You’ve read it here first! The CRA is in the process of migrating from our former online store to MotorsportReg.com.

Reasons for Change
The software at the heart of our previous store, Magento, at its current version, will no longer be supported and as is will not meet credit card processing requirements (PCI certification) this year. Upgrading and ongoing support for Magento is time consuming for our volunteers, and cost prohibitive to the organization as a whole. Several functions in our current implementation would be broken by an update, and it’s not practical to fix them.

Rebuilding the store with the most recent version of software was explored and discussed, but would ultimately suffer from the same support issues in the long term. Using a third-party product will significantly reduce our support requirements and overall risk to the organization. MotorsportReg has been discussed and evaluated over the past couple years, and was found to better meet our needs overall and at lower cost to the organization. Many other roadracing and autosports groups use MotorsportReg, and user account/driver profile information may be shared across the multiple organizations. Which makes this easier on our racers that visit multiple orgs that also utilize MotorsportReg.

In addition, we have previously managed memberships either manually in an Excel spreadsheet, or in a crude database system. Having multiple disparate systems didn’t allow the club to (easily) set store options based on membership status. Using MotorsportReg allows maintaining the membership status, race entries, and much more entirely in one single system.

In addition, with MotoAmerica coming to BIR this summer and the fact they utilize MotorsportReg, we felt now was a good time for our club to make the move.

Based on the above information it should be known that NO data will be copied from the former store to MotorsportReg. You will need to create a new account (if you do not already have one), when the time comes you will need to go in and purchase your membership, and then when the time comes to register for races you will need to go in and do that all as normal. Keep in mind that you will NOT be able to even register for races until you have completed your membership and had it approved.

Idiosyncracies
While we believe MotorsportReg is clearly the best alternative, there are a number of restrictions as well as additional functionality beyond what we previously had.

• You will need a create a MotorsportReg Account if you have not already.
• MotorsportReg Memberships are created as events for set dates. The CRA membership director will need to adjust each one as members join or renew.
• The proper profile must be used to register the right person.  This includes Membership.
• Due to the manual effort required by the CRA membership director, there will be some delay before the system shows the membership as valid.
• For proper race entry operation and validation, users will need to create at least one vehicle, and enter their transponder number if they have one. If someone rents, they still need to create a vehicle, leaving the transponder number blank, but need to do only once.

Timeline
The timeline for implementation is as follows:

• Begin using MotorsportReg exclusively for Membership – Feburary 2021. That will become the master data.
• Begin using MotorsportReg exclusively for Race Entries – May 2021 (for pre-registration and registration for Race Event #1)

Common Issues

• Duplicate Account Profiles. This may be confusing for you – only one carries the membership.
• Creating a profile and not adding Central Roadracing Association.  CRA can’t see your profile unless it is associated with CRA, though we can add it if we know the email address.
• Missing Birthdate.  This is used to validate individuals are not minors.
• Missing Emergency Contact Information or yourself listed.  No one expects accidents to happen, but we won’t know who to contact if you don’t provide it.
• Requesting competition number reservation before driver profile set up. Competition Number Reservations are tied to a specific profile.
• Not setting up vehicle to pull transponder from.  You will be prompted during race registration to create a vehicle to pull your transponder number from, even if you rent your transponder.

Support
Support for account management and payment is provided by MotorsportReg through self help functions, documentation, and email support.  Support for Membership status and specifics of event registration is provided by CRA through links to the event Registrar.

You may contact membership@cra-mn.com to delete duplicate accounts.