SOLO II Committee Meeting Minutes 4/14/2009

Members in Attendance – Gretchen Everett, Mike Leuty, Keith Brown, Charles Aggenbach, Bud Bohrer, Ron & Alyson Bauer, Jackie Cornwell, Joel Ferguson, Jerry Lamb, Russell O’Connell, Val Korry, Brett Wilson, Glenn Austin, Lou Ann Christensen, Enrique Garcia , Dieter Beldi, and Drew & Kim Hanft.

Minutes Review – A motion was made to approve minutes as written, with one grammatical correction.

Drift Report – There were a total of 31 students at the Drift Novice School. This is great compared to the 18 they had last year. Things went really, really well. Russell was a bit surprised at the fact that most of the Novices ran through their groups faster than some of the more experienced drifters. He was very pleased with the progress of the students throughout the day. He also had lots of support people around him, and he was successful in delegating more responsibilities this year. The new helmets and radio all worked well, and they had plenty of equipment to run the event. He is promoting that new competitors actually join SCCA and become members. He has an invoice for the new helmets. There was a miscommunication, and he inadvertently purchased 9 instead of the 7 originally agreed upon in December. A motion was made to approve an increase of $39 to cover the total above and beyond the $500 that was approved. He also picked up a total of 5 flags for a total of $19.72. A second motion was made to approve this expense.

NWR Board & Convention Report – Since Dick is not in attendance tonight, there will be no report this month. Lou Ann showed up late, but did report that 90% of the meeting was covering updates/cleaning house issues with the region bylaws. They also covered the Street Survival school, which was very successful. Scotty White brought one of his rigs and several cars were placed in areas around the truck to help illustrate exactly how much a truck driver really cannot see the vehicles around it. There was also an adult version of this school held on Sunday, which saw equally positive results.

Treasurer’s Report – A majority of the bills for 2008 have been paid, although Gretchen has two additional invoices for Specialty Chief jackets, and then a few additional trophies that were left out of the original trophy count for the year end season. The audit is complete and we are free to hand over the books to Kristi Brown, our new Solo Treasurer. Lou Ann has received approval from the board to purchase the updated version of Quickbooks – not for profit, and has ordered new checks with Kristi’s name on them

WWSCC Report – Not a whole lot to report right now. Five events on the calendar for the season. US/OS will be held on May 30/31, BEAC Autopilot will be June 7, Miatacross will be June 28, and BEAC Enduro will be July 26. All of these events will be held at Sanderson Field in Shelton. They will be attempting to hold the Coneheads practice the open day we have at BMP over Labor Day weekend. The final date for the Slush banquet should be determined at the next meeting. There is no organizer for this event, so it hasn’t been a high priority.

NORPAC Divisional Steward Report – Kumho will not being participating in the 2009 Solo contingency program at all, and Bridgestone will not be supporting the Pro Solo series. Keith needs to call Nancy Downing at the National office to get the Divisional series stickers. There is not going to be an Alameda, two-day Divisional event this year. They are going to run a one-day Divisional event that will be run just like a regular two-day event, but it is more for their locals to qualify for going to Nationals, so it will not be included on our schedule.

OLD BUSINESS

CPR/AID Training – Keith has not had the opportunity to schedule any dates. Glenn Austin has agreed to participate in the training.

Annual Tech – There were only 6 people able to attend the first round, so he will be doing additional appointments at our next event in Packwood. He will be sending a notice out to the list reminding people of this.

Novice School – Lots of happy students, who enjoyed a great lunch and decent weather. Ron felt there was an issue with the way things were communicated to the Specialty Chiefs. He didn’t understand that they were going to be responsible for covering the Novice School, since no one contacted either him or Kim & Drew. He felt this needed to be addressed much more clearly in the future. Also, they were given instructions to be there at 7:00 a.m, then unfortunately the gate was locked and there was a huge line of cars waiting to get in. Some felt there was also little advertising for the event, but it was well attended, so apparently it wasn’t a problem. From an instructor position, some felt that just hopping into the next available car was not necessarily the greatest way to keep the instructors on top of the issues each of the drivers were working on, and with a little more organizations the students could have received more consistent progressive instruction. The event got started late, so it didn’t seem like there was enough time for the students to get adjusted to the course, with walks, etc.

Event #1 – There were a total of 239 entrants, with tons of Novices due to the school the day before. Great course, and great weather. The last run was completed right at 5:00 pm, but unfortunately there was a database issue and a majority of the last heat of the day had to be manually entered, so the trophy presentation wasn’t done until 6:00 pm. As always with the first event, it was a nice opportunity to shake the dust off all of our equipment, and our Specialty Chiefs. Overall the event was very good. A big thank you goes out to Tim Irwin for taking on this task. There was one situation, where someone went all four wheels off. After the situation occurred, he then got back in line to compete again. After a discussion with a group of key people, Tim (event chair) felt it was appropriate to allow him to continue since it was reported that he came to a complete stop and used the grass to turn around. Several people in attendance at this meeting were concerned that this was allowed to happen. We have a rule in place that states all four

off means that you are no longer allowed to compete in the event. There should be NO interpretation of this rule. Four wheels off, regardless of the situation, means that you will be DSQ’d. This is not open for discussion, period. We also received an email that was forwarded from the Handlers, that there was a large amount of trash left on the site. There was some question, as to who left this, and whether we were allowed enough time to pick up our mess with the next group coming in.

Events Chairs for 2009 – We still need event chiefs for the 2009 season. The following people have already volunteered:

April 4^th (Novice School/BMP) – Rick V. James Wege

April 5^th (BMP) – Tim Irwin

May 2^nd (Packwood) Core Workers Practice – Dick Willy

May 3^rd – (Packwood) – Jackie Cornwell will cover the event ONLY IF necessary.

May 16^th (Packwood) Pro Solo – Keith and Kristi Brown

May 17^th (Packwood) – Karl and Amy Coleman

May 24^th (BMP) – Mike and Carol Leuty

June 20^th (Packwood) Pro Solo – John and Laura Kimball

June 21^st – (Packwood) Enrique Garcia

July 5^th (BMP) – NEED VOLUNTEER

July 10^th – 12^th (Packwood) NT – Joel Ferguson

July 14^th – 16^th (Packwood) Evo Schools – Keith Brown

July 17^th – July 19^th (Packwood) Pro Solo – Gretchen Everett and Jerry Lamb

August 15^th (Packwood) – Open Practice – Peter Umino

August 16^th (Packwood) – NEED VOLUNTEER

October 4^th (BMP) – Ron Bauer

Specialty Chiefs – We still need an Equipment Chair. Tim Irwin passed along that Garrett Bickerdike might be interested in this position if someone contacted him with more details.

NEW BUSINESS

Wireless timing equipment – Jackie gathered a group of key people to research the purchase of a wireless timing system. The total cost of the necessary equipment is $2213, and an additional $189 for the case. If we were to replace the cable we have now (which was donated at the time, and is really meant for interior use) we would need to upgrade to a better quality and would cost over $50 for 1,000 feet. What are the benefits of a wireless system? It is a lot easier to set-up; it allows us greater opportunities for better course design as we would not be limited by where wires cross over the finish, start. As Timing Chief, Ron feels that the equipment we have right now is on its last legs, and moving to this type of system would open up possibilities that we haven’t even thought about yet. Additional antennas can be purchased if we find that we are seeing distance issues. A motion was made and passed to spend no more than $2500 for this system.

Procedural Change for waivers – In consideration of several changes in the way SCCA handles memberships and waivers, Joel Ferguson (Chief of Waivers), recommended the following procedural changes. At the event generally: wristbands continue to be worn as they are now (see Solo Rule 1.3.2.1, below). Hard cards can be worn in lieu of a wristband, and must be generally visible as wristbands are. At the gate (three possible wrist bands): Those with a hard card may display it to the waiver worker and drive through. Everyone in the car must have a hard card or they must stop and sign waivers for those who do not. The hard card holder can stop and get a wristband if they wish to do so, without signing the waiver. Three wristbands are provided based on a status (when the individuals sign the waiver, if they do not list their member #, the waiver worker will ask if they are a member or not, and hand out wristbands accordingly): SCCA members allowed into “hot” areas get one color, non-members allowed into “hot” areas get a second color, members and non-members not allowed into “hot” areas get a third color (this includes minors without signatures by both parents, and SCCA minor members under 12).

At registration (member “hot areas” wristbands only): Member “hot areas” wristbands will be available for those with hard cards that want to get one at registration rather than at the gate. Member “hot areas” wristbands will be available for those who join (weekend or full membership) at registration. This option cannot be provided to anyone under 18 without confirming that both parents have signed the waiver (this will be the case if they have a non-members “hot areas” wristband). Going onto course: when in doubt about the membership or “hot area” status of anyone in grid or going onto course, grid workers or the Starter can ask to see the wristband or hard car. Anyone who cannot display an appropriate wristband or a hard card will not be allowed in grid or on course. Anyone who chooses to wear their wristband somewhere on their person other than on their wrist will still have to display the wristband when asked to. The group agreed these procedures should be implemented.

Someone suggested that we create signage/posters that remind people exactly which bands are for what, and also help those wearing them to understand what restrictions are associated with each color wrist bands, but the group felt it could be addressed with good communication with those in key positions. We can use the SCCA bands for those with memberships, then purchase two additional colors (the same that drift is using, to help keep coordinated) for

each of the other options. Joel will not be in attendance at the second event, and Tim will be covering the event instead.

He will work on getting this implemented by the third event. He is very open to suggestions, and would be very flexible to adjust as necessary in the future.

Membership Fees – A suggestion was made that since we are rapidly depleting the money in our reserves, it is time to address increasing our event fees. A motion was made to increase our entry fees by $5 across the boards. A second motion was made and passed to table this discussion until next month’s meeting after we have the opportunity to review P&L statements for the past two years worth of events, and a history of the past three prior seasons. Lou Ann has agreed to gather this information before next month.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.