Where would the reduction of classes put H-Production?
In an effort to boost participation, SCCA has announced a major proposal for its National Road Racing program. These changes, proposed for 2025, were shared via a webinar:
“Tonight’s topics are centered around the National Road Racing program, which includes the Runoffs, Hoosier Super Tour, and Conference Majors,” Prill said during in the webinar. “And while you will not hear plans specific to Regional programs, it is expected that many of these programs will benefit from some of the features of this proposal.”
Among the items in the proposal:
Reducing the total length of its championship Runoffs from the current nine-day format to just four: two days of qualifying and two days of racing. Three days of optional pre-event testing will be offered.
The reasons for reducing classes: saving costs for all involved, including competitors, volunteers and SCCA; improve the event by concentrating on the healthiest classes; and enhance the experience of the event.
The number of classes offered at the Runoffs will also be reduced from 26 to 18. As per the SCCA: “Classes that won’t have their own Runoffs race in 2025 will either be consolidated into another class, combined with another class for their race, or not included in the Runoffs.”
The SCCA also proposed changes to its Majors and Super Tours:
“A deep dive into the participation data of these programs reveals that there are key events and classes that have good, consistent attendance and are considered healthy by SCCA’s traditional metrics,” Prill explained. “Data also supports the notion that some classes have higher participation at specific tracks due to track characteristics or a larger population of cars in a given geographic area. Other classes are drawn to specific event types.”
“In the proposal, Conference Majors will include all U.S. Majors Tour-eligible classes, while Super Tour events will include a subset of the Majors-eligible classes, referred to as Super Tour classes. In short, all Super Tour classes are included in the Majors class grouping, but not all Majors classes will be a Super Tour class. Classes may also migrate between Super Tour class status and Majors class status on an annual basis.
“Furthermore, class rules will not be static and will change to increase participation and competition, and classes may be combined to also increase participation and competition. Likewise, classes that do not perform will be removed from Majors class status, and new classes may incubate as a Majors-eligible class.
Where would the reduction of classes put H-Production?
I am saving up some money for a GTL Mini for when GTL gets cut.
In reply to ojannen :
Front-drive or rear-drive?
Obviously over on the Apexspeed forum the formula car guys are in sort of an uproar. Their numbers have been declining so they are starting to see that they will be shown the exit door. They see it as a way for SCCA to have many more Miata classes. On the other hand... those are the folks showing up in big numbers.
Most average competitors have been complaining for years that in the 21st century folks can't spend 9 days at one event to win one race. The 1970s version of the "Gathering of the Clans" just doesn't work for most working folks in 2024. Shortening it to 4 days is probably a good idea. Of course the rich/serious folks will just rent the track for many days in advance of the "official" dates.
The 18 classes will have to spend as much money as the previous 24 classes did to pay for the event. Most likely the costs per competitor will continue to increase until the event dies.
L5wolvesf said:Where would the reduction of classes put H-Production?
I would imagine hprod is ok. They have strong fields at bigger events. The formula cars, and prototype are probably on the cusp. Some of those fields can be pretty small.
Woof where to start:
First I will be upbeat.
Condensing the event down to a 4 day event is an excellent idea.
Consolidating run groups for the under performing classes is an excellent idea.
Second the not so upbeat.
I predict going from the top 1/2 to the top 1/3 will have the complete opposite effect on the number of entries. Some of the classes making the required numbers only do so because of the back markers. Making the RunnOffs "more" exclusive isn't going to drive the numbers up...............it just means fewer people will make the cut. In the current environment very very few businesses can afford to be "exclusive".
Thirdly the negative and potentially disrespectful.
I really mean no disrespect to Mr Prill as he has a tough job BUT...................using all those quotes about the tough road ahead feels like some CEO who's telling employees how wonderful it is they are being volunteered to be laid off for the good of the company..........it's a patronizing move that no one ever feels good about. For God's sake talk to people like you are having a one on one.........whoever thought this was a good idea needs to rethink that for the next broadcast. Why am I harping on this.............because your entire message was just lost.
In closing
On the plus side I predict more SCCA cars will be available for vintage racers such as myself. LOL
I do think it is a good idea for them to do a lot of what they are proposing I just don't agree with some aspects; hopefully they will modify it with member feedback.
Purple Frog said:The 18 classes will have to spend as much money as the previous 24 classes did to pay for the event. Most likely the costs per competitor will continue to increase until the event dies.
back-of-the-envelope, if the event is half as long and costs half as much, then even if that 24-to-18 reduces the number of competitors by 25% you still end up with a net reduction in how much revenue you need from each competitor to cover the costs.
I could see a lot of formula guys trying to find a new home at a different organization (FRP, SVRA, etc.) SCCA seems to be behind the times in a lot of ways, there are a lot of people that are into cars that don't even know it exists. They probably need to increase their advertising budget from $3 to at least $5 or $6
So I went and looked and currently 16 classes are not making the average set by the SCCA.
So that leaves 12 classes.
There are 6 classes that are about 85% of the way there so if you made.the average 3.5ish that would be 18 races.
As a 35 year member to me the easy button is to simple have combined run groups for the under performing classes.
At a glance you could combine several classes; doing that would take it 22 races.
One other thing that I never see discussed is simply cut the numbers of laps for those races
Combined run groups would be way better than shorter races IMO.
I was surprised to see them get rid of the divisional pathway. They said that a small portion of the overall entrants used it, but from what I've seen most people's first Runoffs appearance is through the divisional, and as mentioned those backmarkers are key to hitting the class numbers. People who go once are much more likely to keep going back. It just seems like they did away with their best recruiting tool to get people from regional to national competition.
A critic may say that a lot of the yellow/black flag events come from the back of the field and it would be hard to disagree, but if you want to have a healthy racing program in years to come you need to keep the entrant pipeline full. I think the elephant in the room is the average age of SCCA racing participants.
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