Don't get me wrong I'm not picking on ITRCA, just looking for something on a larger scale.

So who is in charge of ITRCA? It is a great concept with not so good implimentation.

Some facts (not intending to knock ITRCA)
1. There are less than 5000 ITR's in the states.
2. ITRCA is an unofficial club. No membership, no orgainazation.
3. Low turn out at events.
4. No well defined organinzational structure.

The key to becoming a well run club is organization, advertising, and enthusiasm! ITRCA has only the enthusiasm. 1 out of 3 aint going to cut it if this is going to compete in the world of BMWCCA, POC, Shelby Club, etc...

We own an very unique car. If there are 1 million cars in the states (pure guess) then the chance of owning/seeing an ITR is 1 in 200 cars!

So what's it going to be. This is the last year of the "integra" for the states. We have a small customer base, and we are not orgainized. We can slip into the lost world of the Super Bee and SVO and be a rare icon from the past, or we can push the edge and break new ground.

You make the call.


[Modified by itr1275, 10:52 AM 7/27/2001]

 

(pulled my thoughts from the other thread)

Just thought I would chime in about ITRCA as a "club"... I dont see ITRCA becoming a full-fledged club like the NSXCA, unless someone else wants to take the reigns and set it up. I just dont have the time. I work full time, and also own my own company. Forming another legal entity just isnt in the cards for me. If someone else wants to do this, please let me know....or post here. I can still do website updates and the like, but thats about all I will be able to handle.

When I started ITRCA.COM, I didnt realize the Type R would see a 4 year production run, and I didnt think owners would be so active on the internet. I mainly started it to help organize things via the internet, and to start a Type R Registry. If owners want it to be more than that, STEP UP NOW. Maybe its time for me to step aside and let someone get an "offical" club going. And again, I would assists with website work, etc.

Thoughts?!?!?

 

Brett (Tegsport on this board) is the man to thank for the ITRCA...it might not yet be as solid as some more established clubs, but It is free, and he does it in his spare time, so mad credit to him for putting so much effort into it. I'm sure he has some plans for the future, it's hard to have an online-only club become all-encompasing, since the internet isn't as popular as most of us think it is.

 

Thanks for the kind words Aleph.

In the past, I've thought about making ITRCA a full-fledged club, and charging a membership of $35-40 like most clubs do. I just dont think we have the numbers for that though. 5000 or so R's in the states, and its hard to say what percentage of them are diehards like ourselves and would pay to join. There are 500+ registered at ITRCA.COM now, but I bet that would be MUCH less if a membership fee was involved.

To charge for membership, and make it worth someones money to join, you'd need advertising, events, discounts, a magazine/newsletter, etc etc. All of that involves alot of time and committment from the people in charge of the club.

Again, if there are people that want to do that, STEP UP. I won't have hard feelings about it. Right now, ITRCA is just a website, with some regional activity here and there....but it could be more.

 

i for one would like to see the ITRCA become a full-fledged club. not really sure what i can do to help out, but i would like to see auto-x's and track events "hosted by" the ITRCA. i do understand that brett didn't really have this in mind when he started his site, but there are a few type R clubs already throughout the states. if these clubs unite through the ITRCA then we should be able to pull off having a real national club, with some pull when it comes to hosting events.

my two cents
argiris

 

Ditto!

I would be happy to get involved. Give me the word and the ball will get rolling. The key here is delegate tasks. It is too big to handle by anyone person, so delagate areas. Like membership, and new letter.

The newletter could be done online and submissions from each chatper on a bi-monthly basis for now. I would not recommend goin the non-profit route, too much hassle. Call it a bussiness.

As far as events go, leverage off the locals! Use AutoX, HPDE, car shows, and drag races. Produces decals for peoples cars. (Cheap advertising) Drop leflets at the Acrua dealer service department. Get the word out!

 

BTW we should not limit membership to ITR owners only. If we are a bunch of guys who hold good events and have fun, the numbers will increase over night!

 

Victor Perri has the mid-atlantic chapter of ITRCA very well-organized. Vic for prez!

 

Were not even talking Prez yet. Question is does ITRCA want to go down that route. As it sits now Brett is the creator, and there by the prez, by default. This is his decision and if he decides to let the reigns go, the should pass it off. In fact prez is not even the right term. President implies democracy. This is not a democracy, it is a privatly held venteure, held by Brett. He makes the rules and decisions!

It takes more than organization skills, does vic have the people skills, contacts, and business sense to pull it off. What has he done in the realm of auto stuff? Who does he know. Has he ever run track event, autoX, car show?

 

Like I mentioned in another post, I am comfortable with the way ITRCA is now - a very informal web-based "club". If people want more, and would like to set it up like NSXCA, BMWCCA, etc, then go for it. I dont have a problem with it, and will not object. I just dont have much time to commit to it. I do websites for a living, so I could still be involved with the ITRCA website, but the other stuff that would need to be done (and there is alot) would have to be organized and divided up by others - I just dont have time in my life for it now, unfortunately.

So, that said, who's up for the task? Its a big task too, and the person(s) doing it, need to know what they're doing. Just look at how much work went into the EXPO, and that was just one event...

 

Brett,

As mentioned before let me know and I will start the ball organizing.

 

I understand your want for numbers itr1275, but if the ITR is to remain in the ITRCA, then we MUST limit it to Type-Rs. Myself, I would pay to be in an organization with the exclusivity of being only for Integra Type-Rs, but would NOT join the ICA (Integra Club of America). It is about a good quality of members, not going for a larger quantity.

 

Just want to repeat a few of my comments from that other thread, so they can be viewed here.

Yes, and they (for example, BMW CCA) also charge $35 a year for membership dues, and they have 50,000 members and an annual budget of over a million dollars a year. The NSX Club of America is much smaller, and started with about 300 members and now has 950 members, each of whom pays $40 a year.

If anyone (Brett?) is interested in creating a legal entity for the ITR Club of America, by all means feel free. I'll be glad to assist with advice based on the formation of the NSX Club. You'll probably want to develop a business plan. Keep in mind that this means you'll need to file government documents to form a non-profit organization as a corporation. Plan on spending a few hundred dollars for filing fees, plus maybe a grand each year for an insurance policy, and figure out how much you'll need to pay for expenses to cover whatever you determine you want to provide as member benefits - newsletter mailings or whatever. And you'll need to have enough members join, with high enough membership dues, to pay for everything you want to do. Oh, and in order to maintain tax-exempt status for the organization (you'll want this), you'll need to restrict participation in club events to members only. Which means if you want to go to the ITR Expo, you MUST be a member who has paid membership dues.

As noted above, I'll be happy to advise (and I've exchanged e-mails with Brett about this in the past). But there are a lot of things to take into consideration in deciding whether to proceed in this fashion. In particular, keep in mind that there are a lot of people on this board who would probably not be willing to pay $35-40 a year for membership dues, and who would prefer that things stay the way they are. It can all be done, though - if that's what everyone decides should be done.

Just to add one more thought: There's a lot to consider in forming a club. And the real question becomes, "Why?" IOW, "What can't you do now, as a loose, Internet-based group?" My O is that you can probably do pretty much most of what people want to do, without bothering to become a formal organization.

That could change if, for example, people found that tracks aren't willing to rent to individuals who have never held track events before, but that's why I suggested going through CGI for an event at GingerMan. And we can probably find similar assistance elsewhere.

If you want to become a formal organization, you can - but it takes work (as Brett noted) and money (as I noted). And I'm not sure exactly what you're going to get for all that work and money.

 

Do it up itr1275

 

Does anyone have suggestions how we might for an organized club without the issue of filing for non profit status and such.

By this I mean. Since Brett ownes ITRCA.com He would make a great President/Chairman. From there we could elect regional Chairmen to head up events. Along with that we could very easily charge a membership although this may not be a good idea without formal non profit status.

Nothing says we need to pay to be a club so what if we just organized the club a little with more "official" members and used that to sponsor club events at tracks and such

 

I'm not sure how you would do that Trey. I am already involved with 2 legal entities (both for profit, S Corps) and thats why if ITRCA becomes legally structured, I would rather not be involved. I could be "webmaster" or something, but really dont want President, etc. after my name.

As for me owning ITRCA.COM, that doesnt really matter. If ITRCA becomes a legal entity, the domain could just get transferred to that party.

 

Brett,

I agree with Carlex. This is your baby so we don't want to give up. We can email privately to start on some stuff over the next week or so. Right now I will start with a plan of action and present that to you sometime soon, sort of like a vision for the future.

I would suggest we don't file for non-profit status. Run it as a business, keep it in financial check. I believe right now each chapter has a chairman president too. They should be in on the over all structure, and regional decisions.

See remarks above.

True, but if we want to build a strong organization we need to become organized. Otherwise were just a bunch of web heads with similar cars. Power in numbers! That's why I called this ITRCA Unite! We need to unite under leadership if we want things to happen. Why do you think SCC didn't show at the meet?

By making the right decisions now the ITR can become a collectors classic. By making the wrong decision now it can become a "sure I remember those". You want the Accord-R, Prelude-R, RSX-R ... here? we need to make a statement! We like what the R is and it should continue!

 

While we're at it, now would be a good time to remind everyone to step up and register at: http://www.itrca.com/registry/signup_intro.asp

I KNOW that there are people on this board who aren't registered yet.

 

He, he, good point!

 

Somehow one of my major points is not coming across. That point is the fact that I dont have time to invest in it. The way it is now, I can handle the occasional website update, and thats about it. Between my day job, side job, racing on the weekends, maintaining websites for the 2 local sports car clubs....and er uhhhh, a social life, I just dont have time.

If someone wants ITRCA to be more official, THEY need to be in charge, and have alot of time to invest in it. I'm not that person.

Either way, it still needs to be setup legally, which should involve a lawyer, accountant, probably permission from Acura, etc. None of that has been done so far, since ITRCA is just a website right now. To make it legit involves time consuming tasks that I have been thru several times over the last few years, and I dont want to do again.

 

No offense guys....but it sounds like your about to make your hobby a lot of work! Speaking from someone who made their hobby their job at one point in time, you may be killing the fun in somehting you love!

My personal feeling on it is that if you want to be part of something, you'll seek it out and become a member. ITR-NC didn't start as a club initiallybut it has kinda turned into one. It was just an website that Pat started after a few of us started hanging out together more. That is what this is about. ITR owners getting together and having fun! The Expo was a darn good first try at getting something big organized by one of these small tight groups, SoCal ITRs. We need more local groups in my opinion that try to organize things together. I can speak for the Southeast when I saw, I know close to 30 ITR owners from FL, GA, SC, and NC. I pass a new ITR about once a month in my area and I try to track them down. Yet, over half of the owners I do catch never respond to my emails for local get togethers, dyno pulls, of driving runs. Why? Because the car and lifestyle doesn't mean as much to them! I think the Regional clubs set-up my Brett at ITRCA need to become stronger in their segment of the country before we need to worry about non-profits, fees, budgets, etc. Does anyone else feel the same way?

 

Okey Dokey, I will start working on it, then.

Jerold

 

Agreed !!!!!

 

well put chris

 

I think my earlier point was being misconstrued (although Brett has it right).

The work and money isn't because of filing for non-profit status. The work and money is needed to create a legal entity - whether it's for-profit or not-for-profit. If you want to open a bank account, you have to have a Federal tax number - either as an individual (SSN - Social Security number) or as a corporation (FEIN - Federal Employer Identification Number). You can only get a tax number if a corporation has been set up. This is why Ross had to return all those checks made out to ITRCA and had to have them re-written payable to him personally; there was no tax number for ITRCA.

If it's going to be a legal entity with its own bank account, then someone has to file the legal forms to set it up, and the tax forms (every year) - whether you're for-profit or not-for-profit.

Being a legal entity also provides the ability to enter contracts, with the corporation being liable, and to purchase an insurance policy. Without that status, an individual or some other organization would be responsible for contracting with tracks, restaurants, hotels, etc and taking on the corresponding financial liability.

If it's NOT going to be a legal entity, then that's where we already are today. If you want to keep the Internet-based status of the organization, and do more with the individual regions and chapters, I'm sure we can continue to do that under Brett's leadership.



[Modified by nsxtcjr, 3:32 PM 7/27/2001]