PREZ SAYS

The Day After

As I gather my thoughts after HS #3, a couple things come to mind which I kind of knew already. One was the amount of effort, time and planning it takes to host one of these events and two, the appreciation shown by the membership. I put together another article in this issue that kind of explains “The beginning”.

Moving forward, FTR has reached new heights as our membership has climbed to an all time high and along with our participation numbers we have reached a level where our parking has become a number one concern. Some of our upcoming race locations will require us to use every available sq.ft available. I touched on this last month but it has really become a reality as the Skeleton Scramble was absolutely full in the parking area and was actually parking down the drive. Members, we cannot circle the wagons like we have in the past as there just isn’t enough room to do so anymore. It’s a good problem to have as it means that more and more enthusiasts are finding out about FTR and our commitment to the offroad community. As we continue to grow, we are always looking at ways to improve the weekend experience and to keep our smooth running organization on point. We have made a few changes with one being our sign up scoring. With all new programs comes some snags or curves at the beginning as any of us know when you involve electronic equipment they have a mind of their own sometimes. Tim and Brandon have been working tirelessly on achieving our goal of having one of, if not the best systems available. The issues have been resolved and we will be back 100 percent by the time you read this, no pressure here guys!

FTR is so very fortunate to have so many devoted and caring people involved in our organization that anything is possible. Time and time again we hear from riders that are just amazed how we continue to have the consistency and professionalism practiced at each event. Riders visiting from their northern series and our own riders visiting the races out of our state all say the same thing, Wow how do you guys do it? These comments are many and it goes back to the backbone of FTR, we have dedicated and caring people involved in our organization. I have also said this before, it takes a village to make these things happen and the next time you see some club officials, FTR members or any volunteer helping out, tell them Thank You.

Yeah we race dirt bikes, but the days of 100-150 riders on a Sunday in a cow pasture with only a small handful of club members are gone. Starting Friday afternoon until Sunday evening with over a thousand entries is a major wakeup call from back when we went to the races in a pickup truck and if you were lucky, 4 or 5 of us loaded up in a van and made the trip.

A thousand entries also means there’s probably that many or more family members and friends showing up at our events. With this being said, there has to be rules, policies and requirements to follow or our weekends would be out of control. There are reasons we ask for certain things, it’s not to be controlling or too restrictive but to prevent issues from becoming a problem or to prevent injuries. Just asking to stay inside the ribbons or behind the marking tape has its reasons. If we can be more considerate and pro-active during our race weekends, we could enjoy our outings even more.

Thanking you in advance,

Randy Faul

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