish, and the other is large and the atmosphere is somewhere between the other two.

Alliances within the SCCA?
The SCCA covers roadracing, autocross, roadrallys, and rallycross(for now at least :( ) Racers from the different disciplines tend to group together(ex. its not often you see an IT track car running autocross in SP). Although I have not seen any real car clubs spring froth from only a certain number of members inside of a region.

Zones of Tolerance: accepted violation of unwritten rules. What can you get away with?
Not really sure what you are fishing for on this one. The only real rule at an autocross or rallycross is "don't act like a jackass when you are viewed as a part of the SCCA" So no burnouts in grid, speeding around the site, etc..... If you are referring to cheating in your autocross class by illegal modifications, some regions are definitely more lax than others. In the small region I run in, they will let cars with bodykits run in stock class, because they realize that it doesn't make the car much faster. If that car starts to win its class every time, I can guarantee that someone will approach the owner and ask them to move to the correct class. In the larger competitive region I run in, they will aggressively check that your car is classed correctly, and there is a good chance you will be protested if you are classed incorrectly. So it really depends on the region, and your competitors.

Discretionary Insubordination: violation of written rules or policy?
For on site jackassery, the safety steward or event chair will ask you to leave, and encourage you to not come back. Rules violations: you become known as a cheater, so that alone makes it not worth it.

What are the psychological effects of membership? personal reactions (apathetic, cynical, upbeat, promotes independence, superiority, helplessness)?
I love going to autocrosses, its a very social sport, and everyone there shares your interest and passion for racing. I get to see friends, improve my skill, and have fun. I am on an emotional high all weekend if there is an event, and it is very detrimental to my homework/studying ;)

What are the Cultural effect(s) of membership?
There is a wide variety of backgrounds present at every event, and a very diverse crowd. Its nice to see the love of racing bring so many otherwise different people together.

What are some external pressures on the SCCA? Pressures for change (legal forces, business/commercial forces, ethic/racial, youth trends)?
Don't get me started on lawyers (http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=63911) :mad: There are panels of elected and appointed officers that have the job of "looking out for the membership's interests" and while they have their good and bad moments, the SCCA has remained a successful non-profit organization of more than 60,00 members.


If you are really writing a report on the SCCA, I recommend picking up a copy of the SCCA's magazine Sports Car (http://www.sccasportscar.com/) to get a good feel for what the SCCA is all about, or emailing the SCCA directly (http://www.scca.org/Inside/Index.asp?IdS=01AA40-8850FB0&reference=staff) and asking for information. They are pretty open with information, and are quick with emails if you send them to the correct person.

If you have anymore less vague questions, I will try to answer them.

-Matt

[weirdstyles.net]

Thanks Matt
But Racecar is available online, and I did email the secretary to the President of SCCA. She didn't understand the questions. You were a great help though. --Kristin

[thx247]

I doubt you get the SCCA to entertain those questions. Do a report on how the SCCA prices out all other autox groups and in general controls who runs where.

:hate: