Prepared by the Competition Board
Contrary to popular belief, it is neither the Competition Board nor the Board of Directors who are responsible for the rules and regulations under which Club Racing operates. Odd though it may seem, it is you, the member, who is responsible for today's rules. How could this be? Well, let's examine how the process works.

STEP 1
A member, be they a competitor or an official, has a concern (e.g. "My car is not fast enough" or "his/her car is too fast" or "I can't possibly wave five flags at once" or "all I do is look at other people's underwear," etc.). Thus a letter is written, preferably to Club Racing at the National Office in Englewood, where the staff records its receipt and distributes it to each member of the appropriate advisory committee and each member of the Competition Board.
STEP 2
The advisory committee members individually review each member's input and recommend a course of action to the chairman of that committee. The chairman then consolidates the responses and in turn makes a recommendation to the Competition Board.
Where there is not an advisory committee appropriate to the subject, the Competition Board will consider the matter themselves.
STEP 3
The Competition Board convenes each month via a conference call and considers the recommendations forwarded by the various advisory committees. Since the members of the advisory committees are often closest to the action, their views carry a lot of weight.
Each month the Competition Board will publish in FasTrack the results of their deliberations. Typically these fall into five categories:
Rule Changes - A rule change typically affects an entire class, a method of car construction, or the manner in which a competitive event is conducted. The Competition Board is not authorized to unilaterally implement rule changes, they can only recommend that the Board of Directors approves them. They are published in FasTrack and 30-60 days should elapse to allow all affected parties to submit their comments, either directly to the National Office or to their Area director (or both).
Competition Adjustments - Unlike a rule change, competition adjustments typically affect only one make of car and often are a reward for overachieving. In an ideal world, all cars within a class would take the checkered flag in line abreast. In reality, car preparation levels and drivers skills vary to such a degree that one-make dominance can occur. When it does, the Competition Board will act to slow down the front runners and/or speed up the back markers. This is usually accomplished through changes in weight and/or the diameter of the carburetor venturi or a restrictor in the throttle body on fuel injected models.
The Runoffs® is only one of the many criteria used to determine the need for a competition adjustment. Race results from around the country are analyzed and of course the advisory committees are a major source of input in these deliberations.
Competition adjustments are published in FasTrack Technical Bulletins and unless stated otherwise, become effective the first of the cover month.
Tabled Items - These are subjects which the letter writer has not provided enough details for a decision to be reached. They will be returned to the originator for additional information and will be placed back on the Competition Board's agenda once it is received. This category also includes items returned to an advisory committee for a rethink.
Errors and Omissions - An E&O is just that, a correction of a typo, misplaced decimal points (95" brake rotors on a Bugeye!), or recently received information from a manufacturer providing missing or incorrect information in current publications.
Clarifications - While the Competition Board, when they write a rule, understand it totally and there is no doubt in the Board of Directors minds when they approved it, more than a few competitors will interpret it in a completely unimaginable manner. Thus a clarification is born. A clarification cannot result in a substantive alteration of a rule, merely an expression of its original intent. If it appears that a clarification will result in a totally new meaning, then it becomes in effect a rule change.
STEP 4
The Board of Directors (BoD) meets four times a year and part of their agenda is devoted to considering those recommended items, taking into account the comments of their constituents. The BoD may also establish when a particular recommendation is to become effective. Normally, this would be January 1 of next year, but special circumstances may demand more immediate implementation.
The actions arising from the BoD meetings are also published in the FasTrack section of SportsCar - your magazine - which effectively completes the process, bringing it right back to where it all started - with you, the member.
While all of the steps in this process are member-driven, none is perhaps more important than the role played by the members of the various advisory committees. For this reason, an explanation of their composition is in order. A typical advisory committee comprises six members, one of whom is selected chairman. They are invariably avid competitors with a strong technical knowledge and, in addition, a sense of where the class should be headed in the future. Selection is geographical in nature to the greatest extent practical in order to ensure the widest possible points of view are presented.
Members serve for approximately three years so as to ensure a continuing influx of new ideas. If you feel you have something to contribute in this arena, send a brief resume to Sven Pruett at Club Racing for future consideration. The names and addresses of current advisory committee members appear in the sidebar accompanying this article.
Unlike an advisory committee, the Competition Board does not necessarily strive for geographic representation, although this is certainly a consideration. Of primary importance is the specialized knowledge each member must possess with respect to a specific class of vehicles. And, of course, a vision of the future.
In addition to the monthly telephone calls, the Competition Board meets face-to-face three times a year - February, May and November/December. The membership have an opportunity to express their views in person twice a year - at the Club Racing Town Hall meeting at the National Convention and again at the Runoffs®.
Though not an absolute requirement, the members of an advisory committee are a natural gene pool for future Competition Board members, so if this is an area which interests you, send in your resume and get involved with an advisory committee.