Ahhh.. a subject near to me own heart...
Before you ever even get out the door, you've got a couple of things
working against you:
1) Autocrossers are *WEIRD* It takes a very special kind of person to kill
a whole day, with a good sized chunk of it involving forcd labour under the
hot sun or in the pouring rain, in order to get a couple of minutes of seat
time.
2) Most potential participants are male, and by definition, car guys. Every
one of them thinks that they are the reincarnation of Senna (if they even
know who Senna is - btw, check out http://farnorthracing.com/uivmm.jpg and
if you don't know the guy on the left, you should be ashamed. Not knowing
the goofball on the right is perfectly acceptable)
Every guy alive thinks he's the best driver, the best shot, and the best...
uh... "lover". To have any one of those illusions unmercifully shattered,
especially if you drive a hopped up (for example) 'Vette and the
illusion-shatterer is a "lesser vehicle", is enough to drive the best of us
off.
3) We don't have a high-profile, media-darling series of heroes to serve as
examples and inspiration.
Having said that....
1) Get their phone numbers, and follow up with them, personally. "Hey Mr.
Novice, it's Joe Hero. I'm just calling to remind you that we've got an
event this Sunday. You're going, right?"
Jim Crider did this to me when I first started, and now look... it DOES
work.
2) When a novice is dragging their ass, do something to make it fun again.
Nothing works better than a ride in a fast car.
My first year, I ran the Talon in GS with a bone-stock car. Thanks to Jim
(who just wouldn't leave me alone) I wound up going to every event the
Region put on, and by mid summer I was doing pretty well. I was typically
the fastest guy on street tires, and I was reining in (slowly) the race
tire guys. My goal was to catch at least one of them, and I secretly
harboured fantacies of beating them all on my RSAs... because, you know, I
am the reincarnation of Senna.
So then Jim drags me out to a Divisional, at Oscoda. Concrete. Big, wide
open space. Much faster and more open course. And homey got hizzass KICKED.
At the end of the first day, I was this ->||<- close to quitting, packing
up my tent and what little dignity I had left, and getting the hell outta
Dodge. Had I done so, I would have never come back.
Instead, Dick Topping saw me dragging my ass around, and asked me what the
problem was. When I complained about how slow I was, he took the time to
walk me through the course a few times and point out the proper line. And
then the next day, he arranged for me to get a ride in John Tak's
race-tire-shod RX7TT (YE GODS what an eye opener that was)
I still got my ass kicked, but now I had a better handle on what was
required of me to do well. It no longer seemed an insurmountable mountain
to climb, but rather somthing do-able. And so I stuck around.
That, I think, is the kind of treatment that retains Novices. Having
classes that match their cars helps too, but ultimately it comes down to
how they are treated.
DG
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