Triangle Chapter Report – August 2015

Well, August is the month for vacations, especially in Europe, and by the turn out at the Triangle Chapter meeting on Wednesday, August 5th, you might have thought this was France, or perhaps Spain, since we were at El Rodeo, our favorite Mexican restaurant, and only about a dozen stalwarts came by. What’s the matter, folks? No need to find an excuse to come out and drink beer with your racing buddies in the summer? Still on vacation? Or were you too tired from the last race? Or perhaps gearing up for this weekend’s NC Region picnic?

Well, no matter. Those who attended had a good time. We swapped stories and talked about recent trips to interesting places. Justin Deffenbaugh told us about his recent exploits in his recently-renovated early-90’s Acura Integra. He’s attended two solos in it, one down at the Blackwater Campus at Cape Fear Community College, and one with Tarheel Sports Car Club. Ours he said was tight and rewarding. His only competition in STS, however, was the very accomplished (read “fast”) Jeff Eng, so Justin finished, as he put it, “second of two”. LOL! Hats off, anyway, Justin! Better results next time! He pointed out that they have another pair of solos coming up at their awesome site at MCAS Cherry Point, August 22nd and 23rd and urged everyone else present to give it a go. Roland Hill, who just started autocrossing this year, and our veteran cone-avoider Mark Senior, heartily endorsed that recommendation too.

Of course, autocross is not everyone’s cup of tea, and August 22 – 23 is right in the middle of the IMSA TUDOR weekend of pro races at VIR. Some of our folks are committed to those. Bruce Dover, our newly-minted office manager, announced he will be flagging there all four days, since IMSA has their own starters, while Treasurer and Steward Steve Keadle will be there Saturday and Sunday, out on a corner with some flags too.

And let’s not forget our own SEDIV races (SARRC, ECR, CCPS) that Central Carolinas is sponsoring at Charlotte Motor Speedway, August 15 – 16. Always a popular venue, there should be many NCR drivers in attendance. They even have a Time Trial/PDX scheduled for Friday of that weekend if that interests you. Whew, still lots to do in August! Anybody else want to kick it off with a laid-back picnic at Northeast Park on Saturday, August 8th? I do! See you there!

Business-wise the health of the Region is good at the mid-year point. We are a little ahead of where we were at this time last year. We made good money on the Majors, did just over break-even on the SARRC/MARRS, and that made up for the $4K or so that we lost on the March event due to the weather causing last-minute cancelations of folks from the north and east of VIR. The Solo Program is going great guns. They are about $18K to the black thanks to the hard work of their volunteers, putting on first-class events and attracting new entrants. Way to go guys!

So what do you say we all get together next month, at the Triangle Chapter meeting on Wednesday, September 2nd, and see how everyone fared at those events? I’ll see you there…and at the picnic…or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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