Triangle Chapter Report – September 2016

The Triangle Chapter of the NC Region SCCA met on Wednesday September 7th at El Rodeo in Raleigh. 14 members attended and there were no guests. Things got started on a different foot as our normal upstairs meeting room was out of action due to a broken air conditioner. Not a big problem as our hosts at El Rodeo shifted us to their downstairs semi-private room that worked out fine. Unfortunately, there are no TV’s down there, so we weren’t able to be entertained by the videos that Chuck Hines and others had brought.

Following eating, drinking and socializing the formal portion of the meeting started around its scheduled 7:30 time. Mark covered the topics of the last Board meeting.

Treasurer Steve Keadle reported that the Region is comfortably in the Black budget-wise having made at least a little money on all of our races so far this year.

Buddy Matthews provided an update on the substantial progress he and his West Chapter committee had made on the Region’s Annual Awards Banquet. A venue has been secured and the owners, who are car nuts like us, have volunteered to help out at Tech at our events and plan to show off some of their classic cars at the banquet. Sounds like our kind of people! Buddy anticipated that the price should be close to last year’s banquet. He also secured a special hotel rate at the nearby Day’s Inn along with possible concessions at the Tanger Outlet Center. If that wasn’t enough, the organizers have lined up a celebrity for the evening. Not wanting to steal their thunder, I’ll let others tell you about that.

Morgan Mehler reported that things are becoming clearer at Rockingham and that they are interested in working with us and will welcome proposals following an inaugural event planned for October. Rent should be reasonable, so there’s a good chance we may be able to utilize the site for some fresh innovative type events. The final ownership of the facility is still subject to change, so cross your fingers that this works out for us.

For those of you who don’t know, one of our Flag Chiefs, David Turner, has been taking on the substantial challenge of managing the Region’s race equipment and doing a fantastic job. The Board wholeheartedly supported him replacing some of the communications equipment.

Rex Deffenbaugh reported that a famous Datsun racer from SCCA’s heyday would be competing at the Goblins Go Production Fest and the Board approved a free entry for him as thanks for the national recognition he will bring to the event. There are plans to take advantage of his presence for marketing and folks will want to bring a shirt or the latest issue of SportsCar for him to sign.

On the business side of things, the Board approved the supplemental rules and schedules for the last 2 races of the year. While this sounds rather mundane, juggling car classes, race groups and schedules in a sincere effort to make sure everyone is happy is extremely challenging and time consuming. Hats off to Bruce Dover, Sam Fouse, and the Competition Board for all their effort on this.

The Board also discussed updating the Region’s policies regarding reimbursing officers for expenses associated with required Regional and National meetings. While the Region has emphasized minimizing costs for these events, in many cases folks are paying out of pocket on top of committing their time to attend these meetings.

James Shanks, our Membership Chair, reported that membership is up slightly and hopefully this trend will continue.

After Board business had been discussed subsequent Triangle Chapter discussions included the current paths for members to obtain competition licenses. This stemmed from several calls that myself and other Board members had received from folks interested in participating in the upcoming 13/8 hour enduro event. For some reason there is strong interest from the Lemons/Chump Car community and fortunately, our Divisional Licensing Steward, has been very helpful in working with folks to help them find a way to come out and play with us. It was noted that SCCA National has recognized the extreme importance of finding avenues for folks to be able to participate in our events, but there remains work to be done. James Shanks noted that the Solo Nationals were in progress and that a number of NCR members were doing well. Hopefully there will be a more in-depth discussion of this event elsewhere in the newsletter.

We then discussed all the upcoming events and opened the floor for Swap and Sell announcements.

A motion was made to adjourn and folks returned to socializing prior to heading home for the evening. If you haven’t come out to one of our Chapter meetings in a while, please consider joining us. We’d love to see you!

Mark Senior – Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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