Meeting today, November 13th, 2025 at Carl’s shop, Laurel Auto Clinic in Laurel, MT. Attendees tonight include Carl, Sawyer, Dean, Briant, Luke, Micah, Lane, Kindra, Chris, Jordan, and Matt. Kindra and Chris sat over by the tool boxes to stir the pot a bit, but Dave and Jared didn’t show up so next time. Hopefully if we get there in time. It was rather nice sitting over by the other miscreants. Lane couldn’t keep his water bottle in his hands, poor guy. Something about his fingers not working. Or was it a game of Monkey Keep Away at one point? Hard to know if you didn’t go. Maybe next time.
*Treasurers Report:
Lane reports we have $20,389.95. There are many monies in the bag, some report over $2k. Luke counted and was swapping bills from the bag like he swaps parts on a Cobalt. Easily. And with both hands. Apparently, Lane “knew how much was in the bag”, and Luke passed the test. He did not acquire another Cobalt by means of thievery or treachery. At least not at the Club’s expense. What Luke does on his own time is his business.
*Metra – Carl did get a response from a Metra guy. He said, and I quote… “The insurance issue is because of the required insurance from the state that we (Metra) must have for any motorsports events on our grounds. We are mandated to carry this insurance and it is not only limiting but also quite expensive”. This rep has not gotten back to Carl apart from this email. Keep working on finding other venues, and be mindful of this coming Summer schedule. Questions about the insurance are if it is on an as needed per event basis or yearly. Either way, it doesn’t matter is they continue to say no. Stay tuned.
*Safety Meeting – The new updated child riders guidelines have been solidified, our safety meeting papers have been updated. There is no longer a height requirement for riders. ONLY MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENTS. Riders MUST HAVE online consent filled out and approved by SCCA headquarters PRIOR to the day of the event. Underage riders MUST BE 12 YEARS AND OLDER. A reminder to potential riders and parents: The online form is through the SCCA website and takes a little over a week for approval. Please plan accordingly.
*QR code – It was brought to our attention that the QR code is hard to read/scan if its wet. Chris suggested to get one for the trailer door that is laminated to keep it easier to use for spectators and drivers. It was also brought up that the free QR code generated code expire over time. Who knew?
*Helmets – The new helmet regulations have come out, we have 10 total helmets, all Snell2015 or newer. Ours are good until 2030. Remember to check yours, make sure to have that model year be BEFORE 2015. If yours is a 2010, time to start shopping, they’re only good through 2026. Chris asked if there was a group buy in with the SCCA to get a better price on a new helmet. Carl said he would look into it, but that the helmet might have LOANER on it. It would be important to differentiate yours from the clubs unless you spraypainted it, or put a sticker on it or something. More to come.
*NIGHT RALLY – This event was a great event, and saw a great turnout! 21 drivers Saturday night, with 16 on Sunday. Overall, there were a lot if great drivers, and the course was fun and has been really well placed moving forward. On the down side, it was “a logistical nightmare” There were instances of drivers going very far off course and our club lost too many good cones that night. The cones used were mostly new ones due to the brightness, and sadly, their little lives were snuffed out before their time. Some were sliced in half, others were beheaded. It would be a good reminder to all drivers that the cones are roughly $10.80 each, and recent club winnings from ConeHeads at the current rate will not be enough to replace the fallen warriors from RallyX each winter. Please be kind to the cones, they are there to help with the fun, not be smooshed and decapitated. How to better see the cones? Besides having lights on lights on lights with more than enough lumens to compete with a fricking light house? Topics came up about fiberglass flag sticks that stick up above the top of the cone. Glow in the dark spray paint. Reflective glass dusted on the tops like is put in road paint.
*Cones – Topics came up about us just buying some of our own cones to replenish the stable. While not as entertaining as causing the Brawndo ruckus in Helena this season during ConeHeads, it could be feasible. Other than being ridiculously expensive at $10.80 each, they are very heavy (set up and clean up crew knows this). Shipping would be a killer to the pocketbook. SCCA recommends Lakeside Plastics for cones, and they are about 3 lbs each. We discussed buying a flat rate palate to see how many cones can be stuffed on for flat rate S&H fee savings. Keep this price in mind next time you decide to take a “shortcut” through the course and mow down an innocent cone during RallyX. We decided that Big Sky Speedway uses the greatest number of cones, so we will see what kind of course we can build with whats left after a full season of RallyX. Possibly will order cones in March. Dean may be going to Chicago and could consider picking up our order. It all depends on you. How many cones did you destroy? Remember, only you can prevent Early Onset Cone Failure.
*AutoX – Loren has started scheduling some events in Helena, and TOP GUN and ConeHeads have been confirmed. TOP GUN is August 21-23 and ConeHeads is September 19-20. We are hoping to hear from Brandon about Roundup Airstrip, hopefully he has had time to get that going. Lewistown may have some Bozeman peeps interested, they are looking to spread out a bit. The initial Lewistown event may have a attendee cap to make sure it is a smooth event as some particulars are still unknown. We will decide more, and if you wanna have input on the topic, well. You already know.
*S4!t Street – WE NEED IDEAS!! Like dressing up? Like wearing makeup? Ever wondered if your helmet will fit your head if you’re wearing a wig? Do you enjoy thrift shopping at Good Will? Costumes were discussed again, some think a short skirt and a crop top would be fun. Others think the wind would make the skits fly up and that could be a distraction. Or a welcome sight. I guess it all depends. Maybe you could wear Depends….. We could just have a Personal Best event with a little bit of self care, we could call it “Cr4nk This 4og”. I know at least one of us has done it while driving. Don’t deny it. You know who you are. I’m sure that if this is the challenge, borrowing a car is out of the question. It was brought up that maybe S4!t Street was a little too early this season and maybe it should be a month later. We will see what the schedule brings.
*Sponsorship – We need to be better at Sponsor Shout Outs during Safety Meetings. It got a little lax near the end of AutoX season, and since this is new to us as well, we need to give ourselves a bit of grace. And we need to be better as well. A very smart man one said, “Progression, not perfection”. Suggestions were to put them on the Safety Meeting sheet, and maybe have the Pronto/Live Timing set up to include their logo, like a “Brought to you by….” thing.
*Timing light – It was suggested to see if there was a setting we could change that would allow the current driver’s time to display a little longer than it is now. Lane thinks there is a way, but does not know how deep he has to go into the program to find the button. The down side of this endeavor is that the board is so old…. How old is it? (did anyone else shout this in their heads?) The board is so old, that the PDF file for the manual stored on the hard drive no longer loads or opens up with the current OS running the laptop. The board is so old that it was used when we acquired it like 10 years ago.
**IMPORTANT DATES**
Dec 7 – RallyX YDS
Jan 11 – RallyX YDS
Feb 8 – Bridger (Flints)
March 1 – Bridger (Flints)
March 22 – Big Sky
April 12 – Big Sky
Talk went deep into the night, but I wouldn’t know. I left at like 9:30 because I was tired. Matt reports the meeting went well into the wee hours of the morning, like 2am. Before I left, Lane was able to lock himself into one of the chairs. He had the arms clenched way down and turned over his thighs so tightly, that he was able to stand up with the chair still locked onto his bottom half. Like I said before, it’s not gay. It’s a club thing.