Writers needed for SportsCar at Solo Nationals

General discussions about Solo

Moderator: Mike Simanyi

Post Reply
User avatar
Rocky Entriken
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 5:00 pm

Writers needed for SportsCar at Solo Nationals

Post by Rocky Entriken »

I need writers to help cover the Solo Nationals for SportsCar. If you’re the type of person who likes to weigh in on these forums, you may be just the one we need.
I need about two dozen writers to cover the event. Ideally, we want people who will be there all four days -- Tuesday-Wednesday drivers cover Thursday-Friday classes and Thursday-Friday drivers cover Tuesday-Wednesday classes [See Run Days list at bottom of this message].
The perks are:
1-This counts as your work assignment,
2-You do most of it sitting in the stands or chatting with other drivers, and
3-You do NOT have to work on the days you run (if you’re there all four days).
The necessaries are:
1-I prefer people who are there all four days (enabling #3 above), but I can use some same-day people -- it depends what heat you end up running. I do NOT assign conflicts.
2-You have to get stories back to me within about 10 days.
You do NOT need polished writing ability. Rather, we need people who are good observers and, yes, even good bench racers.
No one should have to write up more than two classes or cover classes in more than two heats (Open and Ladies are considered one class for story purposes). The basic job is to be there when the classes are running, talk to a couple of the key players, then write a story (likely after you get home) of about 500 words.
You e-mail it to me, I do the editing and fact checking, and perhaps plug in some historical perspective, and send it to the magazine. I also take care of preparing all results for publication, so you do not have to worry about that.
Great writing talent is secondary to just being there. I can edit most anything into a reasonable narrative, but I need the details of the story so the eyes and ears of the reporters are invaluable. This is like the good old days of hot-lead journalism -- you're the ace reporter, I'm the invisible "rewrite” guy. I’ll send you a brief "how-to" with the story assignments, which come out after the run order is announced.
If you can be part of the crew this year, please send me a direct e-mail (rocky@spitfire4.com) telling me:
1. Your name
2. Mailing address
3. Phone numbers (home, work, cell)
4. e-mail address
5. Your class, days you run [see schedule below]
6. What day you plan to arrive/leave Lincoln
7. Where you plan to stay in Lincoln (motel, etc.)
8. Any preferences for classes you'd like to cover
9. Second choice for event work assignment in case I can't use you as a writer.
If you enter Nationals online through MotorsportReg.com (you can reach it most easily from the SCCA.com website), when you reach “Work Preference” select “Other” and on the next line down write in “SportsCar Writer.” If you enter using the paper entry form, in the “Worker Information” area circle “OTHER” and write in "SportsCar Writer."
If you've already sent your entry and checked off some other worker preference, just let me know what you checked. I can get it changed.
Hope to hear from you soon!

--Rocky Entriken
Chief of Writers

Run Days for 2011 Solo Nationals:
------ Run Days ------
~~~TUE-WED~~~
SS ES FS
ST SSM SM SMF
ASP BSP CSP DSP
XP CP FP
AM FM FSAE FJA FJB

~~~THU-FRI~~~
AS BS CS DS GS HS
STR STS STU STX
ESP FSP
DP EP GP
BM CM DM EM F125
and, of course, corresponding Ladies classes
Post Reply