tnt_terri
June 27th, 2023, 09:08 PM
Board Attendees:
President - Chris Nami
Vice President - Bob Hasenhundl
Secretary - Terri Thompson (ABSENT)
Treasurer - Tiffany Maestas (ABSENT)
VP Rules & Tech - Jared Dear
New Rider Director - Jeff Brown
Race Director - John McKown
Rider Rep - Press & Contingency - Nate Bell
Rider Rep - Rulebook - Dennis Stowers
Rider Rep - Trophies & Class Sponsorship - Blair Harness
Rider Rep - PR & Events - Erik Maxwell (ABSENT)
Estimated Voting Members in Attendance: TAKEN VIA ZOOM
Location: Nite Owl Sports Bar and Grill
Start Time: 7:32pm
End Time:
Important Announcements:
Thank you to the Nite Owl as always for sponsoring a class and having a place for us to hold our meetings
Had a super smooth race weekend - only had one red flag throughout the entire race weekend (bike caught on fire, had zero transports!)
This shows competent, logical, and sound racing along with sportsmanship
All last three rounds have been stellar all around and we are proud of the race weekends ran thus far
There are still things we are working on and things we need to prove out as we keep moving forward
Nominations for the BoD are open, you can tell a current Board member, comment on the Facebook post, on the Forum, messaging a Board Member, etc.
Nominations close the 12th of October
The finalization of who will be on the BoD will be on the 9th (?)
We are currently thousands of dollars down each race weekend - this is due to lower participation and the increase of cost of everything else surrounding the race weekend
We are currently working on revamping the race schedule and relooking at race fees
Will be restructuring the race weekend, such as when they run, how often, etc
Looking at a few different schedule options, including a single day event (this may make it look as if the club is declining however) and other options (increasing amount of practice time, etc)
Inflation has caused everything else to increase (insurance, fees, etc), so we will be looking at potentially doing the same thing with race entry fees
We have been able to bring a good family culture back and have increased participation that way, but it is not quite enough to make up the difference
All our HPR dates are set, pretty sure that the PMP dates are set (this is depending on if we race 1 or 2 rounds at PMP)
It does not make sense to fix a house from the roof down when the foundation is crumbling. The BoD is working hard to make sure that the Club is successful for years to come
We aren’t going bankrupt, but are making changes now to make sure the club stays healthy financially for years to come
Status Updates:
Chris:
See important announcements
Bob:
Remind everyone about the Safety Team appreciation Round 7 (BBQ). Get swag from sponsors and bring stuff for the Safety Team! Donate money, etc
Nominations are open and the positions open are:
VP - 2 year term (Bob is on a special election which is why he had only done it for one year)
Treasurer - 2 year term
New Rider Director - 2 year term
VP of Rules and Tech - 1 year term
All Rider Rep positions - 1 year terms
Nominate people and get ready to vote!
Will be opening up 2023 licensing and membership November 14th - will keep early bird pricing open until the end of 2022
Current membership will still be active from April to April - pricing has stayed the same from last year
Novice Hours - please let Bob online or let John know in person and we will get your Novice Hours recorded
Tiffany:
Round 6 -
$6084.82 loss
$613 from the 5k toward the safety fund (repurposed a lot of stuff to minimize expenses) - thank you to all who participated and helped with the 5k
Staffing did go up because we had used HPR staff
Tiffany will not be rerunning, if anyone is interested please talk with Tiffany regarding the position and its time commitments and benefits
To nominate someone, you have to be a member!
If you have credits in MSR, they will not carry over to 2023. You can use them for the Banquet. If you would like to donate them, you have to email Tiffany so she can have it in writing and they would have to be donated to the Safety Fund, they cannot be donated toward the Safety Team Appreciation
Jared:
Make sure you go through your bike - everyone has been doing really well
If someone needs novice hours, let Jared know you would like to help and you can get Novice Hours that way (Friday night, Saturday and Sunday)
Jeff:
Election is up, nominate people
If you are considering running for a position, understand the commitment by talking to those who are already in the position
Run for the right reasons - do it for the club and not for the free racing or other benefits (do it for the right reasons and have the right intentions)
John:
Had one red flag all weekend and have had no transports the last three rounds, had about 90 riders last round
Financial situation -
Had been at a $3000 loss, it went up to $6000 and this is not sustainable. This is up to a $10,000 loss for Rounds this year
Pricing for registrations and whatnot have not kept up with that.
We calculated that if each racer paid $100 more, our books would be balanced for the year
There are some classes that were left unsponsored all the way up to this point - we need to be talking to our sponsors more and we have fallen into old ways of doing things (ie carrying metal grid boards to PPIR)
We need to be talking to dealerships for trucks, trailers, campers, etc
This is not the Board’s club, it is YOUR club
Race your ass off - you pay for four races and we make no more money after that. We may be revisiting this during our evaluation of finances
Grids - having the faster racers in the back behind slower racers is a huge safety concern. There are other clubs that already do qualifying for all their races
We may have another qualifying session - a concern that was brought up is that this is also a safety concern because riders will be pushing themselves even harder during this session while the track is not hot (temp-wise) yet
If I race multiple classes, how would this be tracked? CVMA breaks qualifying into 6 sessions. What if you have multiple bikes? Buy multiple transponders and put them on all your bikes
RULEBOOK - if you qualify on a bike you are not going to race on, you start in the back of the grid. You can still race a race you did not qualify for, you just have to start in the back
The proposal is that you can qualify on multiple bikes and you would get your qualifying position. We would just need the right software to be able to tell what bikes are being used for what qualifying sessions
SuperStreet has always been somewhat of a “redheaded stepchild” - it is the pathway into the MRA so it should be easier to make it into the MRA
If we had three sessions, similar to Legion Moto Track Days - we could have instruction in a morning session and have people license up Saturday and race on Sunday
Schedule -
We could run all classes on both Saturday and Sunday. We would still have RORO and RORU. We need to have more classes with purses, which would go hand in hand with sponsorships.
Every size bike would have a money class
To make this happen, endurances were eliminated. When you think about the cost per minute for racing, endurances do not make sense
The endurances are expensive and are not simply s=feasible due to cost when compared to sprint races
Other clubs don’t run endurances like we do. They were originally created on Saturday to act more like practice and the income from the endurance races were originally to go toward new air fence
Other clubs run less laps than we do, despite having similar lap times. We could reduce the lap count to 6 instead of 7
Does this mean I have to pay twice for my class? - Yes, you do . It would be similar to CVMA where you have to pay for both classes both days
Did away with SuperMoto and 350SS due to low participation
Only expert classes have payouts - don’t like it, become an expert
The ultimate goal is to have more payout classes (classes with purses)
Could maybe do a 4 hour and a 2 Hour endurance
Looked at the Vehicle Ball in Parker and the base price was about half of what the Banquet hall is that we normally use (were quoted about $7000). They did not have the Saturday we wanted available, so we will be looking to see if there is another day available
We will be going here, the Board has voted on it and thank you Angela Wilkerson for helping with all this
We had multiple Safety Team members work their 4 rounds and will be getting their official shirts. Erik offered to pay for them out of pocket, so thank you to Erik
Safety Team Appreciation - Terri and Tiffany are handling the donations for this, you can’t bring cash.
If you know anyone that wants to be on the safety team, let me know!
Nate:
Had a great night at Cycle Gear Bike night - had someone sign up for SuperStreet
Round 7 -
Chili Cook off - three different categories to sign up for
There will still be a BBQ as well so everyone should be fed well
Open elections
Safety Team Appreciation
Social Media Policy - we have one!
Be a nice person and don’t be an asshole on our site. You may be removed if you do not obey the social media rules that we have in place
Financials are scary and some changes will need to be made to make sure the club is able to be sustained long term
Opened a conversation on Facebook, check it out and try to keep comments to that post so things can stay organized
Dennis:
Make sure your bike is tidy - after 5 race weekends, your equipment may be falling apart. Make sure it's all good
Be in compliance with the rules and make sure that you are only signing up for classes you are legal for
Win Championships the nice ways!
The Rule Change meeting date has not been confirmed, however it will be at the Nite Owl sometime near the end of October
Thank you to everyone who has participated in the rule change process
Had some good ideas and some of them already aligned with what the BoD had in mind
Blair:
Going into the Banquet and will be getting that figured out
Were late with invoices, but am currently getting all that handled
If you know someone who we should be approaching for sponsorship, let the BoD know so we can talk with these people!
We often hear from people about “did you talk to this person/business?” and we have not
Talk about trophy changes and ideas you have for next year
Nominations:
Bob Hasenhundl for VP - he accepts
Dennis for RR Rulebook - accepts
Jeff Brown for New Rider Director - declined
Noel Ross for Treasurer - she accepts
Nate Bell nominated for RR Press and Comms - already nominated and accepted
Blair for RR Sponsorships and Trophies -
Member Questions:
Do you have to be a member to be nominated?
No, you do not have to be a member to be nominated, but you do need to be a member to accept your nomination
The proposal to cut laps, would we have more sessions?
I would hope so. The goal is to have two races with 6 laps instead of one race with 10 laps - you would basically get 2 more laps. When you have 7 rounds and only 7 races per year, we see a lot of people drop off and not come back because they do not have enough points
If you practice on two different bikes, would you have to pay more per practice/qualifying sessions?
This is a good point and is something that would have to be discussed because you would get to practice twice as much as someone who only has one bike
Banquet?
The venue is super nice, there are really nice cars in there and it should be a great time.
Would it be possible to look at previous year’s lap times for those courses and base qualifying on those times? You wake up and your bike isn’t working, you aren’t screwed now
It may be possible, this is something we would have to look into
President - Chris Nami
Vice President - Bob Hasenhundl
Secretary - Terri Thompson (ABSENT)
Treasurer - Tiffany Maestas (ABSENT)
VP Rules & Tech - Jared Dear
New Rider Director - Jeff Brown
Race Director - John McKown
Rider Rep - Press & Contingency - Nate Bell
Rider Rep - Rulebook - Dennis Stowers
Rider Rep - Trophies & Class Sponsorship - Blair Harness
Rider Rep - PR & Events - Erik Maxwell (ABSENT)
Estimated Voting Members in Attendance: TAKEN VIA ZOOM
Location: Nite Owl Sports Bar and Grill
Start Time: 7:32pm
End Time:
Important Announcements:
Thank you to the Nite Owl as always for sponsoring a class and having a place for us to hold our meetings
Had a super smooth race weekend - only had one red flag throughout the entire race weekend (bike caught on fire, had zero transports!)
This shows competent, logical, and sound racing along with sportsmanship
All last three rounds have been stellar all around and we are proud of the race weekends ran thus far
There are still things we are working on and things we need to prove out as we keep moving forward
Nominations for the BoD are open, you can tell a current Board member, comment on the Facebook post, on the Forum, messaging a Board Member, etc.
Nominations close the 12th of October
The finalization of who will be on the BoD will be on the 9th (?)
We are currently thousands of dollars down each race weekend - this is due to lower participation and the increase of cost of everything else surrounding the race weekend
We are currently working on revamping the race schedule and relooking at race fees
Will be restructuring the race weekend, such as when they run, how often, etc
Looking at a few different schedule options, including a single day event (this may make it look as if the club is declining however) and other options (increasing amount of practice time, etc)
Inflation has caused everything else to increase (insurance, fees, etc), so we will be looking at potentially doing the same thing with race entry fees
We have been able to bring a good family culture back and have increased participation that way, but it is not quite enough to make up the difference
All our HPR dates are set, pretty sure that the PMP dates are set (this is depending on if we race 1 or 2 rounds at PMP)
It does not make sense to fix a house from the roof down when the foundation is crumbling. The BoD is working hard to make sure that the Club is successful for years to come
We aren’t going bankrupt, but are making changes now to make sure the club stays healthy financially for years to come
Status Updates:
Chris:
See important announcements
Bob:
Remind everyone about the Safety Team appreciation Round 7 (BBQ). Get swag from sponsors and bring stuff for the Safety Team! Donate money, etc
Nominations are open and the positions open are:
VP - 2 year term (Bob is on a special election which is why he had only done it for one year)
Treasurer - 2 year term
New Rider Director - 2 year term
VP of Rules and Tech - 1 year term
All Rider Rep positions - 1 year terms
Nominate people and get ready to vote!
Will be opening up 2023 licensing and membership November 14th - will keep early bird pricing open until the end of 2022
Current membership will still be active from April to April - pricing has stayed the same from last year
Novice Hours - please let Bob online or let John know in person and we will get your Novice Hours recorded
Tiffany:
Round 6 -
$6084.82 loss
$613 from the 5k toward the safety fund (repurposed a lot of stuff to minimize expenses) - thank you to all who participated and helped with the 5k
Staffing did go up because we had used HPR staff
Tiffany will not be rerunning, if anyone is interested please talk with Tiffany regarding the position and its time commitments and benefits
To nominate someone, you have to be a member!
If you have credits in MSR, they will not carry over to 2023. You can use them for the Banquet. If you would like to donate them, you have to email Tiffany so she can have it in writing and they would have to be donated to the Safety Fund, they cannot be donated toward the Safety Team Appreciation
Jared:
Make sure you go through your bike - everyone has been doing really well
If someone needs novice hours, let Jared know you would like to help and you can get Novice Hours that way (Friday night, Saturday and Sunday)
Jeff:
Election is up, nominate people
If you are considering running for a position, understand the commitment by talking to those who are already in the position
Run for the right reasons - do it for the club and not for the free racing or other benefits (do it for the right reasons and have the right intentions)
John:
Had one red flag all weekend and have had no transports the last three rounds, had about 90 riders last round
Financial situation -
Had been at a $3000 loss, it went up to $6000 and this is not sustainable. This is up to a $10,000 loss for Rounds this year
Pricing for registrations and whatnot have not kept up with that.
We calculated that if each racer paid $100 more, our books would be balanced for the year
There are some classes that were left unsponsored all the way up to this point - we need to be talking to our sponsors more and we have fallen into old ways of doing things (ie carrying metal grid boards to PPIR)
We need to be talking to dealerships for trucks, trailers, campers, etc
This is not the Board’s club, it is YOUR club
Race your ass off - you pay for four races and we make no more money after that. We may be revisiting this during our evaluation of finances
Grids - having the faster racers in the back behind slower racers is a huge safety concern. There are other clubs that already do qualifying for all their races
We may have another qualifying session - a concern that was brought up is that this is also a safety concern because riders will be pushing themselves even harder during this session while the track is not hot (temp-wise) yet
If I race multiple classes, how would this be tracked? CVMA breaks qualifying into 6 sessions. What if you have multiple bikes? Buy multiple transponders and put them on all your bikes
RULEBOOK - if you qualify on a bike you are not going to race on, you start in the back of the grid. You can still race a race you did not qualify for, you just have to start in the back
The proposal is that you can qualify on multiple bikes and you would get your qualifying position. We would just need the right software to be able to tell what bikes are being used for what qualifying sessions
SuperStreet has always been somewhat of a “redheaded stepchild” - it is the pathway into the MRA so it should be easier to make it into the MRA
If we had three sessions, similar to Legion Moto Track Days - we could have instruction in a morning session and have people license up Saturday and race on Sunday
Schedule -
We could run all classes on both Saturday and Sunday. We would still have RORO and RORU. We need to have more classes with purses, which would go hand in hand with sponsorships.
Every size bike would have a money class
To make this happen, endurances were eliminated. When you think about the cost per minute for racing, endurances do not make sense
The endurances are expensive and are not simply s=feasible due to cost when compared to sprint races
Other clubs don’t run endurances like we do. They were originally created on Saturday to act more like practice and the income from the endurance races were originally to go toward new air fence
Other clubs run less laps than we do, despite having similar lap times. We could reduce the lap count to 6 instead of 7
Does this mean I have to pay twice for my class? - Yes, you do . It would be similar to CVMA where you have to pay for both classes both days
Did away with SuperMoto and 350SS due to low participation
Only expert classes have payouts - don’t like it, become an expert
The ultimate goal is to have more payout classes (classes with purses)
Could maybe do a 4 hour and a 2 Hour endurance
Looked at the Vehicle Ball in Parker and the base price was about half of what the Banquet hall is that we normally use (were quoted about $7000). They did not have the Saturday we wanted available, so we will be looking to see if there is another day available
We will be going here, the Board has voted on it and thank you Angela Wilkerson for helping with all this
We had multiple Safety Team members work their 4 rounds and will be getting their official shirts. Erik offered to pay for them out of pocket, so thank you to Erik
Safety Team Appreciation - Terri and Tiffany are handling the donations for this, you can’t bring cash.
If you know anyone that wants to be on the safety team, let me know!
Nate:
Had a great night at Cycle Gear Bike night - had someone sign up for SuperStreet
Round 7 -
Chili Cook off - three different categories to sign up for
There will still be a BBQ as well so everyone should be fed well
Open elections
Safety Team Appreciation
Social Media Policy - we have one!
Be a nice person and don’t be an asshole on our site. You may be removed if you do not obey the social media rules that we have in place
Financials are scary and some changes will need to be made to make sure the club is able to be sustained long term
Opened a conversation on Facebook, check it out and try to keep comments to that post so things can stay organized
Dennis:
Make sure your bike is tidy - after 5 race weekends, your equipment may be falling apart. Make sure it's all good
Be in compliance with the rules and make sure that you are only signing up for classes you are legal for
Win Championships the nice ways!
The Rule Change meeting date has not been confirmed, however it will be at the Nite Owl sometime near the end of October
Thank you to everyone who has participated in the rule change process
Had some good ideas and some of them already aligned with what the BoD had in mind
Blair:
Going into the Banquet and will be getting that figured out
Were late with invoices, but am currently getting all that handled
If you know someone who we should be approaching for sponsorship, let the BoD know so we can talk with these people!
We often hear from people about “did you talk to this person/business?” and we have not
Talk about trophy changes and ideas you have for next year
Nominations:
Bob Hasenhundl for VP - he accepts
Dennis for RR Rulebook - accepts
Jeff Brown for New Rider Director - declined
Noel Ross for Treasurer - she accepts
Nate Bell nominated for RR Press and Comms - already nominated and accepted
Blair for RR Sponsorships and Trophies -
Member Questions:
Do you have to be a member to be nominated?
No, you do not have to be a member to be nominated, but you do need to be a member to accept your nomination
The proposal to cut laps, would we have more sessions?
I would hope so. The goal is to have two races with 6 laps instead of one race with 10 laps - you would basically get 2 more laps. When you have 7 rounds and only 7 races per year, we see a lot of people drop off and not come back because they do not have enough points
If you practice on two different bikes, would you have to pay more per practice/qualifying sessions?
This is a good point and is something that would have to be discussed because you would get to practice twice as much as someone who only has one bike
Banquet?
The venue is super nice, there are really nice cars in there and it should be a great time.
Would it be possible to look at previous year’s lap times for those courses and base qualifying on those times? You wake up and your bike isn’t working, you aren’t screwed now
It may be possible, this is something we would have to look into