RE-Port

What an incredible summer of events we have had so far this year with Solo, Rally and our annual Race & Track Event weekend at Mid-Ohio! Support with entries for all of our opportunities to have fun with cars in our region has been fantastic! A big shout out to our members that chair and organize these activities and their committees that make the events rock. Have you been enjoying these activities and thought “what makes these events tick?” or “can I get involved in making these events better?” and the resounding answer is “YES!”  you can get involved and we are always actively looking for people to learn the “tricks of the trade”! Cincinnati Region has a long history of putting on great events and to continue our mission for the best quality events in the SCCA, WE NEED YOU! Please feel free to talk to one of our event chairs, committee members or myself anytime to set up a time to talk in more depth about our activities and how you can participate on another level!
 
September also takes the competition to the top of the national level with the Solo Nationals out in Lincoln, Nebraska (9/-10) and the National Championship Runoffs this year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (9/25-10/3). We have many Cincinnati members that have qualified and will be heading out to these events later this month! SAFE TRAVELS and GOOD LUCK to everyone going. If you can’t be there in person to watch, the next best thing is to watch online! Make sure to check out SCCA.COM for schedule updates and to view the events online.
 
Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend and we’ll see you soon!
 
Tony Brown
Cincinnati Region SCCA, R.E. 

RoadRally Report

The August Awesome Adventure was held on August 14. A good time was had by all, and everyone made it back to Shooters in Liberty Township in one piece. There was a three-way tie for first with only one missed question, among which was a first-time rally team – apparently, we need to make the questions tougher. If not for a misinterpretation of a series of questions, there would have been a two-way tie with only two missed questions. Visit the cincyscca.com website for complete results.
Registration is open for the fifth road rally of the season, Saturday, mid-morning September 11. The last rally of the season is October 30. The starting/ending location is Susanna’s Guest House in New Richmond, Ohio. First car out will be around 10:30. I’m not going to five away too much information yet, but you will be exploring in Ohio and Kentucky. Ever been across the Ohio River on a ferry? You will be if you join us. 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

Race Report

Were you at Mid-Ohio with us from July 30 through August 1? If not, you missed a good time. Great weather, lots of entries, competitive races, yummy food – we had it all.  There is a place for every car enthusiast at our race weekend. Gear up to be a part of it next year. Schedules aren’t set until very late fall, but we’ll let you know when we get confirmation.


Don’t forget the runoffs are quickly approaching. The week of September 25-30 will bring practice and qualifying sessions. Races will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 1-3. The event is being held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There are currently 926 entries in 26 classes. Check the SCCA.COM website for details. Support and follow your region drivers.

Meanwhile, there are still two race weekends left in the 2021 season – September 4-5 and October 16-17. You can get involved by volunteering in one of the many specialties needed to support the racers. If you are interested, let us know and I will personally connect you with the specialty chief who will provide mentorship and give you an experience you won’t soon forget. And hey, did you know you can get a reduction in your membership dues by volunteering? I just renewed and saved $45!

Join us.

Area 4 Director Update for September, 2021

I headed out to Kansas City, MO for the first, face to face meeting of the Club Racing Board (CRB) and the Board of Directors (BoD).  After months of “meeting” my fellow BoD and CRB members via Zoom conference video connections, it was nice to actually meet them in Kansas City, MO at the end of July.  I also managed to frequent a couple of my favorite BBQ joints while I was there.

The CRB was first on 7/30.  This was an all day meeting was designed to be more strategic and focus on the long-term goals of the CRB.  We discussed data acquisition strategies, class structure, CRB and ad hoc committee membership and Majors run groups among other things.  It was universally agreed that this was a very successful meeting and something to build upon.  Again, so much more is accomplished in person than across a video feed.

The next day was the BoD meeting.  This was also an all day meeting and it was designed to allow us to get updates from the various Boards and SCCA staff.  We heard from Bob Davis (Solo Events Board Chair), Jeff Dahnert (Finance and Administration Director), Heyward Wagner (Director of Rally & Solo), Kristen Poole (Marketing Director), Eric Prill (Vice President of Road Racing) and Peter Keane (CRB Chair) among others.  I made a short presentation about the EVAC and its goals.  Once again, a very productive meeting.  We are scheduled to meet face to face again in early December.

I had a really nice time meeting new folks and seeing old friends.  I drove my EV out there (round trip of 1550 miles for $23.09) and caught up on my backlog of podcasts.  Man, there’s a lot of corn between here and there.

Video Conference Meetings:

  • CRB (8/3): After having met just a few days earlier, the CRB got back to the task of wading through letters sent to the CRB for review.  The results can be seen here.
  • Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC)(8/11): We reviewed some documents the committee is working on (super secret stuff).  We prepared for the release of these documents over the course of the next few months and making significant announcements about EVs in the SCCA.
  • CRB (8/17): A sub group of us met to discuss the rules process.
  • Rally Cross Board (RXB) (8/24): The group is working hard to prepare for their National Championships.  They’ll be held at the Ross County Fairgrounds near Chillicothe, OH on 10/15-10/17.  I am looking forward to being there and watching the action.  I encourage all of you to do so as well.
  • BoD (8/30): I will report about this next month.

SCCA Events:

  • WMR Major @ Grattan Raceway (8/21, 8/22): I attended this event as an F&C worker and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Yes, it was pretty hot and humid (hey, its August in Michigan) but a very large car count by our standards (160 ish) made for some exciting action on track.  WMR also had its usual GREAT Saturday evening, all attendee dinner catered by Q-It-Up…a fabulous meal.

 

September and October have me going to a Solo at Grattan Raceway on Labor Day (9/6), the Runoffs (9/24 to 10/3) and the RallyX National Championships (10/15 to 10/17).

Please forgive me but I’ll probably be too busy at the Runoffs to publish an October update.  In addition to crewing for several friends in our six driver, six car, seven entry compound at Indy, I’m also working for the data acquisition crew, I’m a reserve pace/safety car driver and I’ll be giving away trophies for three classes in the Winner’s Circle.  November’s update will be EPIC!

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

The Silly Season
Welcome to the silly season!  July and August (and really September) are the crazy busy months for autocross and our Cincy members in the Midwest and Cincy Region is certainly a part of that.  Since my report a month ago, we have held a Starting Line event, our fourth Points Event, and both a Phase 1 and Phase 2 Evolution Performance Driving School in July.  In August we will have our second Novice 101 School and our fifth Points Event.  All of these are worked around a busy schedule for many of us with the Bristol Summer Nationals (ProSolo and Champ Tour on July 1-4), the Toledo ProSolo on July 23-25, the Oscoda ProSolo Jul 29-Aug 1, Peru CAM Challenge Aug 6-8, Great Lakes Div Solo Series (GLSS) Events Jul 17-18 in Fort Wayne, GLSS @ Grissom ARB on Aug 14-15, Goodguys in Columbus Jul7 9-11, Motorstate Challenge Jul 15-17, UMI Autocross Challenge Jul 24-25, DriveAutoX @ Grissom Jul 31-Aug 1, etc…  Whew, tough to keep track of it all unless you put it in your calendar.  Thankfully, we have a link to the “Area Motorsports Schedule” on our 2021 Solo Schedule/Results page www.cincyscca.com.

Starting Line School, July 10
We had sixteen (16) students at our SCCA Starting Line school on July 10.  The instructors did a phenomenal job instructing the new members on everything about autocross, improving the entrants driving skills, and introducing them to everything SCCA has to offer. Everyone I spoke with during and after the event were very happy with the results.  Highly recommend looking up other Starting Line events across the country and signing up if you are new to autocross or wait until next year when we host another one. 

Points Event #4, Jul 11
The weather forecast once again was horrible and unfortunately it delivered for the 145 of us who braved it and showed up anyway.  To say the first and part of the second heat runs were wet would be an understatement.  During course walks, we had to modify the course to avoid the lake which formed in the middle of the course where the drains just couldn’t keep up with the storms leading to water easily 6-8” deep.  Thankfully, the other lakes were in paddock or grid instead of on course.  Even better, the drains did catch up and we didn’t have the lake issue during runs.  I have to give kudos to my team and the entrants, thanks to everyone’s effort, we were able to give six (6) runs, award trophies, and offer an hour plus of fun runs in the dry and still be done by 5:00!  The closest battles were in C Street, Pro, and CAM S.  In C Street, Shari McCoy put down a runner on her fifth run to take the win over Tyler Fullington in his S2000 by the closest battle of the day, a 0.034 sec win.  In CAM S, Marshall Reinert held off Jamie Elliott by a mere 0.036 secs for the win.  Not to be outdone, in Pro Class, Nathan Roberts on the strength of his last run was able to edge out Rob Clark by 0.040 secs for the win.  Nathan Popp pulled off the trifecta winning CAM T, having Top Raw Time of the Day, and Top PAX Time of the Day.  Congrats to all!

Evolution Performance Driving School, Jul 17-18
We had originally planned our Phase 1 and Phase 2 schools in early May, but those ended up being COVID casualties.  Thankfully, we were able to find a place to squeeze them in the schedule for July 17 and 18.  We had 18 students for the Phase 1 school on Saturday and 17 for the Phase 2 school on Sunday.  If you have never taken one of these schools, I highly recommend them!  Even if you have, they are fantastic refreshers to take again to help you break bad habits or realize where/why you aren’t driving the car to its full limits.  Even with the wet conditions early on Sat for the Phase 1 school, it was still a great help.  Again here, everyone was ecstatic with the instruction they received from Robert Carpenter, Brian Burdette, and Bryan Schafer!

Upcoming Events
Registration is open for our second Novice 101 School and our Points Event #5 on Aug 21 and 22.  Remember, registrations will fill quickly.

 

Support for one of our members
Lastly, I want to take a moment to offer a sincere thank you to everyone for their prayers and support given to Danny Popp and his family.  This really should have been the first thing, because the solo family and friends are far, FAR more important than the competition aspect of any of the events which we get to enjoy.  For any of you who may not have heard by now, Danny Popp suffered a stroke on Jun 29th.  Stacy and Nathan responded quickly and got him to the hospital within 30 minutes of symptoms.  Thankfully the doctors have said there is no permanent damage, but clearly there is a battle ahead for him and his family as he goes through the long process of recovery.  Along that line, Danny reports “Get a little better EVERY day!!”  I have silver or blue “10” stickers available at no cost if you would like to show your support.  If you’d like to donate, there is a GoFundMe page set up at:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/danny-popps-medical-expenses

Area 4 Director Update for August, 2021

Boy oh boy was July busy….and it’s not even done yet.  I write this just before heading off to Kansas City for my first face to face meetings with the Club Racing Board (CRB) and the Board of Directors (BoD).  This will be the third consecutive weekend that I’ve been away from home.  The good news is I have a very understanding wife…..I’m sure I’ll find out what the bad news is once I buy it for her.

Video Conference Meetings:

  • CRB (7/6): Once again, mid-season, pre-Runoffs CRB meetings can be very mundane.  This one was no exception.  In addition to the regular agenda, we had time to discuss agenda items for the meeting in Kansas City on 7/30.
  • Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC)(7/14): Our meeting had to be cancelled for a variety of minor reasons.
  • BoD (7/26): Our regular Zoom meeting was cancelled as we will be meeting in person on 7/31.  I’ll report about that meeting next month.
  • Rally Cross Board (RXB) (7/27): Due to some staff changes in Topeka, RXB is now under different management.  The group discussed these changes and went over preparations for the National Championships, rules changes for 2022, etc.

SCCA Events:

  • GingerMan Raceway (7/16 to 7/18): Friday was a Track Night in America (TNiA) event and the rest of the weekend was filled with a Time Trials National Tour event.  While I’d attended a couple of the TNiA events before, this one was the first where I was there just to watch and see how the event was put on.  On the other hand, I had never attended a Time Trials event and was really looking forward to seeing how that was operated.  The good news for a guy trying to learn how these events work is that Jon Krolewicz and John Hunter (Time Trials Managers) were both at the track for this one.  They were very helpful and took time to walk me through their system.  They clearly know what they’re doing as the event went off without a hitch and everyone who attended had a great weekend.  This program fills a slot on the racing continuum between Solo and Club Racing.  If you like to tinker with your car and go fast on a race track but not in a “wheel to wheel” format, this is the program for you.
  • Pro Solo @ Toledo Airport (7/23 to 7/25): Once again, I was faced with attending a type of event that I had never been to before.  While I had participated in several Solos over the years, this was a different type of critter.  They use two, mirror image courses and drag strip style start lights (Christmas tree). Drivers run twice on both courses during each of three heats. The best times from each side during the 12 runs determines the winners in each class.

Way back in March, I reached out to Charina Jones (Northwest Ohio Region RE) and asked about attending so I could observe the process.  She pointed me towards Scott Dobler.  He and his team operate out of Topeka.  They schlep the trailers from place to place to support the events.  I arrived Friday afternoon at about 2p, checked in and met with them as they explained the event details.  The event went off pretty well with only a couple of minor hitches.  Scott’s team and the locals from NWOR could not have been more gracious hosts.  They answered all of my questions and were very helpful.  Scott even asked me to hand out the trophies on Sunday.  I will investigate entering one of these next summer.  It looks like too much fun to pass up.

Just as July was very busy with lots of trips, August will be a bit more relaxing.  I only have one trip planned and that’s to Grattan Raceway to support my local club (Western Michigan Region) and work our Major Club Racing event.  After that, September and October have me going to a Solo at Grattan Raceway on Labor Day (9/6), the Runoffs (9/24 to 10/3) and the RallyX National Championships (10/15 to 10/17).

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

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