To call the moment surreal would be an understatement. The team from San Diego Region arrived at their home autocross site at Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium to set up for the weekend’s autocross to discover their trailer – along with all the equipment they owned – was missing. Stolen, as a matter of fact.
But this isn’t a sad story. Not, at least, after clearing the shock and betrayal that someone out there would take something that the Region had worked so hard to acquire. Instead, this is a story of the SCCA® proving, once again, that the Club is a family.
Throughout the day and into the night, San Diego Region folks made the 160-mile round trip from Lake Elsinore to San Diego (and for you Midwest folks, keep in mind that that’s 160 miles through Southern California traffic), gathering up personal equipment from home garages. Through pure ingenuity, the crew assembled enough equipment to host Saturday’s Starting Line School – including a timing system that started automatically but had to be manually operated at the finish.
Though they were able to complete the school, the decision was made to cancel Sunday’s competition event. There was simply no way to hold an event that measured up to the standards of a typical San Diego Region autocross.
It was a disheartening moment for Region members who, like others, battled through the pandemic and were beginning to rebound, but now had all of their equipment taken from them. In the moment, “hopeless” was an apt feeling.
Sometime that evening, however, word of the incident reached neighboring Cal Club Region. Despite having their own set of issues – including the permanent closing of the Auto Club Speedway lot where Cal Club had hosted its autocrosses for years – the sister Region reached out and offered to keep the San Diego Region event and program going with “whatever it took.”
“Cal Club let us know we were all in the same organization and they would be helping their sister club—our San Diego Region club,” Mike Parsons said. “They even made last-minute arrangements to try and help us salvage our Sunday Champ event. By that time, though, the ball had already been in motion to cancel it. But their swift action, determination and time and energy exerted wasn't lost on us.”
When March rolled around, Cal Club and San Diego Region were in it together.
“ loaned us their entire autocross RV, which Rick Brown drove down to help set everything up,” Parsons said. “Randy Gonzales, in classic Randy fashion, also drove down to see if we needed anything. Over that weekend in March, I saw two SCCA clubs that came together in a time of need. I felt the powerful sense of the SCCA community. Our club had a safety net bigger than ourselves, and we didn’t even know it. Words cannot express how appreciative we are of Cal Club and their amazing generosity.”
As word spread, more and more assistance came in. Red Hills Region, based all the way across the country in North Central Florida and Southwest Georgia, shipped their spare timing system to San Diego. A local member donated his RV to the Region. Other assistance came from the RoadRally, track, and the newly-formed RallyCross arms of San Diego Region that didn’t even rely on the now-stolen autocross timing equipment.
San Diego Region vowed to somehow, some way, pay all of the kindness forward.
Just as importantly, both San Diego and Cal Club Regions took something tangible from their work together.
“We identified areas we could improve our program, but which could have only happened in this instance after seeing how another club operates,” said Parsons. “Much like riding with another driver helps us learn new lines and techniques, we also learned a couple of tricks working with Cal Club. The use of a custom-built cone cart, and the way they mount and store the speakers and displays on the roof of their RV are labor and time-saving procedures. Seeing another club's strengths and adopting them into our club was a breath of fresh air. When all is done, our events will run smoother with less workload. As it stands now, both clubs are promoting each other and working to avoid conflicting dates and striving to make a good thing even better.”
Thanks to many, San Diego Region is on the road to success, with a new custom trailer on order, incorporating setup ideas from not only Cal Club’s trailer, but also SCCA’s Solo National Tour trailer.
Indeed, the Club is a family.
Photo caption: (From left to right) Bill "Orange Skittle" Sanford, Nima Abrahim, Mike Parsons, Chris Teague, Ric Brown, Randy Gonzalez, Angela Sakariasen, Eric "Ray of Sunshine" Sakariasen.
Photo by Samantha Lei
