Author: Official

Area 4 Director Update for July, 2021

Much like any other GLDiv member, as we march towards summer, we all get busier.  June was no exception for me.  There were quite a few virtual, video meetings (for the administrative side) and a pair of race events to go to (for the fun side).

Video Conference Meetings:

  • EVAC Charter (5/27):  With so much at stake, the EVAC is “moving” from a sub-committee under the Club Racing Board to a group that reports directly to the BoD.  The moving of the EVAC within the SCCA hierarchy means that the EVAC Committee would need a formalized charter for the committee.  
  • CRB (6/1):  There weren’t any earth-shattering rules changes discussed as this was a fairly routine meeting.  In fact, we were finished early enough to start preparing for the “in person” meeting in Kansas City on 7/30.
  • EVAC E-Spec rules (6/2):  A few of us met to walk through a rule set based on the BSpec class.  Jeff Luckritz and Paul Messier had prepared the document and we drew up some changes paragraph by paragraph.  We would present this to the full committee at the 6/9 meeting.
  • EVAC (6/9):  A few days earlier, I had been told that the committee would be moved within the SCCA organization chart.  We walked through our production-based, car rule set.  There’s still some work to do but we have the basics for a class (or two) for EVs.
  • BoD Board Effects (6/21):  The BoD is moving from one management platform to another, so this meeting was a training session for new software system which manages our votes, agenda, documents, etc.  Kinda boring but a necessary evil so we can do our jobs properly and efficiently.
  • RXB (6/22):  I did not sit in on this meeting as my sinuses went haywire that day and the last thing the RXB needed was a meeting interrupted by a “gesundheit” every 20 seconds.
  • BoD (6/28):  Wowzer…..the shortest BoD meeting during my tenure……47 minutes!  Once again, Jeff Dahnert has done a great job managing our funds.  We had another good month and are well above our projected budget.  We worked on increasing our effectiveness by having a third party review the BoD’s policies and procedures.  We’ll do this over the winter months.  On a down note, we’ve had so many “members behaving badly” incidents lately that we have had to start a program to codify rules to oversee management of the incidents.  We need to protect whistle blowers and victims of bad behavior.  I’m sure I’ll have more on this as the plan gets implemented.  We also worked on an agenda for our “face to face” BoD meeting at the end of July (7/31) in Kansas City.  All of us are really looking forward to seeing each other in person.  Like a lot of you, we’re all sick of video conference calls.

SCCA Events:

  • Road America (6/4 to 6/6):  This was the Chicago Region hosting the June Sprints.  I decided to go to this race at the last minute.  Technically, I was a crew member for a friend, but he had other crew and I would be able spend some time “working” as Director.  In addition to utilizing the weekend to see old friends, I needed to chat with the technical folks from Topeka (Rick Harris, Scott Schmidt) and I would use the trip to meet Peter Jankovskis (Area 5 Director and BoD Chair).  While we’d sat in on a dozen video meetings during my tenure, I had not actually met him in person.  As luck would have it, Mike Cobb (SCCA President) was at Peter’s paddock and the three of us had a nice, long chat (I hadn’t met him either…..two birds, one stone situation).  The good news was my driver won the Saturday race and had a very good weekend.
  • WMR @ Grattan (6/19, 6/20):  This weekend I took off my Director’s hat and put on my F&C worker hat to support the WMR “Original Unrestricted” Double Regional at Grattan Raceway.  There were 80-ish cars in attendance.  This was the first SCCA race since the Waterford Hills Drivers School, so the field was populated with quite a few rookies.  Some damp weather on Saturday made for some interesting track conditions for them to deal with.  Grattan dries quickly, so the surface was changing by the minute.  Sunday was a bit warmer with no rain.  It felt really good to get back to “normal” and work an event.

As I’ve mentioned before, July will be very busy for me.  Personal and SCCA trips will eat up every weekend this month culminating in my first face to face CRB and BoD meetings in Kansas City on 7/29-8/1.  I’m really looking forward to that.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have about any facet of the GLDiv.  I want you to make the most of your membership and I will help out in any way possible to make that happen.

Dayle Frame

Solo Report

Novice 101 – It’s been a month since some of you have heard from me and only two-weeks for those of you who were able to make it out to our Novice 101 and/or Points Event #2 on May 15 & 16. Nick Isaac and Bill Hughes did a fantastic job on the Novice 101 event organizing and providing instructors for 52 students. Instruction not only focused on driver skills, but how to read the course during a course walk, driver position, corner/other working positions, getting the car ready, etc. There were two courses in the morning sessions where the students got to focus on different aspects such as a slalom and Chicago Box or a separate course which emphasized looking ahead, threshold braking, cornering speeds, etc. In the afternoon, we hooked it all together and the students got to demonstrate what all they learned on the segments and continue to hone their skills.

Points Event 2, May 16 – The event started off with a sketchy weather forecast in line with the other two Sunday events, all of which have promised rain. Unfortunately, we did not escape totally, but it “only” did that “r thing” during registration, tech, etc and the first three runs of Heat 1 thankfully, with it warming up enough to leave some nice sunburns on those who didn’t use sunscreen. We had over 190 registered prior to the event but with the forecast only 169 took runs. Due to everyone’s help, we were able to give 6 runs again and still be done running by 4:00. The closest battle, and this was really close, was in Novice Street where we had 15 entrants, the top 5 were separated by 0.528 secs, and Tyler Donaldson in his Veloster on his last run dropped 0.214 secs to take the win by a mere 0.005 secs over Bryan Morell in his Civic Type R. Street Open, 17 entrants, also had a very narrow margin of victory where Jack Burns edged out Dale Kunze on his last run both in Civic Si’s by a mere 0.031. Pro Class, seven deep, was another where Rob Clark in his C8 Corvette edged out Dave Montgomery in his Camaro SS by a mere 0.066 secs. In both raw and PAX, Rob Clark pulled off the trifecta taking his class as well as top PAX and top time of day.

Next event, Points Event 3 is Jun 13th. If you haven’t registered yet, please do. We already reached our cap of 175 as of last week (three weeks out), but please register on the waitlist so as people cancel you can still make it in possibly/probably. You will not be charged until registration closes late on Jun 10th. Those who make it in will be notified after registration closes Thur, Jul 10 @10pm.

Reminder:
We have been able to get everyone six (6) runs so far even with 170 entrants because for the most part people have been prompt and on time during registration, tech, worker check-in/change-over, and with their cars when they are ready to be sent. That said, we are starting to get people showing up later for registration and tech. In order to start on-time and maximize the number of runs we can offer, we need everyone’s cooperation in being timely for the following:
Registration 07:30 – 08:30
(Please note, late fees will be assessed or we may have to turn you away if too late. Please contact us if some emergency occurs which is making you late.)
Tech Inspection 07:30 – 08:45
Driver’s Meeting 09:30 or earlier
Worker Change-Over – We have started trying to do worker change over on the fly, please check-in during the last run of the heat prior to your work heat and head out during the last runs to minimize/eliminate down-time between heats. and maximize the number of runs we can provide.

Event Registration – All of our events for the remainder of 2021 are now listed in MotorsportReg; however, registration for each event will not open until six (6) weeks prior to the event. If/when you click on the event registration, it will state when registration opens.

Travel to other events! – There are so many other regions and clubs which put on autocrosses in the area. Be a part of the traveling Cincy crowd and experience other venues. We have many regularly going to Western Ohio Region (Dayton), Fort Wayne (duh) , Indy (Grissom ARB or others), Miami Valley Sports Car Club (Dayton), Ohio Valley Region (Columbus), Central Kentucky Region (Lexington, KY), Akron Sports Car Club, Northwest Ohio Region (Toledo), etc. We also have the benefit of the Great Lakes Solo Series (GLSS) in which Cincy has two events in Sept) but also offers four other weekends at Grissom or Parkersburg, West Virginia, or in Fort Wayne. Don’t forget the SCCA National level events such as the Championship Tour at Grissom this coming weekend, a Pro in Toledo, a Championship Tour and Pro Solo in Bristol, TN, etc.

That’s enough for now,
Kent Weaver

Area 4 Director Update for June, 2021

Spring has finally sprung and the GLDiv/SCCA calendar has lots of events on it across all of our programs. I hope your calendar is full of events you can attend this summer.

As you may have heard, the CDC announced dramatic changes in mask policy a couple of weeks ago. With this in mind, the SCCA has amended its Covid-19 protocols and has posted them here. Please review them and make sure to follow all guidelines mandated by your local authorities.

A momentous occasion this past month was when the SCCA issued a press release about the Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) on 5/4 via Kerrie Speed’s weekly email blast. This was a big deal as it announced to the general membership about the formation of the committee and signaled the beginning of a new era in SCCA. EVs are the future for personal use and the SCCA will be on the forefront of incorporating them into all levels of every program SCCA has to offer. For me personally, as the committee Chair, EV owner and competitor, I am very proud to be able to help usher the SCCA into this realm.

My schedule has gotten busier because I am now going to events instead of just sitting in on virtual meetings (although I’m still doing a lot of that)…..and the bulk of my calendar hasn’t even started yet. Oy vey! As I mentioned last month, I had a couple of meetings in late April that would carry over to this month’s update.

  • BoD (4/26): As usual, we discussed a wide variety of things. The usual financial update was given by Jeff Dahnert. We’re doing remarkably well considering the latent effects of the pandemic. A proposal was presented by Chris Robbins of how we might change the annual convention. Final decisions have not been made yet but I will notify you once a schedule has been squared away. We’re still in the midst of a swap from one BoD software/website platform to another. The BoD will have to have a few meetings to do some training as the new system is incorporated.
  • RXB (4/27): A National Tour event was held by STL Region that had a few major issues and the RXB was dealing with the aftermath of that event. A survey has been sent out so attendees could voice their opinion about the failings of the event. The RXB also discussed a variety of topics (National Championships, expanding the appeal of RX, Divisional Stewards responsibilities, etc.).
  • CRB (5/4): The CRB reviewed a considerable list of topics and letters. Much like last year, the CRB proposed a waiver for our Canadian members who wished to go to the Runoffs. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, Canadians have difficulty crossing into the US. The BoD approved this as a way to minimize the hurdles they have to clear in order to attend the event at Indy.
  • EVAC (5/12): As this committee gets its “sea legs”, we started to carve a path forward for EVs as well as the safety aspects of incorporating them into the various programs SCCA offers. We’re taking baby steps to make sure that safety is not compromised and that everyone involved (workers, drivers, tracks, etc.) understands the parameters to make events safe and fun.
  • BoD (5/24): We covered a variety of topics. Once again, the financials continue to look good. The Solo Events Board (SEB) reported that several regions applied to participate in the Junior Driver Program (JDP). Three regions have been selected and the pilot program will begin this summer. We also discussed the recently created EVAC and where it should fit in the SCCA hierarchy.
  • RXB (5/25): The RXB meeting continued its practice of working on enhancing the program while also focusing on this season’s events (national championships, etc.). The STL Region event survey results were reviewed. Steps will be taken to ensure a repeat of the event’s shortcomings will not occur again.

In addition to the virtual meetings I attended, I started actually going to races this past month.

  • Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PIRC) trip (4/29-5/2): This trip had it all…..interesting weather (cold, rain and wind while doing the load in on Thursday, cold and windy on Friday, warmer in Saturday and Sunday), great competition and a fantastic (challenging) track layout. I was there crewing for friends and I used the event to catch up with friends. I got to meet Kristen Poole (SCCA Marketing Manager) and Dan Dennehy (Partner Relationship Manager). I’d spoken with Kristen many times but it’s always good to put a face to a voice.
  • GingerMan trip (5/16): As my wife and Mother in Law decided to have some “girl time” together, I decided to bail on that and head to GingerMan Raceway for the Spring Festival of Speed hosted by South Bend and Detroit regions. As this was the first race event in my area that I attended as Director, I wanted to make sure I visited with the workers, walked the paddock and spoke to drivers and generally took the temperature of things. The weather was great, SBR/DET were fantastic hosts, and I had a wonderful time. I look forward to returning to GingerMan for the Time Trials National Tour in July.

One additional “GingerMan adjacent” note for racers going to South Haven. Last year we were told that Sherman’s Ice Cream stand would not be selling their ice cream anymore. The store would remain open but use another vendor’s products. While visiting there on 5/16, I discovered that another vendor stepped in and is producing ice cream using Sherman’s recipes. I can report that nothing has changed…..same great taste, same great service.

  • MidOhio trip (5/21-5/23): My first Major Club Race as Director……although, truth be told, I had no “real” function at the event. I schmoozed, talked to drivers and workers and generally tried to help where I could. I crewed for a couple of friends as well. The weather was OK and, for once, I did NOT have horrible sinus issues when visiting MidO.

The next month isn’t as hectic in terms of traveling. I only have two track events on my schedule for June (June Sprints; Road America; 6/4 to 6/6 and “Original Unrestricted” Double Regional; Grattan Raceway; 6/19, 6/20). July is when it gets ugly as I have a whole slew of track events on my flagging_rocks@sbcglobal.net.

Don’t forget that our revised gldsccaweb@gmasil.com) if you have any comments or corrections. If your region has and event you’d like to see on the divisional calendar, please reach out to him with the details (event title, date, location, registration link, etc.).

Dayle Frame

RoadRally: “Delusional Drive to Daly Rd. Road Rally” June 12

Registration is open for Road Rally 3 “Delusional Drive to Daly Rd. Road Rally” on June 12th

Join us for an afternoon of Dashing thru Northern Hamilton County from Fairfield to Mt. Healthy to New Baltimore, along city streets and county roads. This is an easy, fun rally of 100 miles, and as many questions, to keep you and your navigator awake searching for the clues to the answers. There will also be a set of EZ Instructions, for those who would rather just enjoy the drive. The search is on for Daly Rd. and when you see it you’ll need to mark it down for extra points, or should I say for extra credit as the idea is to have the least number of points, not the most.

Meeting time will start at 9am behind Dunkin’ Donuts, 6641 Dixie Highway Fairfield, OH 45014. Safety meeting is at 10:15, with first car out at 10:30. You should finish up your drive around 2:30, and we will meet afterwards for food and beverages and scoring at Rick’s Tavern next door.

Bring your friends and neighbors and have your own private competition with them.

Please register on CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com to reserve your place, so we have enough sets of instructions without destroying more trees than necessary.

RE-Port

Hello Cincinnati Region SCCA Members and friends of the Region,

Spring is in the air and our event schedule is getting packed! With the most updated events calendar showing much more promise than it did a year ago as we were dealing with the “new realities” of our coronavirus lives. Updates are in this newsletter on the events we’ve already completed in 2021 with our Solo & Rally programs. And our upcoming calendar can be found at http://cincyscca.com/ and events that have registration open can be found at https://cincyscca.motorsportreg.com/.

It is with extreme sadness in my heart to inform you of the passing of one of our great members, Dennis Barnes. Dennis was a Cincinnati SCCA member over the last 25+ years. Dennis touched many people over the years and was a friendly competitor, resource, talent, volunteer and mentor to so many people. For many, many years Dennis was a licensed Safety Steward and supported our Solo & Track events. Personally, over the years with his Fiero’s and Miata’s, I’ll remember the caravans to solo events out of town, working together on the trailer(s), figuring out how to scrape seconds of time off of an old miata 🙂 Riding shotgun in his crazy modified tow vehicle, Dennis was never afraid of an aftermarket part that could help get better performance out of his truck 🙂 Lot’s of memories and fortunate to have them. Dennis will be missed dearly by our Cincinnati SCCA family. Final checkers are in your honor Dennis, we’ll miss you.

With that I hope everyone is as eager as I am to get outside and enjoy the fellowship of our brother/sister car enthusiasts as soon as you are ready to come on out. Take care and see you soon!

Tony Brown
Cincinnati Region SCCA, R.E.

Solo Report

The 2021 Solo Season has begun!

Photo courtesy of Jeff Loewe

Apr 10/11 Test & Tune / Spring Fun Event 1

Our first two event weekends are in the book! We started out with a limited-entry Test and Tune (T&T) on Apr 10 followed by our first Spring 2021 Fun Event on Apr 11. The weather really didn’t cooperate as it was wet and/or cold, but we had 50 entrants who braved the weather on the 10th and 138 on the 11th even though both events were well over their registration cap limits leading up to registration closure. All in all, it was a good two days of learning (relearning) and competition, a good way to shake off the cobwebs and meet up with friends it seems like forever sine we saw last. As April 10 was run as a true T&T format, there were no times posted. Sunday was run as a fun event with 138 entrants using our standard four heat format and established the initial basis of our four heat system to be used the rest of the season. Run/Work will follow the same basic pattern with the same basic classes together, but it will shift one later each event (exceptions may be made as required for number of entrants, classes, critical work assignments, etc.) Everyone got five runs in an attempt to get dry runs for all but it didn’t quite work out that way.
The closest competition was a battle of the Mustangs in CAM-C where Krzysztof Zielinski edged out Ron Schoch by a mere 0.025 seconds. CAM again set the tone with 28 entrants, and the largest class was the highly competitive Street Open with 17 entrants followed closely by CAM-S with 15 entrants. I’m happy to report the Novice Classes are starting to make a comeback now that we have single assignment loaner helmets with nine (9) in Novice Street led by Christina Harp and five (5) in Novice Modified led by Zachary Eavers. Joel Zeller battled Jason Rector, both of HS for the top two PAX times. Results are posted on our website.
https://CincySCCA.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/

Apr 24/25 Spring Fun Event 2 / Points Event 1

Spring Fun Event 2 – Our second event weekend came up very quick after the first, seemingly didn’t skip a weekend even though it really did. Again, the weather wasn’t real cooperative as rain was forecast for Sat in what looked like it would be a real soaker and cooler temperatures all day. Due to the forecast, we only ended up with 70 entrants on Saturday (down from over 100) and as a result chose to run it as a Test & Tune format. As it turned out, the rain arrived half-way through the day Sat making for a cold and wet day where times in the wet were lucky to be within 5 – 7 seconds of the dry times, but many of the entrants had eight or more runs. Still a definite learning experience as you never know what the weather will be like for the points events later in the season. The closest battle was again in CAM C where this time Max Mishcenko edged Krzysztof Zielinski by 0.002 secs. CAM again had a large contingent with 17 entrants between the three classes and CAM S had the largest class with 10 entrants. Results are posted on our website. https://CincySCCA.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/

Points Event 1 – For Sunday, our first points event, we had 197 registered (with a cap of 160), determined we could let in 180, and ended up with 175 entrants after all was said and done. The weather stayed dry, but was cool/cold throughout most of the day with the sun finally coming out late enough to give many their first sunburn of the year. With worker change-overs on the fly, and everyone’s cooperation being on time and ready, we were able to get everyone six (6) runs and be done running by 4:15 on what was described as a fast, fun, yet technical course where one had to really thread the needle. CAM continued to have a strong contingent with 40 entrants (of the 175) between the three classes and the single largest class of the event was CAM S with 24 entrants. The closest battle was in CAM T with Nathan Popp edging out Brian Coney by 0.135 secs in their very different but very fast Camaros. Novice classes continued their comeback with Novice Street being led by Louis Brinkman in his Civic and Corey Pooler in his Focus ST. PAX was dominated by the Pro Class with 6 of the top 10 and the top 5 all being in Pro with Rob Clark and Robert Pendergest in Rob’s C8 bookending Dave Montgomery in his Camaro SS 1LE. Unfortunately due to various delays, event trophies were not available for those who earned one, but will be available at the Novice 101 / Points Event 2 weekend May 15 & 16. Results are posted on our website. https://cincyscca.com/autocross/2021-solo-schedule-results/

Photo courtesy of Jeff Loewe
Upcoming Events
  • Novice 1010 School – I already hinted at it, but our first Novice 101 School is Saturday, May 15. Registration is open, but entries are limited so we can provide full instruction.
  • Points Event 2 – Registration is open for our second points event Sunday, May 16.

CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com

Random Reminders:
  • I have the 2020 Year End Solo Trophies for those of you who earned one and still haven’t picked it up. Heck, I still have a few 2019 trophies too.
  • I will have the Points Event 1 trophies for those who earned one at the next event, May 15 & 16.
  • COVID – We are still under COVID procedures, please continue to social distance and wear a mask when you are close to others. Minor changes from late last year or this year: Passengers are permitted if both have face masks or full-face helmets with shields. We do have single driver assignment loaner helmets available.
  • Our events are popular thanks to you, please register early as we have been hitting the entry cap one to two weeks before the event. If when you register the cap has already been met, please go ahead and register on the waitlist. This will greatly increase your chance of making it in.
  • No charges will be made to your account until registration closes @ 10:00 pm on the Thursday before the event.
  • If you are registered and not going to be able to make the event, please cancel before Thur 10 pm so that others on the waitlist can attend. If you cancel after registration closes, there is no refund or credit toward the next event (exceptions apply) as you are preventing someone else from attending.
  • Please come to Tech Inspection with numbers and letters on your car. Numbers must be a contrasting color to the car and a min of 8” tall and letters 4” tall. If using painters tape for the first event or so, please use the 2” wide tape.
  • With the larger number of entrants, please follow the paddock guidelines so all can fit nicely (only large trailers/motorhomes along the building, trucks w/ up to 26 ft trailers in the middle, single cars in the front row or middle nose to tail.)
Sponsors:

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank the fantastic group of sponsors helping us make our program so successful:

  • Continental Motorsports is going to be on-site for all of our events to help you with all your racing goodies. Look for them between paddock and grid. http://www.continentalmotorsport.com/
  • Summit Racing, though not on site has provided a lot of random door prizes and 10% off certificates for all our entrants which will be handed out at the drivers meetings. https://www.summitracing.com/
  • Autocross Digits continues to provide top notch class numbers/letters, vinyl, and magnetic vinyl for your autocross needs. https://www.autocrossdigits.com/
  • Forgeline not only provides the ultimate wheels for your vehicle, but has also donated to the parking lot asphalt repair fund. Still attempting to make arrangements for repairs. https://forgeline.com/
  • Jeff Loewe Imaging Our region’s official photographer. Check out his website for your favorite moment! https://jlofoto.net/

Kent Weaver
Your Cincy SCCA Solo Chair

RoadRally Report

It was a beautiful Spring Day….. Well maybe not so beautiful for the whole day, but it was a FUN day with 16 teams competing for top spot – actually 2 top spots, as half the field was first timers.

We did a good deed with each team contributing a book to a free library in Hanover Park.

The Kise’s prepared “Kindness Rocks” for each team to pick up at a point on the route. The rocks can be kept or hidden around town for others to find to brighten their day-it’s in conjunction with “FairfieldOhioRocks”, a Facebook group that Barb started during quarantine.

It was great to be able to socialize at the end of the event. The results can be found on the CincySCCA.com website.

Registration is open for the second road rally of the season, Saturday mid-morning May 8. The rest of the (tentative) dates are June 12, August 14, September 11, and October 30. This rally will be an observation and mileage accuracy 100-mile drive thru Kenton County, Kentucky. We will be meeting at an undisclosed location at the end of the rally for some socializing. You don’t have to be a member to participate in this kid friendly event. Registration is strongly encouraged at CincySCCA.MotorsportReg.com.

Gordon Benson
Christy Graham
roadrally@cincyscca.com or
CincySCCARally@yahoo.com
513-658-4677