1) Create a mechanism so 3 & 6 can benefit from the 2nd car discount afforded the other groups, for example every other race entry with a given club could be at the second car rate.
Is a few dollars really what is keeping people from racing in open wheel groups? If alternating races gave the second race discount that would equal $135 every two races, or $67.50 per race. I would argue that if that amount of money decides whether someone is going to attend a race or not they probably aren't a sustainable entry going forward. Maybe a little harsh, but true none the less. Add to that the fact that discounting race entries in this way will probably not increase participation very much and make the dollars per minute of track time equation look even worse for those groups. As an alternative, I have always completely in favor of anyone forwarding a rule change that would have insured that any car entered in either Group 3 or 6 had a place to run in the other group ala Formula Libra. While I think most would not have taken the opportunity to run a second group on the week-end, I think it would have made it possible for a car owner to rent their car for the other class without having to sacrifice their own race to do it. One of the best ways that groups like Pro3 have been able to bring people into their class is by renting the cars in Group 5 and for the Novice program. I think that has more potential to bring converts than just about any other form of recruitment. I realize there are also maintainence and durability issues to consider, but a lot of rented cars of all types have the same issues.
2. Discount the entry fees for new group 3 & 6 racers or those who have been dormant in Conference Racing for a few years.
What are we saying to the racers, OW and CW alike that have supported us during all of this time? I would be more likely to offer a discount for every race someone enters above 8 or 10 to reward those who routinely support us race after race, year after year. As my sales manager used to say - "If you are trying to train behavior using incentives always make sure you reward people for doing what you want, not for doing what you don't want."
3. Allow 3 & 6 to run together in practice and/or quali 1 to increase their track time at each event.
This could have some merit. As long as it doesn't cause nightmares for timing and scoring who are usually trying to get everyone sorted out during these sessions. Car counts are generally low enough that it should be no problem to fit everybody into the extra sessions on Saturday. Will this increase counts? Again, I'm not sure that some extra minutes vs dollars is the actual root cause of low turnout. I know that SCCA Oregon Region offers 30 min. practice, 20 min qualify, and 30 min race for $315 entry if I am not mistaken. We offered 15 min practice, 15 min qualify, 20 qualify and 30 min race at our last IRDC race for $285. Same time for less money - do they do better on OW counts than we do? If so it obviously isn't because it is a few bucks cheaper or they get more time.
4. Include first year club membership and/or race license for free to any non-conference racers who cross over to us.
Not a bad idea, and something that we would definitely consider (speaking only for an IRDC club license of course!). Can't very well claim $67.50 is not very much money above and then claim that $60 for an IRDC membership is! If we could entice folks over for what I feel is a superior racing experience with friendly welcoming people by dangling a free membership, I would be pretty open to taking that to the IRDC Board. The only issue with that would be someone might join becasuse it was free and then never actually come race with us - the concept of "I didn't pay anything for it, so it doesn't really lose any value if I don't use it." For any serious consideration, a solution has to convince people that it will create additional entries, period. The downside of issuing a free Conference license is even worse. There are administrative costs to consider, and then they can use that license to race elsewhere by reciprocity. As usual the "law of unintended consequences" could actually increase counts for other organizations that accept our license!
5. Each club could designate an event as a double race group 3 & 6 weekend where the groups are combined for both of their respective races (perhaps with a split start). Basically that’s two races for the price of one.
EXACTLY! It's two races for the price of one. We collect potentially half of the entries in groups that are already under scrutiny for not covering the cost of their track time. In order to pay for itself, it would have to create an additional paid entry for every car that runs both groups. What all the groups, CW and OW alike, need to do is keep the number of PAID entries up. I was lucky enough to get to run the NOS Stock Car Road Course Challenge last year at Pacific Raceways. When all was said and done, I won almost enough purse money to pay for my entry and expenses for the week-end. I, and most of those that I know who attended, said we would attend that kind of race as often as it is held! The point of that example is that if you offer things that cost you money to people for free they are very likely to take them. When you want to get them to start paying for them, they often are a lot less interested. How do we then transition that to getting those groups full enough of PAYING customers to make them viable. If we do that for a race, or two, is the intention that the new entrants who take part will have had a chance to see how great the people and the racing is and be willing to join us under the same rules as everyone else or are we on the hook for groups that have increased on track counts but no increase in revenues forever?
To conclude - Im just applying some accumulated business sense to the ideas that I saw and these are just my observations - please don't take them as being overly negative. Mr Coffin - you are to be commended for taking an active step towards trying to hash out some sort of plan to increase participation and that is in everyone's best interest. I think someone should have gotten a rule change through that allowed ALL OW cars the opportunity to run in the other OW group so a second entry was available to everyone. It may be too late for that as the numbers have fallen to the point where consolidation is almost certainly on the books for the Fall E-Board meeting. I would also entertain the possibility of an OW Special Race Group at one of our IRDC races as a way to get the right group from another organization out to sample our product and help build numbers.
Please keep brainstorming everyone! Hopefully there are more good ideas out there.