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From Your R.E.
April 1, 2008
Well
won’t belong before we are at the LBGP – this is always great fun
and amazing cars and this event will be no different.
One difference this year is we will be staffing a booth for Cal
Club. At this writing, I don’t have all the details but I do know
that I will be there every day and we have 9 other Cal Club members
and a couple of additional strategic partners who are on board to be
there. We have developed some nice hand out material and one
especially which I think will be very effective. We are planning on
a couple of visual presentation which will be helpful for opening
discussions. The more Cal Club members we have the easier the day is
for it provides opportunity to also see all the amazing activities
that typically take place at the LBGP. If you can help and work the
booth, please contact me at Mik at the Cal Club office calclubhq@aol.com.
We will be providing shirts (which you keep) and I think it will be
both fun and productive. Let me know as soon as you can so I can
arrange your personal passes etc.
I wanted to share a little about our June race weekend at California
Speedway. As you may know, California is our most expensive venue.
In fact it exceeds what we pay at BRP or Willow by 2 or 3 times and
we are not able to control costs very well because the track demands
we use their safety people as well as ambulances at their prices.
Still it is a venue that is great for our racers and their families.
In June we will run a full double regional event as well as a two
hour enduro. To keep the costs under control, we are going to take 5
min. out of the qualifications times on Saturday to let us get to
the Enduro before 6 PM. That way, we can complete before darkness
and still have 30 min from the last race until the start of the
enduro. We will “ pay back” the 5 mins of track time on Sunday be
providing a 25 min. qualification race followed by a 30 or 40 min
(depending on if your in the featured class ) on Sunday. I know that
is a bit different, but in order to try to provide more bang for the
racers buck a little adjustment seems like a prudent move.
The enduro itself will be open to all closed wheel cars and if you
also run the double regional the cost will be so low for your team
that you are going to be amazed. Has the board lost it’s collective
mind? No, decidedly no, we are just committed to providing more
racing fun, and more track time for the racers dollar.
We are also going to take a shot at trying to do qualifying races
whenever we can. We will try to do that at venues as early as our
May race. If you, as one of our racers, have an opinion, please be
sure to share, but we think this will make it more fun for the
racers. Our goal is to use this for our regional races only. If you
as a regional racer don’t want to do this, or think it a bad idea
for your group then please do let us know. Here is the argument for,
more racing, more track time and no increase in your costs. We think
that makes sense, but if your group differs then we don’t have to do
it for every group.
On April 17, one month before the event, the regional / national on
line registration will open for the May 17/18 race. It will look
different to you and you will need to re input some information as
we have changed vendors. I know this is a bit of a burden for each
of us, but honestly we think it necessary to build our future. To be
competitive the club needs to insure that we have the best possible
human and technological infrastructure and having a modern, up to
date and flexible on line registration system is part of this
effort. The vendor (MotorsportsReg.com) is here to help you, as are
Ceci our Race Chair, Mik in the office, Penny Coy and me.
MotorsportsReg.com is a California company and has over 110
organizations for which they provide this service They are fast
growing, responsive and provide services that no other vendor in the
marketplace provides. For example they are the ONLY company in the
marketplace which meets the banking industry tests and standards for
credit card security. I have always, paid by a check or credit card
in person at registration just because I don’t trust the security of
many companies and systems. I will from now on, be paying “on line”.
I strongly encourage each racer and every volunteer worker to be
sure to load your account and make maximum use of the system – it is
very powerful and the security is second to none in the marketplace.
This system also allows us to better manage diverse things like
permanent numbers, associate member rosters, renewing members and
the like. Additionally it allows us to do voting for Board of
Governors positions on line (and that time is coming up with filing
this summer – so start thinking about running for office ), and
soon, the ability to conduct polls on line – the ability to ask our
members what they want their club to do. Pretty amazing stuff and
for these an many more reasons, we think it is worth the extra
effort each of us must go through one time to re input our data.
That took me about 10 minutes – not a big deal.
At this writing we have given 2 $500 gift certificates for head and
neck restraints system and $600 gift certificates for reduced entry
fees and for test time at BRP. Folks seem pleased with the drawings.
This past weekend, at the suggestion of Renee, we did the grid for
the Feature Race on the front straight at BRP. That seemed to go
well and people seemed to enjoy it and we will do it again where it
is possible.
The Mazda group to include support from corporate, will return with
us to Cal. Speedway in June. SM, Pro 7, SRX 7 drivers we are looking
for folks to help them do lead and follow and showing the racing
line during lunch – let us know if you can help. We anticipate 100
Miata’s and other Mazda Club cars. We are inviting several Corvette
groups as but at this writing I do not have a feel for how many
might show up – I have heard 40 to 50. T -1 Drivers, we will need
your help with lead and follow track tours too.
The mantra for the Board of Governors this year has been CUSTOMER
SERVICE / MEMBER SERVICE / RACERS CUSTOMER SERVICE / VOLUNTEER
WORKERS SERVICE and I think we have made some good progress. The
March race registration process was easy and quick and most of all
FRIENDLY. Kudos to all who worked to make it so and THANK YOU.
Its your club, we on the Board of Governors and on the committees
are trying to make it better for us all. If you have ideas,
thoughts, concerns please let us know directly or via e-mail. Cal
Club is one of the oldest and most storied racing organizations in
the country. Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Ken Miles, Richie Ginther, Frank
Monise, Carol Shelby and many others including our own Andy
Porterfield raced here in the heyday and the new heyday is just
around the corner – we just have to change, adjust and work at it.
For the Board of Governors
Steve Staveley RE
FF 59
AS 59
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