Triangle Chapter Report – December 2014

The year’s last meeting of the Triangle Chapter was short and sweet. Those attending seemed content just to eat, drink, and swap stories about earlier races and holiday plans. There wasn’t much to discuss, other than the upcoming Region elections and the awards dinner. For officers, we have a pretty full slate of candidates to choose from. And some were on hand to speak to us. The full list of candidates and their bios are available here, so I won’t repeat all that information, but rather just highlight what transpired at our meeting.

The Assistant Regional Executive spot is open since John Lindquist is retiring. Two well-known candidates are vying for that job for the 2015-2016 term, Sara Snider, who has held that position before, and Mike Spencer, well-known Miata driver. Mike was present and gave us a few words about what he hoped to accomplish in that role should he be elected. Running unopposed for Treasurer, incumbent Steve Keadle, who was also present, indicated that he was looking forward to another term. And of the five people running for the two open Member-at-Large positions, incumbent Sam Fouse and Editor/Starter Bruce Dover were on hand to give us a quick look at their plans. The other candidates might have visited us, of course, had they lived closer, so we did recount who they were: Steward Morriss Pendleton, driver Tim Lyons, and driver and full-time student, Blair Deffenbaugh. Look up their bios here for more information about them all, and pick those whom you think will do a good job.

Ballots should be in everyone’s hands by now, so don’t delay in returning them. Yes, Carolina, it will cost you a postage stamp. Also, please remember to sign the back and add your member number (and to do so for each ballot being returned if you include more than one in each envelope). The purpose of this is so that the ballots can be verified as genuine before they are counted. And don’t worry, the people who remove the ballots from the envelopes and verify them do not see the contents, so your vote remains anonymous. They are collected and then counted by another group of people entirely.

We also mentioned that now was the time to be thinking about year-end Region awards. The Awards Committee, per the Bylaws, is composed of the (three) Chapter Coordinators and the (four) current Members-at-Large. They have elected (me) James Shanks as Chair for 2015 and we are currently accepting nominations from the membership for all awards, but most importantly for Member of the Year and Worker of the Year, the Region’s two most prestigious ones. We are also accepting nominations for driving and volunteering awards, for outstanding service to the Region and for notable accomplishments by rookies in their field, and in short, for any individuals who have done something worthy of note in 2014. So don’t be bashful. Send your nominations to a committee member. But please hurry. The annual dinner is January 10th and we have to select the winners and get trophies made well beforehand. The deadline for nominations by the membership is Sunday, December 14, so don’t delay.

Since we were talking about accomplishments, we took time out to notice that several members of the North Carolina Region have recently been recognized in SportsCar for service as volunteers. Topping the list, on page 71 of the December issue, is Pete Romanowski, who volunteered at Start and on the corners for over 40 days this year. Hats off, Pete! Mark Biamonte wasn’t too far behind, having worked F&C for somewhere between 20 and 29 days, and four others each volunteered between 12 and 19 days at the track. Hats off to Steward Wayne Quick, Steward Steve Keadle, Starter James Buckberry, and corner worker Eric Danielsen, and to all our other volunteers! Nice work, guys!

We closed the meeting with a reminder that pre-registration for the annual awards dinner is now open. There’s a link on the NCR web site to the page in Motorsportsreg.com to get it done. The Region is subsidizing the meal as always, so it’s a real bargain at $25 per individual or $40 per couple. You cannot go out to dinner anywhere and have a really nice meal for that, so it’s quite a bargain. The festivities will be in Wilmington this year, which is always a fun place to visit. And since the date, January 10th, would be very close to the January Triangle Chapter meeting, we have once again canceled that meeting in favor of the annual dinner. So come on back to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Raleigh, El Rodeo on Pleasant Valley, the first Wednesday in February, Feb. 4th and see who has plans for the new season. I’ll see you there…or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

(Oh yeah by the way, James was railroaded…er, reelected as Triangle Chapter Coordinator for another year! –Ed.)

 

MORE REPORTS

All
  • All
  • BoD Minutes
  • Cape Fear Chapter Report
  • Triangle Chapter Report
  • West Chapter Report