Re: pending announcement
Some my consider this post bloviating on my part, but I have attended 5 Nats, driving over 4,000 miles for each one. I'm a potential attendee for this one too.......
421 views in less than 24 hours. Peeps are interested in this. I am. And what here is inspiring, or of value that is pertinent to making plans to attend Nats? NOTHING.
Attending an event such as this requires planning on the part of the attendees as well as the promoters. Putting in for vacation days, budgeting, travel plans, what to do with the kids etc, requires advance work and making commitments. If it's just a big joke to long time members, the promoters remain anonymous behind the SyTy Nationals moniker, and the event isn't being taken seriously by individuals that need to be serious in order to ensure a successful event, why should anyone else take it seriously by making the commitments necessary?
Nats didn't happen in 2015. At this juncture,with 6-8 months to go I don't see it happening in 2016 either, because nothing has changed. The individuals that organized and made previous Nats successful don't appear to be motivated or even involved in the community any longer. The participation on the board has dropped to ~15 active threads a day. Chat was HUGE in developing enthusiasm for the 09, 11, and 13 Nats, because there was a venue to discuss, plan, and see who else was going. Chat is gone. Many people that were instrumental in the success of previous Nats are gone, or not interested in being involved with Nats 16.
Renz, with the help of MANY others did a helluva' lob with BG 09. Stellar. TJ and Nadine organized Denver 2011 pretty much by themselves, and 11 was well-received by the attendees. Speaking for myself, BG 13 was a disappointment. The weather didn't help, but it appeared to me that it was organized on-the-fly. Renz made it up as the weekend progressed. Without Hood's impromptu auto-x, Nats13 would have been a complete flop. A nothing-burger. I doubt I'm alone in my opinion that without an improvement in the planning and enthusiasm on the part of the organizers over what was evident for Nats13, 16 won't be much different.
Morgan, Tom, Renz, Hood, Adam R, all have careers, wives, kids, and mortgages now. They no longer have the time to put into this. I'm skeptical that anyone has the time or motivation to do this to the level necessary to attract a wide attendance. It won't surprise me at all if Nats for 16 just peters-out again like it did for 15.
I hope I'm proven wrong and this is the best SyTy Nats yet. :tup:
Everyone needs to take this seriously, or no one will.
Ugh. I've been on the fence about replying to this after reading it a few hours ago, but here it goes.
My immediate off the handle reply was going to be short and sweet, but that really isn't going to be helpful either, so here it is, you want to make Nats better, HELP!
I mean that seriously, I have some tasks that would be absolutely wonderful if you had a hand in them and/or were in charge of them completely. If you want to discuss them, PM me and I will give you some info or perhaps I can call you one evening, throw the gauntlet down and see what you think about it, no pressure at all, you can say no or counteroffer with your own ideas, either way, there is your invitation.
You are correct in stating everyone above has careers, wives, kids and mortgages now. Time is limited, but not completely non-existent. The people above as well as a few others who haven't been named (Mark & Harmon) have already put countless hours into planning this event, or helping out in previous ones.
Nothing has changed? How do you know? Maybe my posts have fallen on def ears (or eyes), but I have posted NUMEROUS times in the past that many tracks will not even take deposits for track rentals 6 - 8 months in advance until the new calendar year starts, why I don't exactly know but as soon as 2016 rolled in, we started making the necessary calls and sending emails to see what worked best for the community. Right now it's narrowed down to 2 weekends, either one works for the track I believe, we are just waiting for a reply from the hotel to make sure they don't have another event going on at the same time, if they do, then we start all over again, simple as that. I don't think that will need to happen, but you never know. Either way we are trying to get this done ASAP so people can put in for vacation time. Once a date is set in stone, consider this event "live".
So its not 6-8 months of planning, its already been a year of planning, right now its just 6-8 months of ironing out the details.
As for "2015 Nats", there are multiple reasons for why it was cancelled, postponed, etc., I will not discuss them now, but I was actually the one who brought it up and pushed for it to be postponed. There is no reason for 2016 to peter-out as you say.
Nats 2013, I'm not going to throw stones in a glass house, Tom and I have discussed this in great depth, I kinda just jumped in to help when I got there, but what it comes down to is not everyone was on the same page at the last event. The weather certainly didn't help, we can't change mother nature but those other "bugs" have been worked out and everyone involved should be on the same page this year.
I really don't want to dissect your post and nitpick about all the things that are irritating me, but all I can say is that 2016 Nats should be fun, exciting and informative.
As for Jimmy, these trucks have been dead for years, this is not a "new" thing. As for the event, it could eventually die out too, it went from an annual event to biennial after 10 years because of various reasons, it could very well go to every 5 years or just not at all, I can't predict the future. When that time comes, it comes, but that time isn't this year.
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