[Chris 96 WS6]

Welcome Autocrossers and Road Racers.

This board came about because it seemed you guys needed a new home, and I had the opportunity to host a board free of charge to serve this purpose.

The board is hosted on the web account of the Middle Tennessee F-Body Association, our main page is http://www.mtfba.org and our own forums are at http://www.mtfba.org/forum.

A little background on me:

I am the Executive Director of the MTFBA (we don't have an elected president per se). In my day job I work for a government relations/lobbyist consulting firm in Nashville, TN. I have never autocrossed or road raced, but I have been dying too, just haven't had the chance yet.

Some of you will also remember me as the owner/operator of the short lived Nashville Speed & Performance web-based performance parts business. During that time I had the pleasure of being the exclusive retailer for Bob Bishop's (lateapex) C5 brake upgrade.

My thoughts for this message board are that you, the users, will help form it into what it will be. I envision a general discussion section, followed by some specific forums for Autocross and Road Racing respectively, then perhaps some technical discussions on suspension, chassis and braking. Basically I'd like to give you guys a more detailed discussion forum that breaks out the major topics in these two genres rather than lumping all of it into 1 forum.

I'd also like to get some sponsorships in here eventually, so if any vendors are reading, get in touch with me.

I'm going to have a good friend of mine, Lee Willmann, as the co-administrator here. Lee is the editor of MTFBA's quarterly newsletter and in his day job works with php and mySQL, so he is more of the technical expert whereas I am just the facilitator of things.

I also want the members to think of a name for this forum. I can inexpensively reserve a URL which can be directed straight to this board...I dunno...www.fbodyracing.net or something? So lets discuss that as well.

That's all for now, I'll check in from time to time, hopefully learn a lot from you guys and eventually meet some of you at a road racing or autoX event.

Chris Renner

[Chris 96 WS6]

I agree with you Rob.  I think sponsors (advertisers) would be fine if they understood up front that they would be treated like every other member, and their products would be critiqued just like the products of non-sponsors.  The only consideration they should get for their money, is that they would get to have a little ad/link somewhere.  If their knowledge, products, and customer service are good, they would have nothing to fear.  Their expertise would be an asset to the board, and the association would be mutually beneficial.

In my opinion,
Bob

That is my thinking on sponsors exactly. They need to realize sponsoring the board does not make them immune to criticism, particulary due to a flawed or bad product or poor cust. service. I would not look at the sponsorships as a paycheck, so I think we'd have the freedom to tell a sponsor "if you don't like it, end your sponsorship." and not suffer any damage due to lost revenue.

Sponsorship should get you 2 things: Posting privileges in the classifieds section for sales and GPs, and to get your banner on the site for visibility. That should be as far as it goes.

I get sick of all the magazines that do articles on new parts for sponsors...its sort of an "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" thing. The vendor agrees to take out a very healthy add in a given issue in exchange for an article with favorable opinions. I would like to see this forum be fair and truthful above all else, and if that means upsetting a sponsor, so be it.