BoD Minutes – April 2022

NCR SCCA Board April 2022 Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022

Attendees: Kit Williams, Bruce Dover, James Shanks, Cameron Conover, Al Heatwole, Paul Spencer, Anna Crissman, John Bodnar, Sam Fouse, Blair Deffenbaugh; Stephen Miller joined late

Guests: Libby and Frank Killian, Chris Schimmel, Ben Tyler, Mark Senior, Justin Deffenbaugh, Heather Powers, Rob Wilmoth, Ericka Deffenbaugh, Eric Danielson, Joe Lyons; Chuck Stanley joined late

  1. The meeting was called to order at 7:34pm by Anna Crissman
  2. Motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting (Shanks / Williams). Passed.

Order and content of the items listed below reflects the order of discussion, as nearly as possible; not necessarily as they appeared on the published agenda.

Financial Report

Sam Fouse had sent a copy of the financial report to the secretary Kit Williams, who read the report as follows.

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

At the time of this meeting, there were no Chapter reports for the West or Cape Fear chapter meetings posted to the region Google drive. Cameron Conover said the West Chapter had a good meeting with about 13 people and discussed various region activities, including Rockingham and the Spring Sprints race. James Shanks had posted the Triangle chapter report to the Google drive and said the Triangle Chapter met and had roughly 11 people in attendance. They discussed the Spring Sprints and the passing of Dan Robson, long time NCR member, racer, and friend to many. Kit Williams said he had hosted the Cape Fear Chapter meeting and had 5 people in attendance. They discussed the autocross schedule, but the main topic of their meetings has been to find a new chapter coordinator, as there is currently still no official leader of the chapter.

Before moving to the next agenda item, Rob Wilmoth spoke up and said that the Cars and Coffee event that NCR has reserved parking for was a successful event and had several members in attendance. He encouraged more people to attend this event whenever possible as he felt it was giving the region good public exposure.

Old Business

  1. Rockingham Proposal: Al Heatwole and Rob Wilmoth spoke about several things that have taken place since the last Rockingham Speedway update was given to the Board in February. They have been in contact with the track and have been working on an event proposal to hold an NCR Time Trial at The Rock this year. When they last updated the Board, we had asked them to keep working on the specifics of this event and to try and work out a schedule for when this could happen. Stephen Miller said the main concerns with the track are safety related issues, such as location and construction of barriers, tire bundles and tire bundle construction, and the track surface itself. The group that has been to the track and has been working with the track staff would like to send a list of safety items that we would need to have corrected before holding an NCR event at the facility, but before they send such a list, they would like to know if the region would hold an event if the track agrees to the proposed safety changes. Rob Wilmoth and Anna Crissman shared a copy of his written event proposal with the Board, detailing a Time Trial event hosted in conjunction with the charity Racing for ALS, as had been discussed in February. The proposal is for the weekend of September 10-11th, 2022. The event would be funded by the region, and any profits above our cost to run the event would be donated back to Racing for ALS, in exchange for them supporting and marketing our event. The Rockingham group stated from their experience the Racing for ALS team does a great job of marketing and has a strong base of drivers, and they believe partnering with them would guarantee us a good event. The track and facilities can be rented for roughly $10,000 and includes the entire facility. Stephen spoke about what would be needed to certify the track for SCCA use and said he had been in contact with Jon Krolewicz and Heyward Wagner about making that happen. Stephen’s main concern is that if we ask the track to do the upgrades needed to their track safety, we need to be ready to say yes to an event date, as asking them to spend money on their facility and then not using it would be disingenuous. There was considerable conversation about this, however most of the conversation repeated the same sentiment that Stephen has presented. It seemed that the team involved in formulating this proposal did not want to specifically ask the region for authorization to hold an event, but wanted to know if the region would say okay to an event if they asked for one at a later date. At this point, Kit Williams proposed a motion to approve an event at Rockingham Speedway on September 10-11th as proposed to the Board by the Rockingham event team, provided the safety concerns can be addressed and the track can be certified. Seconded by Cameron Conover. The motion passed unanimously. Rob Wilmoth thanked the Board, and the team said they would move forward with the safety proposals to the track and would keep the Board apprised of what happens.
  2. Email Addresses: Bruce Dover said he has been working with Jeff Eng, NCR Webmaster, to correct several issues with NCR’s email forwarding system. He said the issues have all been corrected and the correct people are now receiving emails, while people who should not be on the forwarding list have been removed. Bruce also said that he is working to correct an issue where none of the Board minutes or reports have been posted to the website since October 2021. He said Kit Williams had brought this issue to his and Anna’s attention and that he believed the issue was resolved and he simply needed to upload the minutes to the website. He said he would take care of this very soon.

New Business

  1. Runoffs Planning: The Board discussed a planning issue for the upcoming SCCA National Championship Runoffs, which will be held at VIR from September 24th to October 2nd, 2022.
  2. Track Damage Claims: Bruce Dover noted that VIR has begun to bill the region for track damages differently than they have in the past. Bruce handles those claims through the National office and through our insurance policy and noted that this is the first time he has seen this new billing strategy from the track. There was no further information at this time, as Bruce will need to file those claims and then see what happens after that. At this time, the Board did not expect this to be a problem but until it is claimed and paid for, we will not know. There were several track incidents during the Spring Sprints, including at least two ambulance rides for drivers.

At this time, the meeting seemed to be wrapping up, and Kit Williams made a quick note that the autocross program has their first events on June 11th and 12th open for registration. It was noted that the Solo program is facing difficulties this year as we have a new point of contact at our event site, MCAS Cherry Point. The registration for these events will close 30 days before the event, per base rules. It was noted that the autocross schedule is not on the NCR website, an issue which needs to be corrected.

Sam Fouse then noted that a memorial service for Dan Robson would be held that coming Saturday, the 23rd, at Mitchell Funeral Home in Raleigh. Several members said they would try to attend, and the Board shared their memories of Dan briefly, before the meeting adjourned and more time was spent remembering Dan.

Motion to adjourn (Bodnar / Fouse). Approved at 8:32 pm

After the meeting there was a long informal discussion by all in attendance. We spoke about Dan Robson, F&C equipment, the May regional race, the Spring Sprints, and the normal bench racing fare of topics, including but not limited to the speed of B Spec. All conversation ended at 9pm.

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

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  • BoD Minutes
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