[sperry]

Kevin, Novice already has that rule. What many of the long term members are pushing for is to give a Novice say 4 events before they must move to a points class. I think they feel like the novice program is reducing the competition in the points classes because we have all these people essentially out there running no-points for a whole season.

My counter to that is:

1) Novices wouldn't be much for adding real competition in the points classes until late in the season simply 'cause they're novices after all

2) Just having a warm body in a points class doesn't really add "competition" if they're going to be beat by 10 seconds ever event

3) Being whooped on every event 'cause you're new is discouraging to new members

4) Having a fun-based rather than competition based program for the 1st year tends to keep novices coming back

5) Drivers see completing a full season as a novice as a "rite of passage" into autocross. People that drove together as novices in the same season get a sort of comradeship with each other that continues on into subsequent seasons. (At least that's part of the goal of the current program IMO)

6) And of course all the original reasons that prompted Dean to come up with the idea 2 years ago: running w/o classes helps lower the pressure for new drivers, having the novices allows us to balance the run groups (granted the process needs to be improved, perhaps with online registration?), a novice program allows new drivers to get instruction more easily, etc.

The ultimate goal of the Novice program is not just to get new members hooked on autocross by making it easier to run, but also to make them into faster and better drivers. I think forcing people into points classes will not only discourage them from coming out at all, but will slow their development time into top-shelf drivers. What we really want from the program is not only drivers that are going to come back season after season, but drivers that will come back and raise the bar and help Reno get to a Nationally competitive region.

So, with regards to the Novice program, I'd really like to get some feedback on the program from those that have run as novices under the program this year and last. Does it really help in the way we were hoping? Would you rather get into competition sooner (not that the novice program precludes you from going to a points class)? Does a season of novice class make you a competitive driver when you move to a points class?

Personally, I lucked out my first season (2003). I ran in STX with a bunch of other n00bs, so in a way we had our own Novice season. My second season, Dean joined STX and cleaned our clocks. If I had run STX against Dean my 1st season, I certainly wouldn't have had so much fun if I were perpetually running for second, 3 and 4 seconds behind Dean, and I may have just given up on it thinking I simply wasn't very good. Being successful and having similarly experienced drivers in my 1st season made all the difference in making me come back for more, which in turn is the primary reason I got better and better at autocross.