모멘텀 에피소드 34:
기술과 함께 앞으로 질주: NHRA가 Jform으로 운영을 간소화하는 방법

What happens when an organization that runs over 20 nationally televised drag racing events annually streamlines their processes with powerful automation? We'll find out as we sit down with Greg Behar, the director of technology at the National Hot Rod Association, who's leveraged Jform Enterprise to collect feedback from their adoring fans, automate race applications, safety waivers, employee onboarding, and much more.

Welcome to Momentum, a podcast by Jform, where we talk about the technology, productivity tips, insights, and best practices that help us move forward in business and in life. Let's get started.

Thank you so much for coming on the show, Greg. I really appreciate it. I know we tried to get together at one point and it didn't really end up working out, but that was the company's fault and not really ours.

Yeah, unfortunately I was late to the company party, but let's just jump right into it. Do you want to tell me a little bit about yourself? Maybe just start with your name and kind of your role and what all you oversee at the NHRA.

Yeah, my name is Greg Behar. I am the director of technology here at National Hot Rod Association. I've been with the organization a little over four years now. I've worked for everybody from finance to high technology such as medical implants. I've worked for manufacturing and now for entertainment and drag racing at the NHRA. It's really a great organization.

The NHRA is just really something that has spoken to me because I have been such a motorsports enthusiast my entire life, just from a child all the way up through even today. I've always been into motorcycles, cars, anything. I'm kind of that speed addict.

Do you race yourself? I used to. I'm a little older, a little slower, so I watch the young kids go out there and do it now.

Yeah, I feel you on that. What's your kind of vehicle of choice?

I've grown up loving motorcycles, street racing, all of that. I had a not very successful career in racing, but I really love it. It's just something you're born with.

That's awesome. What's kind of the scope of the marketing department there? I assume you're kind of in marketing, right?

Well, it is a little bit connected with marketing, but we really stick to applications for the different departments and also managing a lot of the third-party applications and things that we use such as Jform, a ticketing platform, a membership platform, a racer platform, and many other smaller things in our ecosystem.

Just curious, what are you using for your CRM? Are you on Salesforce or anything like that?

We do have a small implementation of Salesforce as well as our ticketing system has some CRM built into it which we utilize as well.

Do you want to maybe go a little bit into the background of the NHRA for those who haven't heard of it? Maybe just a little bit of background and the scope of the operation.

Yeah, absolutely. The NHRA stands for National Hot Rod Association. It is the premier championship national drag racing association. Next year we're going to be having our 75th anniversary, so we're really looking forward to that.

We provide a great platform for racers and fans alike. We want to provide the best experience and environment to enjoy drag racing for years to come.

The NHRA has an interesting story. There's a gentleman named Wally Parks who was a huge enthusiast and racer himself. Back in 1951, he decided he wanted to race in not only a legal environment but also a safe environment. So the NHRA was born. Wally put it together and it's still running today, as safe as it can be.

With motorsports, there's always an inherent danger.

What kinds of races do you put on? I know drag racing, but then you do hot rod, funny cars, and that kind of stuff too, right?

That's all considered drag racing. There are dozens of classes and categories that people can race in. Even the average person can get a street license for just a few dollars and get into drag racing. It's very accessible to most people.

We've made it very easy to get into as either a racer or a fan. We put on over 20 events nationally all over the country from California to Maine. They're spread out between March and the middle of November, which is our season.

In addition to national events, we have dozens of divisional events for divisional racers. If they do well in their division, they earn enough points to come up to a national event. It's a great organization and very easy to get into. If you're interested, check out our website at nhra.com with a quick link to become a racer.

Sure, it's a great way to scratch that adrenaline itch.

I was doing research and saw that the NHRA is the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world. Is that right?

I don't know if we're the largest in the world. We have a very large following and have been around for 75 years. I don't want to say we are the largest if we're not. There are large ones like Formula One and NASCAR, but we have a large racer base and member base. Many of our events throughout the year are sold out.

There are about 120 different member tracks people can go to and race if they want to. That's pretty incredible.

They're located all over the country and we're adding to that all the time. COVID was a big challenge because we couldn't run races and events involve contact with many people. But we've long past that and are back in full stride doing what we do best.

What do you like most about what you do?

Being in technology and applying it to motorsports is something I love. I enjoy putting processes in place that make it easier for racers to race, fans to buy tickets, and the overall operation to run smoothly. For example, what used to take two days to thumb through a TV schedule now takes minutes with our process.

That's so cool to hear. It's like the meeting of your two passions together.

I guess switching gears, what was your data collection like before Jform? When did you start using it?

I got here about four years ago. Jform was being implemented in a limited way. I joined right in the middle of COVID, and that's when they really discovered the need for forms. I expanded on what was being done. We set up an internal process that pulls data from Jform into an internal SQL database, then do additional processing and notifications tied to membership and other information.

So it's kind of been there since you first started?

Yes, and when I first saw Jform, it was a bit of a mystery, but I quickly discovered its value. Coming from being a full-time developer, I realized this is what we've been trying to do the whole time but without code.

Our CEO was a developer who wanted an easier way to make forms. Next thing you know, Jform was born. I came from the days of ColdFusion, so it's a big jump.

When did you switch to Enterprise? Before or during your time?

During my time. I think I had been here 8 months to a year when we switched to an enterprise account because we were using it so much and needed a more robust subscription.

Can you walk us through a normal Jform you use all the time?

When you race for the NHRA at a divisional or national level in the sportsman class, there's a five-page form called a tech card that must be filled out every time you race. Previously, racers had to fill it out from scratch for every race, which could be 20 to 40 times a year.

Now, the form populates from previous answers each season, so racers only update changes and sign. This saves an abundance of time and is a premier form we use constantly. There are probably 300 to 800 of these filled out weekly.

That's a great use of Jform prefill, right?

We use a different method with additional logic, but it works really well. It's easy to add new classes or options in the backend through conditional logic.

We also have many email conditions that send notifications to racers confirming receipt, to division directors, and to a general email box. This has made life easier and allowed racers to focus on racing instead of administration.

Do you implement an approval workflow for racers?

We built a .NET application for submissions with filtering, sorting, and the ability to send a link to racers to edit their submissions. We also use the data for marketing and waivers. We can quickly view a specific person's submission and link back to Jotform.

That's super helpful. What about medical information if someone has an accident?

I defer to our legal department, but when a tech card is finished, Jform opens a new tab for the waiver, which is filled out and tied back to the original entry. This is helpful for quick access if there's an accident and legal needs to be informed.

Membership gives racers around $600,000 worth of insurance. We try to make being an NHRA member very beneficial for racers and general members alike.

How do you use Jform for spectators?

We often set up Jform surveys after events to collect feedback on what fans liked or disliked. This information helps marketing, social, and editorial teams create new content for our YouTube channel and other platforms.

What kind of integrations are you using? Payments?

We process payments for hard cards, which are plastic ID cards for racing teams to buy tickets for crew members. Teams enter their info and team members, get a price, and pay through Jotform. Payments are processed through sponsors like Get RX and Payflow Pro, integrated well with Jotform.

Jform has saved us from creating many custom developments. We still do some .NET and Drupal development, but Jform has saved an enormous amount of time.

What other problems has Jform helped solve?

New employee onboarding used to be a scattering of emails. We set up a new employee request form that routes requests based on needs like credit cards or access to different departments. This has made the process much more accurate and efficient.

So you use it for drivers, spectators, and internal processes?

Yes, about 30% of our forms are for internal processes.

Any other interesting processes?

Our tech card is the most used and complicated. We have hundreds of forms set up over six years of use.

It's cool to hear you're using Jform for so many different purposes.

Previously, people used Excel spreadsheets shared on SharePoint, but Jform replaces many of those with better notifications and sharing.

Do you use automated workflows?

Yes, we have rules that send forms to different departments based on answers. For example, the new hire form routes to finance if a credit card is needed or to the national field office if a hard card is needed.

What do you like most about Jform Enterprise?

Ease of use and a short learning curve. If you have any experience with Excel, you'll get it quickly, often within an hour or two. The support from Jform has been phenomenal, though rarely needed.

Do you have any metrics on time or money saved?

We are a small shop with limited resources, so no specific metrics, but what used to take days now takes minutes. Being in the entertainment industry, things change fast, and Jform helps us respond quickly and have data at our fingertips.

What would you say to others in a similar industry looking at solutions like Jform?

If you run or work in an IT department or any organization, try it. You won't understand how efficient it makes you until you try. I guarantee you'll find many use cases quickly.

Anything else worth mentioning?

The support has been phenomenal. I like the product's structure and ease of use. It has been a great benefit and I look forward to it being a staple for years to come.

Any forms you're super proud of?

It's not just for IT professionals. Many departments use it, including field offices, division directors, customer service, and legal. It's widespread throughout the organization.

We had to put some controls in place because people were almost using it too much. We implemented an approval process to review and manage forms.

Do you know how Jform originally came to be used at NHRA?

The person who originally implemented it was here for about 10 to 12 years and was technically adept but not in IT. She left about a year and a half ago.

Are you still using any original forms?

Many, including the tech card. We clone forms to preserve data and clear submissions for new use. We disable previous forms but keep access to data in Jform and our SQL database.

Any parting wisdom?

Try Jform even if you're not technically adept. You'll probably do more than you think and faster than you expect. It's used widely across departments and very productive.

Thank you, Greg, for coming on the show. It was great to hear about your journey with NHRA and how you're using Jotform.

Thank you, Patrick, for having me. I look forward to standing up many more Jotforms in the future.