Membership Blues.

Here it is, my SCCA membership renewal notice. It arrived on Monday or Tuesday last week. I can't remember. I've not opened it yet. I don't know if I will.
Last year I was excited to renew my membership, hot on the heels of a couple of successful Rum Runner Rallies and some success in some TSD's.
How did I go from excitement to apathy in 12 months?
I've been trying to work that out myself. I think I've worked it out, and to paraphrase a line from the first Star Wars movie.
"We're not the members they're looking for."
The SCCA wants young single seat and sports car racers. Autocross, Solo and PDXers. You only have to read sports car magazine to realize that.
I'm a 52 year old journeyman road rallyist. There's nothing in Sports Car for me, except one token article a year.

The SCCA sanctions road rally, I should expect to read something relevant every month. If cyclekart hill climb was sanctioned by the SCCA I would expect to see something relevant there. It might not interest me but it would be good for the cyclekart hill climbers. It would make them feel part of the SCCA family. Right now as a road rallyist I don't feel a part of the SCCA family. Most months the magazine doesn't even make it into the house, it goes from mail box to the garbage with a cursory glance to check if there is anything of relevance to me. A membership level that covered one magazine a year would be fine in that instant, except the one token article might become quite boring, even patronizing after a year or two.

There is the Road Rallye eNews newsletter that is starting to gather momentum. Which is fine, I quite like it. Some of this content though, like app and equipment reviews could be in Sports Car each month to make my membership worthwhile and halt the speedy trip of the magazine to the bin.

"What about the perks of membership?" I hear you say. "You might not need a discount on racing suits and other gear. But the membership includes discounts for hotel chains too."

True, and I've actually used the hotel discount. But that's no more than I'd get through other organizations. The hotel discount is a standard offering for a national club membership wether it be an association for model railroaders or motor racers. 

Back in March, the SCCA proudly announced a partnership with Garmin and that their new VIRB camera  would be the "official camera" of the SCCA. Cool, I thought. I was thinking about getting a GoPro camera anyway to shoot some in-car road rally footage to share with the readers of this blog. Perhaps I should get one of the VIRB's instead. 

So I posed the question, was there a deal for SCCA members to purchase one of these cameras? There was no reply to my question. Was there no deal or was I rude for asking? I've no idea. Fifteen to twenty percent, for example, off the price of one of these "official" cameras might have swayed my decision one way or the other. 

The only thing I get from the SCCA is the sanction for my Rum Runner rallies. But with the revival of the TCRC and the support of the Met Council of Motorsport clubs in the Twin Cities that is becoming less important. The Rum Runner would end up sanctioned by them. It's a decision I'm mulling over currently. Will the 2015 Rum Runner be an SCCA event or a TCRC one? 

Our membership for the SCCA is $90. TCRC is $30 for Lorrie and I together. It's simple mathematics really. 

Update: I opened the envelope the dues are $105, comprising of $85 to the SCCA and $20 to the Land O Lakes region for our family membership.