Part of the NCRS problem....

[Gene M.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

Guys, just don't be concerned about the attendance of other Corvette people. I am just as involved with my 65 driver as I was twenty years ago. And she gets driven, harder when Susie is not in the RH seat. There are other members in our chapter that do the same. Just do it and others will follow. I would love it if more came to our road tours. Only about 9% of our membership do. Tech and judging schools we run about 20%. But there is always some form of eating that goes along with it. Our Tech and/or judging along with chile (hot and extra hot) and cookies with other bake goods draws even better at close to 30%. Seems free food with a washer down is a draw as January cold weather break...........

And as for the younger generation they have their own thing that they grew up with not necessary the same (c1 and c2) as we did. Why be concerned about what others do or don't do? Face it our age group is GETTING OLD.

[Steven B.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

DSCN1620.jpg[/QUOTE]

Bruce, those tennis balls look nice on top of those shiney tube things.

As for NCRS membership most of us old guys started out as hot rodders and that never completely dies within us. When I go to Texas meets we talk about factory original, modifieds, and how we "used" (and sometimes still do) drive 'em. I always like to see the sportsman class along with the judged cars. They all make the blood boil and bring a smile to my face. The cost has gone up, but later C3's and C4's are really a deal now.

"Save the Wave".

[Peter G.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

Here is another side of the story...A couple years ago my local NCRS Chapter had their Fall Road Trip to a city up in the mountains about a 300 mile round trip ride. I do drive my 1973 LS4, but because it has left me on the side of the road a couple times I prefer to drive it within a caravan if my drive is over one hour. Two other cars (Corvettes) showed up for the Weekend Car Show Event. I was concerned, but didn't think anymore of it. It turned out that one of the two Corvettes was being delievered back to the owner after a long restoration and was not returning to Denver. That put us at two cars. At the event one Corvette decided to return to Denver after hearing of a
forest fire in our Rocky Mountains near their home.

Of course my Corvette did break down on me. Broken rocker arm nut. Fixed it in the outdoor backyard of the Corvette owner's car being delievered. And of course it was Saturday evening after the Show. Had to asked the local Police Department to call the owner of the local Napa store and ask if he would open up his store after hours so I could buy a $1 part. Everyone was so helpful in this small city.

Did not adjust any valves etc. just replaced the broken nut.

Now I am in my worst senario that I was trying to avoid. Driving back to Denver by myself with no backup!

Needless to stay it will be awhile before I take my "Restored" NCRS Top Flight car out of town again.

I love to drive my Corvette. It gets about 700 miles per year and only goes in the trailer for a show after about two hours drive from Denver. Out West here the spaces are far and few between unlike back East.

[Bob G.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

Took a long time for me to join NCRS I have owned and built Corvettes for 30 years. I see no point in owning a car and not driving it. If you don't drive it how can you enjoy it. It seems to many restore their cars and quit driving them I understand its hard to get chips and nicks on 10k paint and body work. I will never have a car like that because I drive all the Corvettes but I still want it to be right. Seems to me thats why you need at least 2 or more 1 show car and the others to drive. There are a lot of older Corvettes that can never have the right numbers or be a show car but there is no reason not to enjoy them. A lot of drivers are out there that don't cost 50k just my 2 cents.
Thanks Bob

[Dale M.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

Well stated. I agree with you. I only have 1 car and it has an incorrect frame and other replacement parts, like alternator, regulator, battery . . . When I restore something I try to make it correct unless the price is unreasonable. I found a $300+ raditor cap, but turned it down and use my repro.

[Mark D.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

I see no point in owning a car and not driving it. If you don't drive it how can you enjoy it.

You're funny...in an ignorant sort of way.

[Arland D.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

I don't believe this phenomenon is an "NCRS problem" since it is happening in many other clubs associated with other makes and marques. I can assure you that this conversation has taken place for many years in different car clubs in different parts of the country with no smoking gun issues or solutions being identified. It is just the way the car hobby is evolving..............

[Vinnie P.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

If you think NCRS is "old and graying" you should see speed week at the Bonneville Salt Flats...makes NCRS members look like young uns...

[Steven B.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

If you think NCRS is "old and graying" you should see speed week at the Bonneville Salt Flats...makes NCRS members look like young uns...

That is no kidding! A year ago I was talking to a guy at breakfast at the restaurant near the entrance to the salt. He told us he had been running the lakes and salt since the 50's and thought that year might be his last. He said early on he lied about his age on the lake and thought he might have to lie about his age in another year or two if he wanted to keep running! he keeps passing the physical, though. I didn't make it this year but hope he was running.

I wonder what the age range is in the ACD Club, Studebaker, Graham, etc? By the way, I saw a great dark blue Graham P coupe heading east on I30 about 20 miles east of Dallas yesterday. Driver looked to be in 40's.

[Michael J.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

I don't think you should all be stressing out so much about low turnouts. I belong to 4 different car clubs, and at any meeting, cruise, or event there are hardly ever more than about 20% of the registered and paid members that show up. These clubs range from mostly older classics, like NCRS and Baby T-Bird clubs, to mostly late model cars like Corvette, Mustang/Shelby and Mopar clubs. And it is not always the same 20% or so, some people like to do different things than others, have more interest in some events than others, and many are just plain busy with their lives if they are not retired. So take a chill pill and enjoy the people who do show up and try when you can.

BTW, I had no idea Ohio was competing with my favorite course, Bonneville, for land speed record venues.

[Bruce B.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

Michael,
I wouldn't quite say Ohio and the ECTA are competing with Bonneville but it does give people east of the Mississippi a chance to go fast and prep thier vehicles for possible racing at Bonneville.
The race is actually a standing start mile with a fair amount of cars going over 200mph.
Lots of fun, and for us people who have not gone to Bonneville we get to see and are amazed by the way land speed cars are built.
Bruce B

[Michael J.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

I'm sure it's cool and interesting, just never heard of it before, but good to know about, helps correct some of my racing ignorance.

[Garry M.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

This is a great topic, and as has been mentioned several times it becomes a revolving discussion about member age, car value, car reliability, gas cost, event type, day and time of the event.... The list goes on and the position changes based on who's having the discussion.

I simply choose to drive my cars. '66 top flight two-star car - just put 200+ miles on it this past Saturday going to a car show in Prescott, AZ where the temperature was 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix (even used the A/C on the way back). Have a '60 driver (currently under partial restoration to refresh motor/trans/suspension) that I took to road tours at the Grand Canyon and Laughlin/Route 66. I also have an '08 that I put 3500 miles (at 28.5mpg) on this past summer visiting Montana/Wyoming/Utah.

As a chapter we are looking to identify and organize shorter/quicker non-judging events that would appeal to a greater member audience in an effort to get the cars out of the garage. Car shows are nice, but they can be boring if you have to get there early and can't leave till late afternoon. Some events that show promise are in the morning, provide food like coffee/bagels, and allow you to arrive/leave at any time.

Reading through the responses on this topic is fun. Glad to see people sharing their thoughts on what IS a concern about NCRS as an organization (outside of judging which appears to be doing well).

Cheers!
Garry

[Ed M.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

find a buddy with a similar vintage car and drive them somewhere..... if just out for the day. My wife and I drove our restored '57 from Kansas City
to Reno, Nevada for Hot August Nights in 2010.... 3000 miles... it was fun. I am 69 years old and haven't given up yet nor come up with lame excuses to
avoid driving our car. Life is short.

[Dick W.]

Re: Part of the NCRS problem....

This not problem unique to us. I belong to an organization that has over 34,000 individual clubs. There are 1.2 million members. Seven years ago there were 31,500 individual clubs with 1.2 million members. In the seven years there have been 1.1 million new members initiated but the net gain of members is only 229.


Churchs, civic clubs, almost every car club suffers from declining membership. If they have less than 10% churn in membership they are doing something right.


The younger generations are not joiners, but they're looking for instant gratification and have to be engaged. If someone finds a magic bullet to increase membership in any organization they could become instant the billionaires.

It is extremely hard to engage the membership of clubs. There is so much competition for time, it's hard to find time to do anything.

Not bad. I made this post using speech recognition software.