Minutes of NCR-SCCA Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

September 19, 2018

Present:  Anna Crissman, Justin Deffenbaugh, Rex Deffenbaugh, Trish Deffenbaugh, Bruce Dover, Sam Fouse, Buddy Matthews, Bonni Perdue, Heather Powers, Chris Schimmel, James Shanks, and via conference call, Heather Clark, Eric Danielsen, Blair Deffenbaugh, Mark Senior, Ben Tyler, and Kit Williams. Morgan Mehler was unable to attend.

1. The NCR BoD meeting was called to order by RE Sam Fouse at 7:29 PM, on Wednesday, September 19^th 2018, at Piper’s Deli, 3219 Old Chapel Hill Road, Durham, NC,
2. Eric Danielsen, and Ben Tyler attended as guests via telephone. Justin Deffenbaugh, Trish Deffenbaugh, Bonni Purdue and Chris Schimmel attended as guests in person.
3. Motion to approve the August minutes, as posted on the Google drive (Shanks / Crissman). Passed.

Order of items below reflects the order of discussion; not necessarily as they appeared on the published agenda.,

Old Business:

1. Bylaws Committee Update. Bruce reported that all the ballots had been sent out and that 53 had been returned to date, all in favor of the revisions. It is expected that some responses will be delayed because of the recent hurricane. Since the deadline is October 15^th, this is not expected to be a problem.
2. Goblins Go Preparations Wrap-up. Race chair responsibilities will be shared by three people, Eric Danielsen, Justin Deffenbaugh, and Mark Senior, The VIR barbeque will be the lunch on Saturday, but it was still up in the air how this would be handled, whether our volunteers would receive tickets or actual plates of food. Sam remarked that the number of drivers registered was on pace with last year, with some groups running slightly ahead, while others were slightly behind, their numbers from the previous year. He also reported that Mazda, via Steve Strickland, had requested that the T4 Mazdas be given a split-start in their group. Sam had agreed only if at least ten of them registered and we had 9 so far, so that seemed likely. Anna said she did not foresee a problem, so long as the stewards went along with it. Anna further remarked that we still had not received enough formula car entries to have both a big bore and a small bore open-wheel group, so they might be combined. Another e-mail is planned to all drivers east of the Mississippi and the fact that the two open-wheel groups might be combined if more entries are not received will be highlighted. Sam noted that our volunteer registration was way down, and that we only had 58 volunteers registered so far, versus 124 last year. He hoped that this was a temporary thing due to the hurricane. Ben said he was planning on sending another e-mail to past volunteers asking for more participation. James interjected that he would like one or both of the e-mails to include the fact that we will be collecting new or gently used racing apparel at the Hospitality tent in anticipation of a “vintage” racewear exchange to held next Match. He promised to send Eric and Bruce details about it. Eric added that they were planning the usual costume contest and perhaps a jack-o-lantern carving contest to go along with the Halloween theme of the event.
3. Speed Suite Stage 2. Sam thanked the volunteers who participated in the workday on Saturday, August 25^th, and said that we had had made remarkable progress in organizing the place and getting stuff up off the floor so that the next phase, the construction phase, might begin in earnest over the winter. He had sent pictures to all the Board members earlier in the week showing how the engine racks had been turned into shelves and things had been stowed on them, as well as how the radios and other corner station gear had been neatly stacked on the industrial shelving on the opposite wall.
4. Time Trial at VIR in 2019 Update. Justin said that after talking with Sam his budget had been revised upward to include things like trophies and a rollback, but that the event was still doable, with a break-even of about $15K at 76 cars. He said he was looking into getting a supply of transponders to rent. Motion to go ahead with this budget and pursue getting it included in our March Into Spring event at VIR (Crissman/ Williams). Passed. Sam added that he had once again committed us to being involved with SCR and Atlanta at the Memorial Day time trial at CMP next year. There was some discussion among the participating Regions about including Central Carolinas Region, but apparently, they did not step up to be part. In a related issue, Kit Williams interjected that the two autocross events scheduled for this upcoming weekend, September 22^nd and 23^rd, had been cancelled due to the recent hurricane. Kit said he had sent a notice to all registered participants on MSR, but the Board directed Bruce to put a banner to that effect on our web site and to consider sending an e-mail out to the Region as well. In response to questions, Kit indicated that while he had yet to return home, he was not expecting any major damage as others had already inspected his property. He said that Morgan had some flooding to deal with and that the Sieverts were without power. Sam reiterated the Region’s support for any members who needed help and asked to Kit to relay that should he hear of a member in need of assistance.

Financial Report.

 Treasurer Heather Powers reported that little has been happening for the past few months, but that we suddenly have an additional $30K in entry fees from the Goblins Go flowing into our accounts, with more to come. As of this writing, we have a bit under $78K in checking and about $106K in money market savings. Solo shows a balance of $7800.  Ms. Powers reported that she had finished the final accounting for the March Into Spring event, which netted us $4500, and for the Spring Sprints, which brought in about $59K, but she was still working on the accounting for the SARRC/MARRS event.

New Business:

1. Attendees and Budget for the 2019 SCCA National Convention. This year the National Office had asked Mark Senior to present again at the 2019 SCCA National Convention in Las Vegas. They had also asked NCR member Christina Peterson, two-time Solo National Champion, to be part of a panel discussion on women in motorsports. Accordingly, Sam had asked James to research our policy on reimbursement for attendance at the SCCA National Convention. James reported that according to the resolution passed in November of 2016, the RE and Assistant RE are paid in full, including a $40 per diem for food, and expenses for their spouses or traveling companions, if desired; while those remaining split a pre-determined pot of money, by submitting receipts for travel, lodging, fees, and food. Up to two additional attendees are provided for. In addition, the RE and ARE may be advanced $1000 and others may ask for $500. Sam reported that the National Office had already agreed to waive the convention fees for the presenters as well as for an unnamed newbie, should we send one. Motion to fully fund our presenters, as well as the RE and ARE, and to establish a pot of $8000 to cover all the expenses (Shanks / Crissman). Passed. Sam announced that either Ben or Heather Clark would be our newbie attendee and they each indicated that they would like to attend. If they both attend, the National Office will pick up the convention fee for one of them and the Region will reimburse the other.
2. Runoffs Attendance. Lee Hill, Chairman of the Board of SCCA, and others, have urged Sam to attend the 2018 Runoffs in Sonoma to represent the Region and to talk up the 2019 Runoffs at VIR. Sam said he would stay with Anna Crissman, who was already going, and her family, if the Board would agree to pay his airfare. Motion to pay Sam’s transportation costs to the 2018 Runoffs (Senior / Crissman). Passed.
3. Traffic Signals. Sam said he had brought his friend Evan up to the Speed Suite to look at the dozen or so traffic signals we had to see whether he might want them. Evan had made an offer of $50 apiece if green lenses could be found. Rex said he had more lights and a box of lenses at his house, but he was not sure about the colors. He said he had some lights which had complete green LED units and that perhaps Evan might want those instead. Rex said that he would bring what he had to the Suite the weekend of the Goblins Go. It was suggested that perhaps we should offer the lights in the Speed Suite to WDC Region, as they were trying to revive their enduro and that our units were equipped and ready to go for that purpose.
4. Volunteer Participation at 2019 events. It was observed that we may need a way to limit volunteer participation in our events at VIR in advance of the Runoffs next year. Some specialties such as F&C or T&S were not likely to be affected, but other specialties such as Tech, Start, or Stewards may wind up with more volunteers than they can use and we cannot afford to pay them all worker credits if we do not need them. They can always attend with just their membership card. We just cannot afford to pay them as official volunteers.  Sam inquired of Bruce whether he could open volunteer registration a week early just to NCR folks or give them a priority, and Bruce said he would look into that.
5. Test Day at VIR in Advance of the Runoffs. We are still awaiting word from VIR regarding a possible test day weekend over August 3^rd and 4^th of next year. Sam would like Mark to contact Kevin Massey-Shaw for an update on that, since he still has not been offered any revenue-generating or revenue-sharing opportunities by the National Office.

Chapter and Committee Reports: As of this writing, there were no Chapter or Committee reports for September 2018 posted on the Google drive.

Motion to adjourn at 8:36 PM (Fouse / Senior). Passed.

Submitted by Secretary, James Shanks