"i recall someone from the club telling me it wasnt really the clubs concern/job to help out the class"
Except that of course it isn't really the club's job to support any class, rather to support all the classes by the provision of the facility to the highest possible standard.
Within that, it's the job of those racing to organise and increase their class. Often this is done by commercial traders, who will obviously promote their own interest, but it is better done by the drivers, for teh drivers. If one person takes up the reins and keeps pushing, as at Clay, then so much the better.
Obviously if the drivers of a particular class have a number of issues with the club, then it is useful for a drivers' rep to be in regular contact with the club, perhaps as a member of the committee. This shouldn't then be seen as the club's responsibility, it is still the drivers' responsibility to promote their own class and to maintain communication.
It's much the same with championships. The NKRA was approached by some TKM drivers who wanted to have a clubman championships at which they could compete, rather than at S1 level which has different criteria.
Those drivers were told that providing they could get 10 drivers willing to take part in one area and ensure a grande final with at least 10 entries, then the NKRA would add the class to the championships.
So far there has been little apparent interest, with some drivers saying that it is the NKRA's job to go out and 'get the drivers'. Yet were one to campaign for the NKRA on the grid, I'm sure there would be even more drivers who would take offence. Yet fundamentally, if someone wants to have an NKRA TKM class it should be they who promote it and interest others in their grid.
Just as it is the job of drivers within a club to promote their class, not the job of the club to promote a class for them. (Though it may be teh job of the club to increase their overall entries by having loyalty days and the like.)
And, lastly, having been there in a grid of three on many occasions, it's only by being there that one gets the grid any bigger. One things for sure, the club cannot run grids of zero however low they make the price.
And yes, it is a problem sometimes. I know of one club who aren't or don't seem interested in running small or combined grids, but isn't it better to run one race with two grids of four rather than insist on eight of each in independent grids. There seem to be a small number of drivers in the area who currently don't go to the club because a) the drivers aren't MSA and b) the club doesn't run the grid. However it appears that a) and b) are linked, with no local MSA grid, the drivers don't want to spend the extra money. The club on the other hand say that if they saw signs of genuine interest, they might run a grid.
It's chicken and egg.
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