GS Nationals Dying

Re: GS Nationals dieing

lol ok:TU: You made my point for me, kudos to you!

 

I can't believe how many people are spelling dying wrong. I also think that the breakup between TA Performance and the GSCA club is what started the downfall of the GS club.

It all started with the lifter crashing stuff. TA Performance is just what it is, a Buick performance parts vendor. The GSCA was more in tune with street oriented parts. Then the argument came about the lifter crashing stuff over each one's camshafts. GSCA never should have kicked TA out of their magazine.

I thought Buick brothers all stood together. There are barely enough of us as it is and now we need to combine forces with Pontiac and Olds just to stay alive? If the GSCA wants to stay alive they should make up with TA performance and TA should make up with GSCA and we will have a bigger event.:beers2:

 

Time for this thread to be locked and deleted. It is serving no useful purpose.


DL

 

It's tough watching this sorta stuff,an already small group splintering...I need to get back in the Carolinas Chapter and get back in touch...

 

I live in Northern Canada, closest board member is 7 hours away. I'm gonna start the Northern BC chapter. Me and the guy with the opel. I've always wanted to go to an event thats big and buick related. The tow bill would put my daughter through college.

 

Pontiac may be dead but their Tri Power Nationals is enormous, the biggest single marquee event at Norwalk for years now. The only event bigger nationwide is Mopar Nationals. Pontiac has no intention of merging their event and neither does Olds, both of which are run at Norwalk. Reaon I know is last summer I was approached by a few Buick V8 vendors wanting to start a BOP race and neither of the other two events want to merge at all. Pontiac is a huge event with 600-800 cars racing and at least 300-400 in the show, pits packed with cars and parts for sale and spectators as far as the eye can see.

Buick has the Regal GS out now, or really just hitting dealers and rumors are rampant at GM of the impending launch of the GN. Many of the members are older and the cars are becoming garage queens because of the cost of restoration, economy, fuel prices, fear of accidents/breaking cars, all on a case by case basis. I hit the GS Nats from 89-94 and then 96-03 with my father and then work and living on the west coast has stopped me from attending. I hope next year to attend and see how it is. I was watching old tape of the street racing from 2000 and i hear its nothing like it used to be with cruising and packed parking lot at Autozone on Scottsdale Road.

Also the cost of attending any event is not cheap nor will it go down. I helped the BPG this year in being the vendor/donor coordinator and we raised over $11k in gift certs and cash payouts, brought in Precision Turbo as a donor/vendor and also companies who had never attended our event, G-Body Parts and some non Buick donors like Toy Barn Cars and RDP Motorsport and Pro Car who are into performance cars but were never approached previously to contributing to our event. We have done several reunion events and brought in all the main players of the V6 turbo crowd who had never before been to an event all in one place other than a GM factory. I was very proud of that fact. I also am a member of the GSCA and have been for years, my father since 1984/85 and he is still a member as well. We have an older membership base as few 29 year olds like myself are into these cars unless you went to events and basically grew up with these cars. You go to LS Fest in BG or Indy its all people from high school age up to 80 years old participating, racing, showing, etc. Yes its an obvious apples and oranges comparison as to the number of Chevy owners vs Buick owners but they are going towards autocross, drifting, etc to keep people excited and interested in attending and participating and also bringing in spectators which is what powers the revenue of any event: spectator gate revenue.

GSCA needs to get the fire and spark back as the recent theft story will not leave the minds of TR and GS owners anytime soon. Its a great event, i have always had fun but things need to change. If not regional events will become the norm and big events will die as particularly for Buicks we have more events than ever and few participants attending for a variety of reasons. Must be innovative and try new things and become interactive with the community.

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

There is alot of people that love the event, these people can set aside the politic's and have a great time at BG. Most of those people are also not willing to jump in here and get attacked like you just did to Heavy D.

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

Brad, o No: can you PM me and let me know what you did to meo No: I hope were still friends, I think you are a stand up old school buick guy. Chris

 

Devon,
you have to know the whole history behind all of this to understand why i find it very amusing.
john

 

I am going to chime in to my thoughts of the few that say they have no agenda - but the majority here knows that they do.

You complain left and right about how you want improvements etc. You are NOT a member of the GSCA. Why in the world are they ever going to listen to you? Join the club and speak as a paying member. Get your buddies all together and speak as a group of paying members and maybe they will listen to you. Until then, you have no say so of what goes on. Have you not read that a group of MEMBERS got together and requested that the Nationals be moved to October? Guess what, it is in October and I do not see it going back to the spring.

You say that you want things better for all of us... You want the club to go away and you have told many people exactly that. Those people will not come on the board and state that in fear of your antics to cause ever so much harassment to them. You live your life hiding behind a keyboard antagonizing people and never show up at the events. The GSCA has no responsibility to be on this board answering you.

If you have a problem with the way things are going, pick up your GSXTRA and call the club number on the back and speak to them. Plain and simple! And this is a request that I make to everyone that feels there needs to be some improvement. Be productive and not just a criticizer of what you have not given any idea of how to improve to the people that can change things.

BTW, I am NOT a spokesperson for the club! I am just a member that does want to help and appreciates having a great time at the Nationals seeing old friends and enjoying a great pastime with Buicks.

I want to say THANKS to everyone that gave time and/or money to keep this event going. It is very much appreciated by most all of us. The sad part is we are not seeing the appreciation being said here as it needs to be. There are people that feel their time is not appreciated and we need all to step up and show this is not true.


Mike

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

Yeah, but Pontiac aint doin so good now:eek2: :3gears:

 

i dont think they will die just get slower
the economy is getting everyone.........

that being said
i have been told the gsca is a business not a club?
the club/business sold the nationals to someone named Bennett.....?
apparently making a profit overrides eveything else.....?

since you now dont have to be a club member to attend or race anymore so
i have not renewed my membership and dont forsee renewing anytime in the near future(since the club and the nationals are two seperate entities)
that makes the club just a magazine subscription(6 iassues a year for $40.00)so now they both sound like a business.......

2010 i raced in bracket had a ball(i won also)prize was a plaque and cash

this year my car was broke but i had a back up car but it was super slow
so i looked up the payouts for this year and found that all brackets would get a gift certificate only.......didn't sound right so when i got to BG i went to the tent and asked what the payout would be this year.......
i was told " we dont know sponsorship was low this year"
the next day i asked again and was told "it depends on how many enter"
so you see i could not get a straight answer for two days when they already knew there would be no cash payout to any of the bracket racers.....

me personaly i will not be renewing my membership
and if they dont have a payout next year i will not be racing anymore at the nats
if i want to race i can go to beech bend and race every tues for $10.00

this is just my own personal opinion if it offends anyone sorry..........

scott

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

Until you start attending events and paying dues you have not earned the right to bitch about them!

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

Jim, sorry I missed this post until now. For what ever reason I don't get instant e-mails even though I updated my e-mail address. The new place is great thank- you. :beers2: I would like to bounce a few things off you, PM coming your way.

 

I talked to Richard Lasiter, El President' of that club and relayed some of what I read here and his answer was sponsorship or lack of it. It cost 30K to rent that facility for the event and theres no money left for payouts. Your never gonna make money or get rich racing at an event like this. His attitude was something like We do it as a way for the Buick community to come together not for profit. If they break even on the expenses its a success. I believe they lost money this year.

 

WOW $30k is WAAAY to much. I can rent Heartland Park Topeka for $4000 a day..... And have FULL staffing. Not to mention a high end track. Someone is getting lied too. Im just sayin....

 

Dallas makes him buy the circle track area and nickles and dimes costs on the club for use of the track. Its a shame BG is nice but its not even close to being a Norwalk type facility: never has and never will! RL and myself had several phone conversations prior to this year's GS Nats about the cost of track rental for his club. It costs GSCA more to rent Beech Bend then it does for BPG to rent National Trail. Too bad.

 

Hi Michael

Many who have voiced their complaints are ex-members. Do you not think their reasons for leaving are valid concerns ? Shouldn't the owners of the GSCA care about why their members are leaving ?

Regards ...

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

Does this mean that the fact that the nats are faultering falls squarely on the shoulders of the members?

If you had a business that was failing, would you not welcome advice from anyone who was willing to help, or only from those who have walked through the front door?

As I understand it, you don't have to be a member to attend or to participate, so why in the world would they not listen to suggestions from everyone?

 

Re: GS Nationals dieing

No guess I should have said if you dont attend an event then you dont get to compain about