Loud Pedal Inside this Issue: 25 Hours of Thunderhill Volunteer Appreciation Vintage: The Grassy Knoll February February2011 2011
The TheOffi Official cialMagazine MagazineofofOregon OregonRegion RegionSCCA SCCA
$3.00
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FEBruary 2011
Loud Pedal The Official Membership Magazine of Oregon region Sports Car Club of america. Editor:
randy unsbee, aBC Sponsor Pr & Marketing 1260 nE 20th Gresham, Or 97030 info@sponsorpr.com Editorial/advertising Deadlines: 20th of prior month Please send address changes to: Oregon Region SCCA 4800 SW Macadam Ave., Ste. 110 Portland, OR, 97239 Photographers: Doug Berger, George Dwinell, Wayne Flynn, Ron Coelho The Loud Pedal is published monthly by the Oregon Region of the Sports Car Club of America. All contents copyright Š 2011 by Oregon Region SCCA Inc. Articles and letters to the editor may be submitted in writing, by mail, by fax, electronically on a CD disk or by electronic mail. Original photographs may be submitted, but do not submit, and Oregon Region will not accept, copyrighted materials without prior written permission from the photographer specifically granting Loud Pedal permission to reprint his or her work.
Membership Application The Twisty Bits Motorsports MarCom Part II Solo Rallying with Chris & Kristen The Grassy Knoll Driver School March Race Schedule Event Sked Volunteer Appreciation Region Directory World Challenge Schedule Board Minutes Classifieds
It is to be understood that all materials submitted and accepted for use by Oregon Region for publication in Loud Pedal may be used by Oregon Region in all of the forms that Loud Pedal is published and in all of the ways that Loud Pedal is used and distributed by Oregon Region, both as a physical magazine, and as an electronic magazine available at the Oregon Region website. These additional uses include, but are not limited to: membership communications, membership recruitment, and publicity. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the credited author only, and not necessarily those of Oregon Region, its officers, members, or the Loud Pedal staff. Publication of ads, articles, photos, etc. are subject to available space.
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Oregon region Office 4800 SW Macadam ave, Suite 110 Portland, Or 97239 Voice and Message Line 503-224-9469 Fax 503-224-9542 Tues. - Wed. - Thurs. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Please call or use email below: office@oregonscca.com http://www.oregonscca.com SCCa national Toll Free number 1-800-770-2055
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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January 2011
The Twisty
Bits
with Jim Murray Let the Games Begin… Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find the schedule for our March PIr race weekend with drivers’ school, March 11-13; it’s a single regional race weekend, same as last year. you can sign up online for school, race or both; check out MotorSportreg.com. Pro Drive also has a Test Day, March 10, as per past practice. We look forward to seeing you out there soon! Meanwhile, there’s a Tech Day scheduled at PIr on February 19, 10am to 3 pm, so you can complete your annual Tech inspection prior to the
race weekend, and make late improvements as needed. We’ve now closed our market survey which had been posted, also on MotorSportreg.com. your Board of Directors is analyzing the results now, and we’ll write more in Loud Pedal in the future. The response rate was excellent, with 184 total responses received. Many of you took time to write additional comments, which are much appreciated. Look for more surveys in the future; we want your opinions and comments, always. you might recall our contest questions about Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Denny Hamlin. This was promoted in last two Loud Pedals as follows:
Brief quiz: Vettel, Webber and Hamlin…each has something in common with your writer. Send us an email with your guesses; the first three readers who guess all three answers will win a $10 Starbucks card. This is no multiple-choice exercise, either; you have to guess out of thin air! and no…it’s not that each driver’s surname has six letters…as does your correspondent’s. It’s a little tougher than that. But, not that tough. Winners’ names will be published in the next Loud Pedal; if there are no winners we’ll reveal the answers. We have no winners in the contest, so we’ll now reveal the answers (drum roll):
Sebastian Vettel’s birthday is July 3. He was born in 1987 and your writer, same day… never mind the year! Mark Webber went upside down (endo) in 2010, emerging unscathed. Ditto your writer. Denny Hamlin’s car number is 11. Ours too…subject to change… Since we received no winning entries, the Starbucks cards will be retained for a future event… as the 2011 season unfolds, you’ll see several changes in our schedules. Our focus this year is to enhance the value of your racing experience; as we have outlined in previous articles, our race weekends almost always will offer full double races. We are moving away from the Sprint race format used in recent years, trying to offer more racing opportunities and options. We hope you’ll like the new formats (beginning with the april schedule) and would like your opinions and suggestions. We hope you share our pride in the Oregon region. Our region, with over 1,000 members, is a “jumbo” region in SCCa. Our membership has grown, albeit slightly, in recent years, even holding strong through the tougher economic times.
(Continued on page 20)
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
Motorsports
MarCom
with Randy Unsbee, ABC info@sponsorpr.com
Part II In Part I of this series in the January issue of the Loud Pedal we looked at why we need Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and Web 2.0 to be successful in the motorsports marketplace. More importantly, how can they help your team, specialty, or region in solo, rally or road racing? First, a couple of brief definitions: Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is focused on what customers (members) want to know about products and services and not necessarily what marketers want to tell them in order to sell something. It’s the process of managing all sources of information to which a customer is exposed, which behaviorally moves the customer towards an action and maintains loyalty. It’s about assuring consistency of messages at every contact point where company
meets customer. Web 2.0 encompasses all that we know, and is being developed, in social media and other digital delivery systems, like smart phones and digital tablets, to name but a few. you can (and should) start small, build the foundation for your program, and then expand as needed. at Oregon region SCCa we first offered the traditional advertising placements in the Loud Pedal magazine for our marketing partners to reach the most loyal, pre-qualified customers and participants in the northwest. Then, we began building the IMC structure by combining the magazine advertising with Internet Wire Service Press releases and event sponsorship. Last year, we added the Web 2.0 delivery systems to the package, offering additional sponsorship and exposure opportunities with Facebook and live race updates via Twitter. are these big money makers? no, but they do establish a value as to what we do, makes us competitive in the market-
place with competitors like local newspaper advertising or radio, and opens the door to new outlets for exposing our region to the non-initiated. In 2010, our monthly Loud Pedal magazine advertising held steady, but event sponsorship took a big dive. I believe it would have been much worse if we hadn’t found ways to add value to what we offer to our marketing partners. Words to live by: always give your partners more than they expect. Does IMC with Web 2.0 work? There are more success stories than we have room for this month, but even though our region’s sponsorship, entries and attendance were down in 2010, our membership has grown and we lead the Sports Car Club of america’s jumbo regions. Our retention rate is high because, I think, of the quality of events and people running them. I’d like to think the positive experiences we’ve had with our marketing communications effort have played a part as well. (Continued on page 16)
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About the author: randy unsbee has 40 years of professional experience in marketing communications, public relations, advertising, journalism, photography, and social media in 14 different industries, including motorsports. a winner of over 30 professional awards and five sports car racing championships, he won the first of several hundred races beginning at the age of four in 1/4 midgets. He has worked for such worldwide powerhouse agencies as Burson-Marsteller, aaron D. Cushman & associates and Waggener-Edstrom among others, and was the award-winning Director of Communications for the Sports Car Club of america national headquarters. an experienced online communications advocate for over 25 years, he is currently completing a Masters Degree in e-Communication with Sheffield-Hallam university, Sheffield, England. He has been the Loud Pedal Publisher/Editor and evangelized Oregon region SCCa's Pr and Marketing efforts since 2006. This series of articles are adapted from his presentation at the northern Pacific Division Conference held in reno, nV this past november, and form the foundation for an upcoming e-book.
25 Hours with Bruce Wilson
a Win for Team MiataCage.com It is often said that anything worth having is worth fighting for. For the Oregonbased Miatacage.com team,
this will never ring as true as it did in December when we embarked upon our third campaign of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. We had run the race twice before and came up short on both attempts. Even though we dominated the growing and popular endurance race in our previous attempts, we broke both times
with just hours remaining to the checkered flag. This time we knew we had the correct strategy and enough driving talent with all of the drivers being past SCCa regional and/or divisional champions. We had it all figured out -- build a rock solid car and prepare for every
contingency by having enough spare parts. We even started preparing some 10 months before the race. But what we didn’t anticipate was that Honda (yes that’s right Honda the automobile manufacture) had the same idea. about a month before the race, it came to our attention
Back row (L-R): Carrie Sutherland, Brian Clemons, Jeff Jenks, Sean Hedrick, Kevin Clark, Dave Sutherland, Brian Towey, Josh McKinney, Ed Pavone, Jason Rawlins, Cheree Rawlins Front row (L-R): Ken Sutherland, Bruce Wilson, Jon Davies, Will Schrader Not pictured: Claire Davies, Samantha Davies
that Honda Performance Development (HPD) had developed a new Hybrid car (Cr-Z) that was not only brand new for 2011, but was sporting 75 horsepower more than our Miata. Honda had announced their intent to bring this car to the 25 hour race to prove out its endurance capabilities. Wow, our hopes for an easy cruise to a win were in jeopardy. How could this happen? On top of that, Honda decided to stack the deck by hiring some of the best talent in the industry to drive their car. as it turns out, they were coming to win‌ The driver lineup read like a who’s who of american sedan racing with Peter Cunningham, Lawson achenbach, and Simon Pagenaud slated to take the wheel of the well prepped and mightily powered car. So somebody changed the game! In past years, we had been competing mostly against amateur and semi-pro teams, but now we were up against a factory effort with a team of championship winning pro drivers. But deep down inside, we knew we still had a chance and remained amazingly calm as we finished our preparations and made our way down South to Willows. With Honda bringing a car that was capable of beating us by more than 2 seconds a lap, our proven race strategy and driver lineup of Ken Sutherland, Will Schrader, Jonny Davies and myself would be a key factor in our campaign against this factory backed team. In the past, our
strategies were based solely on a go-for-broke, winning strategy. But this time that strategy would play itself out time and time again, as we pushed the car and drivers to the limit in every possible way. Our veteran Crew Chief, Brian Clemmons was uncanny in his calculations and decisions. He was precise in his fuel calculations down to the lap. Even when challenged with rain and drying conditions, and quite a few full course cautions, Brian just continued to get more accurate as he gathered more data. Tires changes were scheduled with the same accuracy, although the wear was slightly more than we expected. We only had one flat and that happened on an in lap, pure genius! In the end, Brian matched wits with the Honda team for fuel, tire and driver change strategies to the nth degree all the way to the last minutes of the race. We had faster
tire changes, fuel stops, and made fewer mistakes, and as the race progressed we started to see them copy some of our methodology. How cool is that! In the end, the factory effort was reminded how powerful grassroots racing, a strong passion, and a commitment to winning can produce. The race finish was nothing short of amazing, with team MiataCage.com besting the Honda Performance Development team for the win in the hotly contested E3 class. after 25 hours of racing, the two cars were separated by just over 1 minute (on the same lap), finishing many laps ahead of the 3rd place team and ahead of many faster classed cars -- It was a battle
like no other in the race. The final laps were very intense with the Honda team turning 5-8 seconds faster laps, but as it played out, the factory effort fell short to a team with a lot of talent, perseverance and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of luck. Many thanks to all our sponsors at Toyo Tires, Midas, northwest Superfinish, InspiredSalts.com, Wyatt Fire Protection, FatCat Motorsports, Hood river Coffee, Fast underCar, SMI Motorsports and Ed Pavone. But many, many thanks to our very good friend Sean Hedrick and team owner at Miatacage. com for his support and tireless efforts. Without Sean this would have never come to pass.
Specializing in the design, installation and maintenance of water-based fire sprinkler systems Call us at (503) 684-2928
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FEBruary 2011
Solo
with Andrew Howe
The Wait is Over The wait is over. The 2011 Oregon region Solo schedule is posted on the website. This year’s schedule features more events than in past years and also is remarkably balanced between our three sites. Here’s the breakdown: We start the season in March with three dates on the north Paddock. a practice event on March 5th starts things off and it is quickly
followed by a points event the following day. a second championship event is scheduled on March 27th. The annual novice School is scheduled for april 30th in the South Paddock. The third championship event is scheduled for the next day. We’re off on the Mother’s Day weekend but back at it May 14th and 15th with two points events in Packwood. Here’s where we get lucky. It has been a while since we
were able to schedule an event weekend in the north Paddock during the summer, but this year we have events on June 4th and 5th. These are championship events #6 and #7 and are, indeed, scheduled in the north Paddock. I expect these events will be popular. We’re in Packwood for July 2nd (Intermediate School) and July 3rd (Event #8). and, we’re in Packwood again for Events #9 and #10 on august 13th and 14th. This brings us to September and season ending events in the South Paddock on September 17th (Event #11) and 18th (Event #12). Wow. 12 events! and the majority of these events are in Portland! With FOur events in the north
Paddock! I love running in Packwood, but more than that I love being able to have this many north Paddock dates. Other highlights from the northwest autocross calendar: Evolution Schools are scheduled for May 7th and 8th. I’m not sure what Phases are expected to be offered or who the contact is, but I’m sure the information will be available soon enough. northwest region has their events scheduled in Bremerton and Packwood. Highlights for me are the regional ProSolo events that are scheduled on april 16th and June 25th. These events are a blast! Finally, I understand that a northern Pacific Divisional event is tentatively scheduled for Helena, Montana on the weekend of June 11th and 12th. Helena is a long way from Oregon, but I have heard that they put on a good Divisional. (Continued on page 15)
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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Rallying with Chris & Kristen Calendars Coming Together One of the goals of the off season is to start planning the events for the upcoming year. With that in mind, here’s what we’ve got going on for 2011: Our rallyCross season calendar is being finalized; generally speaking, we’ll be on similar weekends this year as we were last year. The schedule will be posted on the Oregon rally Group website hopefully in the next week. I believe the first event is slated for March 20 out at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro. Speaking of rallyCross, once again we’re in need of helmets. If you have an old helmet Sa-95 and newer that you don’t know what to do with, please consider donating it to our rallyCross program. It gets it out of your closet and onto heads that need it, and continues its useful life as a helmet. Contact Chris Hale, rally Director, for where to drop it off.
Stage rally is once again in full swing organizing the Oregon Trail rally. This year’s round of the rally america/ rallyCar national Championship will be on May 13-15. Friday’s competition will be at PIr again, and Saturday and Sunday will be based out of the Dalles and Dufur.
ers and co-drivers and the organizers themselves. Come ask all your questions about rally— we’ll answer whatever rally questions you have! along with all the learning opportunities, we’ll have a barbecue going, rally videos and games, and fun for the whole family.
as always, we need volunteers in order to put on the awesome and safe event we’re known for. Prior knowledge of rally working is not needed, but a willingness for adventure is! rallymaster Mike nagle is working up some really cool stuff this year, and it’s going to be great to be a part of it.
next up: road rally. This year sees the return of the fabled road not Taken—a rally adventure by the light of august’s full moon. This all-night time-speed-distance event takes place august 1314. no special equipment is needed for road rally except, again, a well-developed sense of adventure! and a good watch, some pencils, a clipboard, and a navigator who can hold their dinner down. I’ll have more details as we get closer to the event, but one thing I can tell you now: this is a straight-forward, no traps, touring rally, where the only challenge is staying on time. and staying focused.
Speaking of rally working, if you are curious as to what it all entails but don’t want to commit to working a rally just to find out, you should come out to our rally Day, February 27 at Dick Hannah Subaru. We’ll have mini seminars on what “volunteering for a rally” really means, what the jobs are and how to do them. We’ll also have rally cars on display and being checked over by certified rally scrutineers, as well as rally driv-
as always, the Friday nighter series will be on the first Friday of the month with a couple of exceptions during the summer. also, the
Mountains to the Sea rally will be July 23, so if you’re in to a nice day-time drive with some challenges built in and a great dinner at the finish, you’ll want to get this one on your calendar. One big change to the rally calendar this year is the change of Ghoul’s Gambol from a Halloween rally to a harvest-time GTa. Cascade also has a rally school they’ll be putting on in advance of their first Friday nighter—the school is February 26 (day before rally Day) and the first Friday nighter is March 4th, written by some Zurschmeides. My dad has volunteered (which means I’m volunteered too) to write on the events, but I’m not telling which one. Let me just say that it won’t be as hard as you think it is, and if you follow the one simple premise you won’t get lost. really. Well, that’s all I’ve got right now. More information on all the events mentioned and more will be found on www.oregonrally.com. Like the rest of the world, I’m eagerly awaiting the “go” season!
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The Grassy Knoll with Dan Mullin
Did you Get your Email? Greetings from the grassy knoll Vintage parking lot! We are going to attempt to write a monthly column about SCCa Vintage and Vintage racing in general. Dave Franks and myself hope to alternate months but if you would like to contribute something for the good of the order…please feel free to let one of us know.
So how do you know its almost racing season? ya get an e-mail from Bud Smola about his annual get together up in Washington State. The racing season will be here before you know it! and we start things off in March with a driver’s school and regional/ vintage race weekend. The schedule has been posted for the year…lots of racing for all and we will also include dates for other Vintage organizations as well. also we have the norPac Vintage Series schedule. What
we try to do is have at least one race in each region. a few years back it worked out great…we ran at Portland, Seattle, Infineon and Fernley. It gave those of us chasing points some good track time, a chance to see other tracks, and to let other regions know we are alive and well. This year the norPac Vintage schedule will include:
it’s a great venue but a long pull for some and you might encounter snow as we have in the past. Last year we moved the SFr race to Thunderhill (different venue and different time of year). We had a pretty good turnout from OrE region but the numbers were less than they expected…it seems the SoCal group didn’t want to travel that far.
april 30-May 1 Laguna, SFr May 28-30 Pacific raceways, nWr June 17-19 PIr (rose Cup), OrE aug 20-21 OrP, OrE Some of the weekends are double race weekends and will count for double points. any questions on points standings refer them to Dave Franks. In years past we have run Laguna with San Francisco region..
This year it's back to the april date and may be tough for some up north to make due to the time of year, weather constraints, and financially taxing. But it’s a fun Series, great racing, and as always great people! Ok, now guys and gals.. let’s get out in the garage and get cracking! Check your safety gear (belts, helmets, fire systems) I would hate to get stuck in Tech and find out my belts are out of date! If you need new belts-go for the FIa ones! and before I forget…get your annual Tech done early… at PIr February 19th, from 10:00am till 3:00pm!
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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Driver School with Brian Towey
Oregon region Driver School If participation in the March Driver’s School is in your plans, then congratulations! you have just started on a fabulous adventure that few have earned the privilege to take. you will make lifelong friends and tell stories you have never imagined possible. There is a little bit of business to take care of first, however… Without putting too fine a point on it – when you arrive for an SCCa Driver’s School, you must be prepared (car and driver) exactly as for any other SCCa race weekend. Luckily, you knew that day was coming, anyway… We all had a beginning in this sport and you aren’t expected to immediately know all that an experienced racer knows – but, when you arrive Thursday evening for Ground School, the bullet has left the gun (so to speak).
So first, bring a “race” car that you believe is prepared to complete an entire SCCa race weekend. Second, bring everything that you think you might need for a complete race weekend (most people benefit from something easily disguised to be a pit crew). To help you understand more specifically what the above means, I suggest you peruse the copy of “Go ahead - Take the Wheel” that you received when you applied for your novice Permit. Start with Chapters 1,3,4,5 and 6, if you are time crunched. If you want a head start on the topics that will arise regarding driving your car, read Speed Secrets Parts 1 and 2 (get that at amazon). Some good news - Oregon region SCCa is fortunate to be the home of some exceptional racing, driving and teaching talent. and, we will be relying more on instructors with “professional” teaching experience than in the past – which also means a change in format. The new schedule allows for much more track time - this means the cur-
riculum can focus a bit on developing driving skills. The main points here are that this is going to be even better than in the past, and that what anybody else has told you about what to expect might be tossed out the window… also different from a typical SCCa School - if you bring a car properly equipped to carry a passenger, we may be able to briefly put an instructor in the race car with you. Some people learn more quickly this way, and while many of us did just fine without a riding instructor, it can be helpful. Contact me (speed@gorge.net) if you have questions about this. If you haven’t registered yet – do it now. If any of the above doesn’t make sense to you, Contact Karen (503-2249469, office@oregonscca.com) and she will make everything better!!! If we know you are coming, we can plan for it – and racing (as you will soon learn) is much about making and executing plans. Help us out by giving us a heads up. In most cases, it is helpful (perhaps, necessary) to
have documentation of your previous on-track experience if you desire to have it considered to streamline your permit / licensing process. and, this must be done before the school is completed. and, proof is more useful than simple documentation – photocopies of licenses, certificates, race results, etcetera all work great. Bring them to the track with you. We are here to help you succeed – all you have to do is cooperate and everything will work out. I promise. That does not, however, mean that there won’t be trick questions on the test… The old guys did it to us, so we have to do it to you – tradition, you know..? Complete your paperwork with SCCa (call Karen, 503-224-9469) Document your previous experience read “Go ahead - Take the Wheel” Bring a prepared “race” car Bring help to keep it running ask for help when the process seems confusing (see Karen, above)
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FEBruary 2011
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
Mar 4 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver
Event
Sked road racing March 11-13 -- Driver School & Single regional, PIr april 16-17 -- Double regional, PIr May 6-8 -- regional & national, PIr June 17-19 -- rose Cup Double regional, PIr July 1-3 -- Double national, PIr august 6-7 -- Double regional, PIr august 20-21 -- Single regional, OrP September 9 -11 -Double regional, PIr
Solo Kickoff Party Saturday, February 19th - Sykart Practice Day Saturday, March 5th - PIr north Paddock - Stock aM Event #1 Sunday, March 6th - PIr north Paddock - Stock aM Event #2 Sunday, March 27th- PIr north Paddock - Stock PM novice School Saturday, april 30th, PIr South Paddock (Pre-registration is required) Event #3 Sunday, May 1st - PIr South Paddock Stock aM
rally/rallyCross Feb 27 CSCC TSD rally School Portland, Oregon, and OrG rally Day Vancouver Wa
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May 13 - 15 Oregon Trail rally 5/13 - Portland, Or 5/14 & 5/15 - Dufur, Or
Mar 20 rallyCross #1 Hillsboro, Oregon
Event #4 Saturday, May 14th - Packwood, Wa Stock PM Event #5 Sunday, May 15th, - Packwood, Wa - Stock PM Event #6 Saturday, June, 4th - PIr north Paddock - Stock aM Event #7 Sunday, June, 5th - PIr north Paddock Stock aM Intermediate School Saturday, July 2nd - Packwood, Wa (Pre-registration is required) Event #8 Sunday, July 3rd - Packwood, Wa - Stock PM Event #9 Saturday, august 13th - Packwood, Wa - Stock aM Event #10 Sunday, august 14th - Packwood, Wa - Stock aM Event #11 Saturday, September 17th - PIr South Paddock - Stock PM Event #12 Sunday, September 18th - PIr South Paddock - Stock PM
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Jun 10 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver
apr 1 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver
Jun 12 rallyCross #4 Hillsboro, Oregon
apr 17 rallyCross #2 Hillsboro, Oregon
Jul 1 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver area
May 6 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver
Jul 23 CSCC Mountains to the Sea road rally; Portland, Oregon to the beach
May 8 rallyCross #3 Hillsboro, Oregon
(Continued on page 21)
2011 Test Days 400
$
Sign-up: www.prodrivestore.net or call 503.285.4449 June 30 March 10 August 5 April 15 May 5 (No-Chicane) August 11 June 9 September 8 June 16 • Spec Racer Ford Rentals • Road Racing School • Professional Coaching • SkidCar Courses • High Performance Driving
www.prodrive.net • 503.285.4449 Portland International Raceway
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FEBruary 2011
WE APPRECIATE OUR VOLUNTEERS! Many of you know, but some may not, Oregon region encourages volunteers to work at our road race events by subsidizing their SCCa dues. For instance, in 2011 if you work 11 days out of the total 22 days available at Oregon region races, the region will pay all your individual SCCa dues when they come due. There are only two things you have to do: (1) Show up and work in the specialty of your choice, and (2) at the end of your membership year, fill out the “Club racing Volunteer Incentive Program” form. Mail that form and your membership invoice to the Oregon region office and your dues will be paid. Please plan ahead and renew early. If you are unable to participate in 11 days during the year for Oregon region but you do attend other SCCa events, national SCCa pro-
Volunteer
Appreciation vides a discount on your dues. The amount of the discount depends on how many days you work during your membership year. Of course, subsidizing your dues is only one way the region demonstrates our appreciation for your dedication at our events. There are drawings for gift cards and other prizes, and dinner or snacks and adult beverages are provided at the end of each on-track day, too! We encourage all participants to join the social at the end of the day so workers, drivers and crews can bench race and get to know each other better. Thanks for all you do—we appreciate you!
Arrive and Drive Here and Away
Are you ready for a different track? We offer service, support and rentals both in Portland and racing destinations from coast to coast.
Pacific Raceways, Thunderhill, Infineon, Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow, Phoenix International, Firebird, Willow Springs, Daytona, Virginia International, MidOhio, Sebring, Heartland Park, Road America, Pueblo, ...
Authorized Dealer For: • Spec Racer Ford/Formula SCCA • MoTeC Data Acquisition Cell: 503-970-9871 Email: flatoutpdx@comcast.net
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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(Continued from page 6) The other known Divisional event date is right around the corner… San Francisco region is hosting a Divisional February 19th and 20th (you’ll have to miss the Kick Off Party!). They know it is early in the year, but it was the only time they could get the nice lot.
Motorsports
A Division of A-n-T TIRE AND WHEEL
Your Race Tire Headquarters DRAG • ROAD • AUTOCROSS • RALLY
Jeff Zurshmeide
I know this month isn’t an exciting article. Sorry… But the season and the excitement are just around the corner.
Trackside
TIRES ALIGNMENT SUSPENSION 8131 N. Interstate Ave. Portland, OR • 503-236-2106
Check out our new website: TracksideRaceTires.com
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FEBruary 2011
(Continued from page 5) For the first time in our region’s history, you can find out what’s going on through our monthly magazine, Web site, Facebook and Twitter. We even have high definition video clips on Facebook and high definition podcasts are soon to come. Live race coverage via Twitter and Facebook were highly successful. To be successful at this, do you need to know all about strategy, tactics, branding and other mumbo jumbo? not necessarily, though it helps. There are dozens of really good books out there to give you some ideas. Two I recommend are: “Value added Public relations: the Secret Weapon of Integrated Marketing” by Harris, and “The new rules of Marketing and Pr: How to use Social Media, Blogs, news releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to reach Buyers Directly” by Scott. Okay, so what can you start doing today? Most organizations, committees and teams pick out a few individual tactics, throw them at the wall, and hope one or more of them stick. I am going to advise that you turn that model upside down. Start with an objective, determine a battle plan, and then select the right tactics.
align your objectives with your marketing communications effort. That objective could be revenue growth, which means starting by attracting new members and retaining who you have. Maybe your objective is geared towards generating advertising revenue, sponsors, or drawing more entries from outside of region. Perhaps it is garnering more publicity for your team or volunteer activities. Draw out your battle plan. Whatever they may be, write down your business goals in detail. a good source in this area is “Business Model Generation” by Osterwalder and Pigneur. Then, learn as much as you can about your target audiences; break them down into segments and develop a list of potential tactics for reaching them. a “one-size-fits all” marketing communications campaign rarely works anymore. If you’re running your region or team’s campaign then create a biography for each group – solo, rally, rallycross, road race, time trials, officials, volunteer workers, drivers, crew members, etc. (Continued on page 17)
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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(Continued from page 16) Determine what you want each segment of your audience to know and believe about you. Different segments have different interests and problems for you to solve. Whether you are a driver, team owner, chief of specialty, regional executive or committee leader, use the tools at hand to tell your members and prospects about what you do that is unique and interesting. In sales this is called the unique Selling Proposition (uSP.) This can be accomplished through your region’s magazine, newsletter, Web site, Facebook page, Blog, email or text messages. Plan to stay in touch with your audience on at least a monthly basis. If you are preparing for particularly busy time of year, like race season, this contact may be much more frequent. But, don’t make the mistake of disappearing during the off season. If you do, you’ll find interest, support and participation in your project may disappear as well, or be extremely difficult to jump start. your credibility will suffer. Then, select OnE tactic to try out, track the results, modify as needed, and try again. Then, add another, and another.
Would you like to get involved in Road Racing? But maybe not in a race car? And maybe inside where it’s dry and cool (or warm, as the case may be)? Want to meet new friends & get all the scuttlebutt on what’s going on in our racing family?
could be just the place for you. We have on-the-job training. No technical skills needed. Just a smiling face and a can-do attitude to greet the drivers and other participants when they show up at the track. Contact: Karen McCoy 503-224-9469 office@oregonscca.com Or see us at the track!
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As Oregon’s largest group of newspapers, Pamplin Media Group is focused on providing great journalism for our communities and state. We believe that our newspapers give our readers essential knowledge about important issues and the inspiration to contribute to the quality of life and economic futures of the place we call home. But information and knowledge is not enough. Great communities, and a great future for the people who live here requires individuals and institutions to work together to make things better. As a business and community leader, we pledge to work with the Portland area auto industry, other businesses and community residents to promote the economic success of this important industry and to participate in efforts to improve the environmental impact of vehicles in our community, and to promote effective transportation systems and solutions.
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Proud sponsor of the 2011 Portland International Auto Show
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
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FEBruary 2011
(Continued from page 4) We receive praise from visiting Stewards who chair and observe our events, both for our efficiency of race operations, and for our good spirit. These results are a credit to our race operations management, our chiefs, and our workers. When it’s pelting down rain, with mud everywhere, the corner workers are all smiles. need I say more?
Drivers, here’s a thought (I doubt it’s original): If there’s a race weekend you’re not running, try coming out to work, especially if you haven’t before. We’re always short workers on Fridays because of their jobs. Come out and volunteer…if you show up an hour before first green flag, there’s a workers’ meeting (contact myself, or Karen and we can introduce you). you will be assigned a spot, probably placed on a corner, and see the other side of our race weekends. It’s a great way to appreciate the organizational skill and dedication, not to mention the attitude, of our race operations and crew. SCCa overall remains this country’s premier amateur road racing organization.
The SCCa creates the structure for our racing, with an emphasis on safety, fair competition and high driving standards. Our race weekends are run based on these rules, with an emphasis locally on “safe, fair and fun”. Our intent is to offer you the most competitive, safest racing you can find in the Pacific northwest; your SCCa racing license enables you to run anywhere from Pacific raceways to road atlanta, Watkins Glen to road america. and right here at home: Portland International raceway. Come out and race! We look forward to seeing you this year! More comments or questions? 541 788 2797 or jmmurrayjr@ aol.com - aloha -
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
World Challenge Announces Final Two Venues to Complete 2011 Season
(Continued from page 13) Jul 31 rallyCross #5 Location to be announced aug 5 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver Sep 9 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver Sep 11 rallyCross #6 Hillsboro, Oregon Oct 7 CSCC Friday nighter Portland / Vancouver Oct 9 rallyCross #7 Hillsboro, Oregon nov 5 CSCC autumn GTa rally, Portland / Vancouver
TOPEKa, Kan. (February 8, 2011) – WC Vision and SCCa Pro racing today announced the final two events that will showcase Sports Car Wars and complete the 12race 2011 World Challenge GT, GTS and Touring Car Championships campaign: Mazda raceway Laguna Seca (MrLS) and road atlanta. now in its 22nd consecutive year, north america’s top professional series for production-based sports cars will return to Mazda raceway Laguna Seca and the famous corkscrew on Sept. 16-18. The series last raced at MrLS in 2009 and the 2011 event is scheduled along with the american Le Mans Series. Then it’s off to road atlanta in Braselton, Ga, Sept. 28Oct. 1, as the World Challenge season finale will take place during the prestigious Petit Le Mans weekend, also with the american Le Mans Series. Later that same weekend, World Challenge will also host its season-ending awards banquet, officially crowning its GT, GTS and Touring Car Drivers’, Manufacturers’ and Team Champions. The 12-race, eight-venue schedule will be televised on VErSuS, with more details on the TV schedule to be announced soon. additionally, fans can watch all of the races on world-challengetv.com. (Continued on page 23)
Directory
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2011 Board of Directors Regional Executive Asst. R. E. Past R. E. Road Racing Director Solo Director Rally Director Director at Large 1 Director at Large 2
Andrew Foley Dan Mullin Dan Halloran Jim Murray George Wilder Chris Hale Peggy Gaston Kim Kuzma McFarland
region Officials Membership/Merchandise Karen McCoy Region Office Admin Karen McCoy Secretary to BOD Mary Thompson Treasurer C. Sutherland Publicity/Marketing Randy Unsbee Loud Pedal Publisher/Editor Randy Unsbee rally Officials RoadRally Manager RallyCross Manager
Kevin Poirier Rebecca Ruston
road racing Officials Road Racing Director Race Ops Manager Regl Points Keeper* Vintage Racing Chair Vintage Points*
Jim Murray Bob Smethers Kari L. Macfarlane Dan Mullin Dave Franks
andrewf@blaser-die.com danm356@yahoo.com dan.halloran@yahoo.com jmmurrayjr@aol.com RX3SP9@centurytel.net chris@cubedisorder.com peggygaston@hotmail.com kuzmc@hotmail.com 503-224-9469 503-224-9469 memamare3@aol.com carrie_sutherland@yahoo.com info@sponsorpr.com info@sponsorpr.com
jmmurrayjr@aol.com 971-207-5147 karimac@qwestoffice.net 541-683-1091 503-968-8134
*Please contact Dave Franks for Vintage Series Points. Contact Kari Macfarlane for all other Oregon Region points matters. SCCa area 13 Director
Todd Butler
todd@coho.net
road racing Chiefs Course Marshal Emergency Flagging Communications Medical Paddock/HotPits Pre-Grid Sound Judge Radio Tech Registration (pre-race) Registration (at track) Chief Starter Pace Car Tech Inspection Timing and Scoring Driver Services/Trophies
Mike Gunnip Christopher Nawrocki Ken Killam Grace Skinner TBD Del Bockman Julie Winslow Sherm Egge Ric Farrar Karen McCoy Win Casey Dwain Panian Tim Stanley Rick Bahr Randi Graffy Jeannie Loyning
503-789-7653 503-970-5644 971-506-6171 503-515-5977 360-513-6728 egge5@hotmail.com 503-245-2506 503-224-9469 503-297-4049 503-285-0989 503-693-8139 360-573-5307 503-775-2999
Stewards Gary Meeker - NorPac Executive Steward Jeffrey Niess - OR Deputy Executive Steward Ben Bradley - Norpac RallyCross Steward Howard Allen Steve Archer Bill Bachofner Todd Butler Bill Carr Win Casey Erin Ebelmesser Gail Fetterman Dave Franks Spencer Gorham Don Holland Bob Mead Dan Mullin Alan Robinson Lewis Scott Don Smethers Dave Shively Gary Van Horn Skip Yocom
gmeeker@earthlink.net niess@comcast.net bradley@reed.edu howduck@qwest.net mikah@comcast.net wgbach@comcast.net todd@coho.net bcarr@varicast.com msiltd@integraonline.com lylaskye@msn.com gailfetterman@comcast.net franks97@verizon.net sgorstew@aol.com hollanddl@verizon.net ramead@q.com danm356@yahoo.com robinsah@engr.orst.edu 503-646-3840 don@smethers.com mos33c20@centurytel.net gvanhorn@minetfiber.com rampant53@gmail.com
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FEBruary 2011
BOD Minutes
OrEGOn rEGIOn SCCa BOarD OF DIrECTOrS MEETInG MInuTES DaTE: 12-1-2010 PLaCE: China Bay restaurant
TrEaSurEr rEPOrT – absent Karen provided balance sheets for both the region and road racing. She also provided a summary of the banquet budget.
PrESEnT: Board Members: andrew Foley, Dan Mullin, Dan Halloran, Chris Hale, Jim Murray, George Wilder, Peggy Gaston, Kim McFarland
LOuD PEDaL rEPOrT – randy reported that the latest issue is up on the web and is at the printer. He also reported a slight increase in advertising.
Officials: Mary Thompson, Karen McCoy, randy unsbee Members: andy Howe, Gary Manchester, Bob Smethers
DIrECTOr’S rEPOrTS
absent: Carrie Sutherland CaLL TO OrDEr – recently elected rE, andrew Foley called the meeting to order. rEGIOnaL EXECuTIVE InTrO – andrew thanked Dan H. for his service as rE and welcomed him to the BOD as Past rE. MEMBEr/nEW BuSInESS COMMEnTS – Bob Smethers provided the group a look at TC and how the club operates. He also expressed thanks for The regions cooperation in the past, ie lending equipment and vehicles to them for their events. Gary Manchester mentioned the fact that he thought there should have been more information provided earlier regarding the election of new BOD. This may have given members extra momentum to become involved. COMMITTEE & OFFICIaLS rEPOrTS rEGIOnaL OFFICE rEPOrT – Karen reported hours worked as 89 ½. This encompassed mostly cleanup of the past season and preparation for the upcoming one of 2011.
SOLO II rEPOrT – George advised that they would be working on their budget next week. andy mentioned that their banquet was good. raLLy rEPOrT – Chris provided a look at, “rally In a nutshell”. This helped those not familiar with rally to understand their operations. DIrECTOr I rEPOrT – Peggy thanked Frank McKinnon for his help in securing the awards for the banquet. It was a big job but she was pleased with the outcome. DIrECTOr II rEPOrT – Kim was pleased to say that she had many good comments about the banquet. The facility worked out well and the food was good. She would not hesitate to recommend the same site for the next banquet. rOaD raCInG rEPOrT – Jim is currently working on the 2011 budget. He Provided a draft of the proposed schedule for the upcoming season. He would like to have a survey created for the drivers to provide feedback to The region’s proposed event to be held at OrP.
Jim suggests that all drivers take time to join a specialty at one of our events as a worker. He has found this to be highly fulfilling to see the track from another aspect than as a driver. It helps to understand the track better as well as the essential role of our workers. Jim and Karen prepared an Entry History encompassing 2005-2010. This provided an overview of each race for those years. This report also showed the actual cost to run a race weekend with the averages as follows: 2 day = $37,283 3 day = $38,894. These amounts include track rental, security, ambulance, towing, food, beverages, insurance and sanction fees. This is where the driver entry fee goes. He mentioned that nW is interested in co-sanctioning an event with us this year. More will be discussed on this later. Bob Smethers, race Operations, provided a list of the chiefs for 2011 The BOD voting on the list with no discussion. M/S (Dan H/Dan M) M/P. any specialties not filled at this time will be announced at a Chief ’s meeting to be held Feb 5th. Place TBD. He mentioned the possibility of separating F & C into two separate specialties. This decision will be reported on at said meeting. PaST rEGIOnaL EXEC – Dan thanked andy for his past representation as Solo Director on the BOD. He has provided a strong voice with profound knowledge of our sport.
Dan also suggested that it might be helpful to have reports sent prior to the BOD meeting this month so that they could then be discussed at the meeting after having been perused prior to the meeting. aSST rEGIOnaL EXEC - none rEGIOnaL EXEC – andrew was happy to have the opportunity to lead The region into the new season. He wanted to use this first meeting to listen to his BOD, and their reports and gather info that he can use to go into the season better informed of the operations. He has ideas for change and will initiate them as we move into the new year. The rE will advise of the selection of a committee to review the region Financial records as requested. One change was to the meeting date. a BOD member had a conflict so the meeting date has been changed from the first Wednesday of each month to the third Wednesday. The first meeting of 2011 will be held 1/19/11. Meetings are subject to change due to conflicts that might arise due to holidays, race dates etc. Prior notice will always be advised. nOTE: andrew requested that Carrie and Mary remain in their current positions as Treasurer and Secretary. They both accepted his appointment. adjourn M/S (Dan H./Dan M) M/P respectfully submitted, Mary Thompson
The latest news from the Oregon region Sports Car Club of america.
(Continued from page 21) 2011 World Challenge Schedule of Events
September 28 – October 1, round 12 road atlanta (with aLMS, Petit Le Mans Weekend) Braselton, Ga
March 25 – 27, rounds 1 & 2 Streets of St. Petersburg (with IndyCar) St. Petersburg, FL
* denotes doubleheader race event
april 15 – 17, round 3 Streets of Long Beach (with IndyCar/aLMS) Long Beach, Ca april 29 – May 1, round 4 Miller Motorsports Park (coheadliner, naSCar West) Tooele, uT May 20 – 22, rounds 5 & 6 Mosport International raceway (World Challenge Headliner)* Bowmanville, On, CDn august 5 – 7, rounds 7 & 8 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (with IndyCar/aLMS)* Lexington, OH august 26 – 28, rounds 9 & 10 Infineon raceway (with IndyCar)* Sonoma, Ca
World Challenge is north america's top production carbased racing championship. Divided into three separate categories (World Challenge GT, World Challenge GTS, and World Challenge Touring Car), each race features a thrilling standing start, adrenaline filled door-todoor action and world class drivers. World Challenge features cars from the world's most popular manufacturers – race-prepped versions of the cars driven on the streets. Sanctioned by SCCa Pro racing, World Challenge races at north america's premier road and temporary street courses. For more information about World Challenge, visit www.world-challenge. com.
September 16 – 18, round 11 Mazda raceway Laguna Seca (with aLMS) Monterey, Ca
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NonCommercial Commercial Classifieds Classifieds Race Cars for Sale One of the fastest MG Midgets on West Coast. Professionally built and maintained by Loynings Engine Service, Portland OR. New all steel engine built 2010 only three-race weekend. New tires only two-race weekend. New belts. Mounted rain tires and extra parts. Too many up dates and specifications to list in ad. Has competed in all West Coast vintage organizations and tracks. Turn high 1:34s and low 1:35s at Portland. Race ready just been prepared by Loynings for next year. Complete specifications and pictures available on line. $20,000 or best offer. budsmola@comcast.net 360-835-7807
Trailer for Sale Trailer, 16 feet, double axle. Electric brakes, deck wood in excellent condition, less than 100 miles on new wheel bearings. $1,100. Bill Duncan 503-2465333.
Request for Bid Parts installation needed for ITA race car: exhaust header, coilovers, Prothane bushings, underdrive pulley, EGR blockoff, and brakelines. Parts received and ready to install. Email Randy at randall. unsbee@comcast.net.
Commercial classified text and display advertising as a very affordable way to reach our readers. Text ads are $10 for the first 20 words and 10-cents per word thereafter. Display Classified ads are as little as $10 per column inch. Submission deadline is the 20th day of the month prior to publication. Please contact the editor for further information.
Hello from 7P’s Now that our race season is over for 2010 it’s time to fix those taped together car bodies, broken bits of fiberglass and whatever else that’s been waiting for attention. Please call Scott Goodrich @ 360-606-9447 or email scottgoodrich95@yahoo.com.
Estate Sales & Appraisals Life changes frequently require valuation and liquidation of personal property. My twentyplus years of experience can help you with full estate sales, downsizing, moves and appraisals for estates, dissolution and insurance purposes. All services are personalized and confidential. Free consultations. Shirley Sanders, 503-762-1272 SandersAppraisals@msn.com www.RedSignEstateSales.com SCCA Member #309862
Loud Pedal
Oregon Region SCCA 4800 SW Macadam Ave, Ste 110 Portland, Oregon 97239 http://www.oregonscca.com Change Service Requested Issue: February 2011
Time Value Data â&#x20AC;˘ Do Not Delay