tgsmith4845

Serious thread about how to fix PCA Club Racing.

I remember the days when you had to register for a PCA Club Race weekend the minute registration opened or you ran the risk of not getting into the race because so many racers had registered ahead of you. Those days are gone. I just looked at registrations for the iconic Road America Challenge 2024 put on by PCA Chicago Region. Registration opened last night, and as of this morning there are only 66 racers registered. 66. Compared to 200 or so in the first night of years past. We’re seeing similar trends at most PCA CR events all over the country. And that’s with only 22 events on the PCA CR calendar this season, down from 30+ events in years past.

So, what’s going on? What are the issues? And how do we fix them to improve PCA Club Racing and get it back on track. We all want fun, safe, fair and competitive racing. Yes, there are more opportunities to race elsewhere now, especially in endurance series, but there’s something else fundamentally wrong that’s causing the decline in our PCA CR sport.

I believe this situation can be fixed and am willing to help. First we need to identify the issues, and then correct them. The National PCA leadership has to be concerned and should want to hear suggestions.

LuigiVampa

My first year of PCA club racing was 2015 and the NJMP race had 132 registered drivers. It is two weeks before the NJMP race and registration currently sits at 62.

As much as many would expect me to pile on, I think a lot of what is going on is not what PCA is doing wrong, but just due to numerous choices drivers have now, as compared with ten years ago. I would have driven this race and made it 63 but PCA hasn't cleared me.

What is to stop PCA from creating a few "endurance events" to mimic the appeal of AER and Champ?

That being said, unless PCA CR makes some changes, various races will fall off the calendar, and the race calendar will get smaller and smaller. I fear PCA not recognizing that there is a problem is the biggest problem.

Veloce Raptor

I think we also need to factor in that, in addition to many choices of places for amateurs (and practicing pros) to race, the majority of the US population is also dealing with having a lot less discretionary cash due to rabid inflation for the past 2-3 years. When ~70% of the population can't even afford groceries, we have to realize that it is also affecting another 25-28% of the population as well.

tgsmith4845

Thanks, Todd. As a long time racer, we should all appreciate your insight. Your situation is indicative of what’s wrong at the top of PCA Club Racing.

Jas0nn

I think the issue is being felt across the range of grassroots/club racing ....

Interestingly, it seems like the top of the market is doing quite well. "Pro" series like Sprint Challenge, MX5 CUP, TA2, GR CUP - all of which require six figure cars and weekend costs in excess of $20k (some multiples of that) - are thriving. It would certainly fit with thesis that there are larger economic factors at play that perhaps the most affluent among us aren't as affected by.

And while there are absolutely many more options today than yesterday, many of those series are also having a hard time. BMWCCA, AER, WRL don't have the car counts they used to. And I'm not sure its just racing: yesterday, one of my favorite open track events (Jeffapalooza) cancelled an event in August - which is the first time that has ever happened in 10+ years ...

tgsmith4845

Thank you. Yes, the current inflation climate in the US should certainly be considered. I've not heard financials to be a major reason racers aren’t racing PCA anymore, though. Most of the racers i know who no longer race PCA have moved to other organizations, not quit altogether. Most of us are fortunate to be able to devote our hard earned $s to this great sport.

Jared Rodeheaver

This isn't unique to only PCA CR. I used to do a lot of XC mountain bike racing and their numbers are also down at a similar rate so maybe the issue is larger than just PCA CR.
The point on economic factors is definitely a large contributor but there are still areas PCA CR can explore to solicit new racers and retain existing racers.
I was just on PCA.org posting in the Mart and unless I'm missing it there is zero mention of club racing or any links on PCA.org.
I'm not on any socials other than YouTube but is there any activity here? I know on YouTube it's mainly focused on wine and cheese club.
Are regions advertising? At members meetings, HDE, AX other events? I know RTR and Metro have had CR info sessions during HPDE's The biggest concerns are risk and cost which are basically the same thing.
Retainment. Maybe a voice of the customer would be useful to find out what is working and what is not. I have my thoughts for improvement opportunities but I'm pretty new and only one opinion.

Glad to help as well.

Veloce Raptor

You all raise good points, One of the forward-looking economic indicators I have watched for a very long time is UPS. Their stock took it in the *** today after they posted Q2 results that missed big on the top & bottom lines. People and businesses are starting to cut back in a lot of areas in anticipation of tougher times to come. I believe that many of our track friends are loathe to admit to anyone that financial pressures may be a factor in them cutting back their program, but that doesn't mean anything. Watch what people do, not what they say. I am not absolving PCA of the disturbing bureaucratic/institutional myopia from which they appear to be suffering, as a factor in driving people away. But IMHO there is a lot more to it than just that. And yes, to Jason's point, the very top of the market is doing superbly and spending in record amounts. Which also impacts PCA, since (for example) many of the GT3 Cup and GT4RS Clubsport drivers are dipping their toes into Carrera Cup and/or Sprint Challenge and/or SRO, etc., and no longer running PCA.

NaroEscape

What's interesting is that NASA and SCCA (at least down here in the Southeast) are doing great. NASA-SE is seeing near record attendance this year at all the events we are a vendor for. I raced an SCCA race at our local Carolina Motorsports Park and they had a huge crowd this year.
Lets be honest - Porsche racing is expensive. I know guys that race NASA that can spend less than $2k on an entire weekend, all in! (though a few may blow that with their bourbon budget, but that's another topic) Lots of people love CHAMP and Lemons racing because you still get the thrills of racing without causing the family to eat PB&J for dinner every night.
So yes to both - other options AND budget consciousness.

Mahler9th

I have been a member of PCA for 35+ years

My first track experience was in 1988-- a PCA DE.

I started doing a lot of AX in 1994, and I really did not get going with multiple track events per year until about 1995.

I started racing in about 1997.

My first PCA CR was in 2002.

I have not raced with PCA since 2011 RR IV. I have attended a few PCA races out here, and all of the RR events held at Laguna Seca.

I helped create an all-Porsche racing group here in Norcal that held events from the Spring of 2002 until about 2017. We raced under NASA sanction with our own group. Most of us were PCA members and started with PCA, and many of us included PCA CR events in our annual schedules.

Here are some of my suggestions for folks interested in this topic:

1. Please consider demographics. For drivers and for cars. For drivers, please really think about your experiences and what you have witnessed in the past decade or so in terms of demographics.

I started racing at 37 years old in the 90's. There was no sim racing, and there were not really many computer games that were about racing. I did some DE's (they were different then), and a lot of AX. There was kind of a natural path toward wheel-to-wheel that in my area was highlighted by time trials.

During the past decade or so of this century, do you think there have been natural demographics changes that have made the "pool of potential PCA racers" smaller? I do.

On the car side I might consider how PAG products have changed. For example, I think it is much harder for folks to consider DIY for many of the PAG products that have been shipped in the past 20 or so years, than those that were shipped in the preceding 20 or so years. The cars have changed-- no doubt about it.

2. As has been mentioned in posts here, I suggest careful consideration of "the competition." Back at the end of last century and the beginning of this century, "track days" became "a thing." And in parallel with that, manufacturers like PAG began the process of embracing them. This was hard for me to relate to, since I get bored "just driving around." But remember, I did a lot of AX and a lot of TT. Back in those days we had high concentrations of folks motivated to improve their skills through competition against the clock in every PCA TT paddock. Two day weekend events, with a TT competition every Sunday afternoon with high levels of participation.

3. Technology has fundamentally changed the way that many of us communicate. I started communicating about cars and Porsches way back in 1992 or so and have seen massive changes between then and now. These days, the "herd" online can sometimes paint a picture of "how hard it is,", "how expensive it is..." and discourage folks before they even start.

Here is an example:

In 1991, I arrived in Norcal and very quickly became a member of GGR. I had a few AX events and two PCA DE's already under my belt. I learned pretty quickly that I needed to have a driving suit and a roll bar in my pretty stock 944 for GGR TT events, after my first two. I was not happy about those extra expenses even though I understood why GGR had these requirements in place. This "delayed" my path toward track driving, TTs and racing. One of my friends with a similar car encouraged me to visit a GGR TT at Laguna Seca around 1994 so I did so. After that, I just had to move forward. The "herd" in those days communicated directly, person-to-person and those with experience encouraged us new folks to move along the curve, with plenty of examples of "must haves" versus "should haves," versus, "nice to haves."

These days, if an interested party tries to get perspective via forums like these, they may be more easily discouraged. "You should get the lightest helmet possible." "You should buy an expensive driving suit because the less expensive ones are no good." "Only a fool would..."

This is true for racing, and it is true for track driving in general.

4. In situations like this in business, often times careful surveys can be informative.

So these are some of my thoughts.

multi21

How is POC in CA doing in comparison to PCA?

From what I've seen, the three factors that contribute to this specific question of PCA CR is partially internal and specific to them, of which, the topic has been beaten to death here on RL. The other is more choices of organizations to race and finally, unless at the very top, as mentioned before, running costs regardless of the class, have exponentially risen to a point where the first step is to cut down on the number of events attended followed by not attending at all.

tgsmith4845

[QUOTE=multi21;19561085]How is POC in CA doing in comparison to PCA?

Excellent question. Porsche Owners Club (POC) is growing like crazy out here on the west coast whilst PCA racing is declining. Huge fields at every POC event with at least two race groups per event. I raced with POC at Buttonwillow a few months ago and there were 43 Spec Boxsters. PCA struggles at many events to fill one race group.

About 7-8 years ago POC faced a situation similar to what PCA is currently experiencing. POC racer numbers were down and declining further. POC was proactive and did what any smart organization would do; they pulled a number of racers and shop owners together to see what the problem was. As I understand it, they polled members - current and former - about their experiences, gathered a ton of feedback and made some very positive changes to address the concerns. Changed out the leadership, made some great rules changes, established a competition committee that reviews every incident and awards judgement, swiftly and fairly. Their changes seem to have worked. The data shows that.

My personal experience with POC has been very positive lately. As I mentioned above, I raced with POC a few months ago. The path to racing with POC was very simple, I paid $1 to join, signed up for the event and went racing. They accepted my PCA CR license and car log book, and even issued me a POC log book for future events. Done. In contrast, a few of the POC guys came to race with PCA recently. They paid $110 to join PCA, had to submit their medical information in a PCA CR Medical form and attend a Racers Orientation Meeting. They were approved as “provisional” racers with PCA. At the track, they had to have a complete tech of their cars so they could get a PCA CR log book. They really enjoyed the racing, and we were happy to welcome them, but they did say it was a big hassle to race with PCA.

Nowanker

I don't Club Race with PCA, but I might if they had a class that fit my Audi powered 944.
Like Mahler 9th, I started out doing track days, then moved into the GGR Timetrial series. It was awesome...
Business interests directed me toward BMWCCA Club Racing, which I suspect is very much analogous to its PCA counterpart.
Last I checked, they were also troubled by declining participation.
My experience with them:
Top heavy with bureaucracy. For some reason, the hired-help office staff took delight in making participation difficult. Not welcoming at all there, but at least the racers all were cool.
Too few events, and of that few, some that were geographically undesirable to me. Think Willow Springs in August...
Silly-Stupid classing rules. Lack of forethought with modifications that were allowed, and ones that weren't. What should have been a modestly expensive class was turned into a very pricey one, with zero benefit from that arms race.
They suffered against the competition for my track dollars. I wanted to run with them, and did when it was feasible. I built my M3 to their specs, but NASA made it one Hell of alot more attractive (and convenient...) to race with them.
I can run my 944 in 2 different NASA classes...
For the folks here that do compete in PCA CR, how many of my above complaints apply there too?
Golden Gate Region has recently revived their timetrial series, and I'd run it again, even without points. I may yet, but their events are expensive against the other options.
How does Club Racing compare cost-wise? There was a big attraction to run the GGR timetrials, because no one wanted to wreck their car, and seemed to drive accordingly. That made it worth the extra cash.
From watching other PCA CR threads, there have been alot of complaints about sh*tty driving and crashes. Making NASA seem even more attractive...
One thing I will give the BMWCCA is their strict 13/13 enforcement. PCA has some work to do there?

multi21

[QUOTE=tgsmith4845;19561183]That echos my experience with both PCA CR and POC when I raced with each organization. Less bureaucracy with POC and just as good or better racing. Some of the best racing was when both clubs got together for the California Festival of Speed at AAA. If you belonged to both CR groups, it was a breeze, but if only a POC CR, the paperwork and hoops to jump through were daunting. That's part of the issue with PCA IMO.

Jas0nn

I suppose its all relative ...

NASA NE had a race last month at Thunderbolt with 65 or so racers across all their marques; today, PCA's count stands at 62 and will certainly improve in the next two weeks. (Last year there were 89 racers). I suspect what PCA suffers from most is racers doing less races, not really racers leaving PCA entirely for other orgs. BUT, I'm sure the demographic of PCA drivers doesn't help ...

There are certainly some places where PCA can improve - the quantity of classes comes to mind, what we're doing to attract new racers and "fill the funnel"- but having raced across a bunch of other organizations, there is undoubtedly no other sprint racing option where you can get more track time!! That's a huge benefit that too many of us take for granted. Sure you can race elsewhere - but you'll have to be content with one race a day! At NJMP, for example, we'll have: three practice sessions, qualifying, three sprints and an enduro. The only option for more track time would be in an enduro series - and that's a whole different animal ...