Re: Q-Club Expenses..Track Events et al...(long)

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek.com>]

On Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:42:26 -0400, Paul Royal wrote:

>Dear Listers,
>
>     I am a member of QC-USA and I had became troubled by a lot
>of the rhetoric seen on this list with particular regard to the clubs
>financial position and history. [ ... delete remainder of post ... ]

Paul, I appreciate your thoughtful appraisal of the QCUSA. My
own general impression of the club, formed over several years
of association, generally conforms to your description. I feel
that the QCUSA is slowly but surely emerging from the original
Frank Beddor admiration society and VAG sales arm phase.
(I was never particularly upset by that anyway since Big Frank
and his buddies were paying the bills.) Like you, I do not smell
a financial conspiracy, only a kind of political ineptitude.
Statements to the effect that club membership dues are, by
definition, some kind of ripoff are plain silly.

On the other hand, the leadership has not done a particularly
good job of involving the membership in the club's internal
affairs.  I have never been asked to nominate someone
for office, for example, nor ever been asked to vote on anything.
Although I'm confident that the board members became board
members primarily on the basis of intense personal interest and
involvement, not to mention living in Minnesota,  from my
perspective they just sort of appear out of thin air. (Yes, I do
understand that we Coloradans now have a representative on
the board.) The QCUSA, per se, feels very remote to me. If
not for the good folks in my local region with whom I've been
privileged to associate, I would have lost interest long ago. I
have found far more Audi camaraderie among local, nonmember
motor heads Only a fortunate or determined few of us are able to
traipse all over the country to attend club events let alone to
attend the Audi winter driving school in Austria. Not me.

Ironically, sanctioning track events on a national level comprises
the bulk of what the club has to offer most folks. Unless
members succeed in establishing active local chapters,
there's not much to do until the QCUSA Road Show comes to
your area. So far, the club's ranks are too thin in most places
to make that feasible.  The Quattro Quarterly is somewhat
interesting at best. Readers are made aware of Audi resources
thanks to the advertising but the magazine has no technical
depth. Even Uncle John's articles are too general to be of
interest to anyone actually considering modifying their ride.
You can only read so many "We had really great fun at Brainard
again this year!" stories with any interest.

I could go on, but my point is that it is not clear to me whom
the club and it's publication serves.  It is fairly clear that, as a
national organization, it is not likely to serve to many of the
active contributors to this list since the list itself provides
an "Audi home" and is vastly more informative. So I pays me
40 ducats each year so that I can join the Audi gang at the
track now and then and to try to keep the national flame alive
long enough for it to mature into a worthy organization. 
The resurgence in popularity of the marque in this county
will probably help. Similarly, a successful national club will
help the marque.

DeWitt Harrison    de@aztek.com
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq             QCUSA # 184