Club Meeting today, March 5th, 2026 at Carl’s shop, Laurel Auto Clinic in Laurel, MT. 7pm if you aren’t sure what time to be there. Prime seating for those on time. Attendees tonight include Carl, Dean, Briant, Bill, Luke, Dave, Jared, Lane, Chris, Kindra, Jordan, Matt and Pepe.
Treasurers Report:
Our region holds $20,984.96. We have paid Flint for the most part, but still owe for Le Toilet for the remainder of the RallyX season. I would like to say that attendance has been picking up, overall costs are down, and we are up about $4k from this time last year. Keep on keeping on, we need to stack cash for bragging rights. And rainy days. Literally. When it rains, attendance is down and costs rise.
RallyX – RallyX is happening and is in full swing. We had 13 drivers last Sunday! Little less turnout than in seasons past, but overall attendance numbers for this season are up. Flint’s Off Road Park is getting traction (literally) and Matt has sold him some tubes and parts and things that he plans to use to make some sort of trailer-pulled water feature. We’re talking making mud and dust control and work to compact the dirt and control rutting. This venue is outside Bridger going towards Cody, at 99 Silver Tip Rd. Swing by and bring your best S41tbox for some fun in the sun and dirt. Maybe snow. Who knows. Big Sky is a go and Matt has our last couple of RallyX events sanctioned. Jordan is gonna get the gate code so we are bona fide.
Poster -The AutoX poster photo contest is ending this week, so hopefully you lazy bums took a minute from the doom scrolling to cast your vote. Posters are in the works, and should be ready here soonish. This season’s submissions were all really nice pics, and remember that any car can be on the poster with enough votes. Be sure to get in on the contest next year.
AutoX Schedule – So close. Crickets from the Metra, a hard NO from Columbus Airstrip and Roundup Airstrip. Bill said something about airports….. I dunno. Some crap about FAA funding and race car approval and Class G airstrips. Discussed possible interest in Greybull/Lovell area and the “North Bighorn County Airport”. Bill says he can make some phone calls to some regional airports for potential venues. Matt stated that we are getting further and further from Billings area for playtime. Which is true. We do not have any venues/events in Billings this season. Briant suggested the old Convention Center lot, as the building has been demolished. The overall condition of the asphalt is unknown. More to come as the saga, “The Search For More Venues” continues.
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. They are valid for a calendar year, so it is time to update if you plan to keep bringing your kiddos to events. They will expire again in January.
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. Remember helmets will also need to be teched for the year at our annual Tech Day, May 2nd.
Night Rally – After our inaugural Night Rally, it is now an option for any event to be a night event. It is a *New* checkbox Matt discovered when sanctioning our final RallyX events.
Drones – SCCA has approved drone use during events. There is some red tape involved, ie. FAA license, insurance, and prior online approval. Discuss with Carl if you’re interested in getting something up in the air at one of our events.
Metra – An opening on the Metra Advisory Board has been posted. We discussed a club member apply for this position. Think of it like a sleeper cell. Kindra stated it should be somebody that is aged, good with people, has a sales personality, and good mannerisms. Clean cut, and says all the right things. Basically everyone voted for Bill. He will look into it, even thought he hates racing at the Metra. Carl talked to the Metra Park General Manager. He says the most pressing issue with us holding autocross events at the Metra is the insurance issue. According to him, MACo (Montana Association of Counties) requires that they hold their own individual insurance for any motorsports events they hold at a county-owned venue. This has caused the move from the smaller more local type events, Monster trucks and motocross, to the larger corporate type events, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks and the like because they can afford the insurance outright and or can sell enough tickets to compensate for the extra cost. He claims that the cost per event is $6000 which they would have to charge on top of the normal $2280 per weekend that we already have. In the meantime if we plan on doing a Metra Event and are interested in dropping the cash we can try and offset it with donations and sponsorships. We should pursue this quickly as dates available are probably slim.
Cleanup – Trailer cleanup day set for April 26th. We will need help this day, lots of fun and stories. Make sure to head over to help. Fun is what you make it. Scrubbing cones or playing with a power washer is fun if you have an imagination and a desire for destruction.
Tech Day – May 2 is almost upon us. Time to dust off the hotrod (if you’ve not been driving it this winter anyways) and get it in safe, working condition.
Region Borders – It has been brought to our attention that SCCA rules state that if a region is holding an event in another region’s space, permission from the controlling region must be obtained. Or something.
IMPORTANT DATES
March 22 – Big Sky
April 12 – Big Sky
April 26 – Trailer Clean-up Day
May 2 – Tech Day
This month’s meeting was pretty short AGAIN. Dave suggested a coup on other regions to upend their officer election. Claim more territory. Could go to a banquet. Or Canada. Or not Canada. Jared suggested we have S41t Street in Bozeman. Dig up those Jorts. Could have a dress code.