sprytel Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 is it just me, or do others feel that the coverage of NASA events in GRM is, to say the least, a little lacking? (Except the recent coverage of Nationals) I was pretty disappointed to not find anything about the regional championships (Midwest/great lakes) in the last two issues. I mean, less than one page dedicated to an entire country's worth of regional racing. NASA has a lot more going on than just the one race at Nationals, right? I was going to write a letter to GRM, but I thought that before I do, I'd get the opinion of others out there, as a reality check. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shawn M. Posted November 30, 2009 Members Share Posted November 30, 2009 is it just me, or do others feel that the coverage of NASA events in GRM is, to say the least, a little lacking? (Except the recent coverage of Nationals) I was pretty disappointed to not find anything about the regional championships (Midwest/great lakes) in the last two issues. I mean, less than one page dedicated to an entire country's worth of regional racing. NASA has a lot more going on than just the one race at Nationals, right? I was going to write a letter to GRM, but I thought that before I do, I'd get the opinion of others out there, as a reality check.Jeff Its my guess that there isnt anyone sending stories/results to GRM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcelenza Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I have to agree, it's pretty thin, and even inaccurate if you consider race reports. Compared to the SCCA which has their own magazine, we don't get much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrew8991 Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I have to agree, it's pretty thin, and even inaccurate if you consider race reports.Compared to the SCCA which has their own magazine, we don't get much. have you really read the SCCA magazine lately? I'd much rather have GRM, even if the event coverage is sparse (and its probably sparse because not much is sent in...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryancohnracing Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I send everything that comes my via the Series Directors in both GL and MW regions. I communicate with GRM staff often as well. I also send releases about our sponsors, new staff/Series Directors/Tech Shops to GRM. We have little control over what gets published, so all I can do is send race reports and hope for the best. I try to schmooze Scott Lear when I have the opportunity! Honest! Given the scope of what your asking though, it would be tough to make everyone happy. How many regions are there? 11? How many classes/series? 37 (if I recall correctly) That would make 407 possible race reports/series championship reports Scott would receive/review/edit and decide which to publish. Oh, and he has to receive it in time for deadline, which does not care a bit about when our races are scheduled! Print runs about 2 months behind real life in monthlies. I for one think they do a fine job, when you look at the bigger picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor57 Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I don't think the average reader cares all that much about specific regional results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcelenza Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 yeah, you guys are probably right, but I actually like to read SportsCar, although I only see it infrequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Crawford Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Do the GTS area directors not send in event results and info Fc SEast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianacole Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Part of the challenge is that the publication deadline is usually a couple of months prior to the actual issue date, so by the time the issue with the news is sent out, the results are out of date. That said, I have previously asked for all the Regional GTS Directors to submit brief articles to GRM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sterling Doc Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 To back Bryan up, 944 Spec Midwest got several blubs in the NASA class news when I sent in race reports to him. It's pretty highly edited, but it's something. I'm hoping that with some more time/familiarity/schmoozing, and some more pro photos, we'll get a bigger feature. If you look in the NASA Midwest page, there are twitters posted when the race reports are posted, which are in the "pressroom" There are a lot of race reports there, all of which were sent in to GRM. Look here: http://www.nasamidwest.com/pressroom/ This brings up another issue. Does anyone read the race reports posted on the web page? Did you guys know where to find them (before I posted a link? ) A lot of time goes into those reports! How can we increase awareness/readership (and contributions)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSG1901 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 This brings up another issue. Does anyone read the race reports posted on the web page? Did you guys know where to find them (before I posted a link? Um...even though I've written a bunch of them, I don't know that I've ever seen where they are posted... ...have to go look, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstreit911 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Scott writes some nice ones, I've read 'em! FWIW guys, as a series director we're often busy dealing with a lot at the track and may not get all the really interesting stuff that happened over the weekend. GRM doesn't want to read about me doing paperwork. I find it incredibly helpful when I get writeups from the participants, even when it's a few sentences. Only you know how cool it was when you made that crazy 2-wheels on the grass diving pass for the win. I probably didn't even see it. We can only write about what we see or hear about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprytel Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 To the series directors.... until this thread, I had no idea that GRM was dependent upon regional contributions for their content. My initiation of the topic was in no way meant to be a criticism of the work that you do, or of NASA in general. I guess I was naive to think that maybe GRM had staff that actually researched and reported this sort of thing for a living. I guess I put too much stock in GRM's claim to be NASA's "official publication". With that title, I expected that they were actively reporting on NASA's activities, not just passively printing what others submit. I have read the reports that Scott has put together and they are great, almost better than the real experience. He is quite the wordsmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstreit911 Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Always the troublemaker Hermann! Seriously though, if you and Roy and some of the other regulars could write a few lines and email them, I'd love to submit more content to GRM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosm3os Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Chris: I will volunteer Roy and myself to do the gts3 stuff. If we could get submissions from a volunterr from each class we can put them together as one article. So Jeff is in for 5, Chris for 4, me for 3 . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryancohnracing Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 No harm, no foul from my end. Sometime we forget that not everyone knows what we do behind the scenes! DOH! GRM relies on NASA to provide content. This is no different than the SCCA model. Look at the authors of most articles in their mag and you'll realize that its member submissions. The beauty of the NASA-GRM model is that it is not limited to a "select" few. If Joe Schmoe submits something to GRM on carbon fiber whoosits it has as much chance of getting in as something I send in the form of press release. Ok, maybe not EXACTLY the same chance... In my perfect world I'd have a staff writer that attended each NASA GL & MW event. They'd collect results, personal interest stories, photos and so on. Then submit to us for our websites and GRM and the mass media. Hey, I can dream, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pradey Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 For a staff writer, we could reach out to a local high school near the track and offer them the chance to be published in a national magazine? Might be a bit of work, but it also may work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.