PCA membership required for the AX on 2/10?

[mikez]

I'm a member but I have a buddy who isn't....does he need to be a member to run? Can he sign up onsite?

[Greg Phillips]

If he is driving a Porsche(his or yours), he does not need to be a member. But he can't pre-register and will need to register on-site.

Greg

[mikez]

So the only advantage (in this case) in being a PCA member is that you can pre-register?

[Curt Yaws]

Mike, Mike, Mike:

There are many psychic advantages to being a PCA member. Non-members are treated kindly at AX, where as actual members are open to all sorts of free advice and harrassment regarding their driving skills. He should definitely sign up.

Also, he gets the national Panorama, the local Windblown Witness, access to emails regarding upcoming events, a 10% discount at most of the local Porsche shops, and the love and affection of some 2700 other Porschephiles in San Diego. It's a bargain at twice the price.

[Larry Clark]

The savings from pre-registering for one autocross covers nearly half the cost of a year's PCA (and SDR) dues.

[mikez]

He's a cheap_ _ _ _ _ _ _ I need to justify it him....I may just stuff him the 58 and drive him down.

Can you post pics on this forum? I don't see an upload pic option.

[PShipman]

I hate to throw a potential wrench in the works ...

But it is my recollection that any entrant in SDR AX events must be a PCA member for insurance purposes.

Martha, Ron, Jackie, (more knowledgable folks than I)/etc. ... is my old mind slipping or am I remembering correctly?

[ttweed]

Can you post pics on this forum? I don't see an upload pic option.

Mike-
You can't upload pics from your local hard drive, but you can display pics that are hosted on other servers by using the BBcode with the URL between the tags.

Perry-

My understanding is that there was a policy change regarding membership and participation in driving events this past year, which was discussed earlier here on the forum: http://forum.pcasdr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2367

What I don't understand is if non-members are allowed to drive their Porsches, why are we still checking membership cards in tech inspection?

TT

[mikez]

That's what I'm trying to clarify...the membership issue.

[ttweed]

That's what I'm trying to clarify...the membership issue.

If you read the thread I referenced above, it appears the event chairs have the discretion to allow non-members to drive Porsches, or members to drive non-Porsches. I would email the AX chairs ahead of time to confirm that your friend will be allowed to run, or just twist his arm and make him join up.

BTW--Email for the AX chairs can be found on the SDR website Contact page.

[harnishclan]

TT is dead on, why check cards in the tech line then? If the advantage is pre-reg, then membership status should be checked if/when the pre-reg forms are sent in, not the day of. I doubt that the tech guys can even tell if someone is pre-reg or not anyway.

[ttweed]

I doubt that the tech guys can even tell if someone is pre-reg or not anyway.

Exactly! If the policy is as stated by Greg, the only reason to check for membership in tech would be if we are inspecting a non-Porsche entrant.

It really is an extra step to an already frantic process of inspecting 120+ cars in 2 hours to have to ask everyone for the membership cards every time. I objected to it when I was tech chair, and I still think it is an inefficient/unnecessary addition to the process.

TT

[Dan Chambers]

TT is dead on, why check cards in the tech line then? If the advantage is pre-reg, then membership status should be checked if/when the pre-reg forms are sent in, not the day of. I doubt that the tech guys can even tell if someone is pre-reg or not anyway.

FYI: I'm not very well known in PCVASDR. To date, I've been asked at pretty much every event to show my membership card, including the recent one ... right Steve G.?.

One of the reasons SDR fairly adament about checking membership is because we encountered an event where more than one driver at an AX was not a member, and drove the day without proper inspection. Non-member and expired membership isn't really tolerated, since our events are so popular, and everyone wants optimum seat-time. So a policy was adopted to be sure that all drivers are members.

The recent allowance for non-members to participate in Porsches ... with the endorcement of a current member and the permission of the Chairs is partially an effort to encourage more non-members to join the club, and partially to bump-up (slightly) the numbers at the AX's.

Now ... I know that sounds a bit contradictory based on the previous statements, however: the policy of ID checks was established when we had high participation numbers and we needed to be careful of non-member participation. It was later observed that the number of participants at AX/DE and even TT events had dropped a bit and a small concern developed about that. (Remember, driving events are the single-greatest revenue generator after membership in the SDR - based on historical data.)

So ... that's just a little history that may help explain the confusing (if somewhat contradictory) policy.

As always, these are just my opinions and observations. Other may, and most likely will disagree with me.

[Greg Phillips]

I doubt that the tech guys can even tell if someone is pre-reg or not anyway.

Exactly! If the policy is as stated by Greg, the only reason to check for membership in tech would be if we are inspecting a non-Porsche entrant.

It really is an extra step to an already frantic process of inspecting 120+ cars in 2 hours to have to ask everyone for the membership cards every time. I objected to it when I was tech chair, and I still think it is an inefficient/unnecessary addition to the process.

TT

From the Region Standing Rules (which are posted on the website):
"Autocross
The event chairs may impose penalties on any corner worker who reports late for an assignment.
Minors aged 16 or 17 may participate in Autocross only according to the rules of the Junior Participation Program.
Non-members may participate with the consent of the event chair, but only in Porsches, which must be owned by either the participant or a sponsoring member."

As Dan mentioned, the checking of membership is a holdover from the past when we had limited number of events and attendance of 120-160 at the autocross and we had limited participation to members.
Tech may want to check with the present board and skip that step.

Greg

[ronaldtrotter]

I have always understood anyone running was a member or Affiliate member. If I have had a friend run he has been my Affiliate member. That can be arranged by contacting PCA National on their website. Our policy(since I have been part of the AX Team) has been member or Affiliate or you don't participate unless we are doing a joint event with another club.