MotorsportReg.com Blog

MotorsportReg.com replaces NESCCA registration service

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

Northeast Division of the Sports Car Club of America

Ann braved an upstate New York trip late last year to pow-wow with the Northeast Division of the SCCA and present MotorsportReg.com to their administrators. We were competing head-to-head with another registration vendor so we're extra excited to share their announcement this week to transition from their in-house registration service to MotorsportReg.com:

After more than 10 years, the NESCCA on-line registration system has been discontinued. It served us well, but it needed substantial upgrade in order to continue.

After presentations by two vendors at the recent NEDiv MiniCon, each region independently selected the vendor that they will use during the upcoming year. At this time, New England, Glen, New York, Mahoning Valley, Finger Lakes, Steel Cities, Mohawk Hudson, and Northern New Jersey will be using MotorsportReg.com.

Two regions in the division will continue to use their existing third-party vendor at this time. We want to send a huge thanks to the NEDiv folks for their hospitality and for their selection of MotorsportReg.com. We're building the biggest and best set of tools for event organizers and will work hand-in-hand with the division to provide a smooth transition.

We'll be at the SCCA National Convention in Las Vegas next month so if you're a new MotorsportReg.com user or still using one of those other systems, come chat with us to learn how we can help improve your life and the lives of your drivers and workers.

Topics: Customers

Announcing Tire Rack Street Survival® Partnership

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

Hot off the PRWeb wire, you can read the big news today: MotorsportReg.com is now the official registration service of the Tire Rack Street Survival program! This means a great deal to me personally; I have instructed at many Car Control Clinics with my local BMW CCA chapter which is where the idea for Street Survival originated. To see the improvement in skills and confidence of drivers with whom I share the roads on a daily basis is a real reward. Looking back on the kind of driver I was as a teen, I know how important this program is and we're thrilled to be supporters. On to the official announcement...

MotorsportReg.com Teams with Tire Rack Street Survival® to Reduce 5,000 Annual Teen Driving Deaths with Streamlined Online Event Registration

Los Gatos, CA - October 19, 2010 – Partnering to teach teens the skills they need to stay alive behind the wheel, MotorsportReg.com now powers Tire Rack Street Survival® online registration. The community-run schools teach local students to better control their vehicles through hands-on experiences in real-world driving situations. As the largest event registration and management service for automotive events, MotorsportReg.com delivers greater capabilities and cost savings over the previous in-house system.

"Few people realize driving is one of the most dangerous things they do on a daily basis," said Bill Wade, National Program Manager, Tire Rack Street Survival. "A car traveling at just four miles per hour has more energy than a bullet. That’s a lot of responsibility. MotorsportReg.com helps the local heroes who host our program to reach more students and it costs us less. This enables a small band of dedicated people to concentrate on teaching teens how to be safer on the road."

"MotorsportReg.com helps the local heroes who host Tire Rack Street Survival schools reach more students and it costs us less."

Distributed as web-based software, MotorsportReg.com gives event organizers complete control over a single event or an entire season with tools to promote, register and track participants. Recent social media support for Facebook and Twitter helps organizers reach more potential attendees ensuring successful sold out events.

"As a volunteer driving instructor myself, I have been an advocate for continued driver education and a long time supporter of the Tire Rack Street Survival program," said MotorsportReg.com founder Brian Ghidinelli. "Knowing we deliver on making it easier and more fun to organize events for such an important cause is great, but the real benefit is that even more teens will learn these critical driving skills thanks to reduced costs and support from our customer service team."

About MotorsportReg.com
MotorsportReg.com makes event management fun again with nothing to install and simple, pay-as-you-go pricing. Organizers from major motorsport corporations and non-profit enthusiast groups use the platform to manage driving and social events across North America. Customers include Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Pro Racing, Miller Motorsports Park, BMW Car Club of America (BMW CCA), Porsche Club of America, Audi Club North America and Ferrari Club of America.

About Tire Rack Street Survival
Tire Rack Street Survival classes are conducted by local member volunteers from regional chapters of the BMW CCA, the SCCA and other car clubs. Students, driving their own vehicles, are supervised at all times by experienced, knowledgeable driving coaches. In 2009, 79 communities signed up to benefit 1,899 students and 90 schools are planned for 2010. Community leaders or concerned parents interested in requesting a Tire Rack Street Survival school for their community can visit streetsurvival.org.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Brian Ghidinelli or Bill Wade, please visit Pukka Software, call Ann Maycock at 415.462.5603 or email us.

Topics: Customers

Crossed the 230 mark

June 11, 2013 by admin

All aboard! More than 230 organizations using MotorsportReg.com

Putting together a list of customers recently, the final tally counts 234 unique organizations have held events with MotorsportReg.com since January 2008. With the exception of a few groups who are now defunct due to the economy, we still manage events for every one of these groups. Our customer loyalty is a huge source of pride for us here at Pukka Software so thanks for picking and sticking with us!

In case you've missed it, we announce every new customer on our Facebook page as well as our Twitter feed. If you're interested in keeping up with us, take a look at both places and consider staying in touch there as well.

Topics: Customers, Marketing

Password protect your form

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

We received a neat hack from PCA Northeast Region for password protecting a portion of a registration form. While we don't support this natively, combining an event question with a validation rule that checks for a particular answer lets the registration form stop the user if they don't provide the right password.

Creating a partial form password

This is a clever way to provide an option for pre-approved or in-the-know members only. It could be used to protect a single option or the entire registration form. Very cool! We've added a setup guide in the documentation here.

Topics: Customers, Features

Reporting update for SCCA Regions

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

We don't normally do organization-specific updates but this particular set primarily benefits Sports Car Club of America regions using MotorsportReg.com. We just released three enhancements:

Detail reports now include a full-page pre-populated official SCCA tech form

Attendee and assignment reports now include a "Region of Record Abbreviation" option; for SCCA regions this will be a 2-4 letter abbreviation sent to us by National (e.g. SFR = San Francisco, ATL = Atlanta)

Attendee and assignment reports now include a "Region of Record ID" option; for SCCA regions this is a 1-3 digit number (e.g. 33 = San Francisco, 3 = Atlanta)

We also added two new reports recently under Assignments. They are the Spotter's Charts developed by SCCA Atlanta's Paul Gauzens which organize the vehicles by group and number to help stewards and other folks figure out who is who while on track. We brought a second version organized by class as well.

Topics: Customers

HPDE Insurance Program Update

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

Over the past 18 months, the HPDE Insurance Program has become a big hit with the HPDE enthusiast community. With over 3,000 policies sold, it is clear that enthusiasts want affordable coverage while they are participating in HPDE events and the HPDE Insurance Program meets that need.

The HPDE Insurance Program offers affordable, single-event coverage to enthusiasts participating in structured driving events. These policies are only offered to "approved" driving events, and the program is endorsed by both BMW CCA and PCA. If you aren't sure if your events are approved, contact Lockton Affinity (the program administrator) to take the necessary steps to get approved.

This program was formed by Ryan Staub at Lockton Affinity with our assistance here at MotorsportReg; this truly is a program designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Throughout the design, both the individual enthusiast's and the event organizer's needs were considered. From a participant's perspective, the single-event structure is very appealing to the driver that participates in less than 6 events per year. The ability to add a second covered driver at no additional charge, the "stated value" policy with the option to cover modifications, and the ease of purchasing coverage online in just a few minutes are all very appealing. As an HPDE instructor, I take comfort in knowing that the policy covers me if I'm asked to drive their car too.

Approval from the HPDE Insurance Program lends credibility to the safety and structure of an event organizer's driving events. This can be used as a great marketing tool to separate your program from non-instructed, loosely-run track days. Event organizers that include information about this insurance program in their event pre-registration materials consistently report increased attendance in their events. For the driver that is on the fence about attending an event, knowing that they can obtain affordable single-event insurance for the event can often help to nudge them over the fence.

Visit http://hpdeinsuranceprogram.com and click the "Apply Online" link to confirm if your upcoming event is listed. If not, contact Lockton at hpdeins@locktonaffinity.com to get your event added. In a time where many event organizers struggle to gain the necessary registrations to put on a profitable event, this is a free tool that benefits your participants and can help encourage participation.

Topics: Customers, Misc

Craigslist Marketing

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

These popped up on our radar in the last month or so - more of our customers are using Craigslist to troll for additional participants and cast their net wider. I think this is a great move because the majority of auto enthusiasts still aren't aware that they can compete in an autocross or drive their car on a racetrack. Those thrilling experiences are what turn car lovers into lifelong car club members, participants and (just maybe) volunteers.

One word of advice: use language that complete neophytes will understand. E.g., "Come to a solo event!" means nothing to the general public but "Race your street car against the clock at Qualcomm Stadium!" is a lot more engaging and understandable to the uninitiated.

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Topics: Customers, Marketing

Business continuity for volunteer car clubs

June 11, 2013 by Brian Ghidinelli

If you've volunteered in a car club, you know two things: it's supposed to be fun and it’s just a club, right? While some of our customers have had their teams in place for literally decades, the vast majority see staff turnover on a regular basis.

Like a forest fire that cleans out the underbrush to make way for fresh vegetation, a changing of the guard in a club can be a good thing but at the same time it can also result in a significant loss of institutional knowledge. Finding one volunteer for a task is hard enough, let alone locating a spare to cover in case a key person moves on suddenly.

MotorsportReg.com plays an important role as an organization knowledge base. Having a consistent way of dealing with registration and data management means volunteers aren’t left to reinvent the wheel nor head in the wrong direction. Historical data is captured and available 24/7 meaning any authorized staff member has the full legacy of the organization at their fingertips – no computer crashes, viruses, or specialized software to worry about.

A case in point: last year Jana Swan retired from PCA Pacific Northwest Region as registrar and Gregory Erickson picked up where she left off in running the administrative side of their Driver’s Education program. We interviewed Gregory to hear how the transition went from his point-of-view as a relative newcomer to club administration.

Case Study with Gregory Erickson

Q: How involved were you with the program before you took over from Jana?

"I was helping Jana do the hands on portion at the events - handing out registration packets, learning who was who in the club, the scheduling, etc. I assisted for two or three events prior to becoming the official registrar.

"At the end of the season, Jana turned over all the paper files, materials, and ancillary online documents she was using concurrently with MotorsportReg.com. She instructed (but no hands-on demo) me to duplicate the previous season's events and provided a critical path work program to get me through the process of putting on a DE event. I worked over the winter to get ready for the season opener."

Q: There is a lot of knowledge transfer required including procedures and policies to be followed. Everything from who is allowed to attend to how to handle special requests. How did MotorsportReg.com function as a support tool to help enforce those rules?

"Our prior registration process merely collected driver information and payment. With the MotorsportReg.com registration form builder, we were able to create a registration process where the driver (or instructor) could make a request for their driving class and instruction group. The assignments and inventory were compiled and regulated automatically. The new dashboard feature meant I could check our event status at anytime and in a fraction of the time it would take me previously.

"Now, instead of spending time every day keeping track and balancing each class and running around collecting information in different areas, I can check progress twice a week (even less for the first two weeks) and process everything quickly and efficiently because most information is on one screen. Plus, the Dashboard feature allows quick assessment of how the event is filling up.

"PCA/PNWR is now confident in expanding our class offerings with more instruction groups, and larger classes."

Q: What factor did our support via email and phone play in getting you up to speed as registrar?

"Jana was responsible for 25% and MotorsportReg.com handled the other 75%. MSR is setting the bar for support of their service. The response is always very quick and support info is always spot on."

We Play the Support Role

While some of our customers have been in their roles for more than a decade, the MotorsportReg.com community features many stories like Jana's and Greg's. This is where we see our value-add; not only are we assisting with the day to day tactical details but we’re also helping with the big picture strategic issues that a volunteer organization has to face.

Talk to us about how our full-time customer support and secure 24/7 data availability can check off one mission-critical aspect of club governance.

Topics: Customers

Announcing our REST API

January 3, 2020 by Brian Ghidinelli

For some time now, we've been internally using an API that facilitates remote access to the inner workings of MotorsportReg.com. Today, we're excited to announce general availability of the service to our customers and partners. Customers with or without development expertise in house can take advantage of our API to incorporate their data into their own applications and websites. Understand the implications are very powerful: this can eliminate manual updates to your website for event-related information! We'll show you two ways you can integrate these listings directly onto your own website.

Topics: Customers, Features, API

MotorsportReg.com Welcomes Miller Motorsports Park

June 11, 2013 by Mark

TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (March 17, 2009) — As is fitting for a state-of-the-art motorsports facility, Miller Motorsports Park is now offering a state-of-the-art online registration process for participants in its local racing series and the Miller Performance Training Center.

Miller Motorsports Park has teamed up with MotorsportReg.com to offer our racers and students a simple, secure and stress-free means of registering for races and schools. Registrants can pay online via credit card and will still need to check in at the Box Office upon arrival at the track, but the wait will be much less and the entire process will be much more efficient. In addition, when a registrant registers for any subsequent event, their data will already exist in the system and the process will be streamlined even further.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer online registration to our racers and students,” said Ty Pursley, MMP Box Office and Group Sales Manager. “This is something we have wanted to do since the track opened in 2006, and in MotorsportReg.com we now have a partner who can help us make this a seamless experience for our customers.”

“MotorsportReg.com is proud to be the registration solution for Miller Motorsports Park,” said Brian Ghidinelli, company founder. “We are excited to partner with this world-class facility and look forward to streamlining the registration experience for Miller customers.”

Go to the following links and create a user profile to get registered for available upcoming events. To register for a driving school with the Miller Performance Training Center, please visit www.MillerPerformanceTrainingCenter.MotorsportReg.com. To register for Open Track Days or to enter races in the Miller Park Racing Association, Masters of the Mountains Series, Utah Supermoto Championship, Icebreaker Kart Championship presented by HeritageWest Credit Union or Utah Kart Championship Series, please visit www.MMP.MotorsportReg.com. Registrants can still refer to www.MillerMotorsportsPark.comm for event details and be directed to the appropriate link for online registration.

For tickets or information regarding Miller Motorsports Park, call 435-277-RACE (7223) or visit the track’s website at www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.

John Gardner

Media Manager

Miller Motorsports Park

2901 N. Sheep Lane

Tooele, UT 84074

Office: 435.277.8101

Cell: 704.467.1424

FAX: 435.277.8008

Email: jgardner@millermotorsportspark.com

Web: www.millermotorsportspark.com

Topics: Customers