Da Groj

(I'm actually more of a Star Trek fan, but I couldn't resist.)

Let me be the first to welcome Jonny Schneider to FAST!
He has volunteered to take over the leadership role that we need. We met with him Wednesday evening, and we have confidence that with all of our help, he can do this.

He comes to us with:
- a little bit of autocross experience (with FAST)
- some genuine European rally organizational experience
- a TON of enthusiasm and motivation
- a little bit of capital
- business admin experience
- did I mention enthusiasm and motivation?

Now, it's important to note WHY he volunteered. It's simply because FAST (that's YOU guys, not just us) left such a good impression on him as a new autocrosser a couple years ago. He has a deep love of motorsports, and wants to see FAST continue. It's as simple as that!

But, he's going to need our help! Sure, Steve and I are going to be there holding his hand while he gets FAST back on its feet. Of course, you know it takes more than that. A lot more.

For the best chance at success he's going to need a dedicated "crew" of people to be reliably at each event to help make stuff happen. If any of the old "crew" wants to volunteer, that would be great! If you're interested in filling one of those roles, don't hesitate to volunteer. But, we really need those hardcore "gonna be there 99% of the time, come rain, shine, cold, heat, or football season" types for this. Main roles will be "Timing", "Course Setup", "Safety" and "Registration"... and we need primaries, alternates, and trainees. These people will be the fingers on Jonny's right hand. Remember, he doesn't have the experience to pull this off without you! If you're willing to commit to one of those roles, let us know.

There are other tasks that it would be good to have volunteers for that don't require that same level of "every event" commitment. If you have adequate experience, we could use help with:
- Equipment Maintenance
- Website Maintenance
- Forum Admin
- Facebook Admin
- Trailer Tow
- Course Design
- Event Chairmen
- Site Acquisition Committee

Aaaaand... a few people have offered, and likely more have thought about it... if you'd like to help out financially, Jonny might be interested in that, too. He's willing to "go it alone", but just like many hands make light work, many wallets make a lighter financial burden!

Jonny's looking into insurance ASAP, and will be setting up the business end of things shortly thereafter. Assuming site availability, it's possible we could see an event as early as mid-January!

Take it away, Jonny!

Welcome! Save us! Lol

Thank you for the warm welcome Loren! You did a better job than I ever will in explaining why I volunteered to pick Fast up from where you and Steve left off. It’s my intention to get things back up and running pretty much exactly as you guys were running them since it was a well oiled machine.

I’m what you would endearingly refer to as a “total noob”. I’ve put up some rally events when I was living in Europe and I’m hoping this will have some resemblance to that (minus the gravel and dirt because that means someone went off course). Loren and Steve have shared tons of their knowledge and I’ve been drinking from a firehose but hang with me if things are a bit bumpy at first. The biggest hurtle for me personally is my inexperience with the autocross scene. Therefore, I’m hoping the crew of regulars that know what they are doing is willing to help things get back up and running. Did I already mention how inexperienced I am? I also suck at driving. Okay, that’s out of the way.

Take this with a big grain of Himalayan pink salt, but we are shooting for a “reopening of FAST” event in mid/late January!

I will try to post regularly in the forum with updates on milestones such as securing event insurance, booking a venue, etc. I’m hoping to get the administrative stuff done fairly swiftly so that we can focus on reuniting the core members of FAST and figuring out who wants to help with what. Perhaps meeting up a few weeks prior to the targeted date is a good idea, but one baby step at a time.

Fingers crossed that we can make this all work. Worst case, we get everyone back out for an event, Loren and Steve put some rubber down, they get that thrill back and decide to run things again! (Joking, but maybe???)

Thanks again for the warm welcome! Looking forward to meeting you all soon!

I know one thing I, as well as many others would love to see, is getting us back in at Brooksville. It seems other clubs are running there so something might be able to be done.

Funny you say that because that's the one venue I came to a few times and I LOVED it! Steve says there might be a shot at getting back there. Will definitely try.

Congratulations Jonny! This news is definitely something to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving day
Looking forward to seeing your updates as things progress.

Dan

Jsnani11 wrote:Funny you say that because that's the one venue I came to a few times and I LOVED it! Steve says there might be a shot at getting back there. Will definitely try.

The lakeland location is great, but I just miss Brooksville.

Looks like I need to work harder on getting the car ready!

What Loren said.
Tons of potential here, folks. Let's get behind Jonny and make it happen!

Quick update. Ken brought me up to speed on insurance yesterday over the phone. We are going to try and meet up next week so we can chat but he will send me a few quotes of what he found when doing research.
Dan volunteered with course set-up.
I’ve got a buddy with a truck that will tow the trailer.

Teamwork! Rock on!

This is the best thing I've heard all year. Someone buy this man a beer.

As long as I can score a ride in something else, I could help with trailer towing though I cannot store it. I can also help out with timing/scoring.

Good to see you guys getting back on track !

I moved down to North Ft Myers in June so I have gulf coast in my backyard.

Charles wrote:Good to see you guys getting back on track !

I moved down to North Ft Myers in June so I have gulf coast in my backyard.

Still have the 240 ?

Solar wrote:

Charles wrote:Good to see you guys getting back on track !

I moved down to North Ft Myers in June so I have gulf coast in my backyard.

Still have the 240 ?

Yep, might run it for 2021 season and sell it.
Parts are getting hard to find and values seem to be going up


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Charles wrote: Yep, might run it for 2021 season and sell it.
Parts are getting hard to find and values seem to be going up

No kidding, I’ve been working on a “restore” for mine, searching for parts on a daily basis for the last 6 months, interior is done and it’s going to the body shop next week for body work and re-painted. I think I have one of the few rust free ones left out there.

Any updates?!?! Went to the SCCA event in Lakeland a couple of weeks ago. It was sold out and so is the upcoming event in February. Unfortunately, SCCA doesn't have any more autoX events scheduled in the Tampa area for the remainder of the year. So that tells you there are still plenty of people in the area looking to autoX.

I've been reluctant to post this, but Jonny is out. Worried about COVID and insurance costs, and very likely just over his head with his aspirations. That's fine.

So, as of right now, we're in a holding pattern until somebody picks it up. You wanna do it? Let us know.

Take a step back and read This Thread again.

There's NEVER been any doubt that FAST could fire right back up again and sell out events. Just need somebody who's willing to step up and make it happen. I'm rather enjoying NOT doing it after doing it for 20 years, myself.

You guys keep on trying.
I haven't checked in for months.
Glad you kept the site up.
Brooksville is totally dead. The airport manager moved on and they shut down all racing due to expansion.
If you want to autocross you'll have to run X class with Porsche at SPC or Venice, etc. Or drive to Lakeland SCCA.

I have been James the Butler for my Alzheimer's wife for the last 3 year's. Life says: "Bend over I'll drive you home." Thanks life.