After being involved in the periphery with this year's awards, it’s apparent to me that now may be a good time to review the process. Some observations:

1.      The awards consist of objective and subjective awards. Objective awards are granted on the basis of the most points in a class. Subjective awards are based on a nominations and selection process.
2.      The current points-based objective awards are skewed against CW drivers. There were 110 drivers that ran in at least one CW race this year, 27 in OW, and 3 in SR. Odds of winning are just a wee bit better in SR than in either of the other two classes, especially CW. The mechanism used for awarding points within these groups also skews the outcome based on number in the group class. It seems SCCBC awards have become almost meaningless, and we now treat the CACC class-based awards as the real awards for the club. Is this the best system that we as a club can come up with to recognize the accomplishments of our own drivers?
3.      The subjective awards  (volunteer, hard luck, sportsman, etc) need to be reviewed for relevance. Some awards have “sponsors” (eg, Valvoline) that have been out for over 20-30 years. Is there value in a “best appearing crew” award? What is the President’s award and how does it differ from the Randall and Forster awards? All these and more questions should be addressed.
4.      Selection of winners for the subjective awards is done through a non-transparent process. There is no solicitation for nominations from the membership and selection is done by some top secret formula. When I asked how one specific recipient was chosen over another known candidate, I was told more or less to mind my own business. Not constructive.

My opinion is that a small committee should be struck to review the current practice and make recommendations for changes, if any. I’d be glad to step forward and help. Appreciate any comments you all might have.

Thanks,
Doug

New award suggestion

Shit Disturber of the Year
First Nominee - Doug Floer

I am pretty sure Brad will second my motion.

Roger that, Roger. Just trying to do my bit to advance the club and the sport, hopefully without stepping on too many toes in the process.

Roger thats because FF drivers are tough they don't need big Motors & Wings we will take on anything thats in our way. ;D

I do think it's time to review how the points are giving because there is a lot of groups/classes that the driver never stands a chance at winning because thier group/class is smaller than the ones that keep getting the extra points based how many in the group/class.

I'm sure there is alot of drives out there that put in just as much effort time and strong finishers that feel a little left out in the cold because their class doesn't get the entries like some classes i know i felt that way when i lost out to the FV group the first time yet i had more wins.
I,m sure there are drivers that would like to feel they have a chance based on a more level playing field.

Thanks for the feedback, Al. There's likely a better system that a committee can come up with for the membership to vote on. If not, we still have the old system!

Tough? I thought you guys where soft like the suspensions in those CF's

You should do what WCMA did for their awards just give them all to people in SpecMiata and not even give out openwheel awards.

The system we use has been in place for decades. It never hurts to do a review to see if there is a better system. I would suggest bringing up the topic at the next general club meeting in January. In the meantime you can put on your thinking caps and see if you can come up with a system that would be fair and acceptable to the majority of racers in the club.
P.S. the reason that the club does not give out class specific awards was that the club used to host basically a 50/50 mix of CASC and ICSCC races that had vastly different class structures. So it would have been impossible to try to merge points from the different race weekends. The club also used to host rallies and hillclimbs which I believe had a different set of class structure. I think points earned for these events also counted towards the championship.

A little late on my response, but better late than never (my race finish motto for most of this year). 

I agree with RSS re Mr. Floer.  However, the classification of the award does not consider the magnitude of Doug's contribution in this regard.  As such, if it is revised to be "... of the Decade" I will happily second. :P

In regards to awards at the club level, I agree they might be better decided by a call for nominations from the membership and an electronic vote.  It's a pretty common for organizations to use this method these days and I am sure Doug would sign up to setting the system up ;). 

I do think that there are some awards best suited for the executive to decide upon exclusive of the membership, like "Department of the Year".  Maybe that's the discussion to have.  What should be in the realm of the membership and what should be decided exclusively by the executive.  I think that creating a list of awards for membership and another for executive to decide upon would be a start and something that can be put forward at a meeting as a motion.

My 2 cents

Thanks for the historical perspective, Ray. Looks like it's time for a review, given all the changes that transpired since the points system was developed.


racestec wrote on Dec 1^st, 2014 at 10:04am:

The system we use has been in place for decades. It never hurts to do a review to see if there is a better system. I would suggest bringing up the topic at the next general club meeting in January. In the meantime you can put on your thinking caps and see if you can come up with a system that would be fair and acceptable to the majority of racers in the club. P.S. the reason that the club does not give out class specific awards was that the club used to host basically a 50/50 mix of CASC and ICSCC races that had vastly different class structures. So it would have been impossible to try to merge points from the different race weekends. The club also used to host rallies and hillclimbs which I believe had a different set of class structure. I think points earned for these events also counted towards the championship.

Sounds like they'll need to reserve a spot for you on the review committee, bro.


BEL wrote on Dec 1^st, 2014 at 4:47pm:

A little late on my response, but better late than never (my race finish motto for most of this year).  I agree with RSS re Mr. Floer.  However, the classification of the award does not consider the magnitude of Doug's contribution in this regard.  As such, if it is revised to be "... of the Decade" I will happily second. :P In regards to awards at the club level, I agree they might be better decided by a call for nominations from the membership and an electronic vote.  It's a pretty common for organizations to use this method these days and I am sure Doug would sign up to setting the system up ;).  I do think that there are some awards best suited for the executive to decide upon exclusive of the membership, like "Department of the Year".  Maybe that's the discussion to have.  What should be in the realm of the membership and what should be decided exclusively by the executive.  I think that creating a list of awards for membership and another for executive to decide upon would be a start and something that can be put forward at a meeting as a motion. My 2 cents

Doug,
I have often thought of the same questions in regards to the points system and awards. I normally think yet another committee is just a redundant waste of time, but in this case it may be a good solution. You have my support.
Tim Rosche

Much appreciated, Tim. Care to volunteer to spend a few hours on the committee?


Tim Rosche wrote on Dec 19^th, 2014 at 5:36pm:

Doug, I have often thought of the same questions in regards to the points system and awards. I normally think yet another committee is just a redundant waste of time, but in this case it may be a good solution. You have my support. Tim Rosche

Sure.

So we're going ahead with 1) a review of the points assignment system, and 2) a review of the awards procedure. If you'd like to help out with this task, please let me know. So far I count Tim Rosche and me!

You have a PM.

Larry Bell

After a couple of weeks working on this task, the committee (Rod Davison, Larry Bell, Felim Power, Alan McColl and me) have what we believe is a good proposal for awards and points system changes ready for review by the membership. The executive has sent out an email blast with a link to it but you can download it here. We'd be interested in hearing any questions and comments from the membership prior to the AGM meeting, where the proposal will be discussed.

In a nutshell, the proposal recommends keeping just the Open and Closed Wheel group championship in place, dropping the Sports Racer group championship, and adding an SCCBC-focused class championship. Only classes with greater than 2.4 average cars per year are eligible for a class championship award but, because of the handicap system for small classes built into our proposed class points system, everyone competes for the year-end group championship.

How do you propose to reconcile the class differences between CACC and ICSCC?  Some classes exist in both rule sets (FF, FV, GT, PRO3, SM) and some don't (IP, Production).

I don't think the SCCBC should be awarding class championships, especially when you consider many of the winners will be the same competitors who win the CACC class championships.

We did draft a table to merge the classes and came up with only one class that defied reclassification. The reality is that this mapping process occurs now as points are accumulated for both CACC and ICSCC races towards the club group championships. It can be done and the proposal does say it will be done on a best efforts basis.

We understand there is some overlap with CACC awards but SCCBC is a more complete representation of the season's competition, and, consequently, can and will produce some different class champions from the CACC. We also strongly felt there could be more recognition for drivers, particularly the club class champions, at the SCCBC banquet. The banquet is a big event and it's a bit anti-climatic for all the drivers that worked hard to win their club class.  The consensus was that they deserved the recognition in front of their peers from the club, and the banquet is the best venue for that. I'm sure we'd sell more banquet tickets, too.

Thanks for your feedback, David.


db wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2015 at 1:41pm:

How do you propose to reconcile the class differences between CACC and ICSCC?  Some classes exist in both rule sets (FF, FV, GT, PRO3, SM) and some don't (IP, Production). I don't think the SCCBC should be awarding class championships, especially when you consider many of the winners will be the same competitors who win the CACC class championships.