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As I prepped this blog I was impressed with the creativity and ingenuity of our featured organizer, Paul Conquest. He just bought a school bus in order to give his drivers more track time, drastically changed his hours to snag new members from other areas of motorsport, and created a unique experience that solved one of the biggest issues in his organization, had his members begging for more, and made money!

Usually in our Pole Position blog title we highlight a person and their organization. But Sydney Davis is involved in so many organizations that we couldn’t fit them all in - MSR Houston, MSR Houston Charities, Houston Region SCCA, Gulf Coast Vintage Racing Association and SCCA Southwest Division. She’s one busy girl! She graciously took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to share how she runs successful events for so many organizations.

Sydney came from a racing family. Her dad and uncle started racing back in the 70s, and it's been a way of life since her first race at six weeks old. She wanted to be the first woman to win the Indy 500. But her parents didn't make enough money, so she settled on journalism with the hopes of working for a race team.

The opportunity to work at MSR Houston came along and she jumped at it. She’s been there since 2007, starting as an instructor and working her way up the ranks to Director of Events and Schools. In her spare time, not that she has much, she races an E Production Miata in the SCCA Southwest Division. She also enjoys photography, cooking all sorts of things, and making the occasional quilt. And yes, she has made a racing flag quilt. She takes it with her on race trips.

I instructed recently for a new program organized by the Golden Gate Chapter of the BMW CCA.  For those keeping notes, GGC was the club for whom I built the original prototype of MSR back in 2002.

GGC has a successful ladder system that moves participants from low-cost, low-commitment entry-level activities like car control clinics to higher-cost and higher-commitment events like autocross and HPDEs.  The challenge they have faced is keeping advanced drivers in their program. Some go on to club racing, some become instructors, but others simply get lost in the vast wilderness that is "open track days".

If you're brainstorming solutions to this problem, you might throw out ideas like more track time, better instructors, or more liberal passing, to help retain those experienced students. Those might work but lots of groups do that.  GGC tried something totally different.  They purchased 7 GPS-based data acquisition units and invited 7 instructors with racing and data acquisition experience (who could translate the squiggly lines into meaningful instruction) to create a personalized "Advanced+" offering.  An increased entry fee bought the use of the data system, one-on-one coaching and double the track time to apply and learn from the intensive instruction.

 Back in 2012 we attended the Porsche Parade event in Salt Lake City and chatted with a few of the officers from the Potomac Founder’s Region of the PCA about coming on board with MotorsportReg. After a thorough vetting period and some customization, PCA Potomac opened their first event in early 2013 and quickly became one of our largest customers.

Michael Handelman, current Secretary and Co-Webmaster, is one of our more tech-savvy organizers. He frequently provides feedback on how we can improve the site to make it easier on organizers and attendees alike. You can thank him for more than a few of the updates we’ve pushed in the last year!

He bought his first Porsche about 5 years ago. He wanted one ever since he was a teenager but could never justify it. After he paid his last tuition payment for his youngest son, he decided it was time to get one and has loved every moment since! He’s enjoyed taking it cross country and attending several concours, drive and dines, rallies, and driver's education (high speed driving). We chatted with Michael about the keys to putting on big, successful events.

GoPro Motorplex is a world-class karting facility based in Mooresville, NC. A team of karting and racing professionals inspired and motivated by the growing karting business formulated the idea in 2009, broke ground in late 2011 and finally opened the doors of GoProMotorplex in October 2012.    

As large karting events were added to the event calendar, it became obvious that an easy, customized online registration solution was needed. The team at GoPro Motorplex contacted us and after some face-to-face conversations and training, they started accepting registrations on MotorsporReg.com in the summer of 2013. We sat down with the team to talk about their success running great events.

Heyward Wagner was born into an SCCA family. His parents flagged club races and his dad used to autocross. He grew up at Road Atlanta and started working races when he was 18. Leaving the track one afternoon, his Corolla was rear-ended and he replaced it with a 91 Civic Si. A few weeks later he entered an autocross and was hooked. He started competing nationally in 1998, went to the SCCA Solo National Championships for the first time in 2000, and hasn't missed a year since.

In 2004 he started teaching performance driving.  First working in corporate programs and then instructing with the Evolution Performance Driving School. In 2010 he joined the SCCA National Solo Staff and in 2012 put all of his experiences together to form the Tire Rack SCCA Starting Line School.

This month we’re highlighting Norman Nelson, founder of MINI Thunder. Together with Eric Diamond and their wives Jesse and Lisa, they organize an annual MINI only track day event at Thunderhill Raceway- Stormin Norman’s MINI Thunder.

Norman is an avid Mini Cooper enthusiast and a member of many clubs. He is active in the MINI community and previously raced with SCCA for about 10 years. He’s retired from the large industrial diesel engine business and now spends his time traveling and enjoying life. He is married and has four sons.

The VCMC Motorsport Club was one of the first Canadian clubs to use MotorsportReg.com, even before we built Canadian dollar functionality. Based out of Vancouver, BC, they have a strong and growing program with a very holistic view on how to nurture people into passionate, competitive drivers.

Carol Wong has been involved with VCMC for the last 12 years. She started out as a novice autocrosser and later joined the executive team as the Treasurer. She’s recently started doing lapping days and is now in her first year of club racing and endurance road racing. When she’s not volunteering for VCMC, she works as a software developer. We recently chatted with her about what it takes to run awesome events.

There are events… and there are EVENTS.

One such EVENT is the 2013 PCA Escape to LA gathering being held this October. Not just any social gathering, this event plays like many national car club conventions. Four days of socializing and sight seeing among some of Southern California’s most scenic attractions. Hosted jointly by PCA Grand Prix and San Gabriel Valley regions, they expect between 400 and 600 people in attendance.

An event that size takes lots of effort, commitment, and organization. So to that end it was our pleasure to showcase some of our favorite features built in to MotorsportReg.com and assist in setting up the event registration.

The Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) is the second oldest vintage/historic car racing organization in North America, having held at least one track event for each of the 46 continuous race seasons. Tom Franges started vintage car racing in 1990.  He served on the CSRG Board of Directors for 4 two-year terms and spent 3 years as its President.  He is currently the Race Director, a position he’s held since 2009.  We chatted with Tom about what it takes to put on vintage motorsport events.