September Monthly Meeting Region BoD
DATE: September 20 7th, 2017
LOCATION: Via Conference Call
Meeting Called to order at 7:05 PM.

Secretary's Note: The Directors Meeting scheduled for Sept 12th did not have the required 6-member Quorum to conduct business. The following Directors were unable to attend: Toland, Callihan, Garfield and Salisbury. The Various program reports received for that meeting are contained within the minutes of the Conference Call.

While there was no actual meeting the directors in attendance did have discussion on several areas including:

• Moving the budgeting process forward so that there can be more input
• We had a look at the 1st beta version of the new website.
• We discussed the importance of getting moving with the plan if we are going to do Bracket Racing next year.
• It was discussed about having the Chairs of our most active programs attend quarterly (or some other interval) board meetings to report on their programs.

A Conference Call was scheduled and held at 7PM September 20 what follows are the minutes

Members in Attendance:
Paul Anderson
Mike Snyder
Lin Toland
Dave Fitzgerald
Chuck Edmondson
Steve Salisbury
Anne Callihan

Members Absent
Brian Garfield
Eric Wallgren

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes from August had been previously approved, unanimously, via email.

TREASURER'S REPORT
In CR Investment Fund as of 08.31.2017- $698,649.93
In CR Cash Fund as of 08.31.2017- $100,036.67
(total Merrill Lynch Funds from both above: $798,686.60
In Solo Fund as of 08.31.2017- $18,688.61
In Region Checking as of 08.31.2017- $110,214.46
Current operating balance in Checking Account (as of 09/12/2017)= $150,705.00

We have completed enough events this year to do some rough year end forecasting. Club
Racing has not had the expected number of entries and we will be taking a significant hit to our Region account. We do have enough of a cushion to ride this financial storm out, but we will need to pay close attention to the FY2018 budget and consider ways to increase participation.

RE REPORT
There is not a lot to report on this month.

The 2018 – 2019 contract has been signed by both myself and Summit Point. A copy is available at the Club Office.

The new RE of South Jersey Region, Nick DiMeo, called me last week. We had a very productive conversation. He indicated that their race entries have also been below expectation this year. We agreed to look at ways we could assist each other with our programs. I suggested that he have his Competition Chair contact Greg.

CLUB RACING REPORT
With the Labor Day MARRS in the books, the Club Racing competition season at Summit Point has come to its conclusion. The Club Racing Program faces a number of challenges in the off-season, the most important of which is to address the declining car counts and develop a plan for moving the program into the future. Though final budget numbers are not yet available, it is clear that CR will not meet its admin assessment goals, and is likely to cover 50 – 60% of its admin assessment. Options under discussion for 2018 include:

1) Inclusion of a bracket racing group in home MARRS events
2) Piloting a “vintage” race group aimed at members who used to race but have taken their cars to Vintage groups where competition and risk is lower than racing in the mixed SCCA groups
3) Using an existing 2018 CR day at Summit (October?) to run a combined race/PDX/Time Trials event to showcase Club Racing to other Club programs and members

The Club Racing Program must utilize the off-season to re-build its Tech program. With Steve Spector’s resignation at the end of August, Tech is currently without a Chief of Specialty. The DCR would like to again thank Mike Collins and Wayne Armbrust for stepping up to run the Tech Shed at Labor Day. The last two events could not have happened without their efforts to administer annual tech inspections at these events. The DCR also wishes to thank Mike Stringfellow, who is retiring after serving as Assistant Flag Chief for the past six years.

The Open CRC meeting was held Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend at Summit Point. The bulk of the discussion centered around how to improve the experience for participants, attract new participants, and retain the competitors and workers currently supporting us. The meeting lasted approximately an hour and forty-five minutes.

Charity efforts at Labor Day raised over $16,200 for the American Cancer Society. Congratulations and many thanks to Shirley Thompson and her team for all their hard work in helping raise the money!

MEMBER SERVICES / PR AND SPONSORSHIPS
As of 12 September 2017 The Washington DC Region of SCCA has 2525 active members according national reporting. 41 memberships expired in July 2017 (most recent data) and 51 joined or re-joined the region in July 2017 (most recent data).

Recent Activities (highlights)
Intense planning underway for the 2017 Season Awards Banquet at Turf Valley Resort on 12 November 2017. This is a new time for our annual awards banquet and a new format (luncheon). We are also playing host to the NeDiv council and the NeDiv mini-convention on the days prior to our WDCR awards banquet. The NeDiv mini-con, as it is known, will be held Friday and Saturday November 10 - 11 also at Turf Valley. All DC Region members are welcome and encouraged to attend the NeDiv portion which is a separate event.

Work on the new WDCR website is underway and is tentatively scheduled to go live on or before the WDCR Awards Banquet on November 12, 2017.

Sponsorships are paid in full from OG Racing and Radial Tire Co for 2017. The BoD is encouraged to help with identifying additional sponsorship opportunities for 2018.

A new quarterly Straightpipe issue is due very soon and input from members of the BoD, program chairs and all members is strongly encouraged. The Straightpipe is a great way to improve the communication within the region and build a sense of community. It would be especially nice to have something about Sue Roethel for this next issue. We continue to receive positive feedback and comments from members on the Straightpipe and the Straightpipe blast.

Investigating new membership outreach events and would like to solicit ideas from the BoD, program chairs and all members, please pass the word.

PDX
The August 26-27 event was low on attendance, but barely managed to squeak to a workable event. $$ impact as yet unknown, however.

PDX has had similar attendance woes this year as Club Racing, for likely many of the same reasons. However, one of their big issues is the continued assignment to the Shenandoah circuit, which their instructors do not favor. [Drivers love the Shen, not so much instructors. Consequently, they have scaled back instruction somewhat - Intermediates no longer get instructors except in special circumstances, so as not to exhaust the instructor pool.] They always do well when they get a date on the main circuit, and would appreciate more consideration being given to that preference during contract negotiations and scheduling.

The upcoming event this weekend at Dominion is looking especially grim. As it was put, they stand to lose not just their shirts but all their clothes. Another venue not too popular with the PDX committee, and the traveling tropical storms of this time of year seem to just be the icing on the cake. I think it’s about 40 paying customers.

RALLY CROSS
No Report Submitted.

ROAD RALLY
No Report Submitted.

SOLO
No Report Submitted.

Entered Executive Session: 7:12 PM
Ended Executive Session: 7:24 PM

OLD BUSINESS
None

NEW BUSINESS
WDCR I-Racing League
The proposal was submitted by Dave Fitzgerald to do a Second Season of the WDCR I-Racing
League. The proposed new season will be 10 races and I estimate the cost to be $435. In order to get it in before the end of the year, I'd like to start it on 10/4/17. I've also enlisted Louis Alessi to help me run this.

Motion Callihan to sponsor I-Racing League Not to Exceed $500 – 2nd Salisbury. Vote: Unanimous

There was a General Discussion concerning the recent PDX held at Dominion Raceway. The event was poorly attended and several issues with the facility. There were a couple of safety issues and while the Track management was responsive to one of the issues – it had been pointed out last year and not fixed. The 2nd issue dealt with the ALS Ambulance arriving 75 mins late. 

There was a brief general discussion concerning the possibility of adding some paving to the Washington Circuit to make it capable of supporting a Solo event.

Motion to Adjourn: Mike Snyder, 2nd: Lin Toland, Vote Unanimous.

Meeting ended 7:37 PM