RSRRacer

Funny - the Zone 2 club race chair just sent an email to everyone that raced in 2023 at VIR but didn't race this year asking them why they're not racing. I just copied the link to this thread and sent it back.Haha.

I'm kind of a cyclical racer and race the larger east coast stuff for 2-3 years then take a break. For me the juice has to be worth the squeeze. I feel like with PCA I've kinda "been there and done that".

Lastly, too many people racing fast cars in PCA have horrible situational awareness. It's dangerous. I've made a few brainless blunders but not many. But I've seen some folks make several per lap. No consequences.

ProCoach

Yeah. I have been at VIR all week working and it’s shocking the number of past or current PCA Club racers and lurkers who have regaled me with reasons why the numbers are going down. It’s not for lack of passion, it’s just that the experience is negative.

Additionally, almost everyone mentioned that entrenched leadership and many officials are not interested in soliciting opinion, interested in self examination or changing their current policies, procedures and their way of doing business. An additional, frequent observation is that that stubbornness has grown notably over the last few years.

tgsmith4845

According to articles I’ve read in the last few PCA Club Racer magazines, there’s nothing wrong. Maybe it’s just us? 🙂

Steve113

Economy/inflation and the fact that parts are so expensive compounds it.

fatbillybob

^^^^ This not exclusive to PCA

LuigiVampa

I met the Zone 2 rep at the VIR race and he is someone seeking a solution. He was walking the paddock and speaking with drivers to understand why we thought the numbers were down.

Its not a big mystery - we are a member organization, and if the members are unhappy, you ask them why and try to make as many changes as you can. The paddock is full of opinionated people, and while PCA can't make everyone happy, asking the questions with the willingness to change is the solution.

I think the problem is that we are not sure PCA has a willingness to change.

fatbillybob

But aren't the real answers from the guys who have left? The guys in the paddock are still playing the game.

LuigiVampa

It is a fair point, but I don't think it is all peaches and cream with the current racers either. Since we haven't left we can still be "saved".

We have to acknowledge that we all have a certain degree of myopia when it comes to PCA. There are supposedly 160,000 PCA members and out of that how many are active club racers? Are we even 1% of PCA? Other organizations are strictly about racing - PCA is not.

Even if you count HPDE and AutoX as related to the racing component you still have all those other parts of PCA like concours, coffee runs, and all the other people who just want to rub their Porsches with a diaper and brag how they got it up to 75mph that morning on the highway. Sometimes I think it is funny that PCA cares about the racers at all and perhaps that is part of the problem.

PCA leadership is aware of this thread, so hopefully they are taking note. They see the numbers going down and they are hearing many of us express dissatisfaction. I hope they realize that all motorsports components of PCA are sinking fast, and without a change of direction, it won't be long before the club is exclusively comprised of the diaper rubbers, and that would be a sad day.

RSRRacer

If on the other hand they are looking for diaper changers, they accomplished that by allowing too many unaware drivers to continue to compete just because by some miracle they don't wad it up.

LuigiVampa

Diaper RUBBERS. as in the sit around polishing their Porsche all day with a diaper. But point taken.

FilthyF14

Zone 2 Rep and VIR Club Race Chair here. I appreciate the comments on this forum and the email feedback I've received - it's all helpful. I'm a retired DE guy but not a club racer (one Chump race in my resume but we finished P4!). The reality from a chair position is that the VIR race has made money every year until 2024. Sometimes not a lot but enough to pay the deposits for the next year. It's a huge bet to sign the track contract and commit to hosting a $110K plus event and then keep your fingers crossed that racers show up. Both Sebring and VIR were down about 25% this year.

Changes we're looking at for 2025 include only 2 race groups and adding a second DE group to fill out four run groups. That would work for the 103 cars we had this year. May help with the DE to CR transitioned mentioned in this thread. Expect the SAT dinner to be an optional fee. A driver dinner has always been included in the registration fee but most of you don't show up. 80 of the 100 racers checked the "dinner" box in registration but only 40 showed up. Wasted money - and food. I think the trophies are important - at least to the guys that win them. I've given the 1st place trophy to the same driver every year and it seems he likes picking it up. PCA gives us a stipend to cover part of the trophy cost.

Lastly, sponsors for VIR have been a big challenge. We had one this year. Long story, but Zone 2 won't be hosting VIR in 2025 and still talking to Regions interested in taking over. They should be better suited to find sponsors.

Thanks for the feedback and hope to see you at VIR next year!

GlenL

This is a great list of proactive actions. Let me add a couple more:
* As part of a CR school, have a sign-off that the drivers are capable and responsible. (The existing sign-off letter is not valuable.)
* Open the CR school to DE drivers who do not yet have race cars
* Enforce discipline after contact incidents
* Promote lower-cost classes for new racers and less intense racers

I gotta add that the cars and operations of many racers can be intimidating for newbies. Do you need a 6-figure car and a 5-figure weekend budget to race with PCA? There is a wide variation in vehicles and atmosphere between races but if potential new racers think "PCA is not for me" they may never join up.

LuigiVampa

PCA CR school is a few hours of class time before a club race. Although I took the class ten years ago at that point it was hyper focused on clean racing and "who has the corner". That being said, there was no on track evaluation afterwards. I think you have to complete 4 races without incident before being awarded a race license. Its not "did you do a good job" but instead "did you screw up". No one is graded on their driving skills.

Being a white run group driver, and having your region's chief instructor sign off on your race license application, is what enables you to attend race school, but I have never heard of someone attending race school and not racing. Again, race school is just a class and it is the act of participating in 4 races, with a provisional race license, is what gets you your full race license.

What you are advocating for is a real race school. Not only does PCA not have anything like that, they even did away with the fun races which were the only on track component of race license training. I think a real race school would be a great thing but PCA seems to have gone in another direction. PCA does now recognize other race schools and awards club race licenses.

The biggest problem with officiating at PCA is the inconsistency of the rulings based on who you get as stewards for any race weekend. To give the stewards some credit, there is tension between punishing for even the slightest of contact, and the recipient of a 13 is out of the running for the club championship, and letting racers run amuck and bang doors all the time. Where is the middle ground? It is a hard job made harder due to the inconsistency.

There are the "944 classes" as well as SPC, SPB and ME1. Nothing about Porsche racing will ever be low cost, but at least these are more affordable.

sbelles

The zone 2 DE at VIR is where I started with PCA DE back in 2000. I'm sorry to see they won't be hosting the club race any more but I certainly hope somebody picks it up. The numbers this year really surprised me. I've only done this event 3 times in the past 10 years because of the heat. This years race was a bit cold and rainy but it beat the heat. I plan on keeping it on my schedule every year going forward if it keeps happening.

Mikelly

Scott, your work on this does not go unnoticed. This year was hard, given the economics of it all.

Mike