Triangle Chapter Report – December 2011

RALEIGH, NC – (NCR-SCCA) – The last Triangle Chapter meeting of the year was held at El Rodeo in the Townridge Shopping Center in Raleigh on Wednesday, December 7th.  It was well-attended as we filled the upstairs room almost to capacity, to eat, drink, chat, and watch in-car video of Tom Long in the Freedom Autosport Miata at the Grand-Am race at Mid-Ohio in September.  They delivered their 4th Grand Am Street Tuner title to Mazda this year. And you can view a great father-and-son video here, http://www.grand-am.com/teams/team.cfm?series=k&tid=1642, wherein Glenn talks about getting started in racing with the SCCA and continuing with his son in a professional series.  Unfortunately, there was a problem getting the DVD player to pass the sound through to El Rodeo’s big-screen TV, but we still saw plenty of passing by the number 25 car, even if it was silent.

The first order of business was the local election.  Since no one else stepped forward to run, James Shanks was re-elected by acclamation to continue as Triangle Chapter Coordinator.   Then we continued with other Region business, when the lively dinner conversation permitted.  It was noted that the fees at VIR have gone up between 5 and 10 per cent, and that there is a new restriction that renters arriving on Friday for an event on Saturday and Sunday who are not part of the Friday track and test day will have to wait until 5:30 pm to drop their trailers and set up a paddock space.  This will be an issue that will undoubtedly be discussed with track manager Kerrigan Smith when he visits the NCR Board Meeting on December 21st

In other business, it was noted that the annual awards dinner will be held at Café Luna in Raleigh on Saturday, January 7, 2012 and that discount room rates will be available at the Clarion State Capitol Hotel downtown (that’s the round one) as long as you make them by December 16th and mention SCCA.  This year the annual dinner reservations can be made through MotorsportsReg.com, unless you choose not to have an account there; in which case you can send an e-mail to the Region Office in care of Ginny Condrey, ginnycondrey@hotmail.com.

The big topic of conversation, which filled the rest of the meeting until it ended well after 9:00 pm, was the recent decision of the NCR Board to withdraw from participation in the Carolina Cup Pro Series for 2012.  This report is not the place to go into the details of that decision, but basically a majority of the Board felt that the CCPS was not being run in a professional manner, nor was it representing its constituent Regions, and for these reasons had withdrawn their support for that series at NCR races.  It was noted that members of the Board are working on proposals for an alternative series to take the place of the CCPS at future NCR races.  This hot topic will undoubtedly be the big issue of 2012 as far as the racing program goes.

As usual, there will be NO January meeting of the Triangle Chapter since it would occur just three days ahead of the annual meeting and awards dinner.  Members are urged to attend the annual meeting instead.  I’ll see you there . . . or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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