SOLO II Committee Meeting Minutes 7/14/2009

Members in Attendance – Gretchen Everett, Bud Bohrer, Ron & Alyson Bauer, Joel Ferguson, Karen Babb, Jackie McInnes, Jerry Lamb, Val Korry, Charles Aggenbach,

Minutes Review – A motion was made to approve June minutes as written.

Drift Report – Russell was not in attendance. Joel pointed out that he was unaware of the Drift event, and would like to see someone consistently assigned to cover waivers first thing in the morning. Since there will be double the number of people entering the site, it is important to have double the number of people doing waivers.

NWR Board – Dick Willy was not in attendance, so no report was made.

Treasurer’s Report – Kristi submitted this report, with the acknowledgement that there are some very questionable issues that cannot be confirmed because there is no documentation to back anything up since not everything has been handed over to her from Lou Ann. It is going to be necessary to finish this transition and get all account information, and documentation handed over to her completely, so that we can start fresh. The new report is very impressive. People are looking forward to seeing a yearly overview of account balances, etc. but everyone realizes until Kristi receives all the information this will be impossible. This will be included in the future.

National Tour – Joel felt that everything went well, and heard little complaints during the event. He has a short laundry list of things that he would do differently in the future. Karen Babb said that there were several corner stations that did not write down cone numbers on the corner sheets. We must determine if this is an issue with the communication with the National staff, or with the penalty call-in person. It was also noted that there was not a clear way to get in and out of the building to grid, impound, etc. People were trying to enter the building through “front” doors where all of the spectators were sitting. Joel felt this should have been addressed in the driver’s meeting, along with some other “site” rules and safety issues. Commendations should go out to the course design, Jackie McInnes and her crew, along with Alyson Bauer our social coordinator. The Saturday night social went off great, the food was delicious and the beverages were refreshing. The only major issue seemed to be the miscommunication between Joel and Jackie with the course setup schedule. National office expected things set up earlier than they were, and unfortunately with both the Event Chair and course designer off site for a good portion of the afternoon, the national staff was very concerned. As always, there was also a problem with the end time of the Evo school and when National staff expected the course setup. If Joel volunteers to do this next year, then he will negotiate with national office to change the schedule. The “Evo” School needs to be completely done by 11:00 a.m. BEFORE the test n’ tune begins, and then the start time and amount of time necessary to setup course needs to be adjusted, specifically because the test n’ tune gets in the way of actually setting up the course. It was suggested that the volume of the PA be adjusted and lowered when communication is not necessary. This means music in the morning or evening, etc. The grid communication was incredible!

Evolution Schools – The school is currently in the process now, Wednesday and Thursday.

Drift Report – The July 5^th event had 25 drivers and went great overall. There were two drivers late in the day that went all four off. The new skid pad element was a success. The next event is on September 6^th and will be held on the BIG end of BMP. Russell will be out of the country on a mediteranean cruise, so Sean Medcroft will be the event chair. Ed and Mattia have completed the training requirements to become safety stewards, now it is only a matter of filling out the paperwork for their license.

Regional Pro Solo #2 – Although there were some difficulties with the course set-up and the scheduling in the morning, the event ran well. We had a 16 person open challenge, and a 32 person bonus challenge and were done by dinner time. Thank you John & Laura!

Event #5 – Event went well. The course was fun and for a Packwood event we had decent entries, probably due to the Pro Solo draw from Saturday. No problems. Thank you Enrique!

Event #6 – Other than a few issues with the creative course design, the event went really well. The turnaround was “legal” whether people enjoyed it or not. The bigger concern was the fact that the taxiway coming back towards the finish was way to fast. This is a bigger issue that should be addressed once again. It was not in compliance with our regulations. We must do a better job of adding these regulations to the Chief’s list so that any course designers are aware of the specific restrictions at BMP. It is even more important that the Safety Steward gets the opportunity to review the course BEFORE the actual day of the event so these things can be addressed prior to the morning of the event. This should be coordinated by the Chief of Course, but due to last minute timing of the past several events, this has not been happening.

Bud also discussed the fact that as starter, he is still seeing veteran members who are not wearing their wrist bands as they should be, and there is still some confusion regarding who should be wearing which bands.

Course Designer Course – Before next season, Jackie would like to coordinate a training/introduction class for course designing. She feels this will help empower people who are interested in learning more about how to design a course. They could learn how to go through the process, and also things they need to watch out for at each of our site locations. We would like to also pay special attention to the distance being used for a stop box. We MUST increase the overall space that we are leaving to get cars stopped. 0-60 stopping distance is at least 100’ more than 150’ would be ideal. If we need to move elements of the course further away from the finish, then we must do it to achieve a safer environment.

Pro Solo - The event is happening this weekend. Jerry and Gretchen have things under control. Plans are being finalized now for the Friday Night Banquet. We will be serving brauts and cheeseburgers, and hopefully fresh salmon. We will also be providing beer and wine. They are coordinating some last minute inventory purchases. Joe will be out at the site at 8:00 a.m. to start course setup. Everything is coming together nicely.

WWSCC Report – Keith was not in attendance, but Autopilot was held on June 28^th at Sanderson Field. Bud Bohrer was in attendance and said the event seemed to run well. The event was voted in with Championship status.

NORPAC Divisional Steward Report – Keith was not in attendance.

AED Training – The training has been completed and there is now a group of almost a dozen who have been trained to use the defibrilator and also got current CPR training. It will be stored inside the Solo bus.

OLD BUSINESS

Events Chairs for 2009 – The following people have already volunteered:

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) – Shane and Kimm Jensen

October 4^th (BMP) – Ron Bauer

Equipment Chair – We still need a person to volunteer for this position.

NEW BUSINESS

Noise Rule – The question has been raised as to if we need to adopt a noise rule for Packwood. Enrique volunteered to look up the information previously put together by the SEB that should be listed in the rulebook, and will present it at a future meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.