East Tennessee Region SCCA

I had a question that I asked on the Facebook page about the novice driver and how could we get them into there base class.

Do we know about what persentage of novice drivers stay and make it to there base class?

Could we increase that number with a mentor? IE a seasoned driver with the same car or similar car who would be willing to drive and ride with them.

I like what we have, but I would also like to improve it if we can.

Philip Young
19 STS

We're supposed to have a couple of people per heat assisting with novices. One big challenge we've has is getting people aware of this but it's also sometimes getting them to "accept the help".

With that said, I think sticking around has much less to do with your driving results than it does making friends or having friends that refer you to the cub.

But if someone said "hey I'm or he/she is driving in your class jump in for there run" couldn't that be the start of the friendship and them making it to the next event?

There's a cub and no one has taken me to see it?!?!?!?!

I'll post what I posted on Facebook.

I'm working registration this year, so I'll have my work assignment out of the way.

If the event schedule and my personal schedule permit (there are some events where I might need to get home early or whatever), I'll work with an individual per event. I don't want to help navigate a pure novice, but if you have a few events and know that you want to stick with this and get faster and you think I can help, I'll pick someone not in my group after run groups are set. You just gotta somehow let me know you are interested and I'll give you my time for that heat. Not doing it for work assignment or anything, just want to try to help people out, pay it forward, etc.

...and I can do ride-alongs, watch, talk about the course, talk about setup/rules/building your car, talk about event prep, etc. ...whatever you think will help you.

steverife wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:02 pm There's a cub and no one has taken me to see it?!?!?!?!

I'm sorry Steve, that sarcasm is unacceptable. I'm going to have to report this infraction to HR.

Philip A. Young wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:02 pm But if someone said "hey I'm or he/she is driving in your class jump in for there run" couldn't that be the start of the friendship and them making it to the next event?

Possibly, but sometimes those folks only have a few minutes to help out. Atlanta tested a driver development program a few years ago. I'm not sure how successful it was, but essentially you'd sign up for it and be assigned an instructor or various instructors for the day. The goal there was of course to get faster, faster.

01badz28 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:08 pm

steverife wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:02 pm There's a cub and no one has taken me to see it?!?!?!?!

I'm sorry Steve, that sarcasm is unacceptable. I'm going to have to report this infraction to HR.

Thanks for taking care of that, Ryan.

Geez...some people.

01badz28 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:08 pm

steverife wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:02 pm There's a cub and no one has taken me to see it?!?!?!?!

I'm sorry Steve, that sarcasm is unacceptable. I'm going to have to report this infraction to HR.

Please don't get me banned before I get to see the baby bear.

...unless Harp means Buckingham. I've already seen him.

What sparked my thought was the novice driver that was in the FR-S that Steve gave a ride to. He was super excited after the ride and I think that could be a reason he would show up to the next event.

Correct me if I'm off on this... but isn't the novice class optional? A novice doesn't HAVE to run in it, just an experienced driver doesn't have to run Pro.

So, a novice can, at any event decide that they want to just run in the regular class, correct?
I've been helping novices since 2011 and the biggest thing to keeping them around IMO is them willing to take help. Those are the ones that will stick around in the end. Ones that are out there not 'getting it' and not asking for or taking help are not going to be doing it for long. They are more interested in making a video to post and taking their friends out there and seeing cool cars than anything else... and there's 100% nothing wrong with that as long as they aren't creating issues to delay the event and so on.

Sometimes.... having someone that has the same type car you have can have the opposite effect... where they are like "F-this, I can never get my car to go that fast" can happen. But that's not the typical case. MOST times they are thrilled and are saying "Ok, if he/she can do that, so can I" and that's awesome.

This is where the fun runs always helped keep people coming back. You jump in their car and drive it, or jump in with them and work with them. I've gotten people hooked by letting them drive my car too. It's really hard to work with a new person that might want to learn but can't focus because all they are thinking about is the time sheet and how the others are doing.

Right. It's optional

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ConeEater wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 10:40 am This is where the fun runs always helped keep people coming back. You jump in their car and drive it, or jump in with them and work with them. I've gotten people hooked by letting them drive my car too. It's really hard to work with a new person that might want to learn but can't focus because all they are thinking about is the time sheet and how the others are doing.

Fun runs are what got me hooked a long time ago. I know it's not always an option, but they definitely serve a purpose for newbs.

That's a great point that we forget about. My first participation in an SCCA event was fun runs only. It's a great opportunity to connect with someone new and help them out.

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How many runs were you getting during the event only before the fun runs at the end? Just curious

we would have on average about 100-110 in the good years so it was harder but we still did them... we did 1 hour of runs and split the group up so 1/2 an hour was running and the other was grabbing cones. 45 second courses, so you got a bunch of runs and we charged $1 a run.

When the attendance was low ( 60-80 ) we were able to run 6 compeition runs ( 3 in the AM sessions and 3 in the PM ) and do fun runs until people got sick of it and we were still out of there by 5.

Yes... not as many as ETR gets as far as drivers, but paddock to grid distance was similar.

I know even with 100 drivers I was still getting 3-4 more runs and I was hoping in other cars to help out, so I could've had more in a 30-40 minute session.

EDIT: I will say that we had a pretty kick ass team of people that stayed behind afterwards and helped clean up and pack up. It wasn't just board members and a lot of times, we'd tell ones that didn't NEED to be there to go home since they were there early. Doesn't work at BMS since we can't leave stuff there like we did in PA.

That's how I got to know a lot of people in the region when I was new. I got there early to help and learn and stayed late to help.