Doc

Awesome job. Thanks Tom!!!

I think you put it quite succinctly and I could not agree more.

MY name is Doc Waldrop and I am running for re-election to your Board of Directors for another 3- year term. I have been involved with motorsports in one form or another for most of my life, most recently in the ChampCar Endurance Series. Brew Krewe Racing participated in our first race back in the Summer of 2014. The enthusiasm of all the racers, families, and friends was contagious. It still is. I was one of the original “new” board members and it seemed like every day was a crisis of one sort or another, but we have grown into a solid cohesive group with a firm plan on where we are going. When you think about our membership at large it is an amazing group with a very diverse idea of who we are. My primary duty as Secretary in the BoD is to keep the official records of the club and monitor it’s progress. I can report that we are doing quite well in this regard with membership numbers and car counts growing. Our visibility continues to grow with the motorsports community, and I would like to see these efforts continue. That is not to say there are not serious challenges facing us. Our presence in the Midwest and West is not where we want to see it. It will take time, but to truly be a national series we must continue to promote these races and this market. As my race car has progressed over these few years, I have seen the effects of speed creep first hand. It’s not pretty, but there is much we can do to slow its growth. Read: NO FREE PARTS. In some respects that genie has escaped the bottle, but we must continue to slow its growth as much as possible. I understand why we must have swapped cars, but it sure does create a mess sometimes. We can continue to tweak the rules, but I think most of what we need to do is clarify them. My background is in sales and marketing, so I have to rely on the TAC and my fellow BoD members to help me navigate these intricacies. There is also concern about big money coming into the series. People have figured out how to make money at this racing game. There’s a real shocker. Hmmmm….somebody figured out how to make their passion their business. Seems like the American Dream to me. How do you legislate that; to keep the Mom and Pops viable? I don’t have the answer to that one, but that doesn’t mean it’s not something to consider as we move forward. I would like to see a comprehensive demographic study done on our group. I don’t have any doubt that it would show the significant financial clout we have when we roll into town. With that clout comes leverage with out sponsors. Is this something we want? Of course it is, IF it keeps the costs of racing down. I would urge you all to patronize our sponsors as your first choice when making purchasing decisions. Needless to say, there are a lot more things to discuss and I welcome your questions and concerns. I was really encouraged to see a strong turnout for our ChampCar booth a Petit LeMans. There is a lot of interest in what we have to offer: A way to go affordable racing for the average person at the most iconic tracks in the country. With your support I hope to continue as your Board of Director member.

Thanks all. I will be happy to answer these questions in a few weeks as we have the time before voting actually opens. Right now I am slammed with the Pitt Race ChampCar Live broadcast (please tune in!!!) AND getting our exhibit together for Petit LeMans. By all means if you are attending Petit stop by our booth and say howdee!!! We should have Cone Crushers 944 in the booth and I hear @Paulie has been up to something... I'm sure @Bill Strong has as well. Just bear with me. Thanks, Doc

Dude...get your own thread....they are free; no points. LOL Not a bad idea at all. Just playing devil's advocate here, but there are too many places for folks to look. The Forum is a perfect example: Too few folks are on it to make it a viable communication device for the masses. So then the best place is the website, but then that is just another place for items of interest to get lost on. It's also rather impractical to email every member when we do make a change. I'm not sure there is a best way, but one that folks will have to adapt to. See above. I'm not sure how we address this. There are talks about really drilling down at tech on lighting which will increase the time to get a car through tech and at certain races the tech line is long enough. Writing down interpretations at the time is yet another time killer. Not a derailment at all. Thanks for your input. I also appreciate your concerns about the second pace car on the Sebring thread. It is time we do something now and not wait until Flagtronics tries to fix it electrically somehow. It's getting out of hand. Not only does it create track rage, but a lot of us have high blood pressure already. I think it might be time to go back to driver bands to prove you were at the driver's meeting...hard to prove you were listening, but.... On a somewhat related note. My notifications of comments is not working, only "reactions". I'll try and check back periodically....

BTW, Under the "issue of transparency" I was the one that pushed the Championship eligible team rule to a minimum of 5 races to qualify. Here is the reasoning behind my push: I keep the records and with our low car counts at certain races the whole field could qualify with one decent weekend. This affects teams on the East Coast to their detriment as it is harder to place a car with a decent finish out here. The second consideration in that regard is the legitimacy of the Championship. If a car should win it should reflect how hard it was to win that Championship. Thirdly, our Championship team should show some "devotion" to our Club in my mind. Three weekends is not that much to ask to my way of thinking. Remember, the two best finishes are still what gets you in. Winner take all is a good idea so that even though a team will be seeded near the back of the grid they still have a chance to win the Championship.

Yeah, just as the BoD members have real jobs, so does the TAC members so changes roll out slowly. I certainly don't need to hear about everything, but rules and VPI clarity are essential to be in the loop on BEFORE they become the law of the land. Jerry and I have helped push many things through and we basically agree on most things so I consider him a valuable ally in addition to a friend.

I certainly think it plays a part in our series going forward. Frankly I am a bit surprised it does not get more participation than it does. I certainly thought the Grand Prize of a free race would have brought sim racers out of the woodwork. I know I have dang near begged a couple of the guys that race with me and I KNOW they are on iRacing to participate and they are a no show every week. We have changed the day we race on. I know I have a hard time making the Wednesday night date, but that is what the majority felt best so we changed it. We talk about it a lot on ChampCar Live so I think most of our racers know about it. There is WAY more info on the Sim Forum than you need to get started in Sim racing. What are we missing???

Funny, we were discussing that recently. Any change to the classing system needs to be carefully thought out though. You are going to anger both the existing B class cars and potentially the A and C class cars on either end of the displacement charts.

We do keep the history in mind and the mission statement in mind when we are looking at everything. I DO need to get more of an understanding of the history of swaps and how we got to where we are now so I can understand where we are going. To me, I understand the necessity of them, but they do pose some dilemmas as well. I know it sounds like I am waffleing but there are SO many variables at play. It would be SO easy if this was a spec series, but most already complain there are too many Miatas and E30s as it is.

It's a tough balancing act for sure, every year it seems to get harder.

The following was sent to my private messages and I thought others might be of interest in my thinking. The original post is in italics and my thoughts on the topic being discussed are in bold. I am reaching out to each of the people running for the board. I am very concerned about the direction of our organization. I honestly want the Chump put back in. Speed is $... and speed creep is very real. The club claims rules stability however when many new cars point values are adjusted down that claim rings false. Z33, Honda S2000, Boxster, several BMW’s have all had massive point drops since 2016. Rules stability is always a concern. We try and maintain a balance between the "we need more rules" and the stability crowd. Safety items will ALWAYS go to the top of the priority list. We try and get it right and shift some petitions, therefore rules, to the SOPs and this seems to have slowed rules changes down to a reasonable level. Significant changes such as the dash bar and Flagtronics implementation are given as much notice as we can because we realize that not everybody can budget/plan on shorter notices. More and more we are trying to clarify rules rather than make them. Point values are not rules so as far as changing them goes, we have to act on them as new information comes to light. We try and limit the frequency so owners can plan into the future. Rest assured the petitions are given very serious thought. Some are acted on immediately, some are tabled awaiting further study, others approved, and others denied, but all are considered. I have a few cars in my garage at the moment… … if I were to build something new it would have to start out as a much newer and costly car… I have my eye on the NC miata or the BRZ… these don’t feel like Chump cars. These are fast cars… this is supposed to be an entry level race series with a massive volume of track time. You have people coming straight off the street into to race with us. I think that is a good thing… however I don’t think it is safe to have them on track in or against some of the cars in our field (I am not talking about the EC cars). The faster cars are indeed a "problem" for us. Without new cars coming into the series though we are limiting our growth. Look at the extensive havoc OBDII created for us. It was a quantum leap in technology that necessitated a complete revaluing of the VPI tables. As a BoD member, we relied heavily on the technical portion of our staff and was in part responsible for the creation of the TAC whose very creation came about from a member's petition. I just don't know how we could have done a better job. We all have different backgrounds, history, mechanical aptitude, and a variety of experience to draw upon and we must rely on others opinions. I have total empathy for the crowd responsible for BoP decisions where serious $$$$$ are at stake. Some cars should be moved to EC as they have been extensively reworked, such as certain MR2s and Miatas Aero should have more points associated with it. There are teams that are claiming huge $ wind tunnel testing and again huge lap time improvement for very few points. This MUST be corrected. Not sure on this one where we saw recently where a "bare" E30 won at Indy on Day 2 and a fully aero E30 gave him a run for the money. We have to consider if this was a "horses for the courses" win, better drivers, or anyone of other considerations. Who tests at a wind tunnel? Most arrive at their decisions based on track days, some yarn, and a camera. We cannot limit testing for teams, but there is no question there is some serious money being spent to win these races. I personally think we should look at incrementally raising some cars values, but which ones? Is the team that better, or the drivers, or the car prep, or the car itself. So many variables, but values should be raised in small amounts, say 10 points: a lap inotherwords. Active Aero should be made illegal. There are several teams playing around with wings that adjust for more or less aero as the car moves around the track. This is a total Pandora’s box. Totally agreed . More moving parts lead to more opportunities for failure and what is safe is subject to too much opinion and speculation. Classifying cars on the VPI table so they can be used in the Swap calculator must stop also. If a car isn’t raced it shouldn’t be on the VPI table. Honda CRV, odyssey, silvirado… these cars aren’t here for them to be raced. They are helping unicorn’s. True, but many of the engines are attractive for pricing and availability. I would have to defer to other's judgements. Like the TAC. Honestly I also feel more points need to be assessed to motor swaps. I don’t think any car that gets a swap should be on the pointy end of the speed curve. They should be swapping in reliability and have a slower power to weight curve, however the reverse is true. Swapped cars are lightning fast. I also HATE the political games associated with the swap math… e30 weight is a great example of political tom foolery. UGH, I am with you on this one, but that ship has sailed. We are changing the word "weight" to make the formula/calculator work for us. Are you going to do anything about the speed creep? We are doing our best to slow it down, but it will never go away. It just won't. Is the Flagtronics implementation speed creep? Or is it safety? Requiring the owners to buy it was a hard decision, but we have OVER 650 individual cars that race with us so far this year. It would be impossible to purchase that many units, keep them maintained, and distribute them at every race. Hell, there are invariably transponders that are not returned and we have folks credit cards in hand. It would be a logistical nightmare. I'm not sure how much we spend on missing/damaged egg timers a year and the Flagtronics system is really not that bad, cost wise. If it is not ready for the intended roll out day we will certainly not require it, but that is well in the future. Anyway, I hope this goes a little ways to explaining my position on these issues going forward. Thanks for posing them. Doc Waldrop

Well, here we are almost 3 years down the road and I am up for re-election for YOUR Board of Directors and would appreciate your support. It was the best of times; It was the worst of times. Some bullet points: I have been on several BoDs in the past in my professional career as a lighting designer in the live events industry. I am retired and busier now than when I was employed seems to me.. I have been involved in the racing business it seems like my whole life, first as a fan, then motorcycle roadracer, then a stills photographer primarily on the IMSA circuit during the GTP heyday, and then about 6 years ago as the ChampCar Endurance Series came to my attention. I am a car owner with the Brew Krewe Racing BMW 325is. I am on the ChampCar Live broadcast crew as the analyst/color commentator where I mostly tell old stories, bad jokes, and swing dead cats. Oh, and I make fun of @Bill Strong at every opportunity I get. I am indeed the Secretary of the Club which makes me the Vice-President. This is in our By-Laws and as the first person appointed when we formed the new Board I got this position by default, not based on any experience. The most important job of the VP is to make sure the President stays alive so you don't have to take over. His security detail is my personal expense and is not covered or reimbursed. The most important job of the Secretary is to keep the records of the Club. This involves a lot of data entry into Excel sheets for race results. I track our race entries to see where we are trending growth wise. I attend BoD meetings and make sure we are in compliance with our By-Laws. We are as I helped revise them at a picnic table at VIR in the Summer a few years back. They were a mess and frankly could still use a bit of work. I'm sure I do other things as well. The MOST important job overall is to listen to you, our members, to understand your concerns, insights, fears, hopes, dreams, expectations. It is not to agree with you. It is to take your input and to merge it with over 3500 diverse members, all of which live across a vast country and race very eclectic vehicles that were NEVER designed for what we are doing to them. Oh yeah, then you have to take the members' opinions, your opinions, and merge it with another group: Your fellow BoD members who I can assure you also have their own opinions. Strong ones. Then you compromise, seek a consensus, lobby for your ideas, and merge them all to make a big, happy family knowing all the time that what you are attempting to do is impossible. And then, and only then, can you make it work. I think our growth is proof we have done a good job so far, but there is much more to do as we grow into the future. I think we are on the right track. I understand your concerns on speed creep: My car used to be a rolling chicane and now that it is faster my budget for races has been blown out of the water. We have to keep costs down in this regard, but we still have to keep up with the times, to innovate, to grow. I am committed to rebuilding attendance at the West Coast events and competing in that market successfully. I am for being fiscally conservative to build up our cash reserves should we suffer a recession for surely the most disposable income sport in the world. At the same time we must be aggressive in our marketing to future potential car owners/builders by exhibiting at industry events, races. We have to provide value to you, to keep you involved in the series by choosing to spend your hard-earned with us. In this regard we need to improve our communication to all of you, but this might be the hardest part of the position as a lot of us do not do this as a full-time job. We only have 3 full-time employees, all overworked. The rest are temporary. It's unrealistic to expect an immediate answer on Monday, should you need one, from a person who you know dang well worked a 14 hour race on Saturday, drove home 12 hours on Sunday, and then went to work at 7AM on Monday. There are many ways to get answers out to you, but they don't all work for each of your individual tastes. Email, phone, Forum, FaceBook, IMs, blasts, etc.... I would like to really push for a comprehensive demographic survey to gauge our economic impact as a series, both nationally and locally, so we can reach out with solid data to potential sponsors. I firmly believe we have more economic clout than ANY of us realizes. We need to work with our existing sponsors to make sure they are seeing the ROI of their financial investment in our series or they will move their marketing dollars and we will have to replace them to our detriment. That's enough pontificating from my lofty perch at 4AM in the morning. I welcome your questions, observations, criticisms, recipes, financial contributions. Send it. Doc Waldrop

Yes I will Paul. Busy weekend on site at Sebring for ChampCar Live. Please be patient. I have had no sleep since 5AM on Saturday. It is now 11:47 Sunday night. I don't know how I do it. Most likely I never learned better. I have NO IDEA how @Bill Strong does it. Maybe if I was a younger man??? He and @Paulie do the heavy lifting. Figuratively and real world.