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Midwest Cafe Racing Association (MCRA) was one of the first motorcycle clubs to start using MotorsportReg, so what better club to feature for our first motorcycle Pole Position blog! I learned that some things are universal between all motorsport clubs (the accomplishment you feel sharing your passion with a newcomer) and some things have a much more significant impact for motorcycle clubs (weather!).

MCRA runs motorcycle track days and racing events in the Midwest area and caters to every level of rider. They offer inexpensive "Test the Track" sessions to help riders experience the track in a safe and controlled manner while also having fun. And their MCRA Challenge Series is keeping motorcycle racing alive and strong in St. Louis and the Midwest.

Josh Davis has been with the club for about four seasons. He's experienced everything MCRA has to offer. As a customer, he participated in track days, went through the race licensing program, and raced the GT-AM class. He's been on the board of directors for roughly two years (Treasurer) and this season was asked to help coach new riders. He shared with us his passion for his sport and his club.

The San Francisco Bay Area is chock full of motorsport enthusiasts which makes for a large, but competitive market for event organizers. You'll find all of the marque car clubs, the major club racing organizations and quite a few do-it-yourselfers. But Patrick Chio and his team at SpeedSF somehow manage to cut through the noise and run very successful HPDE and Time Trial programs.

Patrick first grabbed our attention with his awesome promotional emails. Great images, a clear, concise message, and simple design really made them stand out. And they're effective- a lot of the run groups sell out and SpeedSF has gone from hosting 4 events when they first started with MotorsportReg in 2013 to hosting 22 events in 2015! I asked Patrick to share the secrets to his success in this uber competitive market.

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.

 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.

Bill Correll from the SCCA Kansas City Region SOLO program has some of the most creative registration forms we’ve seen here at MotorsportReg. He takes full advantage of all the tools and features we offer and uses them in ways that we hadn’t even thought of.

He got his start in autocross in the late 60’s and mid 70’s and then took some time off to go back to college along with working a full time job with Ford Motor Company.  In 1999 he bought a new Mustang Cobra and in 2000 attended the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving 4 day Grand Prix Road Race School. Later that year he got back into autocross and retired from Ford in 2005. He was the region's Solo Chair from 2007 through 2009 and a member of the region’s Solo Advisory Committee, as chair, from 2007 through 2008. He was also the Chief of Registration for solo from 2008 through 2011 and Chief of Waivers in 2008. He has since stepped down as the Chief of Registration and lets someone else handle the actual onsite parts of registration but keeps the MSR event set up piece of the process.  We recently chatted with him about his club and those incredible registration forms he creates.

MSR: SCCA Kansas City Region runs SOLO events, rally cross and a few road rallies and races.  What are the highlights of your season?

Bill: For the solo group the highlight of the season is our "Halloweenie" autocross event. The club furnishes hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks. The entrants and their guests bring chips, desert, etc. Many of the people wear costumes and decorate their cars. We give out prizes for people and car costumes and also collect money for a local charity.  After the event, we donate the leftover food and drinks to a church or community food pantry or kitchen.