Meeting 7-9:00pm-ish on August 14th, 2025 with the monthly meeting happening at Laurel Auto Clinic, aka “Carl’s Shop” Laurel, MT. You should know by now where this place is at. Attendees tonight were Carl, Jordan, Dean, Briant, Dave, Luke, Jared, Micah, Chris, Kindra and Matt. We had the average amount of attendees this evening, with the repeat offender Jordan joining us again for club stuff. Glad to see ya! But, we are missing some familiar faces, no Darrin, no Dave, no Bill (Rockstar Bill). Hope you can get back to hanging out with us, but it’s ok we understand. Some members showed up tonight but still missed the meeting. (*Ahem. Luke and Dave*)
—-*Carl Jones (El Jefe), Matt Boggio (El Jefito) and Kindra Munda (Secretary) graced us with their presence this evening. Please excuse Lane this month, he was not able to make it*—-
TREASURERS REPORT:
The club’s finances include: $22,295. This total does not include payment to Helena ($950), but the check is in the mail. Carl got the report off the online banking, and his official Regional Executive report states “We are doing pretty good”. Luke reports he has “some hundreds of dollars, from $100 to $200, but I left it on the dresser at home.” Luke will get that to the right peeps and we will have the end of the BBQ season 2025 behind us.
*Coneageddon – This was a burner of an event, and I’m not talking about the weather, although it was very warm. Our club was rolling in the dough! Not really actually. After fees, cold patch, venue cost and sanctioning, we netted almost $100. Whoop Whoop! But this does not include the burger money. So, it was a great way to get out there and hang with our friends and do car stuff. Remember, not everything is about money, and fun times can be had despite low revenue. Glad that Hot Shots pulled through. Read on…..
*Helena and The Hot Shots – We had a great event, despite the weather. 47 drivers, 7 of which are weekend memberships. After factoring in the cost of the venue, fees and sanctioning, we made $916.61. Matt also brought up that our club received lots of ‘atta boys’ and ‘kudos’ from people in the Helena area. Costco folks said we are an awesome group of people, and some Salt Lake drivers say our event was very well put on and that we did a good job. We are “an awesome group of people”. I don’t know about you guys, but I think that feels good, like fet good. Good job club! Keep holding those standards that make YR108 one of the best SCCA regions in Montana!
*Year End Festivities – It was voted to try and have it at the same place as last year, the date and time is TBD so keep your eyes peeled for that info. Also, the awards go out at this shindig so if you have not voted yet (slacker), get those votes in. If there are insufficient ballots cast, Matt and Carl will have to decide. Remember, you can vote every day we race. So, a two-day race allows two votes from every individual driver. Also, since it is very common for many club members to put things off until the last minute, it is allowed that you may throw in ALL of your votes at the last event. So. Carl has given you every chance that he can find to get those cotes in. Awards will be presented at the Year End Banquet.
*Montana Challenge – Kirk had an idea to have a Metra event that can rival Top Gun in attendance and popularity. He was thinking the “Montana Challenge” and have competition with the other Montana Regions, Bozeman and Great Falls. We talked about ideas, using ACF sponsorship to help promote it. We discussed having it later in the summer, and trying to work around County Fair, Top Gun and Nationals. Possibly August or September? Micah thinks maybe late July. Carl has reached out to the Metra about possible future dates but has not had any response yet. We thought it would be interesting to have Kirk design that course next season if we are able to proceed. More to come as it is a developing concept. Still in its infancy. Just a baby.
*Course Setting and Design – It was put up on SCCA website that they will now require that anyone setting course take their course design educational training. In short, they have made a “course designing course” you must take to be an actual course designer to design and build courses. Of course. This requirement goes into effect 3-26-2026. If you’ve been thinking of how to build features, or if you think you have what it takes, send an email out to sanctioning and get access. If you are a Safety Steward, you’re automatically in. The steps are as follows:
1. Watch video(s)
2. Take Quiz (no cheating)
3. Be awesome and get creative!
You can leave and come back, so there’s no need to carve out time or cram for the finals. It does take about 90 minutes total (not on 1.5x speed either) so it is a bit of a time commitment. But it is totally worth it.
*Lewistown – Carl has received an answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WWWWHHHHAAATTTTT??????? Oh yeah. So, here’s the deets so far: $250 a day. The Montana Public Instruction school is out there during the day sometimes so IF we get the ability to go, we would have to set course late evening. We would need to set up a time to go and scope it out, Carl would like at least one course designer to be present at this rendezvous which is of course a fabulous idea. SO EXCITING!
*Roundup Airstrip – Brandon says he thinks he can help get us another venue. He is looking to see if the Roundup Airstrip is available, and if the club would be interested. Concern was raised about spreading venues too far out and having reduced attendance. We will see where this goes!
*Night RallyX – What? Did you just read that right? I think you did. I think you should come to a meeting. It has been decided, Briant HAS scrubbed the SCCA Rally Rule Book to make sure we’re doing it right…. And we have decided on an evening. Read on.
*RALLY 2025 BABYYYY!! – We discussed. We looked at our calendars. We debated. We voted. Matt discussed that we will have 7 events. He also discussed that it has become apparent that the first 3 events are lame for attendance. So how to fix this? We discussed having one event a month, or shortening it down to one event every three weeks. Or maybe having a month where we had two events. Or having Night Rally and an evening event Saturday night with a Sunday event the very next day! We are having 3 events at YDS, 2 at Flints, and 2 at Big Sky Speedway. Majority voted to stay with one event a month so participants have time to fix their crap. Jared voted against by not voting at all (Matt almost teared up with pride). Night rally was discussed again and it was voted in by majority, with Chris voting no also by not voting. So this season starts the YR108 Inaugural Night Rally Event. We will kick off the season with Night Rally in November. We will run Saturday, November 8 at YDS with a 2:30 pm drivers meeting and course will go hot at 3 pm. The first session will be in the daylight hours, then we will break for “lunch”. Second session will be in the quiet, cold, twilight hours of winter. IF YOU PLAN TO PARTICIPATE (Night Rally or any RallyX) ….. HEADLIGHTS OR SOME FORM OF DISTANCE ILLUMINATION LIGHTS ON THE FRONT OF YOUR VEHICLE ARE REQUIRED. This is for all RallyX events, but especially for Night Rally. Luke plans to put strip lights on the probe, so when the lights flip up (1990s baby), there will be more lights. And when the lights are down, the ground will be illuminated. Epic. Matt and many others will go out and do some dirt work in the coming weeks to help prepare the venue for our tomfoolery. Get with Matt if you want to do something with heavy equipment.
** IMPORTANT DATES**
Aug 22-24 – Top Gun in Helena
Sept 20-21 – Coneheads in Helena
Oct 4-5 – Motorin’ at the Metra
Nov 8-9 – NIGHT RALLY at YDS
Meeting adjourned about 9 pm or so. Super-secret post meeting discussions happening here. I would tell ya bout it, but I think it would be best if you just showed up. Have an idea? Bring it to a meeting. Can’t make it to a meeting? (lame). Email Carl. Either way. This is your club. Get involved. Get some chips. Have some fun. Learn about all the Cobalts Luke owns and why he may be the reason his neighborhood may initiate a HOA in the future…. Or Matts Audi….