Triangle Chapter Report – November 2015

The November Triangle Chapter meeting was a lively one, if only because we had some noisy interlopers who decided they just had to have part of the action even though they weren’t members of the club. Oh well, maybe they’ll join up after hearing our meeting discussion. LOL! (BTW, many thanks to Trish Deffenbaugh for quieting them down enough so I could be heard!).

Justin Deffenbaugh brought some cool in-car video of Steve Rose running his IT7-R (that’s a first or second gen RX-7 with an RX-8 motor and related mods) in the Runoffs at Daytona. Steve finished 6th in STU (the national class his car fits in). And speaking of rotary engines, Steve cleared up a minor mystery about how a stock-looking first gen Miata was able to blow by him on the high bank. Yep, turns out there was a Mazda rotary in that car too! Anyway, congratulations on your top ten finish in your first-ever Runoffs outing! Man, that banking is steep!

James Etchells also brought a DVD of his in-car video from the Goblins Go, but the DVD player wouldn’t read it. Sorry, James. We would have liked to have seen you behind the wheel of your EP Miata. Maybe you can send the video to Justin and he can play it on his computer next time.

And speaking of the Goblins Go, in the short business portion of the meeting we learned that while the Go probably made money, the Halloween 13-8 Enduro assuredly did not, because only 41 cars entered. We needed well over 50 to break even. Our entries from the Northeast were solid but very few local or SEDIV drivers participated. The current thinking is that between the Runoffs at Daytona and the tightly-packed October schedule in the Southeast, there just wasn’t enough time or enough money in the racing budget for many SEDIV drivers to participate. That’s too bad for us and perhaps too bad for the Enduro event. We will be working hard to try to find a way to make it work in 2016 or else we may have to drop it from our racing schedule.

But, there was good news to share, as covered in this month’s SportsCar (November 2015, Vol. 73. No. 11), which started arriving in Club members’ mailboxes this week. NCR has 2 new National Champions in Solo II, and two runners-up as well. We took a moment to congratulate Christina Petersen, champion in E Street Ladies, and Brittany Andrews, champion in F Street Prepared Ladies, for their achievement in the Solo National Championships at Lincoln, Nebraska. These two well-known competitors in our Region took top honors in those classes. But perhaps what’s even more amazing is that their two rivals, the runners-up who finished right behind them, are also Region members. Congratulations also to Jennifer Bedell in ESL and Jennifer Vance in FSPL for their fine showing as well. The ladies were not present at the meeting but we gave them a round of applause anyway. Hats off to you all!

That brought up another subject, which is the year-end awards ceremony and annual meeting, which will be held again at the Convention Center in Wilmington on Saturday, January 9, 2016. So mark your calendars and start thinking about those members among us who are deserving of special recognition. The awards committee is composed of the current Members-at-Large and the Chapter Coordinators and they will need nominations from the membership in the next few weeks.

And it’s also time to start thinking of who will serve in leadership positions for next year. The RE and Secretary positions are up for election, and both of the current office holders, Rex Deffenbaugh and Steve Rose, have indicated that they will not run again. Also open are the two Member-at-Large positions currently held by Blair Stitt and Heather Powers. Nominations will close at the end of the November board meeting (Wednesday, November 18th). So far, Secretary Steve Rose indicated that he has received nominations for Sam Fouse for RE, James Shanks for Secretary, and Heather Clark and Morgan Mehler for Member-at-Large, but there are still a couple weeks before nominations close.

Nominations must be in writing, signed by the nominee, and signed also by 3 members in good standing. So send ‘em in. BTW, all nominees should be advised that they will be asked to provide a short bio (and position profile) to be posted on the web site during the voting period, which will be between the close of nominations and the end of the year. As per the Region Bylaws, voting will be by paper ballot which will be sent out by the end of the month. Envelopes will be included and the envelopes (not the ballots themselves) used for returning the ballots must be signed by those members whose ballots are enclosed, so that they can be verified as genuine before counting. The ballots will then be separated from the envelopes and counted separately by another group so that anonymity can be preserved, while the authenticity of the vote is ensured.

And that about wrapped it up for the November meeting. Plan on coming to the December meeting, where we’ll once again elect a Triangle Chapter Coordinator. If I’m elected Secretary, I’ll have to step down from that role, so maybe it’s time for a new coordinator anyway. Come on, folks! Step up! It’s an easy job. It has to be or I couldn’t do it! So come join us and find out whether there’s someone else willing to take a shot.

I’ll see you there…or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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