September RE Report

From this month’s Deltagram, which most of you got in the mail already:

Is it September already? Time flies, especially when the club’s been busy all year with plenty of racing. We’ve hosted five Solo events so far this year, plus two more points events with Cenla during the Summer Night Series.
You may have noticed the distinct lack of Deltagrams this year. I haven’t forgotten about it, but most of the club’s communications have been through a very successful web site. We launched the revised web site in Feburary, and it’s been averaging 3,000 hits a month, or about 10 times the amount of traffic compared to last year. After using the Wordpress software all year, I’m convinced that it’s one of the most powerful ways for a small club to communicate on the web. Any content-management system is a must-have for an SCCA club, and Wordpress is very well suited for clubs with little web experience and limited resources. By getting the technical details of building and maintaining a consistent web site out of the way, Wordpress lets us concentrate on content. The end result is a steady stream of traffic from members as well as others interested in motorsports. With such an effective web presence, the Deltagram has been put on the back burner, due to the high level of labor for a decreasing audience. Such are the realities of the digital age. I still enjoy putting the Deltagram together, but it’s more cost effective to use the web site and email. Perhaps I can keep it done quarterly, and produce larger Deltagrams (8 pages this issue), filled with more content like our TLAC and points stats.
The Delta Solo Championship Series has been very popular, and as the year winds down, the best racing has yet to come. With seven points events down, it’s definately gotten pretty interesting in the PAX Championship. Four events are planned for the rest of the season, so they’re still plenty of time to catch up… or lose your lead. The series is open to any driver, regardless of membership status. So far, this has proven to be a great way to attract more attendance. As the season goes into the final stretch, I expect things to get even more competitive.
A couple months ago I was approached to get involved with hosting a drift event. I checked into the options at SCCA, and Northwest Region’s Drift Pilot Program was very successful. Other regions can apply for a Drift sanction on an individual basis, and SCCA’s sanction and insurance structure is the same as the Solo program. The New Orleans-based Drift Krewe and Delta have teamed up to host the first SCCA Drift in Louisiana on September 21st, 2008. Please come out to watch (or even drive!). A successful event can help ensure more events of this type in the future. I hope that we can attract more driving enthusiasts to Delta Region.
Delta’s TLAC is coming up fast, and I can’t ignore the fact that we are doing terribly at this point of the season. Red River Region has put together a large, organized effort to bring the Club Championship to Shreveport. They have a commanding lead in the series (see page 4 for the bad news), and we are sitting in a distant 3rd, practically tied with Cenla. Historically, RRR drivers have high-scoring finishes, but haven’t had enough particpants to be contenders in the Club Championship. That’s changed yhis year, and the combination of great drivers showing up in large numbers has put Delta at a big disadvantage. Being behind Sowela and RRR isn’t a huge surprise at this point in the season, as the two TLAC events so far have been hosted by these clubs, which bring out their highest turnouts. These events also happen to be the two farthest from New Orleans, so our best events are yet to come. What wasn’t expected was how far behind we are at this point, and we’re going to need a massive presence at TLAC 3 (and 4, really) to keep our trophy home. My guess is that we need upwards of 50 drivers, or about a 3rd of the Delta, to race at our TLAC in order to be back in the game. We’re also going to need a solid 20-30 drivers at Cenla’s TLAC in November to seal the Club Championship (remember, we lost the 2006 Championship by just two drivers). That’s a lot of drivers, but not impossible (I’ve got a few surprises planned too). So I’m asking every available Delta member to make plans to race at TLAC 3 (and 4!) so we can keep the trophy here in New Orleans. If you need help (co-drives, logistics), drop me an email and I’ll see what I can do.

-Benson Young, 2008 Regional Executive