NCR SCCA Board Meeting

March 15, 2023

Attendees: Kit Williams, Al Heatwole, Anna Crissman, Megan Tyler, Sam Fouse, John Bodnar, Lee Hill, James Shanks, Stephen Miller late

Guests: Ben Tyler, Chris Schimmel, John Lindquist, Frank Killian, Bruce Dover, Mark Senior

1. The meeting was called to order by Anna Crissman, NCR RE at 7:01 pm.
2. Motion to approve the minutes from the February meeting (Williams/Heatwole). Approved.

Financial Report

Treasurer Sam Fouse had sent a copy of the financial report to Secretary Kit Williams.

As the details of our finances are confidential, NCR members who wish more information should contact either the Office Manager or any member of the Board of Directors. They are also invited to attend a Chapter Meeting, where such matters are discussed in detail.

Chapter Reports

Chris Severt was not present but had sent a brief report to Anna and Kit. Cape Fear Chapter met with 6 people, all regular attendees, who spent the meeting bench racing. Lee Hill said the West Chapter met with 15 people at their usual location. They had both new and regular people in attendance. He said they mainly discussed the potential flagging situation at VIR for 2024. He said they had a long and good meeting. James Shanks had posted the Triangle Chapter report in the Google drive. They met with 18 people and watched race videos, looked through old racing photos, and had a great time.

Old Business

1. April Super Tour Update: Sam said the planning for the Super Tour paddock reservations and load in was going along smoothly and they would be reaching out to prep shops in the next few days. He is still having an issue with VIR with our load in volunteers, as he described at the last meeting, where VIR is insisting that any of our volunteers who come help us with load in will be paying for camping and electrical fees. Sam said we will likely be paying for their fees as a thank you for coming to help us. He should have a list of who will be coming and what fees will need to be paid by next week. There are lots of details to still figure out as far as who will be helping where and when, but the rest of the running of the race should be as usual for a Super Tour. Sam said one issue is that VIR is not allowing us to use the Patriot paddock as they are supposedly trying to rent the Patriot course during the Super Tour event. This would of course create multiple issues for us. As there were no more questions or comments regarding the April event, Anna gave a quick update on the Road Atlanta Super Tour that had happened the week before, saying the event ran smoothly and went very well.

New Business

1. Scholarship Program Update: John Lindquist said we could add $5,000 to the Scholarship Fund total in a deposit that would be posted tomorrow. He said this is a very good base to build from and is the kind of money that would normally be associated with a foundation, which he is working on drawing up the paperwork to create. The scholarship award committee met last week and has selected 5 scholarship winners which will be announced in the coming weeks and months. He said we need to continue bringing in the kind of solid revenue we have been doing up to this point. He would like to create a 501(c)3 foundation for the scholarship program which would make donations to the scholarship program tax deductible. He felt like this is a step forward for the scholarship program as we have grown the program dramatically since its inception and we are now a known entity. He felt we now have the funds and reputation to move forward and a 501(c)3 would be the logical next step. This would operationally make some changes to how the funds come in and go out. As a foundation, the scholarship program could also receive different kinds of donations, such as vehicles and endowments. John said the paperwork is coming along and they will keep the Board updated as to the progress. John said the slab of the VIR Oak Tree that had been donated back to the scholarship program had been turned into a coffee table and has already been purchased from the scholarship program by Connie Nyholm. John has plans for the upcoming Super Tour to display the program as well as plans throughout the rest of the year, including the Runoffs. Overall the feeling is that the scholarship program is doing a terrific job.
2. May Event Planning: Anna said the event supps are almost finished and she will be giving them to Bruce very soon to be finalized. This event will be much less complicated than the Super Tour and should be easier to manage, and Anna said we are trying to contain this event as far as spending goes as the cost of running at VIR has gone up so much. With a large enough turn out and good weather we stand to be in good shape, and we are hoping to have a large number of drivers from the MARRS series come join us. James Shanks said he felt we should give a free entry away to a MARRS driver for this event. He made a motion to give a $250 discount to racers for this event. Seconded by Lee Hill. Conversation was had about how this would be implemented, where it would be a refund to their entry fee in the amount of $250. Lee wanted to change it to a free entry since we are having the enduro and that we should control the messaging of why we are offering this to only the MARRS drivers and not the SARRC drivers. Sam said we would need to include this in our advertising in order to make an impact. James felt this was a golden opportunity to entice the MARRS drivers to keep them coming back to VIR with us. The motion was clarified, then Lee Hill seconded it again, and then the motion was voted on and passed. We will add this to our advertising and make adjustments as needed. Sam asked about the worker gift for the May event. Multiple ideas were discussed and the budget was mentioned as well. No concrete ideas were formulated and it will still be looked into. Anna said we have not yet acquired trophies for this event either. James said he had been given a box of trophies at his last chapter meeting and was not sure what to do with them. They can likely be repurposed but it would take some work. The trophies were offered to the time trial program but Stephen said if they can be used elsewhere that would be better. James said he had roughly a dozen of these trophies. Anna will be shuffling trophies around to help make things happen and would be bringing several to the speed suite.

Stephen Miller said he would likely be missing some portion of the June Time Trial due to a wedding he has been invited to. We would need to do some slight shuffling around to cover the event, but we should be able to do this without much issue.

Sam said the hospitality trailer will be getting a license plate soon which will allow it to move around should we need to use it at another event site.

It was discussed that we should speak with Sam True at NCCAR about possibly storing items at his facility and possibly helping to make the track road racing certified.

Sam said he has received two contracts for the Solo program for NCCAR but the name of the POC is not correct. Stephen said the Solo program should already be correcting this issue.

Motion to close the meeting (Bodnar/Hill). Passed at 8:03 pm.

Please note that all NCR members are welcome to attend NCR Board of Directors meetings.
If any member should have a question about the Region or its activities, please contact the Office Manager or any member of the Board.

Submitted by Secretary Kit Williams