2010/2011 MNRCRC Winter Meeting

[Stormin2u]

Let me just say following strict USRCCA rules has not been good for our club membership. This is a club and the MNRCRC should accommodate it's members enjoyment of the hobby.

Timing out sucks let have 7 min limits for all classes. Think about it every two weeks you get 12 mins of run time? Timing out doesn't promote fun and fun promotes members.

Classes are important for growth, the shaft class needs it's own fair level of competition at the club level.

2.2 Moa
2.2 Shafty
Eliminate 2.2 Sportsman.

In order to have better attendance threw out the year eliminate the two season format. The second season is not well attended and is boring. Representatives to the Nats can still be selected halfway threw.

For the guys competing at the National level the timer can call out the time so they can see how their doing, but we all don't need the frustration of timing out we just want to run our trucks.

Seriously some of the things we've been doing isn't helping local crawling. Let's forget the focus on the National competition format locally, their are plenty of events for serous drivers to compete in without making every local comp a National practice for a few.

Lets stand down on the strict USRCCA format and focus on the MNRCRC as a place for friends and fun.

[djjiz]

Three courses @5 minutes sounds great to me.

We lose interest either direction we adjust for. Great drivers aren't being stimulated enuf and quit, and new drivers say it's too hard and quit, but the biggest problem with a lack of members is due to the economy and constant progression of the hobby and I feel the club should evolve with that.. Just like the trucks designs are.

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by Etype R

ax sportsman class.

Absolutely it's unnecessary.

Originally Posted by TomEGunn

X3 but then split Moa and Shaftys yep I said it....

Keep the shafty alive why not?

Originally Posted by djjiz

Minnesota has taken home too enuf last place trophies. If it's ran at Nats we should run it locally.

Tougher courses would be cool with me. That last comp was perfect!

Your wrong we've been practicing Nats style format for two years and the trophies haven't improved. I say enough is enough quit pandering the USRCCA leadership and let's start having some fun. Personal I don't care much about the Nats anyway, you drive to Timbuktu and drive you rig for 20 minutes.

It's time for revolt separation of USRCCA and club.

Originally Posted by Etype R

We hardly have enough judges to run 2 courses at a time. And you want to split the 2.2 into separate courses and add another course on top of it?



Tougher courses killed our membership numbers. The second course was good, but the first course could have been better. Most pointed out on gate 3, we need to avoid courses like that where most point out on the same gate, and that early in the course.

If you want to do better at nats, setup practice courses and practice on your own time. Thats what the top drivers do.

Very true.

Originally Posted by wild bill

This is my opinion on things...

Why not try three coarse. Mabey run two like we do than a final. Make all three progressively harder. IMO that's the way nats were. Some were easy some were hard.

As far as points.... run sportsman and pro... that's it. Don't split up shafty and moa. Instead change the scoring system. Base it on standings not score. I know this is rock crawling so don't flame me but that is how it is scored at all point series races. It makes for tighter battles through out the season and the standings are based off of consistency vs one good day.

As far as rules follow USRCCA! Sometimes rulues get twisted a bit for what's best for the "club" But than people that travel know what to expect. If your going to nats, another club or coming to Crawl with MNRCRC its the same game.

So again my opinion don't make everything easy. The way I look at it is if you want to be the best you have to run with the best.... bottom line. Your skills will improve. We all want to be in first but we can't keep breaking things down so we all can be.

Spoken like a MOA guy. I disagree with the club being a place to practice for Nat competition it's bad for membership and fun.

[djjiz]

More like timing out on gate three for me. Twenty minutes would be awesome!


I really like the idea of a full season if we ever did revolt.. I can't get my chit together until halfway though a year.

[irok22s]

Originally Posted by djjiz

Three courses @5 minutes sounds great to me.

We lose interest either direction we adjust for. Great drivers aren't being stimulated enuf and quit, and new drivers say it's too hard and quit, but the biggest problem with a lack of members is due to the economy and constant progression of the hobby and I feel the club should evolve with that.. Just like the trucks designs are.

needs to stay at 6 min. like norm said its to much focusing on a national level and we have what 5 drivers at that level and I dont consider myself one of them . club needs to think more along the line of fun.

[djjiz]

Bullshitting is fun and all but I'm in it to compete.

Maybe stick to Sportsman if Pro is too much?

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by djjiz

Three courses @5 minutes sounds great to me.

We lose interest either direction we adjust for. Great drivers aren't being stimulated enuf and quit, and new drivers say it's too hard and quit, but the biggest problem with a lack of members is due to the economy and constant progression of the hobby and I feel the club should evolve with that.. Just like the trucks designs are.

I think your half correct Chadwick, we loose members because our only focus is on being national competitors. We need to put ourselves in a longer term perspective and forget about the national level a little and figure out how to develop ourselves locally. We got it all if we just stop and think about it, being a local club first with a good membership base isn't out of question. To me the national focus only affects a few so potential members come and go.

[freetimecrawler]

Your also right on the mark with your posts Norm
I had a big response all typed out to Mikes post, but decided just to keep my mouth shut. I know I haven't been involved much in the last year with the club, but I was fairly active in forming and helping devolop the club, and lost interest when the fun went away.
I agree the numbers go down when the focus is on competing nationally, and things get so serious.
Austin told me in 07 he practiced 2-3 hours every day.
I don't have a crawling area close enough to be able to practice enough to compete on a national level, and I actually started crawling for fun, then the fun went away.
I agree with Mike, if you want to compete on a national level, set yourself up a nice practice course and practice all you have time for.
It seems like the direction the club headed in is for the few guys who want to compete nationally.
It's a total turn off for a newb to drive 1-2 hours, and point out on gate 3, or time out and get 12 minutes of driving their rig. This is probably IMO, the biggest reason for the numbers drop.
It's kind of sad to see 15 competiting, when it seems like 20-30 was more like our numbers 2 years ago. Take the fun out, and the members will go away, and it looks like they did.
I can't think of any members that weren't "stimulated" enough and quit, but I can think of a few who were turned off by the pointing out, and timing out, and only running 12 minutes for a 1-2 hour drive to the competition location. Bring the fun back, and the membership will climb.

[djjiz]

I'm involved in more hobbies then just toys and I can't agree.. They ALL took a huge hit in attendence in the past 2-3 years. Every single one of them, even as simple as rock collecting.. IMO It's nothing to do with new rules or tougher venues.. It's just the way it is with a struggling economy.


I understand that we need an outlet for new guys and that's what Sportsman does. Same course, same judges, no time, no pointing out, with alternate lines to help them finish.. Give sportsman dig even.. I wouldn't mind. Anything is better then holding nats drivers back from their full potential.

Pro.. Run real rules with tough gate.

[Stormin2u]

I'm glad you took time to join our 2011 conversation freetime.
If we look at what we have it's a bunch to be grateful for. Clubs develop personalities what describes us? We should have a club moto or mission statement, maybe the jizzboy can fix us up?

[djjiz]

"MNRCRC.. Were anything but dead ass last."

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by djjiz

I'm involved in more hobbies then just toys and I can't agree.. They ALL took a huge hit in attendence in the past 2-3 years. Every single one of them, even as simple as rock collecting.. IMO It's nothing to do with new rules or tougher venues.. It's just the way it is with a struggling economy.


I understand that we need an outlet for new guys and that's what Sportsman does. Same course, same judges, no time, no pointing out, with alternate lines to help them finish.. Give sportsman dig even.. I wouldn't mind. Anything is better then holding Nat's drivers back from their full potential.

Pro.. Run real rules with tough gate.

Settle down nobody is saying make it easy, just reasonable and maybe easier to officiate and manage.

Sportsman is not the answer for the shaft guys and therefore I think we need our 2.2 shaft class. Our experiment was a success, wasn't it? The rookie Moa's will go in the Moa class and the rookie shafts to the shaft class no sportsman class it's to limiting, many rookies will be buying Moa's

I don't argue the economy but it's all the more reason to have this conversation.

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by djjiz

"MNRCRC.. Were anything but dead ass last."

Yeah I like it, we can be about where we finish at the Nationals...

[djjiz]

Success? Hell yea. I LOVE my plaque!! Gives me something to show my family that my effort is paying off.. But to be honest, I always had the overall standings in my mind. Did the make attendence any better? I'm not so sure but I didn't ask around either.



I want to ad that what ever the club does decide I will support and run to fullest extent of my ability. All I'm asking is to step up the game a little because to me, that is the fun. As an added bonus I get to hang out with good company.

[TomEGunn]

Other states have more than one club right?

What if we made it fun again and people from all around Minnesota want to crawl, then they come play with us. then start another club, ( D.O.R.K.) and another . they hold comps we hold comps and then invite people from her and abroad to the Minnesota State Championship

They come here and run OUR rules.


In closing I would like to say WOW.... this is getting alot of good feedback and opinions out there for for all to think about.

[djjiz]

Originally Posted by Stormin2u

Yeah I like it, we can be about where we finish at the Nationals...

I can cut your sarcasm with a knife lol.. I figured you would get a kick out of that but I'll see what else I can come up with..

Until then I'd like to make a motion for TomEGunn to be D.O.R.K. president. All in favor?

[irok22s]

I...

[irok22s]

Originally Posted by Etype R

We hardly have enough judges to run 2 courses at a time. And you want to split the 2.2 into separate courses and add another course on top of it?

Not that my Ideas are any good but I have an idea for judging... Before Every comp we had this year someone always made a post about it several days prior to comp day. So why not do a judge sign up for that comp in the thread leading up to it?

So say we have 3 2.2 courses

course 1:
score judge;
timer;

course 2:
score judge;
timer;

course 3:
score judge;
timer;


I think this has possibility's of working.. then just run judges together through all courses once everyone else is finished. I also think that supers and 1.9s most likely don't have to follow this format. Well I know for a fact 1.9s don't, cant say for sure for supers.

Could this work? I mean I don't mind judging and this way no one ends up feeling obligated to judge, or ends up judging every comp unless they want too. Shouldn't be hard to do. If you sign up to judge a course you do that course and specific job untill all competitors are finished. Easy???

[Stormin2u]

You know Kevin it would be good to have this meeting sooner rather than latter, especially if there is any possibility of changes to how we ran the fall season. Waiting till Spring wouldn't leave much time for individuals to tweak equipment.

It would be nice to know the 2011 deal soon

[BigBaller]

This thread is a COMPLETE train wreck.

We have ONE club in MN. It's MNRCRC! Period.

In order to be qualified to compete Nationally there needs to be rules followed. USRCCA is that ruling body. So, do you come to play or compete? I hear alot of talking and NO ACTIONS. Where are ANY of you genius' when it comes to Judging, Course building, Time keeping, calculating scores, keeping track of standings, making plaques??? Showing up and BSing isn't helping out the overall. God Damnit this is SO frustrating. There needs more effort put into it, other than lip service!!!!!!


MNRCRC NEEDS...

***Judges...volunteer, don't just stand there. LEARN!
***Timers...really it's that hard to run a stopwatch.
***Course Builders...pick a week and help. Use your input for your class and skill level. This will make it better and more fair to challenge eachother.
***Overall Score Keeping...Someone could take it away from Mike. He's done it long enough. Plus we all hate waiting.

***New ideas. "Hey I made this rope bridge thing and let's try it in a comp." Troy had some good ones back in the day. BTW, good to have you involved again Troy.

I want to publically thank Kevin and Mike (Troy for helping in the beginning). If it wasn't for those 2 guys, this club wouldn't be here today.


I challenge ANYONE who reads this to become an ACTIVE member in MNRCRC...not just a club member.



Seriously, ask yourself before you reply to this (if you dare)...
What WORK or help am I truely doing to promote and grow this Club?