NCR SCCA Board Meeting

October 24, 2023

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

Guests: Chuck Stanley,

1. The meeting was called to order by Anna Crissman, NCR RE, at 7:02 pm.
2. Motion to approve the minutes from the August Board meeting (Shanks/Heatwole). Approved.

Financial Report

Sam Fouse had sent the financial report to Kit Williams before the meeting.

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

James Shanks had put his meeting report in the Google Drive and said the Triangle Chapter had a great meeting discussing lots of topics, including Miatas at the Gap, and the racing schedule for 2024. They postponed their October meeting due to the Runoffs and will meet again in November. Lee Hill said the West Chapter met and discussed the Runoffs and the 2024 racing schedule. Their October meeting is scheduled for next week. Chris Severt was not present, but Anna said the Cape Fear Chapter had found a new location at Wrightsville Beach Brewing and will be meeting on the second Tuesday of each month, starting next week. Chris did send a message saying the last chapter meeting had 10 people and was very casual, and he was looking forward to the new venue next weekend.

Old Business

1. Final TT of 2023: Anna said the TT at NCCAR on September 9th and 10th went well, was fairly well attended, and we made the best of the weather situation that we were given. Anna said that Sam was still working on the financials but we may be fairly close to even or just a shade under it. She said we are still working on our dates for 2024, but we are already working with Sam True at NCCAR to try and find days that work for everyone. Anna also said that the Racing for ALS event at Rockingham went well despite the hurricane that came through and she said it seemed like a good event. Stephen said that our TT weekend overlapped with multiple other events but the turnout was good despite this, and he emphasized that we need to get the 2024 schedule going soon.
2. Rockingham Update: Stephen said that he and Jon K. from SCCA National are planning to visit the track and expects it to be certified for track days and time trials without issue. They are planning to do this in the next two weeks. This would allow us to host events there in 2024. Stephen and Anna agreed that we need to do at least one weekend at Rockingham next year and we need to work out where in the schedule this will best fit. Al asked if we had worked out a day to go and build tire bundles for the track, and Stephen said there had been a conversation about it but no concrete date had been set. He said the tire bundles the track built themselves are sufficient but more would always be better. Anna said registration for the TT event at CMP in November is open and they need more attendees. Stephen added later that NCR provided flagging for the Racing for ALS event and felt we did a fantastic job supporting their event.

New Business

1. Scholarship Program: Sam Fouse had sent this message to the Board about the Scholarship Program: The Scholarship Program’s application to become a 501(c)3 Foundation has been accepted and activated. This means that in the coming weeks, we will spin off the Program and will transfer the Program’s bank balance to the Foundation’s new account. The Foundation will become ‘independent’ of the Region and we will no longer directly control its financials. However, the Region will continue to select and provide scholarships, and they will continue to be funded by the Foundation. At our events in the future, our charity can continue to be the NC Region Scholarship Foundation. The big reason for becoming a 501(c)3 is to make donations tax deductible which should open the door to substantially larger donations. Up until now, as a 501(c)4 “Public Service Organization”, donations to the Region’s Scholarship Program have not been deductible for tax purposes. Also, our application to the SCCA Foundation for money to support the Scholarship Program’s volunteer expenses (VIP) has been accepted and awarded. The Region will soon receive a check to be deposited in our primary account which will allow us to continue to cover Scholarship volunteer VIP at little or no net cost to the Region. NC Region will continue to be the Foundation’s primary ‘sponsor’ and cover their expenses. Lastly, each Scholarship award winner is given a one-year membership in SCCA and becomes an NCR member. I’m proud to say that the Dan Robson scholarship recipient (Nathan Simmons) and his Dad attended the Runoffs last Saturday wearing his Dan t-shirt that we gave him during the ceremony at Topsail High School back in May.
2. Runoffs Debrief: Anna said the Runoffs went well but was a very hectic week, as expected. She said the SCCA National folks ended up not using our fire bottles, but she was not sure why. Anna said that National ended up having to use our radios as the contractor they were working with ended up flaking on them entirely. She said we got back all of our equipment as well as a few extra headsets and other random items. She said that Ben Tyler was satisfied with how National handled our equipment. Anna said that multiple NCR members had issues, both mechanical and racing incidents, but several others did very well and finished well up the order in multiple classes. James said we are holding a large bag full of swag from CDiv from Alistair McKewan in the Speed Suite. He asked if anyone who is going to the SIC at Roebling Road could bring his stuff to him. Anna said either she or Sam could get it out of the Speed Suite and work it out from there. Al said he was going to the SIC and could meet up with Anna to get the stuff. Bruce said the BBQ that Stephen cooked for the Block Party was amazing and he and many others got a lot of compliments about it. Stephen said we ran out of utensils and plates, of which we had almost 400, and everything went very well with the food. Anna said the pervading talk was that the Runoffs was not likely to be back at VIR anytime soon, and the Board was generally looking forward to having our dates back in October after back-to-back years of the Runoffs at VIR.
3. Election Update: Anna said we needed to get working on the election for the 2024 year now so that we did not run into doing things at the last minute. She said we would need to start sending out emails to the membership for nominations and to prepare people for the upcoming vote. Stephen said he is planning to hand the TT program off to other people in 2025 as he would be getting back into autocross as his son Adam becomes old enough to drive. Anna said we need to use the opportunity to get someone to learn from Stephen about how to run the TT program and how to continue to make the food for those events, as we have one of the most successful regional TT programs anywhere and we want to keep it going strong. Bruce said he could start formatting an email and we can work out what it needs to look like before we send it to the membership.

There was an additional conversation about the 2024 schedule, but there were a few items that needed to not be published at this time, and no major changes had happened since the last time the Board discussed this issue. The Board is working hard to figure out what the best course forward is for regional road racing, as the costs are getting higher and higher, and this combined with new requirements from VIR to prepay for our events means the Board could put us in a situation where we have to pay out more money than we have in the bank. Multiple conversations are being had with race tracks, SCCA National, and other region leaders.

Stephen said he had further conversations with Racing for ALS along with Rob Wilmoth about integrating our track event program with theirs in the future to help promote both groups and grow our programs. We have worked very well with them in the past.

Motion to adjourn (Shanks/Hill).  Approved at 7:48 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