Triangle Chapter Report – July 2012

RALEIGH, NC – (NCRSCCA) – The Triangle Chapter meeting for July was held a week late, on July 11, 2012, to allow folks to spend the Independence Day holiday with their families.  It was unusual too in another way – we had it downstairs at El Rodeo in the back meeting room rather than upstairs, as is our custom.  It seems that many of the El Rodeo staff had some time off and it was easier for them to accommodate us without having to climb the stairs.  The back meeting room was smaller, but adequate enough, since it now has a big screen TV.  We were entertained before dinner with in-car video from Mark Senior at VIR.  This video was really unique because it was captured with a backward-facing camera.  Mark recently added that to his video set-up to compliment the usual forward-facing unit, and this was the unedited footage from the rear as he raced his Spec Miata at the Double SARRC/Double MARRS.  It was pretty cool to see cars suddenly slide backwards into view as Mark passed them.  You could see their drivers frantically trying to keep up but inevitably fall behind.  And we had lots of fun trying to guess his position on the track while looking backward at the last corner station he had just passed.  What a hoot!

The business portion of the meeting was short as there was not much news.  We finally got a check from Central Carolinas Region for our participation in the race at Charlotte last September.  This represents our share of the profits for that event.  We aren’t sure that the amount is accurate as the accounting was sketchy, but the Board of Directors was pleased to reach a settlement after all this time.  The difficulty of getting straight and timely answers out of a sister organization made us all appreciate even more the great job that our Treasurer, Steve Keadle (who was present), and our Registrar and Office Manager, Ginny Condrey, do in keeping our books.  Without them we could not manage our expenses in the precise way that we do, nor could we stay in the black.  Hats off to them both!

The Chapter members present also gave a shout out to two members who could not be with us that night, Phil Hennrich and Chris Schimmel.  We have reported before (and in detail elsewhere) that our old buddy Phil is in an assisted living facility dealing with memory impairment.  We discussed at length getting folks to go see him, and even the possibility of getting him out for an evening to attend a meeting.  Only time will tell if we can make that happen.  Chris has been absent because he’s been acting as caregiver for both his aged mother and his significant other.  He’s still building custom roll cages, though, so if you need one, please contact him.  He’d like the business; he just doesn’t have much time left for racing.  Good luck guys, and hope to see you soon!

We closed the meeting with more in-car video, this time from Chuck Hines at Savannah in his ITS car.  Chuck was even brave enough to show us the pass under yellow of rival Jeff Young’s ITS TR-8 that got him moved back from 1st overall to fourth. Several corner workers present opined that it perhaps wasn’t all Chuck’s fault.  They felt that yellow was out too long for a car way off course and that it should have been considered part of the course by the time of the incident.  In any case, he made up for it with a first place win the next day.  Apparently the formerly big boy driver of Big Boy Racing can get to the front and stay there even in 107–degree heat!

August doesn’t promise to be much cooler so why don’t you plan to beat the heat with a cool evening meal at El Rodeo on Wednesday, August 1?  You never know what you might learn.  I sat in on an extended discussion between Sam Fouse and Brock Nicolson on getting better mileage out of Ford SuperDuty diesels using mods provided by Gale Banks.  Great stuff if you are planning to tow a race car (or vintage Huey helicopters in Brock’s case!).  It was very entertaining!

So I’ll see you at the next meeting … or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

MORE REPORTS

All
  • All
  • BoD Minutes
  • Cape Fear Chapter Report
  • Triangle Chapter Report
  • West Chapter Report