>From this past weekend's Area 3 Solo2 meeting:
We lost BFG Team T/A sponsorship for 2001. We had great support from BFG
Team T/A over the years. We're sad to see them go, but wish them well in
their new endeavors. Looking for new primary sponsor. Evolution Performance
Driving School will return for 2001, possibly Edward's & Edward's Consulting
Rookie Challenge too.
For those Class Champions who did not attend the Awards Banquet, I have your
jackets and will be mailing them out to you soon. Wish you all could have
seen the E&EC Rookie Challenge trophy from Scott Schleh; a very nice silk
screened photo plaque of the Rookie Champ, Mike Akard, racing at the Atlanta
SEDiv event. Unfortunately the Awards Banquet program contained many class
champion errors or missed listings entirely. While I know the correct
information was provided by me, I'll still take the blame for not following
up and ensuring all the names were listed correctly. I promise you this WILL
NOT happen again!
New SCCA CEO Steve Johnson was in attendance for the Solo2 meeting(!) and
provided good insight regarding the revised direction our club is taking.
Name recognition will play a large part in communicating to the masses who we
are and what it is we do. Initial marketing partnerships established with
Fram filters and Sunoco fuel; more to come. Look for us to do our part with
big SCCA banners posted for future SEDiv Solo2 events as well as other
methods to get the SCCA name out in front of the general public. Personal
comment: CEO Steve Johnson is the freshest breath of air to breeze into our
club for as long as I can remember. Joined by the equally-talented staff of
Dennis Dean, Howard Duncan, and Tasha Goodale we can expect Solo2 to have a
very vibrant and prosperous future.
Rumor of substantial 2001 Solo2 event insurance cost increase is NOT true;
unchanged for 2001.
Despite site losses and hosting only 2 SEDiv Solo2 events in 2001, we managed
a positive net cash flow to establish the SEDiv Solo2 program as potentially
self-sufficient. We did not have to ask for startup capital loan from SEDiv
as in previous years. Year 2000 results show that a three event series
providing strong competition, quality trophies, free lunches, and nice year
end class champion awards is viable with good sites & strong turnout.
Solo2 members in attendance voted to raise SEDiv Solo2 event weekend entry
fee from $45 to $50 to offset primary sponsor loss and continue free on-site
Saturday and Sunday lunches at event. Note that the National Tour fee is now
$55/event. Suggestion to allow discount to first-time rookie and Speed Freak
members to increase attendance. Under consideration.
Discussions on reviewing and replacing SEDiv Solo2 website to improve both
member access and quicker results posting. Frank Edwards has been doing an
admirable job of providing website to us for free, but seems to have
substantial work commitments that limit the time he can devote to the
website. Discussion with Atlanta Region webmaster, also looking into the
possibility of joining with the SEDiv Club Racing website for a cohesive
presence.
Discussion of SEDiv Pro Solo event location. SCCA Regions will be given
priority over non-SCCA clubs to host the event if they have a sufficient site
available in mid-February. Ideal site location would be FL/GA border area to
allow better member attendance possibilities than current South Florida
location. Possible Dixie Region site at Marianna, FL requires more PR work
to secure; SEDiv Solo2 Steward to follow up. Open to other location
possibilities.
Still looking for a third SEDiv Solo2 points event. Possible changes to the
proposed SEDiv Solo2 schedule as noted below. These are just the current
possibilities, nothing is written in stone yet:
TBD TBD points event
June 16 - 17 Nashville Super Speedway Nashville, TN
Aug. 11 - 12 Talladega Gran Prix Talladega, AL
TBD Evolution Team Challenge TBD (non-points)
Note the Dogwood Gran Prix street autox is scheduled for April 28 in
Knoxville, TN.
Discussion of new concept Team Challenge autox put forth by Jean
Kinser/Evolution Performance Driving School. Team of 3 - 4 members each
requires at least 1 rookie with less than 2 year Solo2 experience and 1
female drive; can be the same person to meet both requirements. Combination
of team member low times to form overall team low time. Entry fee $100 -
$150/team. Practice course Saturday, event on same course on Sunday. Driver
can choose to run on no more than 2 teams, allows variety team combinations.
At least one car in team has to be other than Stock. Money payout to the top
10 teams. Howard suggested that we could possibly try to run Team Challenge
concept integrated with regular SEDiv event rather than stand-alone. We will
try to do something as a non-points event in SEDiv for 2001, event date and
site TBD.
Please contact me if additional information is required.
Mark Sipe
SEDiv Solo2 Steward
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