Chicago Crew Thread #2

[Drjekkyl3]

Originally Posted by JeremyG

I hope you are joking.

But now that you mention it, maybe we SHOULD take the advice of the sponsors and many attendees and keep a profit. Hmmm...

Whoa Skippy, take it easy. First off, it was a joke. But since you decided to make it more than that, I highly doubt that you aren't making anything at all from the "national gathering"s. Wether it's merchandise from sponsors or cash or some other form of kick back. Who knows where all the money goes each year, I certainly haven't seen any figures as to where the money goes. If it isn't a money maker for you, then why did you trademark certain terms? Is it so no one else could produce a "national gathering" with out your prior approval? Who picked you to lead us to the promised land? If I am the only one with this opinion, so be it. But if you feel the need to attack 3s owners, who have an opinoin about where an event should be held or by whom, then you are going to run out of supporters of "national gathering"s, especially since the owner database isn't getting any larger with the car not being produced anymore. If this is an issue that you would like to discuss elsewhere, by all means private message me, so I can get you my cell phone #, otherwise go about your "buisness" and don't jump to conclussions

[Todd95VR4]

If JeremyG puts in even 1/2 the time he says he does into the NG, then I see no problem at all in him getting compensated for his time, or at least reimbursed in some way. We are not a bunch of charity cases where he should donate all this time and effort. If that's the way anyone feels, they shouldn't have a 3S, should walk or ride the bus to wherever they go, shop at the Goodwill, and take advantage of the many homeless shelters around. Furthermore, no one is obligated to participate in the NG just as no one is obligated to upgrade and modify their 3S. If the cost to participants gets too high and numbers decline, then Jeremy would have to consider making some changes either by reducing his compensation (if he ever was so inclined to take any), adding more value or making better business decisions and negotiations. Just my 2¢.

[Record9ti]

Originally Posted by JeremyG

I hope you are joking.



But now that you mention it, maybe we SHOULD take the advice of the sponsors and many attendees and keep a profit. Hmmm...

Yes, you SHOULD make money off of it. It is stupid for anyone to think you should not make money. This is not the United Way or Salvation Army. I tell you what, I would get paid if I was in charge.

[Record9ti]

Originally Posted by Drjekkyl3

Whoa Skippy, take it easy. First off, it was a joke. But since you decided to make it more than that, I highly doubt that you aren't making anything at all from the "national gathering"s. Wether it's merchandise from sponsors or cash or some other form of kick back. Who knows where all the money goes each year, I certainly haven't seen any figures as to where the money goes. If it isn't a money maker for you, then why did you trademark certain terms? Is it so no one else could produce a "national gathering" with out your prior approval? Who picked you to lead us to the promised land? If I am the only one with this opinion, so be it. But if you feel the need to attack 3s owners, who have an opinoin about where an event should be held or by whom, then you are going to run out of supporters of "national gathering"s, especially since the owner database isn't getting any larger with the car not being produced anymore. If this is an issue that you would like to discuss elsewhere, by all means private message me, so I can get you my cell phone #, otherwise go about your "buisness" and don't jump to conclussions

HEY!!! I think you copied one of my posts from a year or two ago...maybe I should have had it copy written!!!

[Drjekkyl3]

Originally Posted by Record9ti

HEY!!! I think you copied one of my posts from a year or two ago...maybe I should have had it copy written!!!

I thought it sounded familiar as I was typing What i've said was never meant to put anybody down or disrespect any of the hard work that people put into the "national gathering", and I will still probably go this year, but this car group, in general, is not a religion and blind faith is not going to come from me.

[saiyin car]

Originally Posted by Drjekkyl3

I thought it sounded familiar as I was typing What i've said was never meant to put anybody down or disrespect any of the hard work that people put into the "national gathering", and I will still probably go this year, but this car group, in general, is not a religion and blind faith is not going to come from me.

after fighting for a couple of weeks about this whole thing a year ago if any of you remember, i wasnt a very happy camper, but non the less i believe that it twas me who was the brunt of having the entire chicago crew responsible for shutting me up... if i wasnt wrong.. GREG! your DEFFINATLY NOT ALONE!

but hey who am i just a member with out a say in this FINE communistic organization....

[Record9ti]

Originally Posted by saiyin car

after fighting for a couple of weeks about this whole thing a year ago if any of you remember, i wasnt a very happy camper, but non the less i believe that it twas me who was the brunt of having the entire chicago crew responsible for shutting me up... if i wasnt wrong.. GREG! your DEFFINATLY NOT ALONE!

but hey who am i just a member with out a say in this FINE communistic organization....

I think that it is quite fair to say that the politics created by certain "More important members" from IN (or so they think) has driven a wedge into the 3S populous. I know that I myself, have limited my exposure to 3S on a national level - as seemingly I am not a dogmatic follower who can’t think for myself. Seemingly, certain people live such a shallow life that they need hoards of 16-21 year olds looking up to them as a statue or grandeur. Lest one raise an issue with the infallible “JeremyG” and the wrath of the young and impressionable will haunt you like the fleas of 1000 camels.

I know that in years, I am a more “senior” member of this community. I think that I would have to consider myself to be one of the higher educated and higher wage earners than many others on this board. Certainly there are many people here with more education than I, but over all I would think that the average of the 3S members age is much closer to 20 than 30. That being said, I have a few more years of watching the way people operate in a “position of power”. My thoughts are that JeremyG has nothing more to base his self worth on, other than a big party of 16-21 year old 3S owners. I think that is great, I appreciate all the time he has “donated” (uh huh) to the party. I think 3S has a tendency to exclude those of us members who CAN think for ourselves. Who knows shit when they smell it and know when someone has only their own self interest at mind (though they try to elude to other interests).

If you look at who is in the “Chicago area”, we are a smart ass bunch. Sanjay owns and runs multiple business, Eric is an IT genius and damn near MIT engineer for turbo cars, Jim and Jeff…hell, what can I say? Bill, smart as shit as well….there are many others (Clint)? If anyone from “National” 3S decides to have a battle of wit with the Chicago folks…my money is on Chicago.

[saiyin car]

Originally Posted by Record9ti

If anyone from “National” 3S decides to have a battle of wit with the Chicago folks…my money is on Chicago.

thats where my money would be but again thats where my money IS!
and again "the oppinions and spoken words of this thread are in fact just that. we claim no responcibility for injurys and or death, where by the readers of this thread claim ignorence."

hell i havent seen Cameron on here since they shut this thread down have any of you? hmmm i would have to say ONE of the most valuable peopel to this comunity at leats in the chicago area woudl have to be him. and he doesnt show up on here any more..... interesting.... maybe its from all the crap hes seen going on and has seen it happen to other boards.

untill next time same bat channel same bat time! BACK TO YOU CHIP!

[JeremyG]

#1 I had no contact with the money for NG03 except the PayPal account was in my name. Every single dollar was forwarded to the StL bank account and out of my control. So I obviously had no benefit from NG03.

#2 I can certainly show you a balance sheet from NG02 if you really want it, everything is in Quickbooks. However would that solve anything? No, because our resident nay-sayers will just say "oh, he just put an entry here-and-there to make it look like it balanced". So no point to show that, huh?

#2a As for how everything came out even for NG02... it's not hard. Most of the vendors charged on a per-person basis. If Vendor X charges $20/person and we charge $20/person, it's hard NOT to come out even. In reality we were about $600 in the plus column for NG02 (about $3 per participant).

Here's the very rough breakdown

-The Road Course was exactly break-even since it ws $50/person for the track and that's what we charged.
-The Autocross made a decent profit since the track was free, but we had to pay the timing guy and rent the equipment. It made about a $300 profit..
-The drags LOST BIG TIME. We had a $2000 rental fee PLUS $20 per car. We charged $35. We forcasted about 100 cars and really only got around 45. With 100 cars we would have only lost $500 on it, which would have been covered by sponsorships. However with 45 cars we only made back $650 of the rental fee. that's $1350 in the hole, PLUS the NIGHT BEFORE the drags, the track basically EXTORTED another $500 in fees that were NOT in the contract. I had to pay them or they would not have opened the doors the next morning. So that's $1850 in the hole.
- the Food Package came out within $100 of expenses. Again, per-person from vendor, per-person on charges.
-We spent around $1500 on insurance
-We spent around $3000 on t-shirts.
-we spent around $500 for window stickers
-We spent around $400 for printing
-We spent $300 on lanyards and badge holders
-We spent around $2000 on trophies
-We paid $300 to rent the car show lot.
-The "Signup Package" brought in about $6000.
-Sponsorships were approximately $4000 in cash

That is about a $500 "profit" just in my quick accounting here. The final was closer to around $300 "profit" which I kept and ended up paying $120 in taxes on it, leaving $180 that I kept to cover some of my personal expenses such as long distance telephone, probably 500 miles of driving to-and-from different places, etc. I spent much more than $180 of my personal money BTW so that $180 really wasn't "profit" or a benefit of any kind.

So there's your accounting. Just as good as Quickbooks since given 1/2 hour I could re-arrange the huge profit we made so it looks like it was a no-sum event. (sarcasm of course, but that's what I'd be accused of I'm sure).


#3 NG04 is being run by a Committee made up of 4 people. So these 4 people will know (and do know) every financial happening of the NG. We even send the other members a weekly spreadsheet with budget estimates, etc.


I'll tell you why I'm so damn defensive, it's because certain people want to continue to spread innuendo that I'm somehow getting rich off of this, when I've said from the beginning I didn't want to make a profit. I'm sorry if it bothers me that I worked so diligently to bring in and spend our member's money as frugally as possible, and gave them TONS of value for their money, and then am continually attacked by people who really know nothing about the whole thing.

I've always been up-front that I am obviously going to be racing and eating for free. For NG04 I'm also getting a suite for free but that was part of the deal with the hotel that we added on after the special rate negotiations were made. No cash out of the NG's pocket.

There have been NO "kickbacks" from sponsors whatsoever. Every prize donated has been given out at the NG, and as a matter of fact, I even have EXCLUDED MYSELF from ANY CHANCE OF WINNING THEM! (ie if it's a drawing I'm NOT EVEN IN IT).

EVERY SINGLE THING I have done with the NG has been done honestly and up-front. Sometimes to the point of being TOO careful about remaining a neutral party or trying to make it very clear that I don't stand to benefit from certain decisions, etc.

What bothers me the most is that certain people just figure I"m lying. I am not a liar and that truly bothers me. What it makes me wish, is that I DID keep money somehow, so that I could be laughing under my breath saying, "hey that dude is smart". Instead I'm just sitting here marvelling at how some people can be so truly MEAN. And I mean just outright and utterly, boldfaced and unabashedly, cold-hearted, MEAN.

One of your self-proclaimed "esteemed" members even wrote me a PM several months back, saying "TRUCE" that he'd let everything go, etc. Yet he still continues to post and bash me in public. That, folks, is beyond immature.

I have made some very good friends with many of the "Chicago Crew"... hung out with many of you at NG02 and NG03. I hope to hang out with you guys more, but if certain people would rather I didn't then please let me know.

BTW the Committee and myself have been in contact this weekend regarding some sort of compensation for the Committee. And it looks like things are going to change. If we're going to be attacked like this after the work we put in, then we may as well make a few bucks while we're at it.

Most likely we'll put an optional "item" in the signup, $10 and $25 "compensation" for the committee and their work. Not mandatory but it may be on there.

And, BTW, someone show me where else a person can hang out FOR FOUR DAYS with 200 people that share the same interests, look at amazing cars, race in a drag race, an autocross, a road course, show in a car show and get FED SIX MEALS for right around $200. The NSX national event? I think it's $600 and you get LESS.

And you guys know why it's so reasonable? BECAUSE TIFFANY AND I NEGOTIATE AND BEAT UP THE VENDORS until the price is reasonable! At NG02 we paid like $5 for meals that normally cost $8 or more. The banquet we got for if I recall, $30/person when normally they charge $45-50! I've paid $125 recently to drive at Gingerman where we negotiated $50 for the NG!

That's where a lot of the time goes.. saving money for the community so more people could enjoy it. The NG could have easily cost more like $300/person in 2002 if we didn't "go to bat" and get the prices reduced.

That good enough for you? Can we put this to rest finally? Can you guys (and you know who you are, there's just a few) just leave it alone and enjoy the NG for once, instead of spending so much time trying to de-rail it?

[RoVR4]

hey eric ya out there...is my sig still being host by you..it hasnt worked in the last day or so just wanted a heads up.

also..any of you guys out there looking for power leather seats???
black..let me know