Time for restructuring????
 

Okay folks, I'm going to vent for a bit.

I've been hoping to see some change in the group for some time. I've consistently attended Bay Area meets when I could. I've gathered folks from Central Valley, sometimes well, sometimes not so well.

What I've found is that there are a core group of people that really do love driving their cars and meeting other like-minded folks. People that will go out of their way to go to a meet-up. However, those people are few and far between here.

Living in the Central Valley, two hours from Dublin, I have made it to the monthly meet up quite a bit. However, with the exception of Finch, I've not seen a single bay area person make the same trek out to the valley for a meet up. Even our awesome ride through Yosemite with the Datsun Roadsters ended up only having five 86's

Yes, it's far. Yes, there a lot of folks even within the Valley that don't want to drive 1 hour from Fresno to Merced, or Modesto to Merced. Much less Modesto to Fresno or vice-versa.

I think that this separation of the group should be reflected in the tilting. Perhaps "NorCal 86" should encompass the larger group as it does now, and that group should be dissected into smaller groups. So, you'd have the larger NorCal 86. Divided to Bay Area, Sac/North, Central Valley. Then you can subdivide those groups as the Bay Area already has. East Bay, South Bay, Etc. Central Valley can divide into North Valley / South Valley.

Maybe we can see better inclusion, more activity in the currently inactive Central Valley, and hopefully less of the feeling of exclusivity from the Bay Area folks.


Just a thought...

I'll duck now, while the barrage comes...

:scared0016:

I did a fabulous drive last weekend starting from Modesto, headed out to Henderson Park in Snelling (Merced county) and then took a couple of fantastic and familiar roads up to Angel's Camp/Murphys and then back to Modesto.

I would like to do a few more of these runs like this and have hosted quite a few runs through the foothills with Modesto/Turlock/Merced as the starting/ending points. Less traffic, a few less bikes and still time to boogie home and have a great afternoon back in the bay.

Eric G

Our sac86 group is pretty active. We meet once a month and we usually alternate between sac and Stockton. We're not that active on the forum but on Facebook since it's more real time communication. We have over 100+ members on the group but about 20 or so that are really active and actually attend meets and such.

I think us Stockton folks are more active than the sac folks................:scared0016:

I can speak for most Stockton guys that we would be willing to drive out to Tracy or Modesto for meets.

@Byoki, @Gee, @BunnyRZed

@sdlynx

Although I am an (elected) Board member of NorCal86, this is my own personal opinion on these matters.

I'm sorry that you feel there is some exclusivity feelings from the Bay Area community. I think you described the problem perfectly, including the reasons why this is so.

I guess I'm not exactly sure what it is you are asking for.

NorCal86 has always been intended to encompass the larger group and was never meant to be an exclusive organization. It's open to all owners and even non-owners who are enthusiasts with the same interests or intents. No one has ever said that others could not start or spin off their own more local communities that do their own things. It's more of an overarching community that does a few things a year like a big annual (Summer) meet, and the toydrive, etc. That leaves plenty of room for a more local group to form and do what it wants to do on a more regular basis. You see that already happening with the Sacramento group, the South Bay group, the South SF/Daly City group, and the East Bay group. And it looks like a new North Bay 707 group is starting to form with a successful meet last night. The success or failure of these "sub-groups" of course rides on the efforts of individuals. Someone volunteers to set up these meets, drives, or other events. Others decide to go, or not to go join them. Although there are NorCal86 Board members who are "official" leaders of the overarching community, it is not necessarily their responsibility to lead or organize the local communities. That is a more organic process better left to each individual community.

Most if not all of these subgroups have taken to Facebook to better organize their own local groups, for various reasons. Some of us even use other social media like Instagram or Youtube, or private websites as well to spread news and invite others to join us. That's all part of the organic process and of course again relies on the efforts of enthusiastic individuals who volunteer to take on these tasks.

I guess the general point is, if you don't like the way things are going, the only way to invoke change is to voice your opinion (which I see you doing right here, and I commend that), but more importantly, take action. Call more frequent meets and drives in your area, spread the word every way you can, invite people well in advance. Give them more reasons to come out and fewer excuses to not come out. That is what helps drive a community forward and grow. March is rapidly approaching and with that, an opportunity to elect new members to the NorCal86 Board. We will probably begin discussions about that soon and begin soliciting more input and seek out those who wish to volunteer their time to help lead this wonderful community.

-p.

I know I'm down for Tracy and Modesto area meets. :party0030:

I believe this is already happening in a sense with the Facebook groups which seem to work better for smaller locals. The forum is just not as active it seems. Local areas run their own meets and Norcal86 is here for the big stuff (ToyDRIVE, Summer Kickoff, etc). None of the 3 Bay Area weekly meets, 2 Bay Area monthly meets, or Sacramento/Stockton monthly meet is organized or run by Norcal86.

I think the biggest problem you stated yourself, Fresno people aren't even willing to drive and hour to Merced. It is hard to get people to drive two hours if there is not a high likelyhood of a decent turnout on a consistant basis. The weather recently is definitely of no help. If we could get better turnouts locally in the southern Central Valley we could maybe get a Bi-monthly or quartly large meet in Modesto or Merced.

I also think that planning a Summer Drive would be a great idea. I know we are planning to get more sanctioned Drive events in the Sacramento area and up in the foothills. This would give people greater reason to get involved in 86Drive which is a little mroe Bay Area-centric due to road locations. But it takes people like you to plan these routes since nobody knows them. I would be good with working with you and the Sac group to plan some Central Valley star earning Drives to give more incentive to participate (with @PMok's blessing of course). I currently have been trying to utilize social media better so maybe we can brainstorm sometime on how to help CenCal specifically.

A lot of this comes down to just setting a date and people will come, it's the talking about it constantly that drags it out and people lose interest.

To be honest, I gave up on the fresno.
I'll keep my own opinions to myself about Fresno "enthusiasts".

I've been happy with doing things with people in the Fresno SCCA.

I think the only thing you can really do is build the community in your area and hope for the best. Once you build a good up a good community, the rest will fall into place.

Definitely interested in branching out and trying new routes this summer. :thumbup:

I totally understand your feelings. The SF/Peninsula group at one point had 4-5 people show up. Now, our average attendance is higher.

My fear is that our growth trajectory will not continue. People drop in and out for many reasons (moving away, new job, family commitments, schedule conflicts, etc.). Our local group needs to grow to a size which is self-sustaining. We are nowhere close to that.

Just in the small 49 square miles of the city of San Francisco, I have identified at least five 86's in SF. I left a note and a business card. I even talked to one owner. I really lost on the reasoning of why so many owners do not come out even when they live nearby.

I hate to say it but there are a lot of people who buy this car that simply aren't automotive enthusiasts. they just happen to like the car and decided to buy it.

about the only way to grow a group is to keep on waving, saying hi and dropping notes on the cars of new people. got to be patient and determined.

Very true. The fact is our cars will be fairly common and not everyone is an enthusiast.
Take the Mustang as an example. You see tons of them out there but I bet only a tiny fraction of them are active on an online car forum or participate in some kind of car club. The rest just drive it because it's a cool car and they could afford it.


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Fixed my name Boon lol.

But yea I agree with everyone who's posted here so far and I totally understand how you feel as well. I couldn't agree anymore than what @Sypher said, there's a select few of us who are enthusiast and a handful of people who just pick up the car. With our group here in Sac/Stockton, we have 100+ members and only a handful show up to our monthly and sometimes weekly meets we host and that's ok. With time and a lot of waves and talking your region up, the crowd will come. Consistency is key and I hope the group in Central Valley builds up into a big group. Hopefully us Sac86 people will eventually make a trek down and support you guys, I know I'm down to drive out your way whenever a free weekend comes about, Good luck!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::cheers:

Edit: No reason to duck haha, we're(most) all good people here and everyone has a right to voice their concerns.

I've not been active lately. This last years been pretty bad, I'm hoping to be able to make at least a few meets this year, and start to be able to go to the monthly meets in Merced or Modesto. I've literally only had enough money to drive to and from work for about the last 5-6 months.