Minutes: May 9 BoD Meeting
/April Monthly Meeting Region BoD
DATE: May 9, 2017
LOCATION: Pulcinella Restaurant, McLean VA
Meeting Called to order at 7:21 PM.
Members in Attendance:
Paul Anderson
Mike Snyder
Lin Toland
Dave Fitzgerald
Chuck Edmondson
Steve Salisbury
Members Absent
Brian Garfield
Anne Callihan
Eric Wallgren
Guests: Aaron Meisner
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes from March had been previously approved, unanimously, via email.
TREASURER'S REPORT
In CR Investment Fund as of 04.30.2017- $592,090.74
In CR Cash Fund as of 04.30.2017- $186,000.00
(total Merrill Lynch Funds from both above: $778,090.74
In Solo Fund as of 04.30.2017- $18,688.61
In Region Checking as of 04.30.2017- $142,940.66
Current operating balance in Checking Account (as of 05/09/2017)- $260,398.06
2017 is off to a good start with all program getting higher than expected entries for their April
events.
Mr. Meisner, our account representative at Merrill Lynch for the Club Racing Investment and
Cash Funds. Overall our accounts are doing well but there was concern over the size of the Cash fund. After some discussion BoD seemed to settle on $50,000 held as Cash Reserves while the remaining Funds would be rolled into a series of short term CDs.
Motion, by Edmondson to Approve the changes recommended by Mr. Meisner.
Second by Salisbury
Motion passed Unanimously
RE REPORT
Greg McDermott and I met with the chief of tech to discuss some of the perceptions on which we are getting feedback from drivers. It was a good discussion and their opinion differed from some of the issues that had been raised.
The Summit Point Majors was a success with the largest entry we have seen in a number of
years. I’m not sure if this is a result of the economy being better; the runoffs being at Indy this year; or some combination of the two.
The Bylaws committee has wrapped up their work on our needed revision and I hope they will
have it available to all the BOD members before the Tuesday meeting.
I met with Steve Britt last Wednesday. He is still very interested in having us host events at
Dominion. They are continuing to make improvements, but are not yet ready to schedule a track inspection for Club Racing.
I received a communication from Chris White about 2018 SP dates. This list is not final and the
CRC can suggest revisions. He has penciled us in for the following:
March 17-18 Driver's School - Like this year we will not do a FATT before your event, but
instead refer those wanting track time before the school to PDX the week before this event.
April 14-15 CR (Club Race)
April 27-29 possible Majors date?
May 4-6 Alternate Majors date?
June 16-17 CR
July 7-8 CR
July 28-29 CR
September 1-3 CR Labor Day Double
October 6-7 CR
The Turn 3 curbing project at Summit Point is complete. Hopefully it will eliminate “Gravelgate”.
CLUB RACING REPORT
The Club Racing Committee wishes to thank the BoD for approving Summit Point Raceway’s
request for the Region to cover the cost for the new Carolina Curbing installation at Turn 3. The CRC hopes that the new curbing will mitigate many of the operational issues associated with cars running through the gravel as part of their standard racing line, and avoid a repeat of the MARRS 1 penalties and associated driver protests. The new curbing was installed the first week of May, immediately following the Majors event.
The Majors event held the weekend of April 29-30 was a success in terms of car count. The final
count of 172 entries was 32 higher than budgeted, and the Region’s highest count for a
Majors/National since 2008. There were a number of drivers who were unhappy with the race
groupings, though the groupings were set by the NEDiv Council, and largely out of the Region’s control. In hindsight, the final car count for the event would have supported a 7-race group format instead of the 6-race group format that was used, and the 7-group format would have alleviated many of the driver’s concerns.
Greg McDermott, Club Racing Program Chair, has moved to Denver for a temporary work
assignment until July 24. Greg will still be handling day-to-day CR activities via email and phone. Bob Crawford, Asst. Director of Club Racing, will be the local point of contact for any questions/issues that may arise in Greg’s absence.
MEMBER SERVICES / PR AND SPONSORSHIPS
Website Refresh Schedule
• No response from RX or AX
• Project schedule updated
34th Deutsche Marque Concours d'Elegance
• Not attending due to VIR conflict • Dave to cancel - Cancelled 5/3/17
BoxerFest June 11th @ FedEx Field
• DC RX event that day
• Should definitely include AX members
• Bob and Taylor plan to attend
• Think about getting something to give away
Katie's Cars & Coffee
• Need to pick a date
Consumer Affairs Marketing
• Committee does not see a valuable benefit
Racing Junk and Social Media
• Michael to speak with Racing Junk about interview idea
• iRacing skins sent to Racing Junk
• Gave banner to RX
Sponsorships
• Possibility of a wine sponsor and/or help for M5 party. Sunset Hills Vineyard - Mike Caney, SCCA racer
• OG - need payment
• Radial Tire - need payment
• BMW of Sterling - possible
• Orndorff & Spaid - possible
• Treasured Motor Cars - Possible
• Look for exotic car dealerships to become pace car sponsor
Straightpipe
• Working on Blast to go out this week
• Will start collecting articles for June's full issue soon
Videos
• Looking for an update from Dave on PDX video and the opportunity for other program videos as well.
• Update: PDX video is finished and has been sent to Bob, Taylor, Michael, Travis and Chuck
Edmonson for final approval.
PDX
Mostly quiet on the PDX front at the present time.
Still waiting for details on Dominion contract (which Paul and Lin have seen) for the tentatively
scheduled event on September 12-13.
Travis intends to step down from the chairmanship role at the end of 2017; Chuck Edmondson
has agreed to assume the mantel for 2018.
Next scheduled event is July 15-16 on the Shenandoah Circuit.
RALLY CROSS
No Report Submitted.
ROAD RALLY
The Road Rally folks held their one event of the year, Get the Dust Off, on Sunday, May 7th. 31
cars registered, 29 cars ran. Several people from the recent Road Rally school competed. The event drew from a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.
This is the only RR event for the year that is hosted by the DC region.
SOLO
The 2017 Solo Season got off to a great start with the first schools, and then the April 23rd
Practice Event. While the Practice event was a little lighter than the normal season, it wasn't bad considering the day before BMW event (also at FedExField) and the predicted rain for the SCCA event.
However, the following weekend of April 30th was a huge success with 263 Registered
participants and 254 competed. We got the first car off just before 9am and finished the event by 5pm with around 1,050 runs completed.
Last weekend was the first Test and Tune of the season and was sold out with a large wait list.
We had about 8 people cancel on Wednesday night (due to impending rain again) but were able to fill the school from the wait list. The format is still a very popular event, drawing many members who don't compete in regular autocrosses.
The next points event is this coming weekend. We're still waiting to hear from FedExField about other possible school dates.
OLD BUSINESS
Bylaw committee discussion.
The Proposed Revised By Laws were provided to the Bod just 1 day before the meeting, and
while some got to review them not all had. There were some preliminary discussions held at the
meeting with the tasking from the RE for all Directors to review them within the coming week and provide comments back to the RE.
Long Term Planning Committee
Bracket Racing seems to be primary focus of many on the committee, looking at possibly 2
groups “Big” and “Small” Bore. Marketing for these could be reworking the Region’s Billboard at Summit Point to come race with SCCA.
One committee Member is researching the Pros and Cons of establishing a new Spec Class of
cars.
NEW BUSINESS
Established the Election Committee:
Edmondson Chair
Members: Snyder & Fitzgerald
Motion to Adjourn Lin Toland, 2nd by Salisbury Vote Unanimous.
Meeting ended 9:20 PM
