Since it was asked that we not post anymore in the other thread, I will start a new one. I can consider this a clean sheet of paper.

The purpose of this thread is to ask any questions you may have about MRCCFL - how it's structured, how we operate, what dues go towards, etc. After I get home tonight, I will answer any questions you have left for me. If there's no questions, I'll sit in a corner and wait patiently.

 

Welp, let me tell ya what I have seen. I've attended 1 event back in January that was fun. Ever since I have kept an eye on the website and the mail list and all I have seen is people trading rx7 parts. There's been another couple events but I have been unable to make any of them, since they usually coincide with something else happening, usually closer to home. Is there a newsletter being made? What are the benefits to joining up?

 

Yes, next newsletter should be out very soon. It is mailed to paying members and extra copies are dropped off at different shops and taken to meets.

The newsletter, as I stated above, is mailed to you. The newsletter is currently not published in electronic format.

Other benefits include discounts at various shops (which they have agreed to do, we don't give them a kickback of any sort, except recommend them), the ability to hold office and vote in elections, discounts at events like Road Rallies, and any other perks we may throw your way. Some of those "others" have included free admission to the Mazda Extreme Street Car Show and 12 Hours of Sebring the past two years. Last year a group also got to attend the Enthusiast and Media Day at Mazda Rev It Up for free as well. We also discounted the price of our suite at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2002 for paying members.

Let it be known that obviously you don't have to pay to be a member. Anyone can come to events, join the email list, etc.

 

what areas do have active groups?

 

First off… thank you for starting this new thread; it will help keep other thread owners from getting upset over thread-jacking.
I for one am more than willing to hear the reasons and benefits for joining the MRCCFL.
First, let's start with the membership dues.

<<From the MRCCFL website>>

From reading this, the membership fees really boils down to a bimonthly newsletter and a club ID card. From what I have read in previous threads and above, the other items listed hear are ancillary benefits; unless the cost of membership directly to pays that members entrance into those events and meetings.
Also the discounts, as mentioned above were agree upon and as stated....
All the last paragraph is really stating, that others have also ask, is where does that money go and for what reasons.

I've mentioned this before; the website appears to be quite dated in what seems to be all the important places. Just to further note the maintenance on the website only 2 of the 9 Members Websites link are still valid.
You mentioned there being local chapters, charters, or whatever the subgroup name would be. Can you provide a list of these? I've seen mention of a Jacksonville/North East group. But as I said, there were only mentions and noting of substance. How do these smaller groups relate to the overall MRCCFL?
On that note also, is the MRCCFL part of an even larger group or affiliated with other rotary groups? I ask since I have seen posts about the MRCCAL, which I assume is Alabama.
Other than this message board and the RX-7 equivalent, is there any other means of finding out about future events? Knowing more information about the events would also be helpful in any decisions or opinions about the club.

I'll end my line of questioning here, until I read some replies and then I'm sure more will come from the answers and comments or more questions will come to mind later.
Again I want to re-iterate that my opinion about the MRCCFL is even and unbiased right now. I can't say whether I think it's a bad or good idea right now because I don't have the information needed to make that judgment (I use judgment in its non-negative connotation)

One more comment I would like to make, I hope the sharing of information between Mazda RX-[insert number here] would not be dependent on whether that person pays dues or not.

 

No we are not part of a larger affiliation. The MRCCAL got started based off our club. If you go to the site you will see the break down of the different chapters.....http://mrccfl.com/maps.html
As stated before, there is no kick-back of any kind to us from the shop or the shop to us.
The mailing list is the most widely used method of notifying of events. Some members do not visit any of the forums and rely on the mailing list, you have others like myself that visit all the forums.

 

Because of the size of FL, the regions were conceived to allow different areas to host events on their own accord. Certainly Panhandle members were less likely to attend events in South FL and vice versa. By having the regions, officers could organize events under the MRCCFL banner and foster a group following for an area.

Larger events like Sebring, Rolex, Mazda Rev It Up, everyone comes together as one large group.

MEMBERSHIP DUES

I can see where this seems sketchy to most if not all of you. Dues are handled by an elected Treasurer of the club, the MRCCFL has a bank account linked to Paypal, we keep records of all transactions so that all money is accounted for.

Dues are strictly meant to offset costs for food, admission, pay for the newsletter printing, website, club equipment (ie. tables, canopy, chairs, etc.)

Regional officers do not have access to treasury funds and MRCCFL dues are not used for regional events unless they are of certain magnitude (ie. Rolex 24hrs in Daytona). These events are voted on for receiving funds from MRCCRFL.

You may never see what it gets you, but payed membership (25) got me into Sebring for free two days, saved $10 on evolution driving school, free food at the event, discounted dyno at Car Tek Tuning, 10% off RC Engineering for my injector upgrade, 10% off Kirk Racing and others.

It isn't, that's why it costs nothing to join MRCCFL. We wanted everyone to share their ideas, knowledge, stories. Paying the dues just pays to help run the club.

The MRCCFL is an organization with BY-LAWS, a President, Vice Presidents for each region, a Treasurer, Secretary. It is not just a social club. Under the MRCCFL banner we have more of a respected voice with Mazda Corporate or any other business for that matter.

Other areas have seen the benefit of this and we have gladly offered our services to get them going.

I joined MRCCFL so that I would have a home outside of my local car club. I believe in it, I work hard at promoting it. It has its faults at times but on the whole it has given me more than I've given it.

 

honestly I am surprised that there seems to be a lot of questions about dues. Every club/organization i have ever been a member of has had dues of some sort. Cub Scouts, Fraternities, Masons. Heck, I even had to pay dues to joing the Marine Corps Association when I was in the Marines.

Let's face it. $25 is a tank of premium gas for our cars. I don't see it as that big a deal.

greese

 

Let me just say this......Anything can be said on a message board. What I think everyone is asking for is HARD PROOF, we have seen no documentation about any of the financial's of this club, all any of us want to know is where our money is going....? Just because something has worked for a couple of years doesn't always mean its done correctly, and don't get all defensive again, I am not accusing anyone of fraud or shady activity I just want PROOF, and if the documentation is any reflection of the website then I hate to say but I don't think we will ever have proof......

So let me back this up with an example:
$25 x 200 = $5000
$5000
- $200 (outrageous number of stamps for sending out newletters)
- $1000 (Discounts on hotels, tickets to events)
- $1000 (Outrageous amount for food at events)
Proof of financials.....Priceless!!

_______
$ 2800.00

Where's the rest of the money and if this has happened since 1996 $2800 * 6 years = $16,800.00


Also let me show you an example of what we are looking for, here is a link to a financial statement for a previous club.......Go HERE

This is all we want..........

 

Oh and by the way greese, we understand that $25 is not that much money, in fact I make that much in the amount of time I am typing this reply.............so thats not the POINT!

 

I understand that you want proof. Thats understandable, I would too. No offense in that.

Aside from the financial statements, proof should also be in the membership. I think you will be hard pressed to meet any paying members concerned about the financials of the club.

We don't go off and pay our car payments or get mods. Several members of the club, paying and not are respected members of the rotary community. We have all met each other, know where we all live, met our families, our kids...this isn't some big scam.

I don't worry about my $25. We are a family and we have trust in each other. To me, THAT is PRICELESS

The club wasn't formed to get money and initially if was informal with NO dues. We got the by laws and dues to try and take the club further. It was and still is our goal.

$25 x 200? WE could ONLY wish!!! Trust me, we are no where close to having this many people pay us dues. Even in all 6 years of the clubs existence. Actually our funds are low...most people in the club are non-paying members.

We definitely have more members who are not paying than paying and I know for a fact that we never had that much money in all 6 years combined.

Again if you are so skeptical of our financial practices, don't be a paying member...or as you said just wait for proof.

I have personally paid for lots of things for the club because we don't have enough funds.

To get the Pavillion at Rolex cost the club over $2000, partly offset by MRCCFL funds, partly by personal donations.

You're earning $25 in less than 15 mintues it took you to type your post so discounts aren't much of a benefit for you. You can afford costs.

Some cannot.

Ask around your rotary friends in Jax. There are lots of them there that aren't in the MRCCFL but can vouch for us. Better yet, go to the Jax Anniversary BBQ (see thread in this section) and meet some of us.

 

We're going to have to agree to disagree BlueGrim

Personally, i don't feel like their finances are any of my concern since i am not a member of their club yet.

I figure I will join and if i feel my dues are being mishandled or not going anywhere, I'll worry about it then. If it was me, I wouldn't want to run around showing off the finances to everyone who is curious abot it.

Of course my usual attitude is "Where's the meet" and "How much free food will be there" which is pretty selfish of me but i can't help it. I'm cheap and i like to eat.

greese

 

I understand where you are coming from and I guess I was just stuck in the ways of my experiences, and under the impression that there were more members.
My comments were only made because of how things came across in the other thread, I was not meaning to be on the offensive or to get anyone else into defensive mode.
I do plan on making some of the meets including the BBQ and any other meets there are in the future.

My apologies for ranting on, maybe just not that happy from the previous thread.

And again it seems that breaking off from the SE to a FL section of RX-8s would cause more of a mess than it would help, with that I am extracting my suggestion and just going with the flow. Thanks for helping to clear this up and allow me to figure out I do not want this responsibility.........

 

I agree that things on the other thread were a little bad on our part...we were kinda feeling attacked. We do get defensive about the club and in a way that just shows me my fellow officers care. A good feeling.

BlueGrimRX8 I want you to know that I do not hold anything against you in any way. I understand your concerns and I just want to help clear things up for everyone involved. You definitely brought up some valid points and I have expressed this to our officers.

 

The Jax scene is a non-organized association of rotor heads in the Northeast Florida area. No dues, no officers, no formal organization. We've had several meets over the last two years and recently, Tom Bush Mazda has been very generous in supporting us financially for food and BBQ necessities. They hand me a check, I cash it and run to Publix :D

I've known the guys from G'ville and Jax that are members of the MRCCFL for years. ALL UPSTANDING GENTLEMEN (except maybe that Jack guy :D) A lot of us don't belong to the MRCCFL, including myself, simply because we don't have the time and I "believe" most of the meets and such occur in G'Ville and points West.

Everyone is welcome to the Jax meets. And anyone interested in joining the MRCCFL should attend just to meet the guys involved.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

B

 

Okay….my 2¢ and the way I see things.

BlueGrimRX8 started a thread to toss around an idea concerning the creation of an RX-8 Club, separate from the internet bulletin board. Just a feeler to see how people felt. One post mentioned there already existed a well organized Rotary Club and that we should consider it. It was considered and is still being considered, but subsequent posts followed, indicating concerns of belonging to an organization having a hierarchy or one that wasn’t exclusive RX-8. All well and good and the thread continued.

Then we had our Meet and everything went relatively smoothly, great times had by all. After which, no less than 2 officers and 2 members of the MRCCFL enter the thread wondering why the suggestion to join them went “ignored” or why on Earth would the RX-8 owners NOT want to join this group. It would sort of be like Ford Mustang owners wanting to establish a club to meet and have cruises and such, but having the Ford Piston Car Club of Florida wondering why wouldn’t you want to join OUR club?

Eddie, you mentioned that you (MRCCFL) was feeling “attacked.” How so? Nobody started a thread to slander the good name of an established organization, but to merely review the options of possibly establishing a new RX-8 owner’s group. Your secretary stated that he found it odd that a previous MRCCFL post went “ignored.” It wasn’t ignored…it was acknowledged with a restatement, declaring the review of our options of establishing an RX-8 chapter.

I personally, had no preferences one way or the other, but was still undecided on if I’d like to get together a model-specific chapter, or join a broader Engine-type club. After reviewing the MRCCFL website, I found little reference to any local activities, sans an upcoming bar-b-que, featuring a clear-side marker for RX-8s as a door prize, which appeared to suggest a recruitment event. After the 10 entries of the MRCCFL’s posts on BlueGrimsRX8 thread, I can certainly understand his frustration (this wasn’t even including greese’s five entries which would seem to support the MRCCFL). I just don’t see a lot of local activity in the MRCCFL Club, which would give me incentive to start paying dues and join.

Perhaps in the near future, after the RX-8 drivers have acclimatized themselves with the creation of a Club, could we then also become part of the broader organization. It could happen!

Again, let me reiterate…this is nothing personal, but observations I have made. I thought all the RX-7 guys were top notch and well bred. :D

 

This is why discussion on the internet is so difficult. Too much can be misconstrued as we place our personal feelings on what someone else posted.

Let me explain: What I "felt" was that the club was being judged unfairly based solely on the website and the fact that dues were $25. I "felt" like people were making negative decisions about us and that we had to defend ourselves.

Now that I am more centered and open I certainly see that NO ONE was indeed doing this. I openly admit that this was an insecurity on my part and I do apologize that it got kind of out of hand.

BlueGrimRX8 had some very valid points and I'm sure that if we were talking face to face, none of this would have been misunderstood in any way. Again, emotions got in the way of sound judgement.

You are right, there aren't a lot of local activities posted or planned at the moment and to be honest this has been an issue with all the regions at some point or another. We tend to go in spurts. Usually we have a BBQ, the next road rally is supposed to be in the First Coast Region but nothing on that has been planned yet.

The dues really seem to bother a lot of people. Don't pay the dues. Don't join. Just come to a meet or two and see if you like the group at all. Then maybe join as non-paying member if you like what you see. Or just keep coming to the events.

In the end, its all about getting together with our cars and having fun. Some of us lose sight of this every now and then and I'm guilty of that these past couple of days.

I think it would be AWESOME if some of you just started coming to the meets...wish you were there in the past for Sebring, and Rev It Up, etc....we're tired of looking at all of our cars. Lets see some new rotary rockets

No more ranting on my part! Everyone's cool!

Whew! Glad thats done!

Oh and B, thanks for the support.

 

Just to clarify....

The 2 year anniversary Jax BBQ is not an MRCCFL event. MRCCFL goes there cause those Jax guys are cool...even if they didn't join up with us. Jax and Gainesville have been trying to alternate BBQ's so each group has the fun of driving somewhere. The last BBQ was supposed to be in Gainesville, then Jax, then we all went to the awesome event in Orlando.

The door prize is all their doing...and I don't think it was for recruitment so much as it was a special thing for the 2 year anniversary to offer a prize.

 

I think Eddie pretty much summed it up. I'm probably the most defensive person I know, so I can tend to get spirited when expressing strong views. I apologize if I seemed kind of brash or arrogant in the other thread.

I'll comment on a few things of note.

Hmmm, a Mazda Rotary Car Club of America. Now, there's an idea! :D

Anyway, we're not part of a larger group, just one statewide club broken into regions. I was actually quite flattered that the Alabama people chose that name when they voted on it last year. The South Carolina group consulted with me when they were starting up as well.

Main costs revolve around the newsletter - printing and postage. Some assests of the club include about four or five banners and a canopy. The rest of our money sits in a bank account.

A little history about dues....

Dues came about in the latter half of 2001 as part of a restructuring. We offered Charter memberships and regular Annual memberships. The Charter Members paid more (between $35 and $75, most paid $50) but received club decals and an embroidered polo shirt. However, Charter members pay less for renewals - $15 or $20.

And as Eddie pointed out, we don't have that many paying members.

Come on, my 91 RX-7 took $24 worth of 87 octane yesterday. At least those old N/A rotaries aren't picky, they'll burn anything (at least mine will - I've never had problems running regular gas). :D

I think it's time for another Road Rally, but Eddie, I think we shouldn't allow Nick - he'd probably drive the 350Z!

 

I just want to comend everyone on the excellant discussions going on here. This is the type of information I want to find out about the club.
Dues were an issue with me, but not the primary information I am after (even though reading back it may not have sounded that way). It is good to hear a little about where that money is going.
I would like to hear more about the main events held by the MRCCFL, such as Sebring and Rev It Up. But from the sounds of it the regional events would be of more interest to me right now. I will keep an eye on the next jax BBQ thread, and will in all likely attend barring any unforseen circumstances. I say the regional events since it does appear the larger events are towards the Gulf Side of Florida. But maybe with enough advanced notice I can arrange those.
What type of information composes the newsletter? i.e. what type of articles, adverts, comics, etc?
I did see one on the web site, but if memory serves..it was from late 2002, early 2003. Is it still similar format., i haven't read that section, but if it's similar I'll make a note to go back and read it.
One last question for now, well actually a clarification... I am really new to the car club scene...and I am assuming that a "rally run" is just a convoy of rotaries taking a nice long scenic drive. would that be a correct assumption?

Again, thank you for your informative replies.

Gary

 

Not exactly. With our rally runs, the rally organizer plots a course through a scenic drive with check points and a final destination while timing how fast he can make that run while still obeying all traffic laws (ie speed limits). Usually the organizer attempts to trick drivers into taking wrong or misleading turns

Directions are given to drivers with locations of certain check points before the final destination. Drivers and navigators must reach each check point as close to the original organizers time as possible.

At the final destination (usually the location of our BBQ, meeting, etc) peoples times are tallied and the closest to the organizer wins.

Sounds easy but one missed turn and you lose lots of time, the fun part of this is that it is usually a new city or area for most of us. Its hilarious when you see other members either tailing you or going the wrong way.

 

I forgot to mention that the club has a project car that was donated to us. Intent is for each region to work on the car and then race it in the prospective regions for autocross/drag.

The car was donated a while back and we still have plans to keep things going.

 

awww....Eddie...you know we love ya, dude. I mean....you know that, right??:D :D

 

LOL! Too funny!

 

I heard of someone that did a "Clue" rally where you had to find differnet billboards and streets etc along the course in place of cards. Like when you find yourself at an intersection of "Candlestick Dr" or something you mark it off then everyone gets together at the end to see who solved it.

Most rally races are about Navigation and timing. As in, I was two minutes too fast to that checkpoint, I now need to drive x MPH slower to the next one.