Club News – Page 3 – Cincinnati Region SCCA

Area 4 Director Update for February, 2022

Wow…. January was quite a month for me.….so much for the “off season”. The holidays were nice as the OU Sooners and MSU Spartans both won their bowl games. In addition to the usual monthly fare, I was tasked with preparing a presentation for the SCCA National Convention on the Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC). As a sales rep, I’m used to speaking to folks but doing it via Zoom was different and I was nervous leading up to doing it. It turned out great and you can view the session on YouTube by clicking here.

Elsewhere in the Division, in case you missed it last month, it bears repeating that our divisional Spring meeting will be on Saturday March 5^th with a casual gathering the night before. Details will be announced as they are finalized on the GLDiv website.

Last month I mentioned that there is a new path to getting your annual waiver. You can now get it through the Member Account Portal (MAP). Follow this link to get the instructions. There is also a story about the program here. I’ve done it and it takes only a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself.

The various national schedules for 2022 are starting to coalesce and they can be found here:

Pro Solo/National Tour, Time Trials National Tour, Hoosier Super Tour, Enduro.

Video Conference Meetings:

Club Racing Board (CRB) (1/4): The CRB has a new Chair this year and he wants to run things a little differently. This change in structure meant we had more time to discuss topics on a deeper level. The results can be seen here.
Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (1/12): Our discussion on rules sets, track relationships and safety continued. We continued to work on the convention presentation.
BoD (1/24): Our meeting was pretty standard fare. Unfortunately, in addition to the usual stuff, we had to discuss a couple of member complaint letters that were sent to the CRB. The writers made allegations that needed to be discussed at the highest levels. As this is a sensitive topic, I cannot elaborate here. We also discussed the IT tire rule. I lead the charge against making this change. It was too broad and we asked the CRB to try again.
EVAC SCCA Convention Presentation (1/27): The EVAC was asked to give a presentation during the convention about what we’ve accomplished and where we’re heading. To view it, click here.

SCCA Events:

As the competition season is over for most of our specialties, I did not attend any SCCA events this past month. I have updated my calendar on the GLDiv website with events I’d like to go to this season. Click here to see where I’ll be this summer.

If any region out there wants to have an “Ask the Director” session during your monthly meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me so we can schedule a visit. I retired last summer so have plenty of free time and would thoroughly enjoy the chance to visit with your members.

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.

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CincySCCA Award Banquet – Feb. 5th 2022

Registration is Now OPEN for the Annual Awards Banquet.

Banquet is held at Receptions Event Center in Fairfield

We will be meeting in the Ohio Room, which is to the right from the main entrance lobby. Receptions Event Center is located at 5975 Boymel Drive, Fairfield, OH 45014.

Dress is Business Casual (or better).

Awards for solo, rally and road racing will be awarded, along with the annual Cincinnati Region awards. Drawings for door prizes will be scattered throughout the award presentations, including valuable $$$s off our competition events. Register and pay by January 23rd and you will receive bonus tickets for more chances.

6:00 – 6:45 PM Registration and socializing – hors d’oeuvres and cash bar
6:45 – 7:45 PM Dinner
7:30 – 10:00 PM Awards & Door Prizes

TENTATIVE BUFFET MENU

Carved, Slow Roasted Top Round of Beef with Demi Glaze & Horseradish
Chicken Parmesan
Pasta Primavera Farfalle (Vegetarian)
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Southern Style Green Beans
Tossed Salad w/ Assorted Dressings
Hot Rolls & Butter
Assorted Desserts
Unlimited Soft Drinks (Cash Bar available)

*The menu has not been finalized, and may change without notice.

Registration closes Wednesday, January 26. Late and walk up dinner registration will be extremely limited so PLEASE REGISTER PROMPTLY. Don’t miss out!

Register online at http://cincyscca.motorsportsreg.com/
OR See the form below for more details and register by mail (must be received by Jan. 26) or online at
Banquet.PDF

Area 4 Director Update for December, 2021

Whew….a chance to catch my breath after a VERY busy month of October. November slowed down a bit and not a moment too soon. But, as we all know, the end of one season means the beginning of another. Like you, I’ve already begun to prepare for the 2022 season.

In case you missed it last month, it bears repeating that our divisional Spring meeting will be on Saturday March 5^thwith a casual gathering the night before. Details will be announced as they are finalized on the GLDiv website.

Also, headquarters has created an online path to get an annual waiver (hard card). This is a great step forward and can eliminate the signing of all SCCA waivers (not track or site waivers). I’ve done it and it takes only a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself. I’ll have more details next month.

Video Conference Meetings:

Club Racing Board (CRB) (11/2): The first meeting after the Runoffs can be quite lengthy as there are scores of requests from the driver corps. The results can be seen here.
Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (11/3): A few of the EVAC met to walk through additions to another rules set.
EVAC (11/10): The “regular” EVAC meeting was held tonight. We continued work on other rules sets.
Rally Cross Board (RXB) (11/16): The RXB is rewriting some of their rules package so we went over the details. This meeting lasted 4.5 hours.
BoD (11/17): We held a special meeting to review the qualifications for the replacement Director that was to come from Area 11. Jason Isley has moved to FL so he is resigning his position and the BoD picks his replacement. As we are meeting in Kansas City on 12/3, our normally scheduled meeting (11/22) has been cancelled.

SCCA Events:

As the competition season is over for most of our specialties, I did not attend any SCCA events this past month.

November has me, once again, driving to Kansas City, MO for another BoD meeting (11/30-12/6). I’ll use the trip to visit some family who lives nearby in Lawrence, KS and a friend who lives near St. Louis, MO.

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Area 4 Director Update for November, 2021

I apologize for not getting an October edition of this out to you, but I was REALLY busy at the Runoffs (see more details below). I was a reserve pace/safety car driver, I crewed for a few drivers (we had six in our compound), I had some BoD meetings, I gave away some trophies in Winner’s Circle and I actually got to watch a few sessions and races along the way. Our group also hosted the Prod/GTL party and raised almost $2000 for the Worker Corps. If nothing else, the Runoffs is the one place where you can see your racing friends each year. The folks that, due to distance, you only see once a season.

First off the bat, I have a couple of quick announcements:

GLDiv Spring meeting will be on Saturday March 3 rd with a casual gathering the night before. Details will be announced as they are finalized on the GLDiv website.
Mike Cobb will have his next Presidential address on 11/3 at 8p. More details can be found here.

Video Conference Meetings:

Club Racing Board (CRB) (9/7): The last meeting before the Runoffs was uneventful as no rules changes can occur. Most of them would be at the event so they could observe the fruits of their labor. The results can be seen here.
Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (9/8): Our first document (SCREV) was sent up the food chain for review. We viewed this as a major step forward and were proud to be able to develop something of this caliber so quickly. We continued with rules review and policies concerning interaction with tracks, regions, etc.
GLDiv BoD meeting (10/7): I was more than happy to sit in on the GLDiv BoD meeting so we could focus on budget, rules, schedules, website, etc. We also worked on the Spring Training meeting. It’ll be scheduled for 3/5 and details will be announced on the GLDiv website
EVAC (10/13): We continued work on other rules sets and had several wide-ranging discussions on several topics (car prep costs, battery safety, etc.).
CRB (10/19): Due to the Runoffs, we slid back our regularly scheduled meeting from 10/5 to 10/19. As most of the advisory committees had not met since the Runoffs, the agenda was fairly thin but was completed. In addition, a broad discussion about policies and procedures in post session and post-race impound were examined.
BoD (10/25): We had more good news about the financial position. Once again, we are ahead of the curve. Our Track Night in America, Time Trails and Solo events are hosting record entries. Unfilled positions are also helping keep costs down. As for me, I gave an EVAC update and reported on my visit to the Rally Cross national Championships. We also decided to cancel our November meeting (11/22) as we would be meeting in person a few days later (12/4).
Rally Cross Board (RXB) (10/26): As this group just held their Championship event, they did some “post mortem” on the event and started looking forward to next season (events, rules changes, etc.).

SCCA Events:

WMR Solo @ Grattan Raceway (9/6): I competed in this event in my new 2020 Chevy Bolt EV. I decided to stay in the H Street class and not classify myself in the EVX class so I’d have some competition. Other than one run, I got faster with each run and had a great time. I finished 8 th of 13 so I didn’t feel too bad about that. The video is on my YouTube channel page.
SCCA National Championship Runoffs (9/24-10/4): Boy was this a busy week. As Director, I had a few responsibilities during the event. I had volunteered to give away trophies in Winner’s Circle ceremonies for three races (HP, BSpec, EP), I had a few meetings (both scheduled ahead of time and some that were impromptu) and I was a reserve driver for the Pace/Safety car team.

As a “non Director”, I had some stuff on my plate too. My group of friends have always thought that the mantra “there’s safety in numbers” was true at the Runoffs, so we’ve generally set up compounds with several drivers. We’ve been doing this for years. This year we had six drivers all paddocked together. We shared meal prep, living quarters (Air B&B), infrastructure (power, compressors, welders, etc.) and generally worked together to help each other out. We had cars in HP (5), BSpec (1) and GT3 (1). In general, it was a pretty good week but a couple of DNFs and a visit to the hospital cast a bit of a cloud over the event.

SCCA Rally Cross National Championships (10/15-10/17): I went to this event purely as an observer. I was not an official in any way. I wanted to see how they made their sausage, as it were. It was a blast and I had a great time. This event reinforced that notion that I need to try this type of competition to understand it better. Now if I can only find someone who will let me co-drive their car……
WMR Solo @ Grattan Raceway (10/24): I had usually entered my Bolt EV in Solo events in the H Street class. But I decided to help the EV national numbers by entering in the EVX class this time. Would have finished 7 th of nine in HS.

November has me, once again, driving to Kansas City, MO for another BoD meeting (11/30-12/6). I’ll use the trip to visit some family who lives nearby in Lawrence, KS.

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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!

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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).

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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.

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