NHMS 2012 Suggestions?

[Jim]

Which leads me to my next question, who got ROTY?

the kid who's 4th place in rookie points for the season, that was approached about some dangerous passes, and his family made a huge donation to the Larry Lap fund.

[PainfullySlow]

I dont want this to turn into a bitchfest so I will leave it simply as "I was very disappointed" with the banquet.

On to a suggestion/fix/statement...

I know that the EX racers view the AM as training grounds with the "cookie" to be given out when you make the bump to white plates. I know Tom mentioned that he likes numbers and quoted something like 1/3 of all the laps at LRRS were done by experts to which there was applause...but this means that 2/3 of your paying customers are not receiving any (or very minimal) recognition for their efforts. What is worse, some of those racers will never make it to the EX bracket. Add to this that they seldom have sponsors of any kind to offset the cost of racing and it really isnt all that hard to see why our sport is thinning out.

My suggestion is quite simple and will cost the track <$10 and 10 minutes at the banquet. Reward all AM bracket winners with a printed certificate of achievement. It doesnt have to be anything fancy, a piece of paper that simply says "good job, we acknowledge that you really put in the effort (and expense) this year" would likely go a very long way. In the end you dont get accolades for winning an AM championship so the only reward you receive is from your peers. Give them 10 minutes of your time and a picture that they can bring home with them at the end of the day.

I personally cherish those moments that I received during my time as AM because, lets face it, the chances of me being up on that stage anytime soon is slim at best.

[Woodcraft]

I couldn't agree more. The suggestions have been made previously, and will be made again. I appreciate the non-$%*#fest sentiment. As the track takes over more things that used to be handled by "us", there are going to be some things that they miss....it's only natural.

I try to provide consistent feedback to them about what matters to everyone in a positive manner. That seems to be the best way to get things done. I've always found it best to think of something good to say...."nice food, good location" before giving my suggestions "recognize the Amateurs in 2012, etc...". That tends to be the best way to get results.

[Pigman]

I too was Very disappointed....and really how hard is it to give a little recognition to those who worked very hard to place week in and out.

[Mr. Kurtz]

Eric, I should have prefaced my comments by saying that we do appreciate what you(and all the other racers who also work to make LRRS function) do, and I recognize that this stuff isn't in your control.

[CBR929RE]

the ROTY thing really confused the hell out of me too. The rule book made it sound like points were the main criteria along with no cherry picking. but that doesn't seem to be the case.

And maybe I missed it but was there anything done for the top Amateur, as in the guy with the most points across all AM classes?

[Chippertheripper]

I too was Very disappointed....and really how hard is it to give a little recognition to those who worked very hard to place week in and out.

I really was looking forward to standing on my chair and taking my shirt off when your name was called.

With regards to the am recognition I also really confused by the names called. Eric shaw? Maybe they meant Lori. And Trevor had bumped for September, as had one other guy up there if I remember right...3 of the 5 were experts before the last round.

[lrrs699]

I think it went pretty well. The legends awards was a nice time for a pee break and trip to the bar, and it went pretty smoothly else wise.

I would like to throw chip some well deserved recognition. Class act my friend. For those who don't know he won the 50/50 raffle and gave the money ($450)back to the fund. I don't know many who would do that.

[FirstDuc-1098]

Chipper is the man !!!

[Pigman]

I would like to throw chip some well deserved recognition. Class act my friend. For those who don't know he won the 50/50 raffle and gave the money ($450)back to the fund. I don't know many who would do that.

Major Props.....real Class act and stand up guy

[brady]

yes, great move Chip!

[Woodcraft]

That makes a heck of a lot more sense....Lori Shaw. I should have figured that out. I was wondering what the heck Eric Shaw was doing up there.

ROTY....I'm not sure what was going on there. To be honest Vanson picks that award.

Amateur rider of the year....the rider who won it is a great kid and an excellent rider, but I thought all along that this was going to Rich Maracina. I'm not sure how that was determined.

I'll collect all the feedback and give it to the racetrack in the hopes that we can make things better for next year. The location and food was good, but I agree that the Amateur part of the program needs to be upgraded. Those of us who do all this work on a volunteer basis only have so much time that we can give....and the track genuinely tries to do a good job, but some of the details that are important to us get lost in the translation of duties to new people. Feedback is how we fix it.

[nt650hawk]

Feedback is how we fix it.

Or more Volunteers

[PainfullySlow]

Thanks Eric, I know you have the racers first in your thoughts and will be able to convey these points in ways far better than I could.

And yes, because we dont say it enough, we really appreciate you being our champion. Now, if you could just slow down a tad and make a little more room at the front of the MW brackets, I would appreciate it. Thanks! :-p

Oh, and SUPER cool props to Chip. Way to go buddy!

**Edit** and to Ginos points. I have said it before and I will say it again: I will volunteer to take on the AM awards part of the process if it is manpower that is holding things back. I would like the opportunity to give something back to the community that has given me so much.

[Doc]

Way to go Chip! Following in my footsteps.

[Chippertheripper]

Please, lemire. Definitely not. My unemployed teammate works the grids and donates his earnings, or a part of, to the fund, I was just keeping with the LDR spirit.

Seriously, nobody plans to win a raffle. I just turned my $10 donation into a big one. Dumb luck.

[Doc]

On the topic... early in my time racing (and correct me if I am wrong) Amatuers were recognized, points were counted on the LRRS site etc, then it went to an Amatuer "Achievement" award but different classes were not recognized (and you tallied your own points for "bragging rights"), then it went to no recognition but you still got trophies, then it went to no tophies and then some experts starting giving their trophies... Right?

To me it appears to be a money thing but I also see the need for seperation and that seperation should not be equal.

The way I think it should be.

Experts get the contingency, maybe some discounts (food, fuel, gear at the track, maybe an expert license gets you discounts at local establishments as well... just a thought), the cool trophies for 1st, 2nd. 3rd (and the big ones at the banquet), the girls :, and everyone should aspire to be them. If you aren't moving up how do we make room for new people to come into the sport and how do we stress the need for competition at it's "best"?

Amatuers should get reduced contingency (maybe just the top couple riders in each class), lesser discounts, a Ribbon for 1st, 2nd, 3rd (cheaper than a trophy), a certificate at the banquet for class winners, maybe a 1/2 or 1/4 off the Penguin advaced school cert too?, and they should want to get into Expert... BADLY. No cherry picking, auto bumpage.

Novice is a training ground, they should get some at the track mentorship (maybe by an expert) and they should get a certificate for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, no recognition at the banquet (other than an attaboy mention and a "can't wait to see you in amatuer")

I have said it before. When I started it was made clear to me that Expert was where it was at, the best of the best at LRRS were ther and you needed to strive to get there. I wanted out of novice in a hurry but I knew I needed to learn race craft to get to amatuer. Once in Amatuer I was rather comfortable and podiumed a couple times. I could have stayed and had a great "career" there but all my friends bunoed and I knew where the 'real racing" was and that is where I wanted to be. It was instilled in me from the beginning, either by gentle prodding or all out "you ain't shit unless your an expert" comments.

I took it all in stride, HAPPILY because of the close knit community and general concern i felt in the pits. We looked up to experts, stood at the fence in AWE of their ability and wanted to be there on track with them. That made me want to move up, not the trophies or the sponsors... I wanted white plates, black numbers and a chance at an expert podium. I will never achieve one but at least I tried.

How does that sound?

[Doc]

Please, lemire. Definitely not. My unemployed teammate works the grids and donates his earnings, or a part of, to the fund, I was just keeping with the LDR spirit.

Seriously, nobody plans to win a raffle. I just turned my $10 donation into a big one. Dumb luck.

So did I... that is all I was saying.

[brady]

The way I think it should be.

Experts get the sponsorship opps....Amatuers should get reduced sponsorship opps

Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying, but WTF does expert/amateur/novice have to do with sponsorships? Sponsor $ can go to anyone who will do the work to get them. Convince a business you will give some them some good exposure by representing them well in an exciting sport . Even better if you can throw in some off-track PR.

[butcher bergs]

.....aaaaaaaaaaannnnnndddddddd











Doc sucks.

[Doc]

Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying, but WTF does expert/amateur/novice have to do with sponsorships? Sponsor $ can go to anyone who will do the work to get them. Convince a business you will give some them some good exposure by representing them well in an exciting sport . Even better if you can throw in some off-track PR.

I meant local track sponsorship type. Things the track/lrrs can get for you. Shouldn't have said sponsorship.

[brady]

I meant local track sponsorship type. Things the track/lrrs can get for you. Shouldn't have said sponsorship.

you mean like contingency $, or discounts provided by the track?

[Doc]

you mean like contingency $, or discounts provided by the track?

Yes. Fixed OP

[PainfullySlow]

Novice is a training ground, they should get some at the track mentorship (maybe by an expert) and they should get a certificate for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, no recognition at the banquet (other than an attaboy mention and a "can't wait to see you in amatuer")

Off topic a bit but RSP racing was planning on doing this very thing next year. We had discussed the option of taking one or two new novices per weekend and showing them the ropes, helping them get out of their pits, answer questions, show where registration/tech is, etc.

If the track does something official with it I will gladly volunteer myself to show a Novice the way around the track for a weekend.

As to Docs other comments, I am/was the same way. Expert is where it is at. I bumped to EX the second I met the criteria and met my goal of having one win as AM. We should all aspire to get those white plates but that doesnt mean that the effort that leads to that ultimate goal shouldnt be recognized.

And for sponsorship, it is much more difficult to convince a business that a novice racer with 0 wins is going to get them any exposure but we are getting off topic. The point I tried to make with that tangent is that the startup costs of racing hit hard in the nov/am brackets, costs that are either deferred or supplemented by sponsorship/contingency dollars in the EX brackets. I think I spent $15k my first year racing, a nice note saying "hey you kicked ass" would have gone a long way to making that easier to swallow. That was the only point I was trying to convey.

[Doc]

There are amatuers that stay in amatuer collecting trophies for far too long.

$15k your first year . Including my bike I didn't even spend 1/2 that.

As for the "mentorship program" T1a has done it unofficially for years... It would just be nice to have a little more formal program.