Meeting 7-9pm-ish on February 8th, 2024, with the monthly meeting always happening at Laurel Auto Clinic, aka “Carl’s Shop” Laurel, MT. The large-ish turnout included Carl, Matt, Angie, Kindra, Chris, Lane, Darrin, Steven, Luke, Briant, Jessica and Dave. The parking lot was full up with a decent smattering of vehicles that could rival some of the premium shit-boxes that are brought in for repair on the daily.
—-*Carl Jones (El Jefe), Matt (El Jefito), Lane Baumann (Treasurer), and Kindra Munda (Secretary) graced us with their presence this evening*—-
TREASURERS REPORT:
Lane reports that the club’s finances include: $17,702.26, which does not include an outstanding check to CW for $750, a payment from MSR, and cash to deposit. Lane reports he is eager to get the balance up past $23k and beat our old high score.
*Blah Blah Blah…. Bridger runway light debt is still outstanding, blah blah blah. Many attempts…. *Yawn*. Something about the light and fixing it. Will attempt again. Bridger is not quite final, but Kristen will be contacted, and we will set that date with her sometime in April. The Laurel Airport was suggested to be used, but it was mentioned that since it is in Billings airspace or region or control or something, it can’t be used, and they told our representative to kick rocks.
*The AutoX schedule is done. *Yay!* The posters are printed. *Tight!* They do look cool in fact! We were not able to proofread them, but it should be fine. Unsure of RDO sponsorship at this time, so unfortunately the RDO logo is not on there. Kindra did in fact take 5. One for work and other ideas. Don’t judge. We were able to sign the Charter with SCCA and finalize the contract with Helena. Remember, if there isn’t a load of pre-registration for the co-op with Bozeman September 7-8, Loren won’t be able to use the full lot. Please make sure to come, even if it is the only event. Loren is excited for us to make this event, and we all know how fun it is when Loren attends our events. YR will bring timing stuff just in case and no cones. Bozeman will sanction and pay all fees, we may get some of the proceeds, but unsure at this time if or how much. Be sure to give Bozeman all the props for this event. They are gonna get smashed and they don’t even know it yet. Thank you, Matt, for doing your volun-told assigned duties.
*Rally and trailer cleanup. Can’t have fun without doing some crap jobs. The trailer will need to be cleaned and the cones polished for this summer. We agreed that the trailer cleanup day will be after the last Rally (last day for mudding up our beautiful cones) but before Tech Day. Can’t be having any embarrassing dirty trailer moments during Tech Day and scare any potential sucke—I mean future club members. The trailer clean-up will be at Lane’s, but the exact date is weather dependent. So, for now, the date is TBD. Keep your ears open for that news. Many hands make light work and there may even be more cone cookies…..
*Corvette Club – Lane reports that the Corvette Club is willing to co-op an event with us sometime, or maybe with Great Falls. Our schedule is set relatively early this year (Thanks, Carl!) So we can’t tie down to a specific date with them. Details are a bit fuzzy, but we discussed using our timing, and they pay for the event. We think they may have suggested September 2nd, which is Labor Day. We did talk about inviting them to Helena. Kindra wants to see the whooping they are gonna get, especially by Tyler, which will be quite embarrassing. More to come.
*Merch. Tonight, we had at least 8 good ideas for a new logo. Most were centered around cones and the words “Yellowstone”. One design included the rims, and some club members didn’t prefer that one too much. Darrin was caught and later admitted to sniffing the whiteboard markers. He seemed rather confused this evening. The logo challenge gave many ideas tonight, and Carl suggested the logos should be sent to the officers and the voting will happen by them. Everyone in attendance agreed that this was the most feasible option to vote. A ████ ███████ was drawn, and discussion circled around ███████. Kindra had no clue what that was but seemed to know quite a bit about the Montana shut down and circumventing those regulations. We are certain there will be a lot of WiFi turned off tonight to check the validity of this news. We decided to continue selling merch at cost. Matt will count and put together the number of remaining items in the trailer. It was voted to order 50 hats in blue and grey, and even though he says blue is his favorite, Matt voted against the blue hats. How rude. Steven was concerned about how 20% was really not all too different in the grand scheme of things, so it was decided to order 50 hats vs 40 hats. The majority voted to allow Stitch Design to choose the best-selling beanies for our logo. Stickers were brought up again, and it became clear that most everyone in our club has a sticker fetish. Lane volunteered to secure cone stickers, not too tall and still vinyl, to give away at select events. Kindra suggested maybe to give them out at the season opener, and another select event. It was suggested that maybe the last event too, the Metra Meltdown. Darrin thinks they could be made, but there wasn’t much discussion surrounding this idea, and the idea died like the dry erase markers in Darrin’s hands.
*Archie Cochrane – Lane is still working on contacting Jason and hashing out the details for the sponsorship. We hope he can be just as charming with Jason and Archie Cochrane as he is on the course. Ball rolling on this.
*Safety Stewards – Briant is still working on and waiting for volunteers and the training program for the safety stewards. He is working on getting the coursework together. If you are interested in helping out with this, let him know. Remember, without our Safety Stewards, we couldn’t have the fun times we do. Please consider signing up for this important position! As always, thank you Safety Stewards for everything you do!
*National Convention – Micah fed his short notes from a short power point into AI and came up with even shorter bullet points from the National Convention. If you ask, he could probably provide you with a copy. Some notable points are E Street. It seems the SCCA is trying to keep ES a more affordable class for first time drivers. It was also mentioned that there may be “Licensed Course Designers” by 2025. We read between the lines on this point and many members tonight felt that might be like the online style that a Safety Steward class would be like. In the packet, there was a whole page on tips for presenting the Driver’s Meeting. Some key topics include setting the tone for the day, mentioning sponsors, being clear and simple with the presentation, and making sure to have an inviting atmosphere. Rally is gaining traction with Nationals (no pun intended), and the subject of side by sides (SxS) was introduced. There are very strict rules with SxS, and YR discussed whether to allow SxS in Rally and try to follow, or at least try to implement these very important safety rules. Discussion involved everything from style and design to exclusion and personality types. In the end, the majority voted no.
*Rally and the Points – Rally from January 21st included many new drivers and some great weather as well. I believe we ended the day with a record-breaking 21 entries! An item of discussion was brought up concerning the 999.9 time given to a driver when switching a car. This switch may be from a vehicle breakdown, or any other reason. Much discussion was centered around if Rally is for the prize, for the glory, or for the fun and excitement. Lane points out: if a person runs a different car any time during the Rally event, what happens to the time? Briant states that in the SCCA rule book a car can be changed any time prior to the heat in which it is scheduled or registered. May questions were raised, does class matter in Rally? Is participation more important than points? How do we measure or change points moving forward? Rally is a work in motion, a style still in its infancy. Many present tonight questioned the goal for Rally: endurance (driving the car responsibly to still have a car to take home), skill (driving the car with enough skill to be competitive, while also knowing the car’s limits), or balls (to drive the car like it doesn’t matter the cost of repair)? Eventually (after about an hour or so of deliberations…) there were 2 options formulated:
1 – Following the conclusion of the safety meeting, the “registered vehicle” is the one you drive for the remainder of the event. If switched for ANY reason, 999.9 time will be given for any remaining runs.
2 – Car “used” (not specifically “registered”) will be car used for the remainder of event and this decision becomes final when the group the car is registered with (1 or 2) starts their turn.
The majority voted for option 1. This and other rules still need to be further defined. Carl motioned that Matt was to be the designer and keeper of the new and very important Rally Rulebook. The majority voted for Matt being the one for this momentous task, with one voting no. Matt.
Finally, it was discussed that the trailer needed a hammer for pounding in the cone frames. Kindra suggested a 10lb hammer. Matt said no because he is a baby. Chris volunteered to go and buy one and it is currently sitting in the free bucket that was given with any purchase from Harbor Freight. Kindra will take it out to Rally at the next event, February 18th at 8am. (Not the bucket tho, hands off) Come and enjoy our very warm winter weather and be part of the mud-flinging, trash-talking, glizzy-eating group that comprises the usual crowd. It really is fun, and we would love to see you there. It is always exciting. Drivers Meeting is at 9am or so don’t be late.
Monthly club meetings are fun and exciting. As always, look to the YR Facebook page and the provided email for times and dates. Many ideas, fun discussions, and fun people. Try to make at least one meeting. Part of being a club member is more than just reading the newsletter! Heck, if you got to the bottom of this extensive list of topics, you may as well come to the meetings! Unless you’re reading this in your underwear, then we kindly ask you to be dressed during meeting attendance. How you drive to and from the meeting is up to you. I don’t judge.