My reasons for staying away:
1) (main one) TWC electrically died in Oct 2012 and won't start... cranks, but won't fire. I honestly haven't spent any time on the issue after the first hour or so when I got it home from the N.C. trip. It just sits in the pole barn with Carla's '92 R/T and my '93 VR4 (which is celebrating 6 years up on jackstands. (Oh yeah, TWC stands for The White Car) I guess the root cause can be described as " lack of interest"
2) vacation time - (as important as #1) I have to have vacation requests in by Feb 28th for the year. With being #5 on the vacation seniority list I can get just about anything submitted by that date. anything after that date is next to impossible to get a whole week off from memorial day to labor day because a group of people take mondays and fridays off all summer. with only 4 people allowed off at a time in my group, it's impossible to get a solid week off. So for me, the date would have to be in stone before Feb 28th.
3) hurt my car doing the drags on NG and broke it the next day on the road course. money paid and no RC fun :( IMHO drags are detrimental to our cars and its time has come and gone as the participation numbers were showing. AND the St Louis boys dropping two driveshafts on the dragstrip one year cemented my position on the subject. Time and money wasted on track rental and insurance.
4) I don't drink beyond a few for a lot of reasons. The drunken recklessness of the shopping cart drags left a real bad taste in my mouth considering what could have happened. I know you don't like hearing about it, but if you had the industrial safety training I have had for work from OSHA and UAW/GM Safety Dept, you would see the event in a different light. People getting drunk in the parking lot, I had no problem with. I enjoyed talking and interacting with them... except for the gun, shopping carts and air bag cannon.
Thoughts: Planning the NG is a task where the accolades pale to the effort put forth. Lori can and has attested to this more than once over the years. If it weren't for her (and Alan's) efforts, the NG would have ceased a few years ago. Yes, I have locked horns with Lori a few times, but I'll also give her credit where she deserves it.
I see vacation time off and personal family commitments as the number one and two reasons for NG attendance drop off. I'll admit that the last one I attended the bang did not equal the buck for me and that could hold true for others. Step back as advised and simplify and streamline.
Dragway 42 in W Salem Ohio underwent a mega million dollar renovation and Akron Sports Car Club holds their autocross events there now. They are the ones that manage the autox event at Norwalk Raceway for Buschur's shootout and do a great job. (
www.autox.net) A regular Sunday costs $40 - $45 with around 70 cars showing up, so I am sure that could be hired to manage a NG autox for a similar amount and there might be no insurance liability doing it that way.
I would also suggest having NG central a little south of W Salem on I-71 in Ashland Ohio where Mid-Ohio is just a little more down I-71 in Mansfield. Possible to piggy back on another group's event down there? For a car show there are a ton of Saturday parking lot cruise-ins around the area ( a few Quaker Steak & Lubes) that we could be a part of or go into down town Ashland around Ashland University and hold a 3S show like usual.
For the adventurists, a 60 minute drive right up I-71NB will get you to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just some thoughts.
After thoughts: maybe drop the road course all together in favor of the ASCC run autox event ( which average a mile + course) and for the race adrenaline, the group could go to
Dragway 42 on their Wed or Fri night program as customers, avoiding insurance costs altogether as that would be covered in the D42 admission.
Those who wish to beat on their fragile old cars can do so while the rest of us watch them and the other race cars run. Then a planned road trip into Cleveland to the R&R Hall O fame could replace the road course event time wise.
