Drivers Union

[Dominic49]

I guess maybe it's time to get a driver's union together? Let me know what you think? I'm not sure how it would work and I don't have to be in charge. I just have most of the driver's e-mail addresses, so I figured I'd put it out there. We are in a judged sport. It makes sense that we, as drivers, have a little more control over our future and our money. I think that we can vote in a driver's rep, and they don't have to be a current driver (maybe a past driver or a knowledgeable person). In fact, it may be better if they aren't a driver. If we all pitch in like $10/per race we can fly out a driver rep to watch over the event and approach the NOPI staff with our complaints. It just doesn't seem to be working the way it is. I don't know about you, but I spent a ton of money persuing drifting. It didn't turn out the way I hoped. We were on the fence about driving this year and finding out that Mike Peters was head judge was the nail in the coffin for us. It seems that for the most part us drivers are on the same page when it comes to a lot of things. At least if we had a drivers uion, we would have the power to vote.



If this seems like something you would like to be a part of, hit me back. tracy@batlground.com If it seems like a lame idea, let me know also. I don't want to come across as bossy or whatever :)

Maybe we can all get in a chat room to talk about how it will work if y'all want to try to get it going. Pass this along to your driver friends in case I don't have their e-mail address. This goes out to potential future NOPI drivers, too. It's your problem if you are planning to drive in the future NOPI events.



Tracy



what do you think?

[zcrew]

I thought it was known that racing cars does not produce money. It takes stacks to be able to race and only gets more expensive.

What exactly could a union do? Is this about the poor judging in the past?

[v-empire]

drifting is suppose to be fun.


NO.

Unions are bad and will hold the sport back.

[Blake]

drifting is fun
and was ment for fun
unions are bad
keep it fun and keep the unions away :)

[zcrew]

longest post by dave ever. he means business. and i must say i agree.

[shawn shawn]

drifting is suppose to be fun.


NO.

Unions are bad and will hold the sport back.




Agreed.


/

as soon as I saw the title I said aww fuck....

[J Squared]

I dont have plans to ever drive professionally, let alone in Nopi Drift, so I say lets do it. I like watching drama unfold.

[Subu]

I'll never be apart of it.

[FlatWoodsMonster]

Gay Gay Gay.

[JJ Alfano]

i accidentally clicked yes :(

so much drama coming from NOPI drift..i thought Batlground was driving in FD this year?

[J Squared]

I clicked Yes on purpose : \

[mikespeed95]

How is tracy going to have a drivers union when she has told everyone repeatedly how she's not driving this year? I mean you guys have "bigger and better opportunities" Then why all the fuss about Nopi now? Opportunity to make it personal and try to cause drama on the internet to increase your e-cred came knocking and you can't pass it up.

Also I'm such a horrible judge, but I was a Drift Fury judge from their 1st event to nearly their last....Guess that my lack of judging ability is a reflection on Drift Fury since they pulled me on board till some whack shit happened at Sema in 2007.

Drama Drama Drama. Gay.

Also food for thought Tracy... Don't act like at sema YOU and DAN weren't the BIGGEST Antagonists of Nopi due to Dan getting semi-fucked at Nationals. You both talked soooo much shit about how you were doing Formula D because you were tired of the "NOPI Bullshit" however now your caught between a rock in a hard place as you aren't capable of earning a FD License, and since you've talked so much shit about Nopi and all of its employees and how they "fucked you" and " You made nopi drift" you don't want to go back.


Give me a break. People aren't stupid Tracy. This is the LAST post I'll have in this discussion.

Also me and some other drivers were thinking of starting a union after checks bounced for Pro-Am and to cut down on potential drivers fucking sponsors by making promises they cant keep (i.e. a certain 3 car FD team that never materialized yet was advertised at SEMA last year, although 2 of the team members didn't even have a license!)

where'd you find this at btw? My mind is seroiusly blown by some of the crap being spouted off for obvious reasons to anyone that knows me or tracy, or has ever heard tracy speak.

[PLAY]

i liked the idea of a union.

what is the point of fighting?

e-bickering ftl.

[mikespeed95]

I just don't know why there needs to be a drivers union when every single driver in nopi has my phone number, Rob's phone number, Matts phone number, Glenns phone number, I've talked to almost all of them this week, so has everyone else. A Union is needed when there is a communication barrier, and right now as far as ACTIVE Drivers in the series, and drivers who are intending to be active, there is no communication barrier. At any given time since about Mid-March I can tell you in detail how all of the drivers cars are coming along, where they've been to practice, what tires they are running, what new stuff they have on thier car, what events they are planning on doing.

The biggest problem nopi has right now to be blunt and honest is the has beens and never were's and wanna bes who are tryign to drag the series down,and in all honesty are taking drifting about 5000x way too serious.

Hats off to Sammy, Channin aka A, Dave, Flip, Marcos, Andy Sapp, Erin Sanford for keeping it real.

I'm going to be professional and leave it at that. I think the thread we're reading, and Tracy's declared involvement and comments about Nopi, and the financial actions with the Nopi Demos in 2006 and how her "freinds and team mates" were treated about sum up her character.

[Dominic49]

where'd you find this at btw? My mind is seroiusly blown by some of the crap being spouted off for obvious reasons to anyone that knows me or tracy, or has ever heard tracy speak.

i got it in an email... part of the DRIFT FURY mailing list.....

[mikespeed95]

Nice. At least she found a way to keep it one-sided and behind the scenes, she'll probbly have limited self-seen sucess with that before she brings it up to someone who is actually active in the series right now.

[Marcos]

Is it ok for me to say I love you Dave and Mike???:)

p.s. Mike i need a clutch for the supppperr low low..

[mikespeed95]

What kind do you have now? I've got a lingenfelter prototype some guy in tampa gave me and a clutchnet 4 puck just laying around.

[Marcos]

beat up stock

[Casey]

aw damn i thought this was a street union.

like

cops giving us modded cars bs.


fags

leave the driiiiiifft alone

hattterrrrrzzz

lol i dont really care though.
but unions are GAY


Is it ok for me to say I love you Dave and Mike???:)

p.s. Mike i need a clutch for the supppperr low low..

yes its okay marcos :goodjob::goodjob:


LOL :gay:


jk hahaha

this thread = :gay::gay::gay:

[~The_Duke~]

Hell no, unions are one of the scourges of the earth. They are one of the reasons why our economy is going down the shitter. We dont need another one for anything...

[shawn shawn]

Hell no, unions are one of the scourges of the earth. They are one of the reasons why our economy is going down the shitter. We dont need another one for anything...

:goodjob:

[P.Haire]

i voted yes and not because i'm pro union, i'm pro orginization.

it's not going to be anything like a traditional union. there is no way it could be. it would be nice for real professional drivers to be able to sit down and plan out the season so they have the opportunity to run nopi and forumal d and d1. there could be a standardized rule book, a code of conduct, etc. also it could help people who are in need of sponsors.

it could also help up and coming drivers learn about the professional side of the sport: how to negotiate contracts, how to manage their money, how to pay taxes. having well educated and well behaved drivers can only help the sport.

[mikespeed95]

d1 USA is no more.

FD will not work with anyone, they are a business.

There aren't as many peopel who WILL run both series if they could as much as they say so.

Give up on having all the series working together, its a lost cause and to be 100% HONEST, theres NOBODY that would truly benefit from it considering the amount of work that'd be put forth.

Also drivers unions need to be done by active members of the drifting community if so, not inactive members. If there was wever a drifting union JR would need to be president, and JR knows it doesn't need to exist as theres no communication barrier. Everyone that has a valid thing to say is heard on the FD front, all the people who have these ideas that help one or two people out are ignored because the big picture it doesn't matter, Nopi everyone knows they can call/email glenn whenver, me whenever (well i told everyone to stop callingme after 1am) and rob/matt whenever.

[P.Haire]

well if JR is president tell him to talk to formula d about more east coast or even midwest events. CA, GA, NJ(no more right?), NV, WA, CA, CA isn't cutting it. Also that's only 7 weekends of work, 7 televised events, and 7 times a year real professional drifters get together. IRL a "struggling" series has more than double the events including one in Japan and one in Kansas. I bring up Kansas because itis 24 hours from the Pacific Ocean, 22 from the Atlantic and about 13 from Canada and Mexico.

[mikespeed95]

who in kansas is going to watch drifting? theres no events there in the 1st place, it'd be a wash.

FD is selling out almost every event they have now, most their teams are based out of cali so it doesn't make sense to add more east coast stuff right now.

i want them to come back to tejas, but it'll never happen because nobody shows up, even though houston is the 4th largest city in the nation.

[v-empire]

because in tejas you need dirt drifting, duhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Unions are gay.

good for drivers, bad for business and the sport.

dont forget , its an enthusiast sport.
racing is made awesome by fans.
they sell tickets , more fans, mean more money for drifting, more sponsors, larger crowds, more drive, more goals etc...

unions will cripple it.
competition is good for business. let nopi do its thing, let FD d its thing, let D1 do its thing.
and you can start your another drift league if you want.. its good for the sport.

in the end, there will be one regarded higher than the other... and the rest will follow.. and it will be a cycle.

[JJ Alfano]

Thats why Im starting the Honorable JJ ALfano Pro-Am Series

except no one but me will become pro, so I win the championship every year.

[tc240]

so much drama from batlground.

[Leeelan]

theundersteerking Bent tracy over his Lethal car and Spanked her...i have it on video!!!!!

but ya union is kinda weird for drifting... i thought unions were for like...plumbers and construction workers?

[Elizabeth Reed]

kroger has a union too

[Leeelan]

kroger has a union too :lmfao:

have you heard of the Gay marriage union...:goodjob:

[FlatWoodsMonster]

theundersteerking Bent tracy over his Lethal car and Spanked her...i have it on video!!!!!

but ya union is kinda weird for drifting... i thought unions were for like...plumbers and construction workers?

I am happy I did it too.:cheers:

[Tracy]

i voted yes and not because i'm pro union, i'm pro orginization.

it's not going to be anything like a traditional union. there is no way it could be. it would be nice for real professional drivers to be able to sit down and plan out the season so they have the opportunity to run nopi and forumal d and d1. there could be a standardized rule book, a code of conduct, etc. also it could help people who are in need of sponsors.

it could also help up and coming drivers learn about the professional side of the sport: how to negotiate contracts, how to manage their money, how to pay taxes. having well educated and well behaved drivers can only help the sport.

My thoughts exactly. People just don't like the word UNION. It's funny how so may of the NON-drifters think it's a bad idea, but I have about 20 e-mails from drivers that seem to think it's an ok idea. Keep in mind there were only what, 19 drivers at the first NOPI event this season? I just think it would be a good idea to have a spokesperson and some weight behind our cumulative thoughts. I'm not talking about a hostile takeover...just some more organization amongst the drivers. I mean the "organization" who hosts the event has an organization. It just looks out for their own best interest (as some have shown in recent times. I won't mention names). Why wouldn't the drivers want to do the same?

For those who say drifting is supposed to be fun. I agree 100%. It's just a little hard to have FUN when you have certain folks acting a fool in the organization hosting the event. I'd like to see some of you (not YOU but YOU in general) pay a lousy $10 to go to a movie and not see the movie you expected to see but some lame black and white, silent film and not complain....over $10! I know almost all of you would complain and be PISSED if the manager spit in your face when you said something about it. Even though movies are supposed to be for FUN. Modifying your car is supposed to be for FUN. Let Dan blow it up after you spent $5k on a turbo kit and see if you don't complain. Spend $40 on a T-shirt and get it home and it falls apart after one wash. I mean the T-shirt isn't a necessity. It's just fashion. Fashion isn't supposed to be that serious. Same concept. When you spend money to do something, it becomes personal. Most of us work hard for our money and what we chose to spend it on, fun or not, is important to us. Don't try to play like I'm off when I say this.

Mike, are you spouting my name AGAIN? LOL. If I didn't know better I'd think you are in love. :)

For those of you on the "drama" tip, it's only drama when you get to the point when you can't have a decent debate without calling other people who don't agree with you names. I don't have that problem. For some reason it's pretty easy for me to stay factual and civil even if I don't agree with you. I mean, did I post this thread here???? I'm pretty sure that I made use of my e-mail list that drivers GAVE ME and sent out e-mails for private discussion to AVOID forum drama...think about that for a minute before you play the hater game on me. For the record, I wasn't the one who brought up the drivers union at first. It was mentioned a few times in the NOPI rift private driver's section. I just took the initiative to see what people think. Kind of like the poll in this thread. In most places in life, standing up for what you believe in is a good quality. Persistence and initiative are seen as good qualities. Being a leader and an innovative thinker is a good thing. Somehow in this automotive industry, it's seen as a bad thing and then the name calling starts over it. :???:

[PLAY]

ok...

umm...

i'm no doctor phil, but if you ppl keep fighting with each other, it's probably best just not to talk to or about each other.

[Volcom240sx]

unions suckkkk..

[Casey]

not gonna read that.... lol

drift union = fail

[Casey]

i haz mascot for union

zeh union fail turkey

fail turkey haz one legz
http://www.kfog.com/blog/blog/Images/Articles/Entry488_8556.jpg

[v-empire]

lol..wt eff?

[babowc]

Thread veered off topic from a discussion about "driver's unions" then to personal attacks and what not.

/thread.