SOLO II Committee Meeting Minutes 6/8/10

Members In Attendance—Jackie Kmetz, Tasha Mikko, Dick Willy, Mark McCooey, Russell O’Connell, Glenn Austin, Gretchen Everett, Ron Bauer, Mike Leuty, Keith Brown, Jerry Lamb,  Aaron Pailthorp, Trenell Stevens, Mike Miller, Rick Vomenici, Kevin Dietz, Bud Bohrer, Karl & Amy Coleman, Peo Orvendal, and Val Korry.

Minutes Review— Moved to approve and seconded.

NWR Board Report (Jackie) - Lou Ann’s father passed away over Memorial Day weekend, which is something her family  has struggled with for many months now.  She is hopeful that she will now be able to get caught up on her treasurer duties.  On the Race side, they held a successful Double National event.  On a side note, there was whispered discussion that overall Race has not had a good year, and it may be necessary to dip into the “general race fund”.  Most of us know what this means.  We need to appoint a BMP contact person for Solo NWR.  Sherri has taken care of this for many years, and now it is our turn to step up and help cover this responsibility.  It is essentially only one meeting a year in November, and it would be great that a Solo person can fight for Solo.  The current membership number is 931.  This is down on average compared to past years.

WWSCC Report (Keith) - 77 people attended the last event.  This included double entries.  Keith felt the course was hands down, the best course ever run at Shelton.  Wet conditions for the first run group, and completely dry for the afternoon runs.  Voted on and moved as a championship event.  They are still looking for a Vice President. 

NORPAC Report (Keith) -  SFR is going to be doing their Divisional event the last weekend in July at Golden Gate Fields. No conference call since last meeting, so no additional information to report.

Drift Report (Russell) -  Next event will be held on July 3^rd.  Online registration will be opening within the next week or two. The only outstanding deal for this month was the question as to whether we pay for any additional student lunches.  The day of the event Russell paid for 52 lunches total.  This was above and beyond what they agreed to do, so no additional support will be necessary.

Treasurer Report –  Jackie reviewed the summary report presented by Kristi. 

OLD BUSINESS

Equipment Update:

New Timing Display - No further information to present.

BSCC Display Case - Jerry Lamb has sent another email to Jodi and Rick sharing the dimensions of what he is going to purchase.  Jodi will measure their display this weekend and confirm with Jerry on Monday so that he can make the purchase.

Stop Watches for Grid - Karl will make this purchase before the next event.  Rather than getting stop watches, he is going to look at clocks/watches instead.

Registration Canopy - Fordahl Motorsports is becoming a dealer for Caravan canopies.  Once this paperwork is completed, Greg would be willing sell us one at cost.  As part of his sponsorship, he will be placing his logo on the awning.  This will save us a good deal of money.  Jackie did follow up with BMP and they will NOT be allowing us to move the original awning back to where it was.

Timing & Scoring Software -  Jackie hasn’t had a chance to discuss the situation with Jodi yet.  Right now, as it stands  Jodi says that she does not have a copy of the software, and hasn’t seen any emails from Ron either.  Apparently, it seems that people have not been sending things to her correct address.  Now that she understands the emails are sitting out there she will begin the research process to test and review the program.  She will then get things converted over as soon as she has time.  A motion was made that this transition be placed on hold until Jodi feels comfortable, and has had ample time to deal with it.

Sponsor Discussions Update -  It was brought up at the last meeting that there was an over site and Fordahl Motorsports was not included on the regional trophies.  Unfortunately, Jackie feels that there has been a poor transfer of information for a lot of processes.  She wants to apologize public ally about this and move on.  She and Gavin met with Greg Fordahl to discuss the details, and they are both going to be looking into putting more of a structure in place for the future.   This includes finding additional sponsors, and creating  individual areas in the future for different sponsors.

BMP - Kevin is still working with Mike to try and coordinate the site repairs situation.  They are trying to schedule a meeting when everyone is already on-site. Kevin reminded the group that even though we may only be on-site for a few short additional years, it is still important for us to focus on bettering the site, and making these upgrades would do that.  Jodi pointed out that it is still possible to use the access road with a straight away before continuing on to make the turn on the crossover road.   The specific rule should be re-read to ensure clarity.

NEW BUSINESS

Event #3 Recap -  Mike  felt that the event ran well.  He apologized for missing the audits and thanked Jodi for covering for them.   We did implement the new rerun rule by dedicating a specific rerun lane.  There were a few minor issues, but it seems to be working out okay.  There also seemed to be a few issues with waiver coverage.   Apparently, at the end of the day, there was no workers covering the gate.  Although the SCCA event was finished running, the BSCC event was not done.  This has brought to light (again) the clear problem with not using two separate waivers on-site during this situation.  It is important that when we have two events running consecutively, that each person entering the site sign waivers for both clubs operating events.  It was suggested that we make an effort to inform BSCC people when we are no longer covering the gate.  Peo suggested that the Chief of Waivers take care of this, since they are always the person who shuts up the shack.  

It was also pointed out that there was an issue with Jodi’s rerun.  It is important that both halves of our Grid Chiefs understand the new procedures, and implement them.  Grid workers should have a radio,  and communicate clearly with the entrant who is getting the rerun.  This means telling them which lane to enter into, as quickly as possible so that cars who may not have mirrors and cannot back out of their original grid spot can go to the proper place.  It was also noted, that waiver people have not been checking SCCA membership cards at the gate, and because of this there has been some confusion with who needs which wrist band, and who needs weekend memberships, etc.   Since we do not trust that people have a valid driver’s license, why are we trusting that people have an active SCCA membership?  Perhaps we should begin asking at the gate. 

Sound Regulations  –  Jerry presented his draft version of our NWR sound regulations.  This is based on San Diego’s current structure, using SCCA’s national rules as a touch point.  It was brought to attention that these rules are more stringent than the National Office‘s.  At a National level, you will be allowed two-free runs, and your first DSQ doesn’t happen until the third run.  Right now, the NWR regulations DSQ the run, the first time the car blows beyond 100 dBA.  It was brought up that  we appreciate our Packwood site and limiting sound will be important to ensure that we can maintain this relationship moving forward.  The number one goal of this structure is to maintain our current site locations.  There was some concern that 100 dBA was not a low enough restriction, but Jerry really wants to take this incrementally.  IF we discover that 100 is too high, then we can always drop the level in the future.  These regulations were voted on and approved.  They will be implemented starting with the fifth event.  Jerry suggested that the Noise Committee consist of the Event Chair, the Solo Chair, and the Sound Enforcer. 

Chief of Course Needed -  We are in need of a Chief of Course.  Right now, Jackie has gotten volunteers for every event except Event #8.  If anyone is willing to either cover this position, or design a course, please contact Jackie. 

Course Map Library on the NWR website -  There is now a collection of historical course maps posted on the NWR site. 

Novice School June 19th -  There are presently 8 students registered for this upcoming event.  Obviously, this is a very low entry level.  It is important that we begin advertising this event on the list, to our friends, and our family members.  We need to help get the word out.  It was suggested that if we do not have enough students, then we change the format and hold a semi-school/practice before we just abandoned the event and or the site for that date.  There was a concern raised regarding the Novice situation.  Tasha has noticed a significant drop in the number of new faces she is seeing on a regular basis.  We are a grassroots organization and without new blood being brought into the club, we are going to “burn out” our core group of workers.  She cares about this sport, and this community, and wants to see what can be done to improve the situation and reduce the bickering that seems to be ever increasing at our monthly meetings. Because of this, she feels It is important to keep brainstorming on how we can recruit new members and actively support this club.  She has suggested that we dedicate a specific amount of time to this subject at future meetings. 

AED software update, cold weather, retraining -  Jackie did not have a chance to follow-up with Kimm and Shane on this.  They did hand over a packet of information to Gretchen, but she hasn’t had a chance to look through it yet. 

NT and Pro Updates -   The course design has been submitted.  A decision has been made that we will be running a Street Tire class for the NT.  A suggestion was brought up that we may be able to get a small group of Lemons cars to come do a lunch time demonstration. The group was a bit hesitant  to agree to this, due to the amount of other things that are going on. Another idea Joel was considering was to run an actual Lemons class, that would happen during competition time.  There was no resistance to him pitching this idea to the National office.  Glenn Austin has volunteered to be the Operating Steward.  Everything is coming along just fine for the Pro Solo as well.  We are track with our deadlines, and have all Chief positions filled.  Tasha Mikko has volunteered to be take care of the social on Friday night, so we intend to have a great kick-off function to start our weekend.

New Autocross Sites Discussion -  Karl has discovered a potential new site down in the Port of Tacoma.  Karen Babb has volunteered to go down and check it out.  Obviously, someone will need to continue this research, but Karl wanted to make sure it was brought to the attention of the group.  Karl has been discussing the site in Packwood with one of the Mill employees.  The current plan is to break the entire site up in pieces, use part for residential, part for light industrial, and then maybe leave the 30 acre parcel that we are  currently using for motor sports events. 

FREE Entries Clarification -  Traditionally the Event Chair, gets one free entry to an event.  It was also noted that there is some confusion regarding what is the benefit for being a bus driver and whether driving the bus to Packwood constitutes one or two free entries.  A motion was made that there is one free entry given for getting the bus to the event.  Ron reminded the group that as the bus driver, it is also considered your work assignment.   A vote was taken and a motion was passed to keep this at one free event.  It was also voted that the Event Chair position will also receive one free entry, whether there are two volunteers for the position or not.  

Worker Assignment Clarification - It is important that we clarify which Specialty Chiefs are required to cover a worker position during ALL events.  This includes specialty chiefs, equipment chiefs, treasurer, secretary, Solo Chair, etc.  It was determined that if the person has an active position that is covered during the event, then they would not be required to work another event.  All other administrative positions such as secretary, treasurer, Solo chair will still be required to work a position. 

Event #2 - Kevin wanted to reopen the discussion regarding Event #2.  He felt it was unfair that the results for PAX were not removed from the results.  Kevin proposed that we throw-out the results for Glen Hernandez only for Event #2.  The vote was taken and was not approved.  A second motion was made that at the end of the season, if the class season results for any of the trophy positions in PAX are closer than .552 then the results for the PAX class for Event #2 are thrown out.  A suggestion was made that we table this discussion due to the seriousness, and the lack of understanding exactly what happens when a protest has been made after the event is completed. 

Meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.