We’ve had many meetings attended by many people, since the last newsletter you received.  I never promised I would always write a newsletter each and every time there was a meeting, now did I??!!   See, now that elections are over, I’m going to get real nasty!!

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS:  The 14 official ballots are in and counted. Here’s how you voted:
President- Carl Ross with 11 votes (Shawn O’Hara had 3 votes)
Vice President- Bill Hamilton with 12 votes (Rob May had 1 vote)
Secretary/Treasurer- Bonita Hansley with 14 votes
Off-road Director- Brian Seckel with 14 votes
Oval Director- Jim Pfeiffer with 8 votes (Randy Bost had 4 votes)
Site Director- Trevor Iverson with 10 votes (Matt Mosieur with 2 votes)
Site Maintenance- Danny Mayer with 14 votes
There were a total of 10 votes cast, all yes, for allowing ORCCC board members to receive free membership renewals as an incentive for as long as they are in office performing their duties.

As Oval Director, Jim Pfieffer has many tidbits of news to share with the oval drivers.
To bring some new excitement to the paved oval racing, we are going to be offering "breakout races".  To those who are not familiar with this style of racing, this racing competition is not based on how many laps you run, but how close to the maximum number of laps you turn in 4 minutes.  The times, standings and number of laps are not announced during the race.  Your goal is to beat your opponents, yet not "breakout" of the maximum number of laps allowed.  It's loads of fun and we hope you guys will join us soon! 
There is talk of an oval series after the completion of the IRONMAN series.   Jim suggested 9 races with 2 throw outs.  He wants to encourage all classes of racers including touring/sedan, dual sport/eastcoast modified and legends.  Details will follow in the near future.  Jim also wants to announce his race facility, Pro Hobby Speedway, races pancar and legends every Monday night at 7 PM.  The concrete oval track and hobby shop is located at 715 N. Lake Pleasant Road in Apopka. Jim’s phone number is 407-886-4615.  Join them for some fun.

Hey, I need your phone number!  It’s not fair that you know the ORCCC hotline can be reached 24/7 at 352-369-1895, but I have no way of calling most of the members and/or regular racers.  Give me a call and let me update the records with your phone number.  Thank you!

Concession prices are changing upon our return to our regular race season on September 4^th.  Drinks and hotdogs are going to be .75.

Brian Seckel, as the new off-road director, has had his hands full keeping the track prepped for practice and for the upcoming race season.  A fine job I might add.  He wants to announce some changes and/or additions.  His plan is to get a load of “real” clay that he swears will make all the difference in the track surface.  He’s also is on the lookout for a backpack blower.  Anyone with connections in the clay or blower world, help Brian get the most for our money!  Danny, who’s known in the hose community, is helping us obtain commercial strength watering hoses.  Sounds like things are going to keep getting better at the best little R/C car club in Ocala!

Danny Mayer, as site maintenance, has plans also.  We are going to deck the handicapped drivers area (similar to the deck outside the computer room).  He’s also going to work with Jim Pfeiffer to repair the wood frame surrounding the oval track.

Site director, Trevor Iverson, has come up with an ingenious plan to eliminate the trash accumulation.  We are going to phase out the current barrels and replace them with 2 or 3 regular garbage cans with liners.  Each Saturday, the liners will be trashed and the cans will be put in the shed.  Make a point of picking up your trash and putting it in the garbage cans or take it home with you for disposal. 

A joint effort of the board members was to make the monthly meetings easier to attend by everyone.  To this end, the meetings will be held the first Saturday of each month at 9:30 am.  To keep the meetings short and complete by 11, we are thinking of following an outline that will be passed out prior to the meeting.  If you want an item discussed at the following meeting, you need to call the ORCCC to get the topic on the next month’s outline.  We’ll try this schedule out and see what happens. 

New vice-president, Bill Hamilton, is now “officially” working for the club.  He continues his superb work on the ORCCC website (find it at www.orccc.org) and is helping me get the membership records in order.  His latest greatest accomplishment is virtual on-line R/C racing.  See the “Fun Stuff” page of the website for this exciting addition.  Also, for those of you who don’t know Bill, he’s been the computer dude for the past 2 years!  Yeah, you knew you knew him!

We have quite a few charity events to look forward to the last two months of the year.  The ORCCC will host a “tin can” event the entire month of November.  You can pay for your race registration with canned goods (1 can = $1) or with good ole greenback.  Either way, our charity of choice wins, ‘cause 100% of the fees go to the charity in the form of food and cash donations!  The entire month of December will be similarly charitable.  100% of the cash for registrations will be used to buy gifts to be donated to the charity of choice to help our less fortunate residents make it through the Christmas season.

The ORCCC was proud to host the final race of the Florida Off-Road Series on July 11^th.  We had 104 registrars and a great race day was had by all.  Jack Martin, of Jack’s Hobbies, announced the race and kept things going with a touch of humor.  Other folks that kept the day going were Bill Hamilton, Carl Ross, Mason McCombs, Brian Seckel, Danny Mayer and Shawn O’Hara.  Special thanks go out to all of these guys.  The club also wants to thank the City of Ocala Fraternal Order of Police and Cindy Cook for the great grub.  The FOP can be reached via Julia Slusser at 237-3744 for cookout type deals for 75 to 200 people.  They specialize in burgers, hotdogs, sausages, chips and drinks.  All of their proceeds go to charity, so check them out.  Also, Cindy “the” Cook can be reached at 237-9495 (dingo0581@aol.com) for all sorts of events.  She arranges birthday parties that come complete with a clown for entertainment!  Cindy’s specialties are burgers, hotdogs, BBQ, pizza, candy, soda, smoothies and ICE CREAM!  Check out either of these folks if you are in need of their services.  Contact me if you need further information of either of our wonderful food vendors. 

Whew, I’m tired.  This wraps up this edition of the newsletter.  Expect more current newsletters once we get back on schedule on September 4^th!!