[Eric S]

All Students Attending Potomac’s Mid Ohio DE:

In the past, our "classroom" area at Mid Ohio has been in the "Goodyear Building", i.e., the garage. Well, we're trying for an upgrade this year – for the first time ever we’ll be holding our classroom sessions in the Goodyear Tower!

Our designated space is on the 4th floor of the tower, which can be accessed by either elevator or stairs. Please respect the fact that we’ve been extended the courtesy of using the Tower; if we conduct ourselves appropriately we hope to be able to use it again in the future. Here is what I’m asking of you: please go only to the 4th floor – we are contractually restricted to the 4th floor and all other areas are off limits, including the Mid Ohio School and press areas. In fact, there will be other Mid Ohio activities taking place on the 2nd and 5th floors; please enter and exit the Tower quietly so as to not disturb the other clients in session, and please do not loiter in the Tower or use it as a general observation area. Thank you.

We haven’t had the pleasure of using this space in the past, so we don’t know exactly what to expect – but we believe this will provide a much better learning environment.

Be Safe, Learn, and Have Fun!

[Mackpipes]

Also When entering the building we all need to hold hands in a single file line. Once inside, make sure you use your "indoor voice" or you'll get put in time out until a time which Principal Eric deems you've learned your lesson!

[Eli]

Originally Posted by Mackpipes

Also When entering the building we all need to hold hands in a single file line. Once inside, make sure you use your "indoor voice" or you'll get put in time out until a time which Principle Eric deems you've learned your lesson!

[Charlie Stylianos]

Thanks, Eric We'll bring Pari's muzzle.

[Vicegrip]

and no poopy pants!

[}{arlequin]

i'm just happy w/ the elevator bit...

[Parenn911]

Next time delete someone else's post!!

[Parenn911]

Eric, we enjoyed the Mid Ohio classroom greatly , thank you for arranging it. It was an amazing opportunity to get a bird's eye view of a large portion of the track and be able to see people take their line's around the track. Plus it was nice to get away from the freezing weather. We all held ourselves "appropriately".






Admin, please delete this post if you find it rude.

[Eric S]

Cool - I'm glad it worked out for everyone! I only wish I could have been there to enjoy it with you! Anyone who has been in the previous garage “classroom” at Mid Ohio knows how much it sucks; gaining access to the Tower is something that I’ve been negotiating with the track for 3 years, so I view it as a major step forward for DE students. To my knowledge, we were the first car club ever allowed to use the Tower.

From the reaction to my post it appears that some took the view that I was assuming people wouldn’t act like adults, and didn’t like the message. While there are a few who won’t, most will conduct themselves accordingly if made aware of the situation. No desire to be “principal”; just providing information as a PCA volunteer and fellow Dorki.

There is a tremendous amount of effort that goes into holding successful events of this size; much of it is behind the scenes – and all of it on a volunteer basis. DE Chair, Registrar, Cashier, Chief Instructor, Tech, and Registration all put in countless hours in advance of, during, and after each event. Perhaps a little more insight into my role would be helpful. As Potomac’s Track Coordinator I not only negotiate the schedule and all contract terms (insurance, event dates, ALS Ambulances, roll-back wreckers, corner workers, control, etc.) and event logistics (gate hours, trailer drops, track walks, fuel pumps, food concession, souvenir concession, etc.), but I sign my name for PCA Potomac on the contract. I’m sure anyone in this position would hope that participants would abide by the negotiated terms, as any resulting issues reflect negatively on both the club and the Coordinator. The trailer drop at Watkins Glen last year was a good example; the instructions were explicit (“please don’t show up before 6:30pm”), but people started arriving at 6:00. The gate wouldn’t allow people in early, so they queued up until they were blocking Highway 16, seriously jeopardizing the potential to let anyone in that evening or to ever be able to arrange it again. Fortunately, I was able to smooth things out with the track, and hopefully our “first” won’t be our “last”.

As you can see, Track Coordinator is an interesting and very active position. There are many ways to get involved, help out and even influence how things are run; everyone is encouraged to apply!

Sorry for the long post; after being fortunate enough to average 30 track days a year for the last 4 years, I am going through track withdrawals like you can’t believe… June can’t get here soon enough!

[TD in DC]

Eric,

Thank you for the work you and the other PCA officers do to arrange our DEs. I and most, if not all, of the Dorki are extremely grateful for people like you whose willingness to take on a burdensome and often thankless job make the DE weekends great for newbies like me.

You would have been proud of the way everyone behaved themselves in the tower. At the end of the event, I went up just to make sure that we were leaving it the way we found it, and it looked like someone else had already beat me to the punch. Hopefully, this will make Mid Ohio happy to let us use the classroom again next year.

After my kids get a little older, I plan to volunteer for some of the grunt work associated with DEs so that I can repay in a small way all of the benefit I get from DEs.

Thanks,

TD in DC