December 13, 2013
CVAR Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Texas World Speedway
17529 Highway 6 South
College Station, TX 77845
979-690-2500
December 13, 2013
- Call to Order – The meeting was called to order by the President, George Curl, at 3:03pm.
Board Members present were: George Curl, Jeff Garrett, Roy Allen, Herb Hilton, Merl Hansen.
Bob Green, Chief Steward, advisor to board
Visitors present: Berkeley Merrill, Chip Fudge, Duncan Charlton, Lon McKinstry, Russ Rosenberg, Danny Piott, Mike Floyd, Chris Kellner, Margaret Walker, Jeff Walker, Isabell Hardy, Wayne Hardy, Skip Duplissey, Bill Gardner, Bryant Barnes, Gary Reed, Angus Lemon, Doug Mains, Pete Sandy, Dale Rolison, Mike Callahan, Ronald O. Reed, Duncan Charlton, Robert Blake, Martin Cooper, Scott Barrett and one name I cannot read. - Consent Agenda – George Curl handed out copies of the agenda. The consent agenda consisted of approval of the November 2013 BoD Minutes. Herb Hilton moved to accept the consent agenda and Roy Allen seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
- Membership Report – Herb Hilton handed out a one-sheet membership report, which stated the following as of 12/13/13: 342 current members; 522 total members. 78 new members, 198 current competition licenses, 30 non-currents. There are 47 active members in the Novice program. There are 18 corporate sponsors and 7 honorary members.
- Registration Report. Merl Hanson explained the new procedure for transferring (crediting) registration fees from one event to another in the case that the first event is canceled by the participant. The $50 credit for bringing a Christmas toy provided insight into the process within DLB. When a participant cancels a registered event, the participant is asked if he/she would like a refund or a credit towards a future event. If the participant chooses a credit, the credit is applied in the “My Account” area of the DLB website. This process does not require too much effort on the Registrar’s part, which is a good thing. This is expected to encourage members to apply funds to future events increasing participation and reducing the number of credit card transaction fees incurred by CVAR. George explained that the goal is to apply the credit to an upcoming event and not to spread the credit over many events. It is not clear if any restrictions will need to be added to accomplish this or if it will be an issue at all. Question from the audience:
“Will this save CC fees?” Answer – (Merl) –Yes.
“What is the deadline for cancel/credit?” – Answer – (Merl) Wednesday before event @ 10:30 pm.”
Merl pointed out the credit for the Christmas gift is only good for the February event.Merl said that of the 17 people that canceled the Dec event, 11 applied the fee as credit for a future event, 4 asked for a refund and 2 had not replied. (note, since then the 2 who had not replied opted for credit towards a future event.) - Proposed change to By-laws – George explained the results of the recent membership survey exposed a need to update the club’s Bylaws and that Bill Johnson had graciously accepted the task of updating the bylaws. Among the updates are three significant changes for the club. First, there are simple provisions for getting alternate candidates onto the ballot for BoD and officer positions. These include getting signatures from 10% of the then current membership. Second, there is now a process for suspending and/or reinstating members for off-track conduct unbecoming of Vintage Racing or CVAR. Third, several operations positions have been removed as BoD positions. These include Membership, Registration/T&S and Tech. See the new published bylaws for exact details. Roy Allen moved to accept the changes to the bylaws. Herb Hilton seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. George pointed out the significant contributions of departing BoD Members including: Herb (Membership) for improving Membership reporting, tracking and renewals, David Griffith (Tech) for greatly streamlining the tech process and Merl Hansen (Registration) for improving the registration process including the event transfer/credit process.
- Member Input:
Lon McKinstry – asked “when we will begin enforcing the ’72 GCR on roll bar thickness?” He expressed concern over drilling holes in roll bars for inspection and that their was some confusion over the required size of the hole. Discussion ensued. George mentioned we have a new person in charge of Tech and we don’t intend for anyone to miss a race due to this issue in foreseeable future. Several members pointed out that there was confusion over the size of the hole and if it was necessary at all. It was noted that Tech has a way to test without drilling a hole and without expensive equipment and that a hole may be necessary only if the thickness is marginal. George also explained that the size of the hole is 3/16” not 5/16” and that if an existing hole of 1/8” is available, that will suffice. Berkeley Merrill – pointed out that the proposal for Group 6 expansion calls for a “CVAR Orientation” for new participants who do not have a current VMC license. Berkley asked that the CVAR Orientation be well defined and consistent with the principles taught in the CVAR Driver’s School. George will work with Berkeley and the Group 6 mentors off-line to ensure this. - Appointment of Membership Chairman – George explained the need for a new Membership Chairman given Herb stepping into the President’s position and the removal of this position from the Board. George suggested Margaret Walker for Membership Chairwoman and Licensing. Herb Hilton moved to appoint Margaret. Roy Allen provided the second. The appointment was unanimously approved.
- Authenticity – G6 Expansion Test Proposal- George introduced the proposed test expansion of Group 6, which would include the current definition of FF1 plus FF2 thru 1982 (was 1983) and FF3 for cars 1983 to 1986. The test will last for 12 months starting in February 2014. The proposal states that slicks are currently allowed for FF3, but may be voted out at a later date. A motion to accept the proposal was made by Roy Allen. Jeff Garrett seconded the motion. The motion was approved with 4 yeas, 0 nays, and 1 abstention (Merl). After the vote, discussion ensued of the potential pros and cons of the expansion. It was pointed out several times, this is a test and if it does not have the desired effect of increasing the car count in Group 6, it will not be extended. If it is successful, there will be a formal approval process to make the changes permanent with or without modifications. Several people are concerned FF1 is dying within CVAR due to member age or cars being sold into the UK and Europe. Others were concerned that FF3 may simply pull members and participants from FF1 or FF2 without a net gain. Many who suspect the latter said they hope to be proved wrong. Roy implored the BoD and the membership not to “shoot the guy(s) willing to try something new even if it proves unsuccessful.”
- President’s report
A. A Difficult Year: George Curl explained the need to keep our brand visible and positive. Some at the VMC meeting asked if we were still alive. George assured them the rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated. We have purchased 3 advertisements in Vintage Motorsports Magazine as well as our usual add buy in Victory Lane magazine. Duncan Charlton asked if “we are connecting with various Driver’s Education programs and other clubs in our area?” George replied ”not as much as we would like to. We need someone to spearhead that.” He asked Duncan if he would lead the effort. Crowd chuckled. Herb announced we now accept SCCA as well as VMC licenses with observation for vintage spirit for new participants. We will continue to use VMC for novice qualification. George pointed out the need to retain the vintage spirit and Bob Green pointed out that the Chief Steward also vets all new participants and monitors performance and attitude of all participants.
B. Financial Statements: George passed around copies of the CVAR financial statements for 2013 and provided explanation as needed. George expects a net loss in 2013 of $1,688.98; he said that we needed more membership participation to reverse that number and that the TWS track rental is by far our largest expense. Bruce won’t be able to do a final statement until at least Jan 10. It very well could be more or less. The following members asked questions regarding the financial statements: Berkeley Merrill asked “what is the VMC meeting expense?” to which George explained that is the airfare, hotel expense and DFW parking expense for his attendance at the VMC meeting. He did not charge for his meals. Berkeley also asked “what is the rental car and D/E driver’s School expense?” to which George explained it is the expense to send our Worker of the Year award recipient to the Feb driver’s school event in a rented Formula V. Chip Fudge asked the following questions –
1. How is corporate sponsorship shown? The answer is in membership dues for corporate members.
2. What are the bank charges? – The answer was mostly credit card fees.
3. How is it the TWS track rental is so expensive compared to Hallett for example? George explained we have a special arrangement with Hallett whereby we keep a small portion of the registration fees, but that prevents us from losing money at Hallett, however it puts a greater burden on Hallett and they are trying to renegotiate the contract.
4. Why are the corner worker fees so much higher for the first event at TWS in 2013? – George explained CVAR had agreed to raise corner worker compensation last year, starting this year. However, due to a tough year, George asked the corner workers if they could go back to last year’s rate after the February TWS event. Many graciously agreed to do so, while some could not. Balance Sheet – George showed the CVAR Balance sheet and explained “our goal is to be able to weather two consecutive bad events and still afford to put on a third event. TWS December was one such “bad event. Given that, we are in OK shape, but we will soon need to pay deposits for track rentals. We are OK, but we need to improve participation in order to stay that way.” This brought out the topic of the SVRA COTA event for next year. A member from the audience asked if we might consider a “pre event” similar to the Pre-Historics held before the main Monterey event in order to draw participants who may have travelled a great distance to Texas for the COTA event. The date was not available this year, but the idea is not dead.
C. ECR Friday Test & Tune – George explained that last year ECR conducted the Friday Test & Tune day as a D/E style event with non-CVAR as well as CVAR participants and using the ECR staff for corner workers, tower and T&S. George asked if we wanted to continue this or go back to having CVAR run all three days. Herb Hilton moved that CVAR go back to running all three days of the ECR event as we had prior to 2013. Merl provided the second. The motion was approved unanimously.
D. Offer from PCA for joint event at NOLA – George presented an offer from the Porsche Club (PCA) to combine with CVAR to rent the track at NOLA on Memorial Day weekend 2014.. They offered CVAR 2 run groups if we could provide 60 to 90 cars and 1 run group if we could provide 30 to 40 cars. Herb suggested we conduct a member survey to gauge member interest. Scott will be asked to send out a question on the list-server to judge interest. The board agreed to do so (informal vote). Discussion ensued and someone from the audience pondered the idea of renting out run groups at CVAR events in order to defer event costs. That is being done by one club on the West Coast. George said that we were monitoring that, but saw no sense of CVAR being another beta tester. The subject was informally tabled. - Final Comments – Berkeley Merrill stood to express his appreciation to and for the Board of Directors and in particular to George Curl for effort and leadership during a tough year. Many of the members in attendance concurred.
Herb Hilton moved to adjourn at 4:08. Roy Allen seconded the motion. It passed without contest.
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