SOLO II Committee Meeting Minutes 12/11/07

Members in Attendance – Gretchen Everett, Dick Willy, Mike and Carol Leuty, TJ McGeary, Bud Bohrer, Val Korry, Charles Aggenbach, Amy and Karl Coleman, Glenn Austin, Mark DeRegt, David DeRegt, Kevin Dietz, Drew Hanft, Kim Littke, Aaron Pailthorp, Keith Brown, Jerry Lamb, Tim Irwin, Jodi and Greg Fordahl, Brian Chambers, Ron Bauer, Fast Mike, Russell O’Connell, Tim Monk, Mark McCooey, Kyle Freiheit, Shelbi Zigler-Engle, Kurt Engle, Jackie McInnes, Chris Kmetz, Rick Vomenici, Lou Ann Christensen, Enrique Garcia, Dieter Beldi, Alan Dahl. Visitors: Joe Sim, Kenneth Pitts, Richard Kim, Mark Snell, Denny LaPlante, Scott Dawson.

Minutes Review – Minutes were approved as written with one addition, Joel Ferguson was in attendance.

Board Report – Virtually nothing happened so we will move on.

Treasurer’s Report – Information was presented and discussed. All outstanding expenses for 2007 must be presented to Lou Ann as soon as possible. The books will be closed in two weeks. If you have anything, please email her immediately.

WWSCC Report – Coneheads banquet January 19^th at FX McRory’s. They are looking for any new officer nominations. TJ has volunteered to be Vice President, Karl Coleman will stay on as President (but will definitely step down if there is another volunteer) Kelly Picasso will stay on as treasurer and Keith Brown will stay on as secretary. There are six rules for review.

Rules proposals for our consideration:

1. Change the wording at the beginning of Section 8 and 2.5.16 from this:

“Individual clubs in all cases may determine which cars they do not consider safe for the event.”

to:

“The Site Representative, Event Chair, or Chief of Tech may determine which vehicles they do not consider safe for the event and/or venue. The vehicle must be accepted by unanimous approval of those 3.

Rationale: “Individual clubs” is vague. The proposed rule assigns responsibility specifically.

Passed.

2. Update the Timing/Registration Form (Figure 2.5.12.21.2)

1. Remove “Results by web/email/US Mail?”
2. Change the vertical and horizontal headings to show an accurate example of what is currently being used.

Passed.

3. Add a new rule.

8.8 Vehicle Exclusions

The Site Representative, Event Chair, or Chief of Tech may determine which vehicles they do not consider safe for the event and/or venue. The vehicle must be accepted by unanimous approval of these three. Vehicles having high centers of gravity and/or relatively narrow track may be excluded from competition. Such vehicles may include sport utility vehicles, trucks, off-road vehicles, vans, or any vehicle deemed incapable of safely executing typical autocross maneuvers at speed.

Rationale: WWSCC currently has no wording excluding these types of vehicles.

Passed.

4. Add a new rule.

2.5.19.13 Posting of Run Results

Unaudited 1^st run results must be posted prior to start of 3^rd runs, 2^nd run results before the 4^th runs, etc. The posting location must be announced at the Driver’s Meeting. Use of a posting board is strongly recommended. A person walking around grid with the results and/or putting the results in a cone is not considered “posting the results.”

Rationale: Currently, run results are not easy to find, nor are they in a consistent location. Competitors often do not know who all of their competitors are until the results have been posted on the web (too late for questions or protests). Posting the results in a location consistent throughout the event will enable the competitors to view them as needed without unnecessary searching.

Did not pass. Would vote yes if amended to read “should” instead of “must.”

5. 5.1 The sponsoring club of a Championship Auto Slalom will be assessed a trophy fee of $2.00 per entry in all classes excluding Novice, Club, and Time Only – where the fee will be 50% less – to support the annual awards budget.

This rule was initially only all classes and novice class, that Club and Time Only were not included. This rule has already been discussed and voted on by the clubs earlier this year and this is only the official change proposal.

Passed.

6. Current wording:

2.5.19.9 – Instructional Assistance

If a competitor is unable to find the correct route through the course after one or more attempts, he/she may be accompanied by an instructor on a subsequent run. The instructor must have completed all his/her timed runs prior to riding with the “lost” competitor, unless the instructor is competing in the Open Pro or Women’s Pro classes as described in Section 2.5.12.7. If the competitor is a Novice, no penalty will be incurred for taking an instructor on a run. This allowance is subject to amendment at any time according to the requirements of the WWSCC Insurance Provider.

Proposed wording:

2.5.19.9 – Instructional Assistance

If a competitor is unable to find the correct route through the course after on or more attempts, he/she may be accompanied by an instructor, approved by the Event Chair, on a subsequent run. The instructor must have completed all his/her timed runs prior to riding with the “lost” competitor, unless the instructor is competing in the Open Pro or Women’s Pro classes as described in Section 2.5.12.7. If the competitor is a Novice, no penalty will be incurred for taking an instructor on a run. This allowance is subject to amendment at any time according to the requirements of the WWSCC Insurance Provider.

Add the italicized 5 words.

Passed

Tentative schedule – We have a tentative schedule put together. Currently our first region event overlaps the El Toro Pro. Dick is currently trying to swap dates with another club (first weekend in April). Moving another event to Packwood is also an option, but that would make a total of five championship events in Packwood, and three championship events in BMP. It seemed that overall the group felt it would be better to try and keep four events at BMP. It is possible that most of this will not be settled until well into January.

Meeting site – Bill’s BBQ will no longer be available. Our SCCA meeting will now be held at Goldie’s in Seattle. Dick would also like to recommend that we start rotating meeting locations holding one in the North end and one in the South end.

Voting on supplemental rules – There is nothing that says we cannot hold absentee voting. Dick reminded the group that it would be nice if this issue was addressed sometime sooner than the time between the November and December rules meeting. If you have a plan that can make this happen, then present it now and get it going. Make it an implementable process before it’s too late.

January Elections – The bylaws require that we elect our director each January. Dick Willy has volunteered to run again. Jackie McInnes has volunteered to be his assistant.

Loaning out Club Equipment – A motion was presented to allow Shelbi and Kurt to borrow the PA system for their wedding reception. Kevin will be DJ’ing the event and will be responsible for making sure that all pieces return in the same shape they were in when they were loaned out. This motion was approved.

Specialty Chiefs – Dick is currently recruiting volunteers for a lot of positions. He will be contacting our current Specialty Chiefs to see if they are interested in doing it again in 2008.

NORPAC Divisional Conference – A motion was made to cover the cost for Keith Brown to attend this conference. This will include his airfare, registration fee and hotel. The motion was approved. A second motion was made to also cover the cost of Dick Willy to attend the National convention. This will include his airfare, registration fee and hotel. This motion was also approved.

Weekend Membership Program – This new program has been approved by the SCCA Board of Directors and will be implemented in 2008. This new program would have cost our region $1,000 last year. If we pass the extra $5 on to the non-member, it will require a huge amount of additional work for the administration at each event. For each event Jodi will be clearing the database and people’s address, membership number, etc. will have to be entered each time. This information will then have to be double checked by the people at registration. This subject will be addressed in further detail at the January meeting, so please start thinking about what we are going to do about it. There will be a vote as to whether we pass the additional $5 on to the member, or cover the $5 from our profits.

2008 Supplementals - Proposals

All suggested rule changes were presented at last month’s meeting. The vote was held this evening. Dick reminded the group that we should vote with the “best interest” of our sport. If we do this, our sport will continue on and be fine.

2008 Supplemental – Proposals

1. Add the following paragraph to Section 21. SCORING of the NWR Solo Supplemental Rules:

Competition Runs: The first three runs at any given event are considered to be the “competition runs”, and only these three runs will be scored for the event and for the year-end awards. Other runs allotted for the day, at the discretion of the event chair are NOT scored although the times will be made available to the competitor.

The rationale:

Three runs are the norm at Solo events including Divisional, National Tour and the Solo National Championships. It is appropriate to adopt this standard for the NWR regional Solo series.

When more than three runs are allotted, auditing of the times can begin while the later runs are performed. The number of runs possible depends on many things including the number of entries, hours of daylight, course length/run time, weather, etc. and is at the discretion of the event chair. These non-competition runs are practice runs and can allow opportunity to take passengers, try a different car setup, different driver, etc.

Per Section 7.3 of the National Solo Rules, “Each driver shall be allowed at least three official timed runs per course. Only the fastest official run per course will be scored.”

Dick asked that one person from the opposing side and one person from the supportive side speak to the argument of this proposal.

Against the motion:

1. If the fourth run becomes a “fun run” the environment will become unsafe as more people will drive recklessly.
2. Why would we not score all four runs? To prepare for Nationals? This is a Regional system, not a National system.
3. We all get better when we’re given more runs. The less experienced driver will almost always get faster on their fourth run, so this allows them the opportunity to get closer to a higher level driver who may not see quite as large of an increase.
4. More runs equals more competition not less.
5. “It should be three runs because that’s what autocross is.” This idea is bogus because autocrossing used to only be two runs.
6. Using the fourth run to take people for rides. Karl felt that our region is so competitive that people will not take passengers because they might give up the opportunity to “pop off” fast time of day or a super fast run.
7. The suggestion was made to make a vote as to how many runs we have at each driver’s meeting rather than collectively tonight at this meeting. Karl reminded us that we would probably NEVER have an event that only had three scored runs because the “people” (our future core workers) want all of their runs scored.

For the motion:

1. Allowing someone to ride with you during any unscored extra runs would be highly beneficial to a lot of people. Ron feels that the fast guys “would” allow someone to ride with them because the competition is over.
2. This allows people the opportunity to test a new setup or something different on their cars. Since our region is so competitive people may not take the chance of trying something new during scored runs because they don’t want to lose. This is a beautiful opportunity to try something new.
3. Theoretically you could drive someone else’s car during the extra runs. This helps someone become a better driver because the more experience they get the better they become. This way you don’t have to stick around for fun runs because they would be available while you’re there and you won’t have to wait to see if we might get them at the end of day.
4. By passing this motion you will gain the consistency of always knowing that there will be three scored runs. Sometimes we don’t even find out if we will get additional runs until just prior to the last run.
5. The argument of this becoming “not safe” is ridiculous because this same situation happens when people double enter an event. There is no difference - that person gets three additional runs that are not counted in competition.
6. The cost of this sport is not cheap. By limiting this to three scored runs someone running R compound tires would have the chance to step out and not continue using their tires if they choose to.
7. There are three or four separate series available in this area. BSCC offers lots of runs all of the time with liberal rules, WW usually offers four runs with classing a little bit different. Ron feels that SCCA represents the “structured” place to come and compete and that we should follow the standard set on the National level. Each of these different environments offers different personality types different opportunities.
8. Bud submitted this proposal because he feels it is extremely important to offer a consistent number of runs so that each driver can be prepared.
9. SCCA is a “training ground” for competition on a higher, National level.

This motion did NOT pass.

2. Ladies Index Class

Section 15.

Combine most Ladies Classes into two indexed Ladies classes, Ladies Index Stock (SL), and Ladies Index Non-Stock (NSL). This does not eliminate the existing PAX Ladies classes which would remain as the upper level or “Pro” class. It does not include Street Tire Ladies.

Support

There were a total of 22 ladies that entered one of the classes that would be affected. Of these only 5 attended enough events to quality for a season trophy, 3 in Stock and 2 in Non-Stock. This does not included Street Tire or PAX classes. After posting this on the forum there was some discussion as to why the street tire class was excluded. Keith did not have a good response to this question, so he has another alternative tonight, which adds the Street Tire class with an adjustment of .98 (what the Milwaukee region is using and has had good success.) The original proposal (Alternative A) does not include the Street Tire class. The new proposal (Alternative B) includes Street Tire class with the above adjustment.

We voted on the amendment first; whether we use Alternative A or Alternative B.

Alternative A was voted on as major rule.

This motion did not pass.

Drifting Event Supplemental rules – Russell O’Conner who is currently spearheading the NWR Pilot Drift program reminded the group that this is a set of guiding rules that will help form this new program and that things will probably shift around as the program develops. There is an official set of rules, provided by National Office, which will never be taken away, these are supplemental rules that be added to that base set. These supplemental rules were approved. We would like to welcome this new program to the NWR “officially”.

Meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

GOO