CORRECTED AND APPROVED

 

Minutes of the RDC Board of Directors meeting held April 20, 2011 in Lafayette, California.  President Fred Peterson called the meeting to order at 7:06 PM.

Members attending: Fred Peterson, President, Enduro Chair, Trophy Chair , Scholarship Chair, SanF Board Liaison; Dave Jalen, Secretary; Anthony Tabacco, Web Master.

1)      Approval of previous meetings minutes:  Fred moved the minutes be approved as corrected.  Tony seconded the motion.  The motion to approve the corrected minutes was passed unanimously.

2)      Membership Report: The updated statistics are that the RDC currently has 80 members, 5 life members and 2 associate members.  The RDC gained 10 new members from Thunderhill in April.

3)      Treasurers Report: Fred reporting: The RDC is solvent at this time as income exceeds expenses.

4)      Website: Tony: The RDC website is the top hit from Google.  Tony stated he has been working on tweaking the site to make it better.

5)      Illgen Enduro:

1. Fred announced that the RDC will have a limit on the entryies for the 2011 Enduro.  That limit will be 75 cars/teams.
2. Brian from MotorSportsReg has the needed information and is planning to update the registration forms online so that registration for the Enduro will be done online.
3. Some of the trophies from previous Enduros need minor correction.  One new trophy is also needed.  Fred is working to resolve these minor trophy issues.

6)      Mentoring Program: Michael Lyden, an ITX driver from Chico, has requested a mentor.  Fred will connect him with a qualified driver to provide Michael with a mentor.

7) SCCA Liaison Report: SFR Board meeting was held on 4/2/11 at the Provista office.  Sherry Grantz, Dave Allen, Michael Nieman, Brion Ghidinelli, Michael Smith, Tam Luu, and Fred Peterson attended.  Dave Allen was not able to attend the entire meeting.

1. a. Reg. Adm report - Driver's School registration went well.  There were a few problems that MotorSportsReg (MSR) is working to eliminate.  An "E-Script" program was reviewed and determined to not be a good fit for SFR.
2. b. About 15 new volunteers have been actively brought into crews by the Volunteer Coordinator’s activities.
3. c. Thunderhill - The windmills are working but #3 needs a part replaced.  The electricity production from the windmills should net out with Thunderhill’s demands.
4. d. There is a new "Food Services" provider at Thunderhill and as with many changes there are some "teething" issues.  The goal is for the food services provider to be "profitable".  There is a new "medical" building and a new Thunderhill Worker break room.
5. e. 2011 Wheel - results are good so far and still improving.  Work is being done to improve the income generated from the ads.
6. f. On Line Registration is going well.  MSR is very responsive.  The car count and entry list is on-line at MSR and will be transferred to the  SFR website automatically at the close of registration.
7. g. A 2 Day Double Regional schedule is very difficult and not everyone will be happy.
8. h. 2011 Banquet will need to change venues since the San Ramon Marriott will be remodeling during that period.  Several other venues are being reviewed.
9. i. The car count at SFR’s Double National was acceptable because there were several F1000 entries.
10. j. 2011 trophy selection plan was presented by Michael Nieman.  It includes several new trophies and met the budget guidelines.

8)      Newsletter: No report

9)      Will Pool Memorial Scholarship: Fred is working on the new application form and updated his progress to date.

10)  Old Business

1. 2012 Membership Dues: Tabled
2. Donations for SFR’s Socials:
   1. i.       The RDC provided a $400 donation for the post race Social held Saturday night at the season opener at Thunderhill.
   2. ii.      The possibility of the RDC making a donation for the July Double Regional to be held at Thunderhill was discussed.  The Saturday night Social could be expanded to include a dinner for the workers, drivers and guests.
3. Checker flags: No report

11)  New Business:  None

 

The next meeting will be held on May 18^th, Wednesday, in Lafayette at 7 PM.

President Fred Peterson adjourned the meeting at 8:36 PM.

Dave Jalen, Secretary, respectfully submits these minutes.

Minutes of the RDC Board of Directors meeting held February 17th, 2011 in Lafayette, California.  President Fred Peterson called the meeting to order at 7:14 PM.

Members attending: Fred Peterson, President, Enduro Chair, Trophy Chair , Scholarship Chair, SanF Board Liason; Rod Simmons, Vice-President, News letter Chair, Drivers Points Keeper; Dave Jalen, Secretary;  Lois Liedjecker-Ott, member and George Ott, member.

1)      Approval of previous meetings minutes:  Fred moved the minutes be approved as corrected.  Rod seconded the motion.  The motion to approve the corrected minutes was passed unanimously.

2)      Membership Report: The updated statistics are that the RDC currently has 49 members, 5 life members and 2 associate members.

3)      Treasurers Report: Fred reporting: The RDC is solvent at this time as income exceeds expenses.  Lois delivered the checkbooks, ledgers and computer disks to Fred.  A discussion occurred regarding file type and techniques.  Currently, the officers able to sign RDC’s checks include Fred, Rod and Dave J.

4)      Website: Tony: Nothing to report

5)      Illgen Enduro: Fred: George will be giving his notes, handbook and other information to Fred on conducting the Enduro.  This year will mark the 52^nd year of the RDC enduro.

6)      Mentoring Program: Fred: Fred has spoken with Tony Tabacco and Lisa Diamond.  Lisa will match last years SFR Driver’s School Graduates with the incoming driver’s school candidates.  After graduation, she will match the recent grads with mentors.

7)      SCCA Liaison Report: The meeting started at about 8:45am and was held in the Blackhawk Museum Board Room (which is a very nice setting).

a)      Editing and publishing of the Wheel has changed hands and you will probably have seen this change by the time you read this.  All of those involved with contributing to the Wheel are pleased with the improvements.  Much if not all of the editing and contributions are done online using a program/site that makes it easy for all parties involved to review and comment on submissions. The Wheel will be more compact, less costly, and still look very good.

b)      Driver’s School has a Sanction number and as of this meeting date, 14 students had signed up.  Apparently this is about normal.

c)      2 new PCs have been purchased and placed in the Regional Office to replace the current “antiques”.  Michael Smith spent several hours installing the necessary software and setting up the operating systems.

d)      The Region Volunteering Coordinator, Lisa Diamond, has experience with event planning and has put together a Meet & Greet on 2/5 in Concord for prospective volunteers to meet with the various Chief’s of Specialties to get acquainted prior to Training Day on 2/19.

e)      Recruiting at the San Jose Auto Show was organized by Lisa and the AutoX group and it all went very well.

f)        Flag Stations at Thunderhill are being upgraded.  There was input from F&C and the Thunderhill staff is responding to those recommendations.

g)      Evaluation is underway on assessing the needs/improvements/changes that would need to be made to the current Thunderhill course to allow clockwise (backwards) use.  One of the primary issues is the current turn 1 which does not allow safe run-out at the exit when run in the clockwise direction.  There are no current plans for using this configuration but it was recognized as something that needed preparation should the need/desire to use this configuration arise.

h)      Draft Supps for 2011 were reviewed.  The plan is to not change the entry fees for 2011 from those of 2010 and only other minor changes in the Supps are anticipated.

i)        I am constantly impressed with the level of detail used in the financial planning of the region and concern shown by the SFR Board for the best interests of the road racing competitors and volunteers.  The 2010 expenses will apparently be within 3% of expectation which is impressively close.  Expenses should come in about 3% in excess of income and both expenses and income are very close to projection.  The changes for 2011 (all double race weekends for the regional events) are expected to bring the region back into financial balance although it causes additional burden on the volunteers.  This change was not incorporated until the volunteers were polled to determine that the change was acceptable.

j)        Several changes have been made to the “Pro” schedule and all of these were accepted after consulting with the volunteers.

i)        The Ferrari Challenge was expanded to 3 days from 2

ii)       Wine Country – no change

iii)     Grand Am was shortened to 2 days – Grand Am does not run on Sunday in conflict with Sprint Cup races and no fill has been found.

iv)     Pre-Reunion and Reunion – no change – they are back to back weekends

v)      Porsche/Rennsport 10/14-16 added to Laguna Seca. It is the weekend prior to the Enduro at Thunderhill and only two weeks after the last Double Regional at Laguna Seca.

8)      Will Pool RDC Memorial Scholarship: Fred:  The updating of the scholarship forms on the RDC website was discussed.

9)      Old Business

a)      2012 Membership Dues: Tabled

b)      RDC’s bank account signature cards: See Treasurer’s report above.

c)      RDC logo imprinted beer cups: It was decided to not get the beer cups with the RDC logo due to the cost.

d)      Newsletter: Rod: Rod would like to use MS Office Publisher for the RDC Newsletter.  He currently does not have a copy of Publisher.  The next issue will be sent out the first of next week.  Fred and Dave J will proof read the document first.

10) New Business:

a)      Donations to SFR Social and WAF from 2011: Fred:

a.       It was decided to donate $50 per event in 2011 (including the Double National and Driver’s School).  This will increase the RDC’s number of donations from 6 in 2010 to 9 in 2011.

b.      The RDC will also help partially sponsor the Socials at the three double regionals at Thunderhill, at a rate of $400 per event for a total of $1200.

b)   A new site for the RDC Board meetings was discussed.  Two board members live on the west side of the Caldecott Tunnel and two live on the east side.  The discussion involved a rotation to other side of the tunnel every other month.

The next meeting’s date and location will be determined by e-mail. A new location and date were not decided upon by the end of the current meeting.

President Fred Peterson adjourned the meeting at 9:05 PM.

Dave Jalen, Secretary, respectfully submits these minutes.

CORRECTED AND APPROVED November 2010

Minutes of the RDC Board of Directors meeting held November 17, 2010 in Lafayette, California.  President Fred Peterson called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM.

Members attending: Fred Peterson, President, Points Keeper; Dave Jalen, Secretary; Lois Leijdecker-Ott, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Membership Chair; George Ott, Enduro Chair; Anthony Tabacco, Web Master; and Rod Simmons, RDC Director at Large.

1. Approval of previous meetings minutes:  Fred moved the minutes be approved as corrected.  Rod seconded the motion.  The motion to approve the corrected minutes was passed unanimously.
2. Membership Report: Lois: The RDC has had no change in its membership since last month.  The membership number is currently 186 members.  Gary Hascall who competes in the SSB class of SFR SCCA, was the first member to send in his 2011 membership dues.
3. Treasurer’s Report: Lois: The RDC is solvent at this time.  The RDC’s bank balance is greater than it was on January 1st, 2010 to start this current year. The SFR SCCA has paid the RDC its portion of the Enduro Entry fee.  Lois will continue to be the RDC’s Treasurer until an honest, arithmetic capable individual can be found.
4. SCCA Liaison Report: Fred reported on the SCCA BoD meeting:
   1. The SFR will conduct seven (7) regional race weekends in 2011.  There will be 13 regional races and the Enduro.  The SM (Grp 7) and SRF classes will have the special, Festival races also.  Of the seven race weekends, one will be held at Infineon Raceway, three will be held at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca and three at Thunderhill Raceway.
   2. The windmills at Thunderhill are operational, but are not yet connected to P G & E’s power grid.  This should occur by the end of the year.

1. Driver Development: No report

1. Old Business
   1. 2010 Enduro: George

i.      George presented his critique of the 2010 Enduro.  The budget and actual expense report was also presented.  A handout (Exhibit A) was distributed to clarify George’s points of his critique.  On the reverse or flip side of the critique was the budget and expense information.    The expense information was incomplete at this time due to a few expense items yet to be paid.  The RDC did gain 49 new members as a result of the Enduro.  It is expected that the 2010 Enduro will result in a modest profit for the RDC.

1. 1. Safety and Fun: Fred has contacted H’s Lordships and will make a reservation for the annual meeting and awards presentation in the next couple of weeks.  He will set the cost for the dinner after he has a quote from H’s Lordships for the dinner costs.

1. 1. Web Site:  Tony reporting.

i.      By next month, he expects to have tabs operating that will open

the President’s message and meeting minutes on the
RDC site.

Dave J recommended a change in the agenda for future RDC meeting by moving the web site report to the item #6 spot instead of its current position under old business.

d.      Mentoring Program:

i.      A handout (Exhibit B) was distributed showing the revised membership application.  Fred devised a new format he believes will improve the application process and enable the mentor and new students to be matched up more effectively.  This information will then be shared with Lisa Diamond, the SFR Volunteer Coordinator.

ii.      A handout (Exhibit C) was presented.  This will be the flyer to be placed into the SFR packet for SFR’s Driver’s School.  This packet is mailed to the prospective students prior to the start of the school.  Modifications were suggested to the form and content of the flyer.

7. New Business

a.  The RDC Board positions for 2011 were discussed.  Fred as the chair of the nominating committee, presented a handout (Exhibit D), outlining the positions and the duties that each entails.  The following positions were listed with a unopposed candidate mentioned for most positions:

President and Illgen Enduro Chair: Fred

Vice-President: TBD

Secretary: Dave J

Newsletter Editor and Driver Points Keeper: Rod

Treasurer: Lois

Webmaster, Membership Chair & Mentor Program Chair: Tony

Trophy Chair: TBD

SFR Board Liaison & Scholarship Chair: Dave A

b.      The RDC 2010 Special Awards were discussed.  There are four recipients for the following acknowledged accomplishments:  Most Improved Driver, Worker Performance, Good Guy and President’s Award.

c.       The RDC Driver School Scholarships were discussed.  The RDC has received some applications.

d.      RDC Awareness.  A discussion occurred concerning ways to make the RDC more visible at the tracks.  Fred stated he would put a RDC banner on his trailer/mobile home at the race tracks.  The thought was expressed that the RDC should get more banners.  Another idea concerned plastic cups with the RDC logo to be used at the post race socials.  Dave J will explore this idea.  Another thought was to be sure RDC is mentioned in the SFR race entry acceptance letter as hosting or contributing to the social.

e.       The December RDC Board meeting will be conducted by e-mail.  This item was presented by Fred and unanimously agreed upon.

The next meeting will be the 3^rd Wednesday of January (19th) at 7 PM in Lafayette.  President Fred Peterson adjourned the meeting at 9:04 PM.

Dave Jalen, Secretary, respectfully submits these minutes.

CORRECTED and APPROVED October 2010

Minutes of the RDC Board of Directors meeting held October 20, 2010 in Lafayette, California.  President Fred Peterson called the meeting to order at 7:14 PM.

Members attending: Fred Peterson, President, Points Keeper; Dave Allen, Vice-President, SCCA Liaison, Driver Development Director; Dave Jalen, Secretary; Lois Leijdecker-Ott, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Membership Chair; George Ott, Enduro Chair; Anthony Tabacco, Web Master; and Rod Simmons, RDC Director at Large.

1. Approval of previous meetings minutes:  Dave A. moved the minutes be approved as corrected.  Rod seconded the motion.  The motion to approve the corrected minutes was passed unanimously.
2. Membership Report: Lois: The RDC now has 186 members.  This is a 20% increase over this time last year when we had 154 members.
3. Treasurers Report: Lois: The RDC is solvent at this time.  The patches for the Enduro have not been paid for as of yet.  This will be approximately $400.  Also the next Newsletter has not been sent, so there will be some expenditures associated with its production and distribution.
4. SCCA Liaison Report: Dave A. reporting on the SCCA BoD meeting:
   1. Lisa Diamond, the Volunteer Coordinator of SFR, has become a full time employee.  This is in addition to her current activities.
   2. The SFR Annual Meeting will be held prior to the SFR Awards Banquet at the San Ramon Marriott.
   3. The SFR BoD discussed the pros and cons of two day double regionals for 2011.
   4. The publication of the SFR, “The Wheel”, was discussed again.
5. Driver Development: Dave A.:
   1. The driver Dave A coached won the SFR Regional Championship in the E30 class.

1. Old Business
   1. 2010 Enduro:

i.      The 2010 Enduro held at Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca had 36 teams start the race out of 37 entrants.  One car was disqualified during the event and one car withdrew prior to the start of the event.

ii.      George acknowledged that Dave A. and Fred provided a huge amount of assistance in conducting the event.

iii.      George announced he is retiring as the Chairman of the Enduro.  He presented a brief framework regarding how to conduct the Enduro.

iv.       One of his final duties as Chair will be to enter a critique of the 2010 Enduro into the Chairman’s logbook so that the next Chair can review the good things that occurred, the bad things and, of course, the ugly things.

v.      Some of the less than ideal issues from the 2010 Enduro were:

1.   The Chair would like to have had at least 2 more persons

to staff the Pit-In and Pit-Out positions for time slips. This has usually been staffed by the Grid Crew.

2.   A rushing of the Awards Ceremony

3.      The Chair also recommended having additional help with the Enduro Registration.

vi.      The Radical group from Las Vegas had 7 entries.  The drivers did not want other drivers driving their cars, so creative registration was used.  The Radical drivers planned to run only 90 minutes of the Enduro and their “race within the Enduro” was given its own checkered flag for their finish, separate from the actual Enduro.  Only one Radical car made the full 90 minutes.

vii.      The Black Flag station was in charge of monitoring the helmet cards.  They usually award a bottle of wine to the team they feel has the best helmet card design and execution

viii.      Morris Goldstein won the award for Driver of the Weekend, as

selected by the Starter crew.

ix.      Stephanie Helberg was awarded the Worker of the Weekend.  She has been helping with the Enduro for over 30 years.  She is the one who handled the helmet cards for the Enduro by herself this year.

x.      Giving out the awards under the Starters stand worked well this year.

xi.      There is a need for more space for the Pit-In and Pit-Out lanes at

Laguna.  This was achieved by keeping the pits spaces on the front

end open during pit assignment and having the Radicals share pits

at the “in” end, allowing more room for cars to safely enter and

exit the pits.

xii.      The out-going Chairman also expressed a need for the next Chair to be open to some creative rule interpretation.  Such as the “race within the race”, phantom drivers and including a 90 minute race for certain classes.

1. 1. Safety: no updates presented
   2. Fun

i.      The Annual RDC Awards Banquet will be held January 15, 2011, a Saturday, at H’s Lordships in Berkeley.  The Banquet will start at  4:30 PM with a No Host Social Hour prior to dinner.

1.      The Awards to be given will be: Good Guy Award, Most Improved Driver, President’s Award and Worker’s Performance Award.

d. Web Site

i. The site has a Facebook link.

ii. Fred expressed his approval of the “look and feel” of the site

created by Anthony.

1. New Business

The mentor program for new drivers was discussed.  Lisa Diamond would

like to have the 2010 grads mentor the 2011 grads and the RDC Board agrees.  This would provide a great way for the newest grads to learn from the next most recent grads.  Also, RDC members can assist in mentoring the recent grads.  The RDC could match up grads and drivers new to a particular track for one on one

mentoring.  A discussion occurred regarding who can be a mentor and

what type of guidance could be offered.  The typical lead/follow with

RDC members is the easiest to institute.  The RDC plans to coordinate with Lisa on the Mentoring Program.

1. 1. A discussion was started by Rod concerning the RDC logo and ways to

improve the graphics of it.  Rod feels he could do a great job of updating

the graphics of the RDC.

1. 1. The RDC scholarship for 2011 at the SFR Annual Driver’s School was discussed.  Applications have been received.
   2. A cake was provided by John Myers (yellow Miata #23 SMT) at the

Saturday night social on the Enduro weekend.  The cake was in honor of

Lois and George retiring from racing.

1. 1. Along with their retirement from racing, George will be retiring as the

RDC’s Enduro Chair as noted above (6.a.iii) and Lois will be retiring as

the RDC’s Membership Chair and as the RDC’s Treasurer.  Lois has been

a faithful member of the RDC BoD for 14 years.

1. 1. An ITB driver who is a member of the RDC filed a protest regarding

multiple unsafe passes.  The protest was denied by the SoM.  The driver

then sent out an e-mail to most RDC BoD and SFR BoD.

Dave A. will contact the driver and discuss the driving of all drivers

concerned and the reasoning of the SoM.

f.  Melinda of the Social team placed RDC stickers at the post race socials

when the RDC had helped with sponsorship of that social.  New RDC signage for display at the SFR Socials was discussed.

The next meeting will be the 3^rd Wednesday of November (17th) at 7 PM in Lafayette.  President Fred Peterson adjourned the meeting at 8:56 PM.

Dave Jalen, Secretary, respectfully submits these minutes.