The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

t was about 2007 when we real- ized that SAAC needed a top-to- bottom overhaul of the club’s membership system. Our method of maintaining membership records was antiquated and labor-intensive, owing to our fixation with continuing to operate in the dark ages, so to speak. The computer world continued to move forward with new software, new hardware and new innovations. SAAC remained anchored to the re- cent past where we were comfortable, although only marginally com- petent. We had no time to go back to school and reeducate ourselves with new equipment. Besides, we felt this fixation with computers was probably just a passing fad that would soon burn itself out. At SAAC-31, at Virginia In- ternational Raceway, we struck up a conversation with Jay Tal- bott, a member from the Philadelphia area. When we learned that he was a “com- puter guy” we began asking some vague questions about modernizing SAAC’s member- ship database. His answers were far too detailed for us and we felt our eyes beginning to glaze over. Giga- bytes and RAM had no meaning and it quickly became obvious we were in way over our head. We slowly shifted the conversation from “what would it take” to “could you do it?” To make a long story short, Jay felt sorry for us and agreed to take on the project. He would devise a member- ship database that would lead SAAC away from snail-mail renewals and payment by check to a system that would utilize email and PayPal. At first it had to be something that was compatible with both methods of doing business because it was not something that could be flipped on like a switch. The goal was to eventually move to- wards almost total internet involve- ment. It would not be easy. The demo- graphics of the club revealed that while most members had some com- puter skills, they still did not rely on their home computers to do much more than play video games and look at eBay auctions. They were still used to getting a membership renewal in the mail and paying for it by check or with a credit card when they sent it back to us by mail. Dragging them into the future would be a challenge. Talbott dug into finding software that would work. But he knew that creating the program was one thing; administering on a daily basis was something else. He quickly realized that although he was self-employed with his own consulting business, he would not have the time to devote to the never-ending cycle of renewal re- minders, renewals and fulfill- ing new memberships. However, he was able to con- vince his wife, Gwenn, that she could use the work to fill a hole in her daily schedule. Ne- gotiations with her were launched and successfully con- cluded, and suddenly SAAC had a new membership office. Just in time, too. By 2008 SAAC was deep into its dark days of our lawsuit with Car- roll Shelby, necessitating changing the club’s publica- tion from being printed and mailed to putting it online. The cost savings was huge. Money the club would normally spend on the three Ps – paper, printing and postage – was vacuumed up by the club’s legal defense fund. The switch from print to internet did not make a lot of members happy. As a whole, most had not moved into the computer era, or did so grudgingly. The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 80 SAAC’s Membership Kahuna – Rick Kopec I