April Board Meeting

Correspondence to Dave included a fancy flyer from Byers announcing the service clinic on May 3rd. There will be food and prizes and Dave let it slip that there will be something special for the attendees.

Treasurers Report from Mike showed that the cash position is substantially less than this time last year. The reason may be the the use of checks instead of PayPal for Club Race fees. The registration process this year allows attendees to hold a spot and delay payment because we are only accepting checks. A through discussion of the registration and payment process will be done at the wrap-up meeting for Club Race.

John Peecook relayed the results of a phone conference with the Mid-Ohio Track officials which informed him of a concurrent event at the track during our contract time in May. The track facilities, including the upper and middle paddocks, will be used by an organization for a corporate driving event. The Mid-Ohio officials have asked for an extension on our lunch break during DE to allow the other event initial access to the track. At the conclusion of DE on Friday, the other event will use the track. It will be a very challenging arrangement for everyone using the facility and MORPCA has no choice but to work around the situation. Dick Snyder unearthed a copy of a Driver’s Education Handbook from 1994 that could be used to supplement the work Frank Todaro has started. Brian Peterson found a copy from a Putnam Park event that he will forward to Frank. Chip Henderson has a handout that he wrote when he did the classroom sessions for DE and he will send it on to Frank.

John is working with Jim Mudra and Frank on finalizing the details on the DE in May. As of the meeting, there were 44 signed up for the event, primarily Club Racers. The dinner at the conclusion will be held at Deer Ridge Golf Course and Conference Center. There are 34 instructors signed up for the event to date. There are plans to present an IRAC event on June 1st and there will be a chance to win some tires. Watch for more details as the date approaches. The new crop of traffic cones that the club will own soon will show ownership via a spray paint stencil that Brian Peterson will design. The issue of disposal of the old ones has been thoroughly researched by Gerhard Hillmann and he concluded that PVC is difficult to recycle, so they will probably go to the industrial landfill. Jay Koehler reported that the organization of Club Race 2008 is moving along and the next meeting will be April 12th at Byers.

Membership Chair, Tom Barry, reported that the club has a total of 836 members. He happily reported that John Dixon plans to transfer his primary membership from Ohio Valley to Mid-Ohio. Tom (and Ginny) will staff a membership table during the MAG service clinic to catch the 8 or so non-members that have signed up. The event will be catered and it is a sell out at 36. Tom reported that the last e-mail blast had no returned addresses. It appears to be an efficient way to communicate information to our club members. A new membership packet is available from PCA and Tom gave all board members several copies.

Tom Stein, Newsletter Editor, really appreciates early submittals for the monthly issue. Dick Snyder has continued to dig in his archives and found some technical articles that Tom could use that obviously covered older Porsches! Dave Hayden gave Tom some newsletters from other regions that he picked up at the Zone 4 Presidents meeting. Tom will try to send the monthly calendar of events to the membership via e-mail blast with the latest information from the board meeting.

Web Man, Brian Peterson, has added yet another cool feature to the ever evolving club web site. It is called “Meet the Members” and it is just that. Members can submit pictures of their cars and write a little something about themselves. So far, there are 2 on the site so check it out.

Social Events Coordinator Extraordinaire, Gerhard Hillmann, has lined up a wine tasting at Hausfrau Haven on April 12th. Ten people have signed up so far. Gerhard attributes the success of the January social event to the timely e-mail blast to the membership and the fact it was “free”. He would like to hear some suggestions for a local event in May to supplement the DE event in Lexington. The idea of Dime-A-Dog night for a club event was not popular by a show of hands from the board members. An August event for a Margarita Party at a member’s home in New Albany sounds like a great inclusion to the calendar! The informal vote showed that everyone liked a Saturday night for the event. Scott Klabunde would like to host the Pig Roast again this year! Gerhard continues to work on a date for a golf outing for the interested members. Chip Henderson was excited to tell the board about a possible wine tasting event at the Wine Guy Shop in Pickerington. The Adobe Road Winery is owned by Kevin Buckler, the CEO of TRG (winner of the 24 hours of Daytona), will be in town for Rolex Grand Am in June and could host the wine event. Chip will work on pricing and other details concerning this exciting event.

Roundtable Discussion

Dave—Porsche Parade is still open for registration so get busy! The registration fee is steep but partially refundable if plans change. Dave put forth the idea that the minutes of the board meeting should be forwarded to the board members for corrections and additions before they are published in the DOS and on the web site. Betsy MacDonell agreed to the idea.
Brian—He continues to refine the idea of “Taste of the Track” where an instructor would take an interested person out in their car for a lap at close to speed. The issue of when during DE should this occur is still evolving.
Frank—He is disappointed with the response from PCA about insurance information. It is apparent that they have no desire to share the data. Frank has started a discussion online (Rennlist Racers & Driver’s Education Forum) about DE insurance and it is obvious that it is a concern for the members that participate or are thinking about participating in a Driving Event. Dick Snyder asked if Frank had talked to Ed Davis since he is our Safety Chairman for many years and could have contacts.
Tom—He just came back for driving “the Dragon” and had a BLAST! The curves were sharp so not really fast, and no law enforcement sighted.
Ron—He and Constance will be attending Parade and would love to see more members there. It is really fun to share the event with local members, but very often, you don’t know who’s going until you get there. Brian Peterson thinks the club could use ClubRegistration.net for signing up people for social events so they could see who else is going. Gehard will check on that idea.

The meeting adjourned at 9:24pm and all raced to the bar for the after meeting party. The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at King Avenue Five Sports Lounge starting around 7pm. Meet for dinner at 6pm for additional fun.

Tags: minutes, 2008