Meeting 7-9pm-ish on April 10th, 2024, with the monthly meeting always happening at Laurel Auto Clinic, aka “Carl’s Shop” Laurel, MT. The large turnout included Carl, Tate S., Jerod S., Bryant, Jared K., Lane, Kindra, Chris, Luke, Darrin, Micah, Bill, Pepe The Doggo and Matt. Our circle/oval of members was a laughing, jolly bunch with many stories to tell prior to commencing tonight’s meeting. Darrin spoke of a certain lady of the night, Delores, that has become smitten with him and lasagna. He reports phone calls from her at least 4 times a day. Could this be a new love interest? What would happen if he turned her down? What if the lasagna is substandard?!? Stay tuned to “As The Wrenches Turn”.
—-*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: $17,959.63, which does not include a cash deposit and an outstanding check to CW for $1250. The check will be written, and Carl will mail it out. (This is a BIG task that the one and only El Jefe could be responsible for). RDO is still YR108’s unofficial sponsor and Carl will generate an invoice in order to collect the donation. *YAY!*
*Upcoming expenses –
Microsoft account – $100 per year. This is for Microsoft programs, excel, and such.
Google One – $20 per year for 10 TB of storage in the cloud. Allows club officers access to whatever crap that is stored in the Cloud. Duh.
Dynamic Designs – Apparel order, will cost the club $3,976 and some coin and will pay for the hats and shirts that took so long to be agreed on. Return on this investment? The return will be better if everyone comes out and buys some new gear for the new season. Beanies are sure to be a hot (literally) item on a chilly morning setting up the track. Hoodies and T-shirts will all have our new logo designed by Darrin and Micah. Be sure to get some!
Aero Septic – $185 for past services. It would total the last 3 invoices. Thanks for paying for the can.
Bridger light – It was suggested to wait until after the season opener at Bridger to make another attempt at repairing/replacing/buying and doing it ourselves runway light. There is concern that maybe another might just be wiped out. The driver that does just that exact thing could be liable for 50% of the costs and *COULD* be banned from the FAA for life if damaged, or so Bill says. Talk included just taking out a light with the plane rather than a car, and Bryant thinks going at it inverted could be an great idea. Darrin says it would be more important to think about the cockpit than the light if the plane were inverted…. Most club members agreed. Aerial Acrobatics is not looking promising as a new venture by YR108.
*RallyX – FINISHED! Grand Winner will be announced when points have been tallied. Be on the lookout for that smiling face of a winner! The one who stole the season!! The most exceptional driver for YR 108 RallyCross!!! The Best-Looking person to ever grace the track in their beat-up sh—- Well, I can’t give away the winner because we don’t know who it is! Keep your eyes peeled folks. The last RallyX event was held at BSS on April 14th. Jerod S. threatened to whoop Matt’s butt on a dirt bike…. Not sure how that turned out cuz I didn’t go but I bet it would have been entertaining.
*The AutoX schedule is done – Check out the Facebook page and website for details. Also, if you only want to do one event, make sure it is the co-op with Bozeman on September 7-8. Loren is excited for us to make this event and utilize the full course, and we all know how fun it is when Loren attends our events.
*Trailer cleanup – Can’t have fun without doing some crap jobs. The trailer will need to be cleaned and the cones polished. We want those bright and shiny cones blinding our competition early during the events so they know first thing that they’re gonna get clapped. The date is set for April 28 and will happen at Lane’s house at 1 pm, so message Lane for the address. Yes, there will be more cone cookies….. Maybe this time these cone cookies will be *shiny and NOT black or dirrrrty* to reflect our efforts in the cleanup! (Plus, it’s easier….). Repairs to the trailer will also be done.
*The Brick – There was discussion about whether to keep or toss The Brick. Carl questioned the random Brick and its usefulness. Luke mentioned that if a Tesla were to spontaneously combust, it would be useful to throw towards the offending appliance as a Tesla Fire Extinguishing Object. However unlikely that will be, we agreed to keep The Brick as an enforcer of the rule of law. Its explicit job description is still undecided. FAFO
*YDS Cleanup – Rally really throws the dirt and mud, and someone needs to put it back in its original (or close to original) place. Clean up at YDS was Saturday, April 21 @ 8 am. Come out and see what shenanigans will be going on. I think there will be 3 (?) pieces of heavy equipment movin’ some dirt and puttin’ in the work. Sure to be fun out there as it always is. Goals are to fix the track from this season’s wreckage as well as recover a portion of track that has aged and has been lost to the wild Montana overgrowth. Bill is going to ask John about dropping off a blade out there to use. Should make it go a lot quicker.
*Archie Cochrane – Jason approved Tech Day Saturday May 4th, from 11 am to 3 pm at the dealership in the Front Lot, no less and it’s paved! We really lucked out this year to have such a sweet opportunity! We will have a pretty snappy-looking tent next to the used car lot and the street. There are ideas about the grassy areas between the lot and the street to help bring in curious folks and I think we will be able to park on that grass, so wash that dirty-ass car. There will be lots of bidirectional traffic to draw in new drivers and lots of curious people, so take a shower guys. We gotta make sure we give a good impression. There is talk about a few trophies for the Archie Cochrane sponsored event, maybe some shirts or hats. Not decided just yet. Lane says he is locked in with the Focus, and Bill is doing a repair or two to the Camaro that may (or may not) pass tech and involves a grinder…. should be an interesting and fun Saturday. So, come get your crap done early this year. You can hang out with only the coolest, hippest, and funniest club members, and avoid the Season-Opener-“Tech-My-Car-I-Did-New-Stuff-But-I-Have-To-Wait-My-Turn”-Rush out at Bridger so your attention can be paid to the new tarmac they’re supposed to have laid down at the end of last summer.
*Helmets – Topic introduced to question our ability to safely provide helmets to ALL the drivers and spectators expected to come to the sponsored Metra Event. It is sure to have record attendance. Kindra mentioned that the number of helmets owned by YR108 is minimal compared to the expected attendance, and suggested we ask Loren and his club number 52 in Bozeman to bring their helmets to use. Kindra also discussed purchasing a few more helmets and checking the expiration dates but they are already staggered (good) and trailer space is limited (bad) so that idea was voted down. Members agreed that during the Sponsored Event, we could have a dedicated club member juggling the helmet situation between drivers/riders as they enter and exit the course, like the Grid Worker. “Helmet Runner?” We will see what/if Loren can bring any helmets. **Be sure to dust off yours and bring them to Tech Day so we can get as many approved as possible. If you have any extras lying around that you don’t use, or if you’ve just been using ours because you “can’t” find yours in your garage, time to start looking bruh. They will be in short supply, and it is an absolute rule to wear one as a driver and a passenger. If you’ve been thinking of buying a new one, make sure to look at the most recent SCCA rules to see accepted ratings. **
*RDO – We will have a sponsorship from RDO again, as they are dubbed our “Unofficial Sponsor.” We will continue putting their logo on the clothing merch as it is ordered to help support and recognize this steadfast and repeating donor. So, if you need a new John Deere Tractor or any other associated technologies, go see those guys. They got that John Deere Green for your girl Arlene.
*Corvette Club – They were a bit late getting us their dates and we are unable to coordinate our schedules. We will try again next year, and hopefully we will be early enough. Who wouldn’t want to wipe the track with their faces on their home turf and not in a Corvette?!? Tabled for now.
*Business Cards – Chris had the idea of passing out business cards to help grow the sport and quickly drew up a rough drawing about his vision mid-meeting. Lane motioned for the pass-out cards, with all but 2 members voting for them. Surprisingly, Matt liked the idea although he did vote against it along with Jerod S. It is typical, he likes to rock the metaphorical boat and literal jet ski as he vividly describes post-meeting. The budget was set at $100 for approximately 1,000 cards. These cards will have Facebook and website information that someone can search up if they choose. The idea is that if a club member were walking through the Chik-Fil-A parking lot and saw a cool car that would be fun to compete against or looked like it was moderately exciting to drive, we could put a card on their car for them to learn about our club. Or if someone were in the dental chair and discussion came up about 3 cylinders and turbos or a Camaro or Mustang or Subaru, they could have a card for them to look up what an actual fast car can do and maybe become one of the cool kids. Kindra says she would write appointment dates for patients on them instead of the regular cards if she were allowed to.
*Season Pass – Season Passes for club members were brought up for discussion. It was proposed to allow a discount to any driver who wanted to pay for all the events at once. There were many ideas about how to implement this. MSR, the Sponsorship, checking in drivers manually…. All these roadblocks came up and it was decided that it was a little late in the season for this idea. We will evaluate as AutoX progresses this summer. The idea is tabled for now.
*Points for AutoX – It was brought up about having a points system in line for AutoX, but PAX is really how that is implemented. Not much more was discussed about that.
*RallyX rule book – The points system is in progress for RallyX, and Matt is working on the rule book for next season. We hope to have in hand and on paper (Word.doc) a bona fide Rally Rule Book for YR108. Ground rules are as follows (so far):
#1. Registering gets you five points.
#2. Driver gets one point for each car that he/she beats, regardless of class. (For example: 10 drivers, 1st place driver gets 9 points…. 7th place driver gets 3 points… 10th place would receive no points).
#3. The points will follow the driver, not the car.
#4. The car used for that event MUST be the car that is registered for that day. The list will be set at the start of the race which has been designated as when the track goes hot. The starting light is the end for any car switching. (This sets the list in the computer and on paper and makes it fair for anyone trying to switch cars to advance their placement in the lineup).
Matt will have the Official/Unofficial YR 108 RallyX Rule Book. May be available for purchase. Autobiography might be on the back sleeve. It is a slow process as Matt can’t read very fa— I mean works too much he declares.
*Rule Book – SCCA rule book is out for this season and it was brought up to vote on purchasing a current hard copy. Majority voted yes, Lane will look into a hard copy rather than a digital copy to keep in the trailer for reference.
*Cones – During trailer cleanup, cone count will be evaluated, and dead cones will be taken out of service and disposed of in a dignified manner. Services for our fallen cone-rads will be scheduled at a later date, and condolences can be paid to any club member, as they are the closest to the recently departed. (Literally the closest….). The average cone shrink is 40-50 a year, but with the cone winnings by cool members from out-of-town events, it breaks even most years. Wanna win a cone for the club? Go to an event, guy.
*RallyX Fiscal Year – Decided that May 1 to April 30 is the logical answer. Tech will be seasonal rather than yearly. Also logical since Rally spans the calendar year change in December/January.
** IMPORTANT DATES**
April 21 – Fix the dirt out at the YDS course at 8 am.
April 28 – Trailer cleanout at Lane’s house at 1 pm (message him for address)
May 4 – Tech Day at Archie Cochrane Ford on their Front Lot 11 am to 3 pm
May 18-19 – Bridger Season Opener 😊
Meeting adjourned at 8:16pm. Fun, fast, hard and full of information, club meetings are the bees knees. Darrin was concerned about the time it takes to change an air filter on a Honda Prelude. Apparently, it is not an easy job and it took almost 2 hours. But I speculate he was being interrupted by Delores and her lasagna fetish. Matt vividly described how to properly and improperly mount a Jet Ski. Want to learn how to “properly” rebead a tire that has been debeaded? It involves flammable liquid. Probably BraKleen. Lane can tell you, but it’s best to come to the meetings and get the scoop firsthand. It’s always fun. Always entertaining. Never a disappointment and I always name everyone that is there and it’s always in order, starting with Carl. You can sit by him if you want. I usually take the chair that spins.