Senior Discount; Ladies Discount; Family Discount; Military, Student and Unemployed discounts.
These are all used to implement policies of an organization and/or to draw additional revenue. I'm all for strengthening the organization by getting more events with higher paid attendance. Whatever that takes. Only by raising participation and maintaining revenue to meet costs will we grow; allow ourselves to get more tracks and more attractive dates, etc.
As many have pointed out in this thread, one of the greatest things about NESBA is that the thing that matters is riding and improving.
No one cares that someone is young, old, female, what your job or income are, whether you have a uber-hauler or sleep in/under your truck. We are all here to ride, and we all have an equal opportunity to learn and improve, because this organization and our CR's offer their help to everyone from the hapless newbie to the AMA racer.
As others have said, concessions (discounts) can usually be justified to meet a purpose, which is usually increased revenue. They also can be used to fill dates that are undersold, attract a new segment of riders, etc. The goal in the end has to be increased membership and participation.
I'm all for trying things to get more participation.
But perhaps there should be some discussion and common understanding of what we are looking for in members. Are we looking for the occasional trackday rider, or are we focused on hard-core addicts? Do we want to focus on newbies, or more on the intermediate riders? We can't be everything to everybody.
After two seasons with NESBA, my sense is that NESBA primairly seeks as members those who want to improve.
NESBA is an organization of members who mutually support each other in improving our skills and have a heckofa lot of fun doing it.
We provide tools and instruction, but we at NESBA place the burden for learning on the rider. We don't do a lot of hand-holding. The rider has the responsibility to work at improving themselves by taking advantage of the resources NESBA offers. NESBA is also something of an extended family. This comes from a common commitment (addiction?) and the organizations' operational style of members offering their knowledge and skills freely to others. These are our strengths. This is what we offer that the other orgs don't/can't. This is what we need to market to others who are looking for what we have found in NESBA.