NER Annual Meeting

[Greg Amy]

A few items of interest from the annual meeting. These are only my inferences as an attendant of the meetings, not any kind of official announcements:

- We are no longer using NESCCA.com for event registrations, we're moving to motorsportsreg.com. I suggest you get an account set up and become familiar with the interface.

- Timing and Scoring at NHMS is moving from the Media Center to the main tower. This affects you in terms of manually timing your qually/race laps in cases of failure of the AMB system. As you pass along the front straight, you're going to be very close to the wall, and T&S eyes are going to be much further away. Having very good hood numbers will be paramount; if you don't you may not get lap times.

Check your hood numbers to ensure they're per the GCR size at a minimum and easily legible from the right side. You might even consider tossing on a roof number, angled to be read from the right side.

- NER needs to recruit a new scrutineering chief. Scott Dowd has a seasonal job in Maine which keeps him from being around during the year. While he's OK with remotely administering our scrutineering needs (and has been doing it well) he believes we'd be better served by having someone who can actively participate. If you have any interest, please do contact him.

- Credit card transaction costs for event registrations is rising as a significant expense. Each time we use a card it costs the region ~3%. As of right now there are no plans to charge a fee for use of credit cards, but if this trend continues that may change (or entry costs as a whole may have to be raised).

If at all possible I encourage you to write a check or provide cash instead of using a card.

- Overall, NER is financially sound. There were some program losses this year (Solo and Rally as the notable exceptions) but not as significant as one would expect, given the economy. We have good cash flow with minimal debts.

- No more Lime Rock National. I don't recall exactly why, it may have been costs, it may have been schedule conflicts. Jerry can step in and elaborate.

- No more NHMS enduro. Horrid participation numbers.

- Schools have been moved to the middle of the year. First event this year is a "Rational" (combo Regional/National) last weekend of April.

- Three triple Regionals this year.

- Palmer Motorsports Park. The private investor that the track committee has been working with over the last two years, the one that's been paying the monthly option-for-purchase costs of $5200, has apparently become unresponsive with the end of our contracts with him. As a result, the committee is continuing their search for new investors.

On a plus side, while it seems like we're back to where we were two years ago, there's definitely a silver lining. Yes, we've lost two years of development on this project, but this investor pretty much covered most of our costs including the monthly cash flow, all in the teeth of a very bad recession. Plus, he paid for a lot of the continuing tests/approvals during that time frame. Even if this person were to not come back to the table, if nothing else he bought us two more years, time we probably would not have been able to cover ourselves.

As a result, We're in a good financial position on the track, now we just need to find someone(s) with the capital to invest to move the project forward.

It was great meeting everyone, looking forward to a new racing year.

Greg

[Andy Bettencourt]

Great update Greg - thanks.

Couple observations I hope Jerry can chime in on:

1. T&S location. I assume this is being mandated by the track. If not, T&S issues/resolutions have just taken on a whole new level of difficulty given the amount of time and effort it takes to actually get to the proper floor in the main tower.

2. For anyone who hasn't been up to the main tower, it's really a great place to watch a race...however, we all REALLY need to heed the advice here on number size. It's a LONG WAY UP.

3. I hope the LRP National was about scheduling (I think it was) but the National/RR/Pro IT last year was awesome. I can't believe it's about the money now that format proved successful.

4. Schools to the middle of the year? So anyone who really wants to get a license early has to give their money to a New Jersey region? I suppose that is a money issue but you can't quantify being introduced to NER and it's most valuable asset - its PEOPLE -at a school. Not a big fan of that idea.

5. Triple Regionals: The best value in NER. Great job.

6. Palmer: What a shame. I had an investor lined up 2 years ago who wanted it all too.

7. Enduro: While I agree that the 3-4 hour race should be canned, maybe that slot can be filled with some kind of race that we never run? Reverse grid? Grid out of a hat? OMP Sprint style event put on by Pro IT? 3, 30 minute sprints with teams of 3? Just spitballing here but I wonder if we could create an event that was unique enough to fill that half day.

[Jeremy Billiel]

Andy - The Enduro weekend will now be a triple, but doesn't mean we shouldn't entertain ideas on how t mix it up.

Lawton - Where are you? We had a lawton sighting and then he was gone! <grin>

[Andy Bettencourt]

Andy - The Enduro weekend will now be a triple, but doesn't mean we shouldn't entertain ideas on how t mix it up.

Ya, a triple is always cool for sure. Just thinking about any other type of format that could fit into that slot. You could do a 'double' (the triple without the Sun afternoon sessions) then qual and race for a unique event. Not sure what that is, but could be a Pro IT 'sanctioned' money race of a different format. I keep thinking back to the OMP Challenge and how we could build on that.

[lawtonglenn]

.

Lawton - Where are you? We had a lawton sighting and then he was gone! <grin>

sorry, I was unable to make it this year, perhaps you meant Jeff?

.

[JLawton]

.




sorry, I was unable to make it this year, perhaps you meant Jeff?

.

Yup, he meant me. We came a few minutes late and got the last two seats, almost in the hall! My son Jake was bored by time dinner was done so we booked out fairly early..........

[ner88]

T&S move is a track issue, the old building will be coming down. But, not right away, so we will have time to adjust. What we will be doing is putting an out-post in the media building, results will be available there. It is our hope to actually make this a drivers information center so any questions or issues can be resolved there.
LRP National was a scheduling/communication problem, as I understand it LRP held 3 dates for Mohud. but by the time they requested a date one was gone, the only one that was good, as the other dates were in conflict with divisional national rules.
Our drivers schools will be June and July this year. With two schools in March (Summit and NJ) our dates could work well for new drivers and there is the constant talk of the Glen not holding theirs.
Our school numbers have been low for the last several years so the change may be good.??
Greg thanks so much for the post, well done!
And, as always, all suggestions and ideas are welcome!