Minutes of the Regular Meeting

of the Reno Region of the SCCA

February 2, 2005

Attendees:       Dave DeBorde            Carol DeBorde            Doug Driver

                        Lee Mitchell                 John Evans                 Lucas Kunze

                        Matt Roy                      Dean Benz                  Scott Perry

                        John Riggs, Jr.            John Riggs, III              Deb Johnson

                        Kyp Johnson               Greg Benson               Matt Benson

                        Eric Gangloff               Desirea Adams           Kevin McDaniel

                        Nicholas Hansen         Tyson Kueper             Jim Uchytil

                        Leon Borden

Fearless Leader Dave DeBorde called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.  First-timers Nick Hansen, Kevin McDaniel, Desirea Adams and Leon Borden introduced themselves.  Then the old-timers followed with self-introductions.

OLD BUSINESS

Minutes of prior meeting

Dean Benz moved to approve the minutes from the January 5, 2005 meeting;  Scott Perry seconded;  the motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report 

Matt Benson delivered the Treasurer’s report and distributed copies of the January 31^st Cash Transactions report.  Jim Uchytil moved to approve the Treasurer’s report;  Greg Benson seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

NORPAC Convention 

Dave DeBorde reported that the NORPAC convention was a great success, in spite of having no Subarus parked out in front.  It offered great seminars, both technical and administrative.  Heavy snow kept the Incline sissies from attending.  Next year’s NORPAC convention will be sponsored by the San Francisco region – possibly at a different hotel.  Next years host committee hinted that they’d like us to sponsor a rally-cross in conjunction with next year’s convention.

Convention attendees who are Reno region members will receive a $25 refund on their registration fees, and it’s possible that NORPAC may rebate the convention fee for those who were snowbound in the mountains.

2005 Reno Region Event Schedule

Dave presented the proposed 2005 schedule and reiterated his strong desire that a safety steward be appointed for each event at the same time as event chairs are appointed.  Solo 2 safety steward training will be provided on April 1^st.  A trainee must serve as a deputy steward at two events before receiving a safety steward license.

Dave moved on to review the Solo 2 events on the schedule.  Jim Gandy will chair the school on April 2^nd-3^rd and is considering incentives (T-shirts etc.) for the instructors.  Dean Benz moved and John Evans seconded to approve the Solo 2 schedule.  The motion passed unanimously.

On to the Solo Trials schedule.  Solo Trials has been renamed Time Trials, and there are four different flavors of Time Trials – so we’re not exactly certain what types of events we have lined up for the Time Trials series.

Scott Perry questioned the wisdom of holding a one day Time Trial at Lovelock on October 9^th – the day after the October 8^th fall tour.  Dean Benz predicted that the fall tour might end up at Sturgeon’s in Lovelock.

Dave noted that Time Trials event number seven conflicts with the Time Trials finals at Heartland Park.  All agreed that this issue can be handled later depending on the club members’ interest in participating in the finals.  The members also agreed that the Time Trials dates will be treated as “tentative” so that the schedule can be massaged later, if necessary.

Dave decided to defer the assignment of event chairs until the next meeting.

The members then discussed the desirability of using myautoevents.com for registration this year.  The members were not generally thrilled about the site but decided to defer to Registration and Timing and Scoring for a recommendation.   A general discussion about discounts for pre-registration followed.  No conclusions were drawn.

NEW BUSINESS

Classifications

Dave reported on the Board’s discussion of the “superset” proposal for classification and thanked John Evans for all of the work he put into the proposal.  The Board recommended running it on a sample basis this season and evaluating the sample at the end of the year.

Eric Gangloff mentioned that PAX would not equalize the supersets because a fast PAX in a class would still be a fast PAX in a superset.  Dave added that you would then have a PAX winner for each superset as opposed to one PAX winner for the entire club.

The superset discussion morphed into a discussion about balancing run groups.  Dean Benz summarized his proposal which included new rules for treating novices.  After discussion on the proposal the members ultimately concurred that novices could run four events as a novice and then move those four results into a class – but any such move would be protestable so that the club would not have the burden of monitoring and classifying novices at each of their early events.  All agreed that a car will be classed RNP if Timing and Scoring cannot clearly read the numbers.  Eric Gangloff moved and Jim Uchytil seconded a motion to adopt Dean’s proposal with the clarification that the novice’s move of points into a class could be protested.  The motion passed unanimously.

SCCA National Convention

Dave and Carol DeBorde and Lee Mitchell reported briefly on the SCCA National convention. 

Time Trials

Dave deferred a detailed discussion of the new Time Trials regulations to the next meeting but offered the following general overview.

Level 1 – Speed controls and some safety equipment requirements apply.

Level 2 – Limited safety equipment requirements for cars in stock classes with stricter requirements for modified classes.

Level 3 – Allows higher speed trials, limited passing, roll bars required and roll cages recommended.

Level 4 – Such as hill-climbs with even more stringent safety requirements.

Some novice licensing is required.  We have the ability to put on these events with some additional safety equipment and training.  Regulations will be posted to the website when available.

The door is open for our club to host events at Reno-Fernley raceway.  We will discuss this in more details at future meetings.

Las Vegas Region Proposal

The Las Vegas region expressed interest in converting the North-South Challenge at Hawthorne to a Time Trials event because Hawthorne lends itself to higher speed events.  The Las Vegas representatives just became aware of the Time Trials program.  A long discussion ensued about the pros and cons of Solo 2 versus Time Trials and the opportunities for education and training in Time Trials.  The problems presented by a Time Trials event at Hawthorne are (1) a lack of qualified officials, (2) driver acceptance, (3) approval of the course, and (4) alienation of the Solo 2-only drivers.  Dave noted that Las Vegas region has some licensed officials who could help out with Time Trials at Hawthorne.

Some members expressed their belief that the Las Vegas region members may only want to drive the long distance to Hawthorne if they can compete in a higher speed event – thus eliminating some possible Solo 2 participation because the design of a Solo 2 course must keep speeds slower than Time Trials.  Other members felt that a proper Solo 2 course can be designed for Hawthorne, and Las Vegas region members will still show up in large numbers.  Many members felt that the attendance numbers and Hawthorne site constraints will limit the number of runs for a Solo 2 course, and Las Vegas may want to restrict attendance.

Dean Benz moved and John Riggs, Jr. seconded a motion to keep the North-South Challenge a Solo 2 event without restricting attendance.  The motion passed with Jim Uchytil and Greg Benson voting against (in favor of a Time Trials event).

Walk-On Items

Eyelids were droopy, so walk-on items were deferred to the next meeting.

The next general membership meeting is scheduled for March 2, 2005 at 6:30 PM at Austin’s Restaurant in Reno. 

With no further business before the members, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Doug Driver, Secretary.