(goldfish) Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 My club is slowly dieing. I was looking for why people keep going, or would make them want to join a car club. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 It takes dedication to continue with any club. We can also thank the older club members to keep it together. With newer clubs or younger clubs, the dedication isn't there and they lose interest or don't like the direction the club is going. The club I belong to is pretty healthy, each monthly meeting brings in at least 40 people. We have at least 120 members. I try to go to all the meetings mainly for the active membership points. Get at least 15 points and we get a small gift at the end of the year. The only reason I joined the club initially was because of the track events the club puts on. The club also has a stake in our track, it is ours. www.highplainsraceway.com We go on drives, have bbq, show and shines and of course our track events. Sometimes get with other car clubs in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arif Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 For me it's a chance to meet up with other gearheads. We sponsor events like car shows, track events, pool parties, etc. I look forward to our monthly meetings because someone is always modifying their car so you can see what they've done. Last month a guy showed up with a G35 with a LS2 motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I go because I'm in town. I have literally flown halfway around the world, gotten in the car and the airport, and then taken a 2 hour drive through traffic to make my club meeting, only to listen to wankers complain 'it's too far to drive here and meet every month!' I'm not charitable after a 20 hour+ plane ride to listen to that crap! When I was in town more, it was a chance to get away and talk cars with guys till way later than I should in the parking lot, make calls to the streetwalkers across the street, and listen to the same panhandler each month come around about 2300 and give us the most perfect story about what happened and why we should give him money. The regulars would all look at ME for the sign to give him the 'you gave us that one last month dude' talk. Always let him get close to finishing, it was artistry how he had it all worked out and if flowed so smoooothly... Took him a good 4 months to get the hint that we weren't the usual hangabouts in the parkinglot at 11pm! Plus, it always got me a part, or a lead on a part, or someone giving away a car, or wanting something from one of mine... It really turns into the same people doing all the work if you aren't careful. People are takers today, no 'give back' exists in their being. And then they wonder why clubs fold after the same people run it for 6 years and get tired with nobody showing to events, or running for officers positions, or making suggestions, or in general doing ANYTHING other than showing up and expecting to be entertained. What gets me is the scum that shows for months on end without paying their dues to the club, and sponging off the generosity of the clubmembers in giving him leads for parts, or letting them come on runs, etc... Christ you sponge, HAVE SOME CLASS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 As with nearly every other activity, the 20/80 rule applies: 20% of the club membership do 80% of the work. That means, for all of you math enthusiasts, that some people are 16X busier than others.... which explains why some feel overburdened, while others feel ignored. The main benefit of a club is social interaction outside of work. You college guys might find this to be odd, but in the so-called "real world", it is comparatively rare for adults unrelated to each other to gather outside of work, except for church, golf, or babysitting each others' children. So a car club is an excellent venue for guys to just interact with like-minded persons. Unfortunately, as with nearly every other leisure activity, people tend to disappear during the family-formation phase of life (age 25 or so), not to reappear until their kids are grown and launched from the house - meaning, not until they (the parents) are over 50. Ergo, the usual car club friction: the "kids" (<25) vs. the "geezers" (>50, and often >65). The generation gap is enough to defeat any impetus towards camaraderie, and unless those special 20% of the club can continue holding it together, the club dies. And it's especially tough to maintain a pricey leisure activity in this economy. Check the stock market lately? Tony - WTF happened in Europe today, and are the "tiger countries" of Asia next... or are they immune? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Don't know, I'm busy with what started out as 38 overhauls, two days ago added 15 to that total, and this morning added 7 more so that makes 60... "Economic Slowdown?" Not since I started... The furloughs we took 'in anticipation of decreased revenues' appeared to be all for nothing and resulted in nothing more than me working harder when I was at work, and giving me GUARANTEED TIME OFF. I swear, everybody in the service section went "Now, wait, you mean we HAVE to take THREE WEEKS OFF and they are UNMOVEABLE dates, like NO MATTER WHAT we are going to be OFF WORK---even if we are on a job we will GO HOME on those dates?" We were skeptical, but it was true, we actually got three whole weeks where we KNEW EXACTLY where we would be! Most time off I've had in a year in decades! (Actually, since 89 when I got out of the service and had taken 90 days of cumulative leave which is technically never possible to happen...though I didn't actually take the leave, they ended up paying me because I didn't have enough days left to take off when it was time to go. Foolish things like calling me in off leave to go weigh in at the squadron orderly room, and to get chastised by the squadron commander for being a fatbody and weighing 220 with a bodyfat content of around 7% by immersion nomogram instead of the 170# they insisted was my 'ideal' weight...) I digress... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75280z Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 (edited) Tony D I am sad to see that even in 1989 [i am assuming it wasn't 1889 ] that they did the stupid body fat content and 'ideal' weight crap. I thought that was a newer developement, my feelings if you can pass the PT test and you aren't in a special job (Like being able to fit into a plane) that they should let people be! Also I am unfortunately not part of a club I do come out to the track day, mainly to see the other cars, and honestly I am planning on joining I just keep forgetting to. I am like stated above in the slightly above 25 range and have a wife and 3 kids, so when I am done with work I am usually at home with them. Edited September 11, 2011 by 75280z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Yeah, it changed afterwards. Now they have to accept medically directed weight waivers. I had one to 250# and the doctor said if I added more weight to come get re-evaluated. They wrote the weight for 235, so I 'complied' but at the commander's discretion (after I tested for E5 and was one of 2 in 400 people in PACAF to test and make the grade) that he chose "at this time to decline to accept the medical recommendation under AFR35-10, which puts you back into phase one of the WMP and therefore (as he redlines my promotion on the big large-carrige computer paper in gree-and-white-stripes) makes you ineligible for promotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Damm, knew our club meetings meetings lacked something, none of Tony's carpark moles aka streetwalkers aka ladies of the night Yeh, talking car **** with the boys, taking the piss, turbo v na, L series v everything else, lap times........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 There was the time I got a ticket leaving the meeting for having 'Illegal Headlights'... Training day... guy says "it's for your own safety sir, nobody is going to see you with green headlights!' Yeah, it was there, on the tip of my tongue: "Well your PARTNER sure as hell did the Linda-Blair as you guys passed me on the street. Seems like YOU saw them damn well enough!" Then there was the time the guy that owns the Korean Restaurant in the same complex came down and read us all the riot act because "We were parking in 'his' spots and keeping his customers away!" Pointing to a new red Z32TT. About that time a couple came out of his restaurant and got in the TT and drove off. He was dumbfounded. Then someone started yelling back at him: WHY YOU HAVE RESTAURANT OPEN 7PM THURSDAY NIGHT---YOU KEEP US FROM CLUBMEMBER JOINING! YOU DISTRACT WITH DELICIOUS FOODS! YOU GO NOW! YOU GO NOW!!! Later I explained the guy was Korean, and not Chinese, so the joke wasn't actually proper. Madeline Cho would have been proud at the verbiage I used to explain it. It was much like her little explanation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalton Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 There was the time I got a ticket leaving the meeting for having 'Illegal Headlights'... Training day... guy says "it's for your own safety sir, nobody is going to see you with green headlights!' Yeah, it was there, on the tip of my tongue: "Well your PARTNER sure as hell did the Linda-Blair as you guys passed me on the street. Seems like YOU saw them damn well enough!" Then there was the time the guy that owns the Korean Restaurant in the same complex came down and read us all the riot act because "We were parking in 'his' spots and keeping his customers away!" Pointing to a new red Z32TT. About that time a couple came out of his restaurant and got in the TT and drove off. He was dumbfounded. Then someone started yelling back at him: WHY YOU HAVE RESTAURANT OPEN 7PM THURSDAY NIGHT---YOU KEEP US FROM CLUBMEMBER JOINING! YOU DISTRACT WITH DELICIOUS FOODS! YOU GO NOW! YOU GO NOW!!! Later I explained the guy was Korean, and not Chinese, so the joke wasn't actually proper. Madeline Cho would have been proud at the verbiage I used to explain it. It was much like her little explanation... LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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