There is a pretty good chance you have had the opportunity to let your youngster(s) play some other sport like soccer, football or even baseball. A common thread that seems to run through most volunteer sports is that it is often difficult to find enough good people to run the organization. I’ve got to admit that I would rather pay the $10 fee for not having to work in the little-league snack bar than suffer over a hot grill.
This same attitude even exists in QMA. How many clubs do we have with people lined up to work in the snack bar? How many volunteers do you find just waiting to work the scales? Is it hard to find enough (or any) "Tech" volunteers (that are well qualified)? How many "work parties" have you showed up for this year? Or maybe you feel that you’ve paid your dues and its time for the new people to ante up?
The truth is, those who "paid their dues" will be the first people who complain about how the new guys screwed it up. The ones who didn’t show up for the work party will complain about how dirty the place looks. Even old timers will sit around after a race and complain that tech is taking way too long (even while they are sipping away on their favorite drink)!
I won’t speculate on the possibility that they are criticizing out of guilt, but sometimes they may have a valid point. As far as viewpoints go, we always have an opinion about the few people who are trying to "run the show". When we joined this sport (QMA), it was routinely pointed out that ten percent of the club does ninety percent of the work. Do you think this happens because everyone likes to be taken care of? Or is it because we don’t want the responsibility? Or maybe we just don’t want the attention of being put in a vulnerable position that people can criticize?
You have to admit at least there are hard working people who are taking care of QMA at all levels. Yes! They do make some mistakes. But you can’t dock their pay because WE DON’T PAY THEM AS PROFESSIONALS! Do you ever ask your Club President how many hours he/she put in last week? Maybe it was ten or maybe it was twenty. Maybe it was none and maybe they work so hard that they scare everyone away! But you can’t dock their pay. You can only offer to help. Who knows, maybe you’ll have a pretty good time helping the Publicity Director of your Club at a local display. Why not offer to put 30 minutes in at the snack bar (you know, it is actually kind of fun to talk to people about things other than right-side tire compounds once in a while).
And how is your Regional Director doing? Is he or she visible to your Club? Does he/she share the news from National with your Club? If not, have you offered to relieve him/her with a little typing. Just drop by, pick up the information, get it duplicated, and distribute it. Your Regional Director probably has a real full-time job that requires 40 or more hours a week in addition to their volunteer work. Yes, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO VOLUNTEERED, but this is real life. There are real things that come up. No one ever knows the scope of these positions unless they are being re-elected. Give him or her a break (with help - not the leg)!
And what about those seven people on the Board of Directors? We like to knock them around (because we love ‘em so much). Why that Pidge won’t even return all of my phone calls. Hmmmm, I wonder how many of those he gets from the other BOD? How many from Regional Directors and the membership. It might be 30 to 50 calls per week depending on the latest dilemma. Heck, if it was my phone, I would probably want to pull the cord out of the wall! I haven’t agreed with everything the BOD has done this year, but on the other hand, there have been times when we tackled issues that resulted in changes for the membership’s best interest (in my opinion). We will take the heat on many issues for the changes in what we thought was right even if its unpopular and gets corrected at the next annual meeting in Las Vegas (should be a fun meeting).
I don’t think I would ever want Pidge’s responsibilities and I would offer to help him more but I’m drowning in my own job. And for those who offer QMA/Regional/Club officials less than constructive criticism, please try to realize that they are the ones with their keisters hanging out to dry on the line. They are working at it (right or wrong)!
Delegate the work you say? Believe me, I’m trying to toss the monkey when ever I get the chance. We need a paid staff you say? Well how many people do you think it would take to do the Secretary’s job? One, maybe two? How about a paid President? And how many for Marketing? Do you want a separate person to chase sponsorships? And then another to just handle articles, ads, and art? How about one more person to do electronic communication and writing those letters back to the little kids who write in? Maybe a full-time book-keeper and another one for Tech/Safety. Lets see, hmmm, we could use say about six people? Pay ‘em about $35,000 to $40,000 per year? Ooops, double it for overhead and taxes. Well now that means that we can all start by paying $225,000.00 annually. That is $300 per year, each, for next year’s QMA dues. Yikes, its only $25 per year now. Of course that won’t cover any expenses for marketing, travel or a permanent office.
We’re not trying to be cynical or scary here. Its just that we need to realize the value we get when someone takes the time off their real job for three or four weeks (unpaid), to attend the Grands like Pidge Gill and Steve Schmidt did. Harold Lambert, Karen Autunno and Denise Schlegel were at the Grands too!
As far Publicity goes, I’m trying my best. It is a job that is bigger than one person. Early in the year we focused on QMA external advertising. Artwork was developed and ads were placed in national racing publications. Results were dismal but ideas for more efficient ads were developed. In the meantime, we shifted gears to get the April, June, September and November issues of the Quarter Reporter written, copied and mailed (2,500 issues each). We also had the opportunity to make the Main Event Checkered Flags for each class at every Grands event (presented to the winning driver). We (I say that like I have some kind of staff - ha), also developed patches for all three Grands that were distributed to the drivers for free. We moved our official QMA internet site to the "www.quartermidgets.com", a QMA member developed site. Several other marketing tools were employed (toll-free QMA phone, QMA hats, etc.), but the greatest success was developing an article for Midget Racing News (MRN). This three page article generated just as many inquiries as our national advertisements.
Additionally, we have found out through feedback from Club level publicity directors what works and what doesn’t. DISPLAYS WORK! National ads don’t. Local clubs need literature (and promotional items), to hand out to their walk-ups at their displays. To meet this demand, QMA Publicity has streamlined the successful MRN article and included it in this publication to give all members the ability to copy it and pass it around. It is still in development so all constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (714) 896-4859 days (I can call you right back if necessary).
I also believe that we should rename QMA Publicity to QMA Marketing. Lets open up the QMA Bylaws and form a National Committee of four individuals that will handle (1) Advertising, (2) Promotions, (3) Sponsorships and (4) Com-munications (electronic and printed). We should send these four individuals to attend all three of the Grands for internal marketing as well. I believe that we should still have an overall Marketing Director to coordinate their efforts, participate on QMA telecons, vote on the BOD, etc. This next person (I don’t plan on running for Publicity again), will benefit from the added assistance.
While we are at it, lets not forget to mention all the mountains of work that Denise Schlegel has in front of her as National Secretary (it must be tough giving up her personal life!) Although, her job will be slightly easier with a new computer program to handle the membership database.
Its true that there have been many unfortunate incidents of Club, Regional and National Treasurers using our funds for personal use. Fortunately we have the services of Karen Autunno who can always account for our funds in a responsible manner. She puts in plenty of time doing other duties for QMA too! Sure, I’ve had my ups and downs with Karen, but that just goes to show that we don’t rubber-stamp every issue that comes up before the BOD.
So help those people who are offering up their time so that your children can have this sport to remember for the rest of their life. It is so easy to dislike our leaders (or their style). It is so hard to realize that these jobs are more intimidating than the IRS to them. If those officials are complaining that "they have to do all the work", then they are probably overloaded and may not know how to delegate so well (maybe me too)! Give us the benefit of the doubt and help us. Even if we pretend that we don’t want the help. Even when we pretend that we know everything. That way grownups can have this sport to remember for the rest of their life. In a good way!
By: Michael Tierney
