Slipstream - February 2014

Gimme a Minute: January Board Meeting
By Wendy Shoffit, Region Secretary January 8, 2014
Region President
John
Hamilton
began the January
8 board meeting
at 7:03 pm. He
welcomed several
guests, including
Dick Rogers, Hiram Saunders,
and Jacques & Kitty Krielen.
He mentioned that the Hope
Shelter Christmas party was a huge
success. Because of the generosity
of Mavericks and sponsors, we
were able to give over $2400 in gift
cards to the guests and staff at the
shelter. See Chris Hamilton’s article
for all the details. Tracy Robertson
added that these gift cards were
in addition to the $3500 we raised
at the Founders’ Day Silent Auction.
The shelter is very grateful!
John then brought up our region
again possibly participating in a
PCA Club Race at Circuit of the
Americas (COTA) in Austin. While
last year the event was a success,
we didn’t make as much as we
thought we would. The cost of the
track has gone up substantially this
year. Lone Star and Hill Country
Regions are already on board for
2014 and wanted us as a third.
We discussed many of the issues,
including ways to save money,
increasing entrant fees, and changing
the format to prevent track
time problems, etc. The financial
projection still remains that the
regions will make money, but we go
into it realizing that reality is always
different from projections. There
are many details yet to be worked
out, including obtaining new sponsors
for the event, but the vote was
in favor of taking on the challenge
again. We will participate with several
caveats, which John will bring
to David Gross, the event chair.
Now is the time for us to nominate
candidates for National Awards.
We opted out of Region of the
Year and Public Service Awards.
We would like to pursue either
Family of the Year or Enthusiast
of the Year for Travis Howard, our
2013 Selcer Award winner. If you
have other nomination suggestions,
please sent them to John.
Next, John introduced DE Chair,
Chris Tabor. He has been doing
his best to make improvements to
the program in the off-season. In
addition to securing $10K in greatly
needed UHF radios for the event
(see more about this below), he has
also been dealing with personnel
changes. One change was in the position
of registrar. Joel Nannis has
done the job for the past six years
and has been an outstanding volunteer
for far longer. There was nothing
but love and respect for Joel as
he continues his PCA career, which
recently expanded to include being
a National Club Racing Scrutineer.
Editor Carey Spreen was next
up. The January issue was slow
to reach mailboxes because of
the holidays. The February issue
is on track. He would like more
event chairs to post pictures of
their events online to our Flickr
account. He could then download
them for the printed version of
Slipstream AND include a link to
the online version to view them
all. He also mentioned his desire
to have more AX/TT pics. Travis
volunteered Robyn, in her absence.
Chris Tabor was next. He and
Bob Benson tested the UHF radios
before purchasing them. They
worked flawlessly in all areas of the
track. The new radios will be here
in time for the February 15-16 DE,
and they will be easier to charge
and transport. The old VHF radios
are available to other chairs in the
club, if desired, or they can be sold.
We have started advertising for the
February DE, for which Autobahn
is the sponsor. Darren Kirbo has
agreed to replace the retiring Keith
Olcha as the Sponsorship Chair.
Thanks go to KO for his great
service over the past years. Lastly,
Lone Star Region has approved our
using their document that nicely
details for entrants our instructors’
criteria for advancement.
Sunday Drive Chair John Harvey
has been brainstorming events
with his wife, BJ, and others. They
will work around the existing
driving event schedules and soon
come up with a plan. There will
be a mix of popular past drives
and some new drives. There’s sure
to be something for everyone.
Social Chair Tracy Robertson said
that the Holiday Party was a great
success, mostly due to our wonderful
hosts, Lee and Linda Wilkins.
Approximately 100 people attended.
She hopes to have a similar venue
for 2014. Email your suggestions
for locations to social@mavpca.org.
Coming up on January 25 is the
All Member Party. It’s one of the
largest social events of the year,
in which event chairs attend to
talk about their areas. Guests
are welcome, particularly new
member recruits. Tracy requests
that everyone RSVP several days
in advance not only for the party,
but also for board meetings (the
room was a little crowded tonight).
Husband David still had
Macan raffle tickets for sale.
Autocross/Time Trial Chair
Travis Howard let us know he
wouldn’t be at the All Member
Party. Sadly, he will be at the
Rolex 24 at Daytona. He is working
to update the Autocross
6 February