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February 24, 2000 This edition of the club newsletter reflects the new format of the club meetings. We are going to get a little more ornagized ;-) , folks. No more random discussions and we will follow a more structured schedule to our meetings. Ya see, the president, Carl Ross got a haircut and has adopted a more militaristic approach to life! Really, the meetings are more productive and people might actually like being a part of them. The latest meeting was held on February 16th at 7:30 P.M. at the office of A2Z Pest Control. Attendees were: Carl Ross, Melanie Stalnaker, Trevor Iverson, myself, Tom Hitchcock, Sr, Rob May, Shawn O’Hara, Tom Hitchcock, Jr., Justin Ridgely, Matt Mosieur, Danny Mayer, Megan Danvers, Melissa Danvers, Mason McCombs and Bill Hamilton. Plan to attend the next meeting on March 15th at 7:30 PM at A2Z Pest Control. OLD BUSINESS: We’re still moving the track to a new and improved race site, but we are still waiting on the power pole installation. As of February 24th, though, the pole is up and should be legal and legit by the following day. YIPEE. Trailers, backhoes, dump trucks and the like are still needed for the site relocation. Many people mentioned possibly renting these items or getting businesses with this equipment to donate their usage. The order of set up of the track has changed to avoid damaging the items already installed. The track should be the next order of business. This will allow the clay delivery trucks to move freely about the property without having to dodge water lines and electrical hookup areas. Margie Wood Trucking will most likely be the source of the clay that we purchase for the new racetrack. Matt Mosieur suggested an 80/20 mix and offered to oversee the clay purchase when the time comes. Tom Hitchcock, Sr. has offered his telephone bartering skills in obtaining discounted, half priced and/or free lumber for the new track. He has the supply list in one hand and the phone in the other and hopes to work some magic on behalf of the club. If Tom calls your house for assistance, just give him what he needs ‘cause he’s a master of negotiation! NEW BUSINESS: In case you haven’t heard, the ORCCC is hosting night races at the Gainesville facility on the 1st Wednesday of every month! Check out the website for the particulars or contact a board member for details. Join us, it’s fun! Tom Hitchcock, Sr. suggested that the club consider awarding B main medallions. The club has never offered much in the way of awards to the B main drivers and recently, it’s been nothing. Effective immediately, the ORCCC awards prizes to the top three B main drivers! Come win one today! (better yet, wait until Saturday!) Novice has been the hottest class of racing as of late at the track. We certainly want to encourage these folks to continue with the sport and to this end; the attendees came up with really great ideas to insure their race days are enjoyable yet keeping in the scheme of things. Points of interest include: · During the drivers meeting for the novice racers, each novice racer will be introduced to and sort of teamed up with a more experienced racer. The novice racer can address their questions as to set up, troubleshooting and race rules to this person who has more experience in club racing.· It was decided that once a novice moved into a more "experienced" class, that racer could never again race in the novice class.· Speaking of moving up in racing class, the attendees came up with a plan to handle this procedure. It was decided that turning a certain number of laps consistently and winning a certain number of racers didn’t necessarily mean a driver was ready to move up. The true indicator is if the driver can handle the vehicle. Regular racers will notify board members when they feel a racer has mastered the vehicle enough to run in the more experienced class of racing. This technique should encourage novice racers to stick with the sport, yet allow them enough time to smooth out the rough edges to their driving skills.· Novice racers need to be well informed as to the rules and regulations governing a race day. Heck, we could all use our memories jogged on these now and again. The race day is supposed to be fun, but if it were just a hack fest, we wouldn’t drag all that expensive computer equipment to the track each week! Make a point of offering tips to the new guys so that they know what’s expected of them each Saturday.· Driving skills and the rules of the game are the things we need to teach our novice drivers. They are new and they probably have never done this sort of thing before. But, as Danny Mayer pointed out, teaching them to maintain the track is also VERY important. Next time you go to water or sweep the track, get a novice driver to join you so that he can learn first hand how it’s done. These guys are not only the racers of the future, but active board members of the future as well!It was decided that when ever we have more than 10 racers in a class, the race set up will divided into separate races to provide a minimum of four racers in the B (or C or D, etc.) main. To insure fairness within the race class, the ORCCC is going to perform RANDOM INSPECTING OF VEHICLES. Cheaters never prosper in life, so they shouldn’t prosper at the racetrack either! As needed and whenever we feel like it, a class will chosen and all the drivers’ vehicles will be teched prior to the main for that class. Those vehicles that don’t meet the requirements of the class will be disqualified. The ORCCC welcomes back Caleb and Dylan O’Hara. (That’s right, guys, no more winning 1st and 2nd place as these boys are going to smoke you right into last place!) The club needs to purchase 2-3 more brooms for track maintenance. Donations are always welcome (as Tom, Sr. would say!). Last but not least, the ORCCC will be hosting a special event…GAS RACES will be held at the current race site on March 4th. Plan to attend. Nitro classes will be a regular happening at the new site. We just wanted to give everyone a chance to relieve those gas pains that have been building ever since we announced the construction of new site! This wraps up this edition of the ORCCC newsletter. Join us at the track, join us at a meeting, join us on the web site or join us on the message board….just join us for some R/C fun!!
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