The latest meeting of the ORCCC was held on August 17, 2000. As usual, we covered lots of ground and want everyone know what’s happening at the best little R/C car club in Ocala! Keep reading for the latest poop.

This meeting was our first ever held under the community covered pit area set up at the track. No more stuffy indoor meetings like at work, we’ve got the great outdoors and our beautiful track surrounding us! (Currently, the great outdoors includes bugs you can’t see that irritate the tar out of you…but this will pass as the season changes!) Those in attendance were: Bill Hamilton, Carl Ross, Susan Danvers, Danny Mayer, Tom Hitchcock, Mason McCombs, Fletcher Grosz, Josh Beavers, Melanie Stalnaker, Phillip Smith, myself and the entire gnat community of the state of Florida. Join us next month at the community pit area of the A2Z Race Park at 7:30 on Thursday, September 21^st.

I gotta spill the beans on the most exciting news first!!! The ORCCC will host the first race of the 2000-2001 Florida State Off-Road Series on October 15^th. This race will also be the location of the 1999-2000 Series trophy presentation. We are hoping to have a huge turnout so we can show off our new A2Z Race Park! Plans are slowly forming, so keep checking the website (orccc.org) for the latest information. We’ve decided on the schedule of races as follows: Friday practice 5:30 PM until 10:00 PM. Saturday practice 8:00 AM until 3:30 PM. Saturday night club racing starting at 4:00 PM open to all racers, members and non-members and registration for same available all day. Sunday’s State Series race begins at 8:00 AM and continues until the fat lady sings! We are looking into overnight pitting. Contact us before planning to spend the night at the track to make sure it has been approved. We will be sending out registration forms, maps and information to all the clubs listed in Rev-Ups Region 4 list.

The Saturday before the State Series, October 7^th, we will hold the official GRAND OPENING OF THE A2Z RACE PARK. By that time almost 95% of our tasks will be completed and the site will truly be the one we have dreamed of for years. The day will include prizes, food and fun. Check the website (orccc.org) for the lowdown! We encourage all R/Cers to attend for our presentation to the world of the best little R/C car club in Ocala!!

Since those two weekends are sure to put us all in an R/C coma, the ORCCC WILL NOT HOLD A SATURDAY NIGHT RACE ON OCTOBER 21^ST! The track will, however, be open during the day for practice, just no organized race. We hope to see you on October 7^th, October 14^th & 15^th and again on October 28^th!!!

There was a little confusion as to the agreed upon schedule for the race site. As you know, track time is limited due to the business that operates on the same property. The schedule for practicing is Wednesday night 5:30 PM until 10:30 PM, Friday night 5:30 PM until 10:30 PM and all day Saturday and Sunday. This is the PRACTICE/RACE SCHEDULE. The club is able to access the site at any time for maintenance, so long as the business operation is not disrupted. Please contact Danny Mayer, Tom Hitchcock or Fletcher Grosz if you are interested in helping with site/track maintenance to keep the workflow organized and beneficial.

Since the Nitro class is new to the ORCCC, we have been experimenting with various ways to run the race. We have decided to let the start up format for the mains be DRIVER’S CHOICE!! If you can control your idling nitro, you will line up at the start line in the order listed on the printout. If you need to use the Lemans technique, it is the driver’s responsibility to get himself a pit person to hold his vehicle and these vehicles and pit persons will line up behind the idling Nitros in the order listed on the printout for the remaining racers. This is a fair plan for everyone and I think the Nitro madness racers will love it!

To accommodate our taller crowd, the ORCCC is expanding their restroom facilities. That’s right folks, you will now be able to use the facility with the door closed and still have enough room to dance a jig in the new and improved super huge portajohn being negotiated on at this time. Hey, it doesn’t take much to get us excited, but if you’ve ever had to use our facility in the past, you know this news excites you too!

Hello track maintenance personnel!! There is a request of all you fine folks doing such a fine job on the racetrack…clean up the tools when you are done. Melanie Stalnaker donates 4-5 hours each week keeping our lawn in tiptop shape. Unfortunately, she spends almost an hour just picking up all the shovels, pipes, rakes and the like. She doesn’t cut the club’s grass like we cut our own grass where we mow over anything unlucky enough to get in our path; she’s a professional. So remember, the task is not completed until all the equipment is back in its respective homes. LIVE IT, LEARN IT, KNOW IT!!

Speaking of a neat facility, have you noticed the clean up operation going on at the site?? Every day there are improvements to the aesthetics of the site. It’s easy to forget how trashy the place starts to look without proper site maintenance since we race in the dark. Fletcher Grosz, as site director, has done a swell job in getting his crew of workers to pitch in and improve the site as well as the track! Thanks to all!

On a sad note, the ORCCC has announced they will no longer be hosting monthly races in Gainesville. Bill Thompson, our contact in Gainesville that got this whole traveling side show going, is sorta stuck doing everything to keep the track maintained for these races and his time and wallet are getting hit too hard to continue. We had some great times in Gainesville and will really miss the monthly road trip. Maybe we will try it again in the future. Bill Thompson will keep us informed as to the track’s status.

Important information follows, so read carefully. So many things and people have changed at the ORCCC, that we feel now is the time to advise everyone of how the club evolved to their present state and location. The club was hobbling along at the McPherson Governmental Complex site. Attendance was poor and active members were at an all time low. The head of the operation had shrunk to Carl Ross, Bill Hamilton and myself. We were on the phone constantly with one another trying to keep the club going. Just when things were looking up after our summer break and continuing Ironman Series, we had an unfortunate physical altercation during one of our races. Again, attendance plummeted. At this same time, vandalism at the track was escalating and oval racers were a distant memory. We couldn’t control our facility or our races on county property, so we were finally forced into finding another site like we had been talking about for 4 years. Carl Ross just happened to mention this to his boss, Tom Peek, the owner of A2Z Pest Control. Tom had been one of the founding members of the ORCCC back in the early 90’s and was very sympathetic to our cause. Tom invited the 3 of us to discuss the possibility of relocating the site to the vacant property adjoining his business property. We told him we were looking to set up a track and hold races on Saturday at a site that we would be able to have some control over. After the track was built, we figured we would be on the site about 6 hours per week. He wouldn’t even know we were there! Previously, we barely had enough interest for weekly races, so we never in a million years dreamed of the participation and camaraderie that the club currently enjoys. All 4 of us are completely bowled over by the magnificent growth of the club. Carl, Bill and myself are loving the comeback and Tom Peek is probably thinking we are all pathological liars or smart businessmen! It was this enormous growth and interest that prompted Mr. Peek to get us to agree upon more firm guidelines for operation of the ORCCC on A2Z property. His biggest concern was the 24/7 attendance at the track, which was solved by setting up hours of operation for practice and racing (see paragraph above for specifics). He is very lenient when it comes to site maintenance. Carl Ross, as an employee of A2Z, was in a very hairy position before this was all worked out and is adamant about adhering to the guidelines agreed upon. We all need to remember that the business operations of A2Z Pest Control must come first. This means keeping everyone within the boundaries of the ORCCC site and away from the business at all times. We also need to remember that the property between A2Z and the Kwik King complex is private, so don’t walk on other people’s property to get there. If you must go to the store, go from the ORCCC entrance to Kwik King by using 24^th Street! In return the club enjoys a permanent concession area, a free community air compressor and other such amenities that make this beautiful new site a stress-free, vandalism-free home for our club. Overall, the move has improved all aspects of the ORCCC. It truly is a dream come true to have such a wonderful site and to see so many people working together to make the ORCCC the best little R/C car club in Ocala!

Okay, I lied, one more tidbit and I’ll close. The club does not have any paid employees. (Although, I’m kinda glad, because if you’s guys did pay us, we wouldn’t have enjoyed that FABULOUS appreciation BBQ and received the two most awesome bikes every made!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU). All the things that club and board members do is done to improve the club and make the hobby of R/C racing more enjoyable to the participants. There is no hidden agenda, just to have a good time and avoid chores at home! It’s simple and fun. Join us Saturday night for a good time with a great bunch of folks!