Triangle Chapter Report – April 2015

We had a good time at the April meeting of the Triangle Chapter. There wasn’t much to do except eat, drink, and catch up on what everyone had been up to, but we had a great time doing it. Assistant RE Mike Spencer brought his family’s long time friend, Marcella Hutscke, from upstate New York. She’s not a member yet, but as she wasn’t looking forward to returning home to the frozen northland, that may change as soon as she can retire and move to the sunny South.

And speaking of the Spencer family, it was announced that perhaps the best news from the March race (other than the fact that we were finally back at VIR and that we might actually make money on the event) was that Justin Deffenbaugh finally asked Ericka Spencer to marry him. Did I hear an “About time!” from the back of the room? The Chapter signified their approval with applause, even though neither member of the happy couple was there to hear it. Their fathers were, however, and Mike relayed that Ericka was overjoyed on Sunday morning when, while riding in her usual spot as second seat in the pace car, the corner workers at every station gave her a full-flag salute. Good job, guys! Way to go Justin! Congratulations, Ericka!

And speaking of new families, Mark Senior announced that he was now a first-time grandfather. His son Ryan and daughter-in-law Melissa just had a baby girl, Ellery Claire. Congratulations Mark! Mark seemed happy about that, but he seemed even happier to be planning a kayak trip down the Neuse to New Bern. I think I heard that Sam Fouse was planning to go with him. We’ll have to wait until next month to hear how that went.

In racing news (That’s why we were there, right? Racing?), we learned that Member-at-Large “Pepe” Stitt finally got some serious competition in IT-7R from Secretary Steve Rose. They traded off first and second place now that Steve has a car to match Pepe’s, and both are looking forward to racing Stan and Shaun Hinds in the future.

Ric Cooley said he enjoyed the race and did well in his Formula Ford, assisted by his crew member and friend, Reid Garrett. Great news, Ric! John Snodgrass, formerly a driver from Central Florida attended as volunteer. He has a license in Tech and he’s also a Steward-In-Training, so I’m not sure how he helped out, but you can be sure he did. By the way, the Chapter took time to thank all those sturdy volunteers who showed up Saturday morning when it was 18 degrees before sunrise. Thank you all! New member Warren Lapham was sorry he couldn’t make the March event, but the HPDE driver was looking forward to being a volunteer with us in April. Welcome aboard, Warren!

We also learned that Chuck Hines did well at Kershaw the week following our race.

At VIR on Saturday he had finished 1st in class and 1st overall in his ITS RX-7. Good job! On Sunday he set a track record in lap 4, but broke the motor on lap 5. Ooops! He put a new motor in and went to Kershaw, where he qualified 2nd, the transmission broke during the race. Since he had left his spare transmission at the house, Chuck decided if he were going to go back and get something, that it would be his ITS Miata instead. So that’s what he did. He went home, scaled, aligned, and loaded up the Miata, returning to Kershaw that evening. He qualified Sunday morning in 6th place but finished 2nd in the race. Way to go Chuck! We’ll look for him to do well at the SARRC/MARRS in May. And we’ll also be looking for Chris Schimmel, who recently got his license back, and is looking forward to running his VW in ITB.

Business meeting? Were we supposed to have a business meeting? Well, there wasn’t much of one because we are still waiting for the dust to settle from the March race to see how we stand financially. And we won’t know that for awhile. In fact, we’ll probably have to finish the May race before we actually know.

The only other items of business are that NASA is negotiating with West Chapter coordinator and Chief of Tech, Buddy Matthews, to rent our scales for their events. They will need them for their year-end finale at VIR. And the Region will be purchasing some new computers and new laser timing light for T&S to replace some of our aging equipment. She wasn’t present at the Chapter meeting, but Timing and Scoring Chief Anna Crissman had been at the Board meeting and had made an effective presentation outlining why those upgrades were necessary. We just hope she has time to put them in place before the Majors!

And that was about it. Oh wait. Jon Davison announced that he knew someone who had a vintage (and not running) 1100cc Coventry Climax engine for sale. So if your Lotus Elite or Type 11 Sports Racer needs a motor, give him a call! It’ll be interesting to learn whether that sells. And there will be more interesting news at the next Triangle Chapter meeting next month, Wednesday, May 6th. Why not join us? I’ll see you there…or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator