Sand and Sage Sports Car Club Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Bob Bromm (Treasurer), briefed members on the financial strength of the Club. Currently we have about $5000 in the checking account and another $4000 in CDs. The Father's Day event netted $360.
Vic (Vice President) passed around a catalog showing a variety of shirt designs for club merchandise. We need to buy at least 12 to get good prices.
We will have 3 events at the Dust Devil's stadium parking lot; the first will be a Practice event on August 14. A practice event is like a full days worth of fun runs. You will receive a time for each of your runs, but no awards or season points will be given. Experienced drivers are encouraged to attend to help instruct the large number of novice drivers that are expected. More info about the practice is available on the SSSCC website here: <http://www.ssscc.org/2004_season/practiceinfo.html> The following weekend (August 21 & 22) will also be held at the Dust Devils Stadium and both days will be run/scored as standard events. Mitch, Vic, and Bob are meeting with the Devil's general manager on Friday (7/16) to finalize details. For more information check the clubs schedule at: <http://www.ssscc.org/2004_season/schedule.html>
The Club is planning another Hastings Night soon to promote our practice event at the Dust Devil's lot. The date and time will be determined soon and everyone notified via the clubs email list. The tentative date is Friday, August 13th, the night before the Saturday Practice Event.
It was decided that Novice drivers MUST graduate after one win to keep the class competitive for newcomers. We also need additional volunteers for Novice instructors.
The Novice awards/hats donated by Scott Ridgeway are now available and the first one was presented to Reid Lunde at the meeting. These hats will be given to the winners of each Novice event. Thanks again to Scott Ridgeway for making this possible!
Secretary Bob Bromm, noted that our insurance regulations do not require windows to be rolled up for racing. It was decided that this will no longer be mandated, but arms must be inside the car at all times. Anyone seen with their hand or arm outside the car would be Red Flagged and not given a rerun.
Finally, there was much debate over the next upgrade to our sound system. Four options were considered:
- Repair our PA system. Our amplifier is shot and needs to be replaced. We also need new wire and connectors for the speakers. It was estimated that this option will cost $200 for the amp and $100 for better/heavier wire.
- An alternative to the last option is to replace the whole system. Mitch found a self-contained PA system for $600 (Fender Passport). The system includes 2 speakers that attach to the main box for easy storage and transportation.
- The third option is an FM transmitter. This would allow people working the back corners to listen to Mitch's silver tongue with a boom box. The cost for the system is $250. The down side is that there is no PA. This issue was resolved when Adam Ritch offered his 80 watt receiver and speakers to the club.
- The last option considered was a new display board. A rough order of magnitude cost estimate was $2600 for this option. Like the FM transmitter, this option doesn't provide a PA system.
The decision of the members present was option 3, to purchase an FM transmitter and accept Adam's donation of his receiver. The next day when Mitch was attempting to order the transmitter, the manufacturer told him that the model we were considering isn't powerful enough for our needs (0.1 watt). We need the 1.0 watt unit for $450. (Editor's Note: The FM transmitter and antenna have now been ordered)
We were thrilled that Jared Shelby of Shelby Super Cars (SSC) agreed to speak about everything involved with designing/manufacturing/selling a $240,000+ super car locally. He started building Lamborghini kit cars that sold for $120,000 to $140,000. Then 2 years ago he decided to move up to a completely custom-designed car. His car is designed to compete head-to-head with Lamborghinis and Ferraris. It will be making its world debut later this year in Monterey, CA. He is having a bit of a discussion about his name with Carol Shelby, so until that issue is resolved his car will just go by the initials SSC. (Jared is not related to Carol Shelby)
The meeting ended at approximately 8:30pm. It was one of the best meeting yet!!
