We should still have the club maybe take things a little slower to prevent squabbles. There is a definite intrest for Subaru is in AZ. We can really make an impact at events if we stick together. Think about it the fun Run will bring intrest. Seeing 10-15 Subarus in a row gets attention. Me, Aaron and possibly others can get attention at the drag stip. Bud, Mike and many others make impressions in peoples mind at Rally X and Auto X events. We can do it and there is no point in quitting now we were really starting to get some where before this whole ordeal happend.

So what do you say?

I'm in.

<mighty quiet around here today--maybe you're all home playing gt3>

gbbg

gbbg?:):)

I am all for that.

I'm not really clear as to what happened, but obviously we have some folk who don't agree about things. Such is life.

Anyway, I am pretty excited about the fun-run. Anyone else?

Mike

sounds like a good idea.

I'm glad to see people are still interested. I will have more to say about this later (sorry, I've been WAAAAAAY busy), but here's my basic thoughts on the subject.

There is a small core of Subaru fans who have pretty much all been friends for some time (Danny, Aaron, Kastle, Peat). They created the AzScooby.com (and now the SubaruMods.com) web site and have really been the core Subaru enthusiasm in AZ. We all owe them our thanks and our respect. (If not for them, some of us might not be driving Subaru's right now). (And... we should probably still make some donations to Kastle who's been funding the web site himself.) They've absolutely done an exemplary job with this.

The problem arose when they tried to get organized (at the urging of several of us) and invite us all into their club. The problem was that it was THEIR club and not OUR club. They did a pretty good job, really. We all had the same basic goals, but they wanted a slightly different type of club then many of us wanted (and maybe a some of them). (Sorry to make this an "us" and "them" thing. We are really one group, just no other good terms come to mind right now.) This explosion occured as a result of pressure build up from the tension created by these fundamental disagreements.

Anyway, my thoughts are that we would have more success if we developed this thing together. I realize we're not going to make everyone completely happy, but maybe we can avoid making anyone really angry. I have a few ideas on how this could be done, but I don't want to become the new tyrant. (Sorry Kastle, I don't really mean to call you a tyrant. We still love ya' babe!)

So, what do you guys think the club should be? What would it take to make it successful? What kind of club do WE want?

Remember, this is just my opinion.

-Bud

meter maid - mannequin - meter maid - mannequin....


long ago i remember something like this:

I would propose different kinds of meetings.

Monthly meeting: This would be at a set day (EX: third Friday) at a set time (EX: 1900hrs) at certain spots around the valley (EX: next 3 meetings at X bar and grill in Tempe, 3 meetings after that are at Y bar and grill in N. Scottsdale). These monthly meeting should be a BS session, better described by Red above.

Get togethers: Such as the recent BBQ, trade shows, non participating events. These are more of the BS kinda thing, just in a different setting.

Important showings: This would be dealer meetings. Large GTG's with other clubs. Anything where a show of numbers is important to furthering the club. Club carwashes for a local charity, club community service days, etc... (this type of meeting would be STRONGLY suggested for attendance)

Other events: competing race events (autocross, drags, rallycross), club awareness days, whatever else....


Make the club a dues based club, and not make meetings mandatory. If you don't show up, don't bitch about the way the club is. If you'll pay the dues, you'll probably want to be involved. I do like the idea of 1 or 2 mandatory voting meetings though.


ANY meeting has the potential to have impact on future events. Just because the monthly meeting is a BS session does not mean that club business won't be discussed, and changes made. The mandatory voting meetings are for club leadership votes only, the steering of the club is done by the leaders, with input potential at every known APPROVED, SCHEDULED meeting. I also see a possibility of a weighted voting scale for small club issues. The more meeting you attend the more votes you have to cast. Everything goes to zero Jan 1.


then later I got really Zen on everyone, and even drew a tear from myself with this one:

Again, all of my thoughts stem from indepth research of some of the larger (and smaller) yurrupean clubs. They all get their tires from one shop, oil changed at one shop, go fast parts from one shop (if possible), ETC. They have SERIOUS clout (read discounts), but they have a ton of members, and are not limited to certain makes (most clubs anyway). They do charity events, so much so that clubs have a mini rivalry going as to who can raise the most money for X charity. When they do charity things they ALL have their club shirts on, and 90% of the membership attend. They do social work with the youth of the area. They host driving clinics, co-driving clinics, crewing clinics, team owner clinics, sponsor clinics, etc... They get air time and press because of the things they do to give back, making their clubs stronger. They have weekly meetings at a few different pubs, and shoot the s-h-i-t-e. They have larger meetings every other month or so to go over real club biz. They pay a dues, have a membership card, shirts, hats, mailed newsletters (on real dead trees) etc. They vote on leadership, and not much else. They don't have mandatory meetings, but have SOOO many meetings that missing one due to scheduling is not possible. They have the 3 tiers of involvement mentioned, and don't really care that alot of their members only go to the Christmas mixer. They HAVE a christmas mixer, and some clubs are so big they can overun small towns. The members REGULARLY go to each others houses for dinner or tea. They all know the close by members and give a cheerfull hello when passing by. In short, they are their own small community of brothers and sisters. When one of them is in a bad way, they ALL rally round and pitch in whatever it takes to solve the situation. They have emergency funds for club members for such cases. It is a real family. Yurrupeans are WAY more fanatical about motorsports, and motorclubs than Mericans...


but it doesn't have to be that way....

I'll shut up now and see what others have to say....




once again, back to lurking.... seems as though the moniker of "silent Bob" that I have lived with for years may actually fit...

.................................................. .................................................. .................................

Good ideas all. Please see this thread for an update.

http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72943

Thanks,

Aaron