John,
Your premise of "all ego aside" is precisely the reason it won't work.
There was a time, years back, (when I actually belonged to a Healey club...
and membership dates back to as early as 1974) when I thought a combined
club was a worthwhile effort. It was if somehow having 3 major clubs in one
(and a half... haha Canadians... just kidding) country was somehow
disrespectful. There were also discussions of economies of scale. I
participated in some of the high level discussions... and it was clear then
it would never happen. In fact, the politics within my own AHCA was enough
to piss me off to the point of quitting something that had been, up to that
point, a very important piece of my life.
Luckily, for me, racing Healeys took up the slack (and then some) in my
desire to promote the marque. Before I went racing 15 years ago, I can
remember hearing from racers that the clubs didn't care about racers.
"whattya mean, I care about racers?" Well, they were right. The clubs have
individuals that support or participate in racing, but on levels larger than
personal, the clubs certainly only participate in promotion of Healeys still
racing when it suits them. Do you know the AHCA's VP of racing has never
been seen in the pits of any Healey racer that I know of at tracks anywhere
near IL (Blackhawk, Road America, Grattan, etc.) I recall seeing him in a
restorer's tent one year at Road America, but his time was consumed with
showing people his cars. At least when Fred Crowley held that position, he
was a racer.
My experience showed me that despite the regional clubs having a
representative, the bulk of high level positions were decided in advance
with private lobbying, backroom secret handshake deals. You can have the
membership at large vote on any merger proposition you'd like, but, even if
you win a majority, the idea will be scuttled behind the scenes.
Hell, the politics within the Healey family were fascinating, and somewhat
dysfunctional.
I'd actually like to join the Sportsboat chapter to assist in completing the
restoration of mine... but, even that group contains both the best (John
May...) and the worst of those I speak of. (They shall remain nameless, for
now, but if I told you, you wouldn't believe it all.)
I'll rejoin when a handful of folks die of old age, and their hand picked
replacements die in a tragic gymkhana accident that takes out the lot of
them. Then some of the real stories can be told.
WST
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-healeys@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-healeys@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of healeyolic
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 8:08 AM
To: 'Dave Carpenter'
Cc: 'Healey Lista'
Subject: RE: joining of the clubs
All egos aside, I wonder what would happen if the subject of a merger were
thrown open to a ballot by the respective memberships? What if the ballot
were included in the annual mailing for club dues? What if the current
leadership of each of the clubs were not permitted to campaign for or
against a merger or to vote? I will bet that there would be overwhelming
support for a merger.
This situation reminds of the Senate where a minority can bottle up
legislation or court appointments because of the threat of a filibuster even
when a flat majority would obtain approval.
John Sims, BN6
Aberdeen, NJ
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