NASA in the PacNW in 2013

colin_koehler

colin_koehler

Great SCOTT!
Interesting. Discuss.

NASA Announces New Northwest Region
October 30, 2012 5:38 AM —
NASA_NW_LOGO_1000.png
NAPA VALLEY, CA (OCTOBER 30, 2012) The National Auto Sport Association is pleased to announce that it will be expanding its operations into the Pacific Northwest for the 2013 season. Leading the region will be longtime NASA NorCal officials Andy Tencati and Robert Kinley who will be relocating to the area to start the region in 2013.

The NASA Northwest schedule will include dates at Pacific Raceways, Portland International Raceway, The Ridge Motorsports Park, and Oregon Raceway Park. The events will feature NASA’s full offering of programs including HPDE, competition racing, and Time Trials. Other special events such as endurance races and rallycrosses may also be on the calendar depending on interest levels from local drivers.

"I am thrilled to be part of the team bringing NASA to the northwest," said Andy Tencati. "We are committed to creating the best track experience for participants at all skill levels -- with an emphasis of getting everyone on the track. This is an exciting time for NASA. In addition to offering our entire range of services, we are also planning some exciting new events for 2013 that will truly elevate motorsports in the northwest region."

"It's very exciting to help spread the NASA programs to the Pacific Northwest," said Robert Kinley. "We are focused on building a fantastic customer experience as well as hosting top-notch events for all of ourparticipants. Stay tuned for exciting things to come."

John Lindsey, NASA’s Chief Divisional Director added that “The Pacific Northwest has always been an area where we have wanted to introduce our NASA programs to new participants in the region. We are very pleased to finally have all of the key pieces in place and we are very grateful for the warm reception we have received so far. We expect great things from Robert and Andy this year and we will do our best to support them in this important effort for us.”

For more information on the NASA Northwest Region, please visit www.nasanorthwest.com, visit the Northwest section of www.nasaforums.com, or e-mail info@nasanorthwest.com
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This just tells me that I need to do three things:
1. Marry a rich girl (is Paris Hilton available?) or buy lottery tickets
2. Quit my job
3. Buy an extra race car for racing with Conference and doing HPDEs with NASA
 
I threw the discus in high school.

I don't see a ton of demand for more race dates for road racing in the region. Maybe I am missing something.

t
 
I can only assume they're hoping to eat up some of the dates SCCA no longer makes use of. On the one hand, I don't think there's a need for another sanctioning body around here. On the other, I did just buy a very competitive H2 car...
 
I think the bulk of NASA's entries are HPDE cars. We could use more WEEKEND track day/HPDE events here in the PNW.

Let's face it, taking a week day off from work to do a track day kinda sucks.
 
Well we have a proposal to limit the number of race weekends in Conference. Is this such a good idea?? Things to ponder.
 
More week-end track dates would be a nice option, assuming they didn't interfere with race dates. The "NASA Northwest" website is here if you want to see a little more. That said, I'll also mention they're looking pretty aggressive in their expansion plans, for those concerned about that sort of thing, and I'd like to point out the prime movers on the expansion are NOT local by any stretch of the imagination (NorCal).

As if we didn't have enough concerns about wiping out our volunteer base.
 
Steve Adams said:
As if we didn't have enough concerns about wiping out our volunteer base.
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Exactly. We don't have enought volunteers as it is, so they want to spread them out even more? I don't see me working their events any time soon. I'm gone from home half the weekend out of the year as it is chasing race cars. Maybe if I wass retired and independently wealthy.
 
Perhaps NASA's extended opportunities will help to BUILD our base of qualified personnel. Competition is good. Isn't that the whole impetus of motorsports? ICSCC has been successful, and oft times pompous about the slowly creeping dissolution of SCCA in the area. Well here comes the new dog to fill a perceived void. Go figure.
 
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I ran with NASA on the east coast before moving here... it was mainly Auto-X & HPDE, but they did have the lion's share of the car counts.

I think it will be interesting to see how the volunteer/"paid" worker support goes as it seems really tough as it is. Their sweet spot is likely targeted at SCCA not ICSCC, however I'm sure they are wanting to draw from everywhere. In my opinion those that haven't had the budget or desire to tow to places like Mission, Spokane & ORP will likely test the waters with NASA (pending their car fits a good run group) as there will be more local races to whichever track you call local.

Grab some popcorn and watch this one...
 
MikeA said:
Their sweet spot is likely targeted at SCCA not ICSCC, however I'm sure they are wanting to draw from everywhere.
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SCCA doesn't have anything substantial for NASA to go after. Conference is where the entries are, which is who (IMO) they will be going after.

The worker thing is an issue, for sure. Tracks, I'd bet, not so much. With the addition of The Ridge and ORP, I'd bet there are some open dates ...

Dan
 
What NASA does better than anyone is incorporate their HPDE and Time Trials Program into their race weekend, thereby giving a total race weekend environment to those who normally would be participating in a HPDE or an SCCA Time Trial event on a weekday or minimal weekend with just a dozen or so participants in the case of NWR Time Trials. I think they do a better job of developing new racers than anyone and that in and of itself could be a benefit to Conference. I think what this really does is kill off essentially the NWR SCCA region which has been continually in decline for some years. Or at the very least, cause them to dissolve and merge into a SCCA Northwest Region with Oregon. If NASA provided additional race dates within the I-5 corridor, i.e., Portland, The Ridge and Pacific, then for me personality this is a good thing. I would rather spend my dollars on racing and not transportation to and from.
 
So what you're saying Bill is that you only want to race at your local tracks regardless of club? I have a feeling this, among other issues NASA's presence will create, will be a major contributor to the dilution of classes.

So if I'm not limited to my 2 local tracks and say I wanted to win a Spec Miata championship who do I do it with? NASA, SCCA or ICSCC? Which championship "means" more?

There's a market currently being served by a few very competitive providers, some who compete directly (SCCA/ICSCC) and some who compete indirectly (CHUMP/LEMONS) and now there's another big "provider" coming to town who's going to command a percentage of available resources. This means that there's going to be a fierce battle for "brand loyalty".

All of use in the ICSCC have to understand that drivers, new and existing, are going to be asking themselves: "Who should I race with?" and we need to have the best answer to the question. Part of this equation is going to be promotion. Go on any automotive enthusiast board, from BMW, NASOIC, HONDA, IT, SM, MAZDA RACERS etc etc, and people discuss events with NASA and SCCA. People know who these organizations are both locally and nationally and they have that advantage in recognition. Fortunately on a local level ICSCC has been able to out match SCCA NWR but how will it stack up against NASA.

Known variables:
NASA does have a good HPDE and Time Trial program and IMHO, the Time Trial demand in the PacNW isn't being served by current supply. So while this can be good for getting people on track in some sort of competitive format, a gateway to racing if you will, the question presented for ICSCC is that we know NASA will be effective converting their own time-trial'ers to racers but how will ICSCC convert that pool NASA Time-Trial'ers into ICSCC racers.

NASA has equivalent classes like Spec Miata and Spec E30. They also have unique classes like Honda Challenge and Performance Touring (PT, a lot like IT). A lot of the new blood considering racing comes from a mentality of "What engine is in there?!" So classes like HC or PT which allow engine swaps is going to have a strong appeal.

Unknown Variables:
What, if any, positive influence in the region overall will the presence of NASA have?
How will this affect the volunteer base?
How will this dilute the classes (like in the case of Bill, who will be motivated not to tow to other tracks with an abundance of local racing)?


Ok, enough thinking out loud. Time to watch some football and racing.
 
The big deal is the volunteer base. The dilution will probably happen with those on a tighter budget than the others. I can only speak for myself here, but I can tell you that if the entry fees are close and there are conflicting dates say between Portland and pacific I'm gonna choose pacific without regards to the sanctioning body. This could mean another race on the calendar for someone in my position. I suppose championship contenders may wonder who they will do business with right?
 
This has been coming for some years now, and unfortunately it has finally arrived. They are much larger and more powerful than Conference which really concerns me, and the inevitable draw of our drivers and volunteers away from us to their events is a big negative in my opinion.
I have 40 years of loyalty to Conference and am not about to run off to a NASA event because it is closer than a scheduled Conference event. But I am afraid that many will defect, so to speak, and this will hurt our clubs and our bottom line.(s)
I think this makes our format change proposals for less qualifying and more racing, (with more track time overall) a must for the near future for the continued health of Conference.
We as an organizarion need to be very vigilant and watch closely how they proceed up here as they have had opportunity in other areas of the country to take a firm hold in those areas.
 
My biggest concern is the limited volunteer base we have in the PNW. Does anyone know how NASA trains it's volunteers? Have they been successful at attracting new people as Race Officials? If they assume they will just attract all of our local experienced volunteers, then something is really going to have to give because we just don't have enough people as it is.

I'd like to have more officials chime in to see what the general concensus is among their ranks.
 
tony_hauser said:
I'd like to have more officials chime in to see what the general concensus is among their ranks.
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The Race Officials Division will be meeting at the Marriott on Saturday morning before the ICSCC banquet. Stop by if you're in the area and talked to the folks there.
 
I think that this thread is very important. ICSCC needs to understand the competition we are facing, and it will take commitment on the part of many to get through what are likely a couple of potentially challenging years. With 56 years of grassroots racing, created and managed by and for true grassroots racers, I believe that ICSCC will continue to be the great family we have been. We have something special - we are a self-managing , not for profit racing organization. We can do better than NASA for exactly the same sorts of reasons we have done better than SCCA - we are racers and we are ICSCC! NASA is run by one person for profit. SCCA is run by a group of people at the national level, and it is also a very large business enterprise. We are different. We need to listen and be open minded and ask ourselves some tough questions. We can win this. I am committed to our success, and I ask each of you to think about what ICSCC means to you and get ready to help the ICSCC family adapt and stay strong. Hope to see you at the ICSCC Banquet next weekend!
 
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