Finally, a free minute or two...whose idea was it to have all the holidays at once and at the end of the year??? Can you believe it’s been 2 months since the last ORCCC newsletter? We’ve had two meetings since then with lots of ground to cover, as well as many around the track happenings to report. I apologize for taking so long to keep you folks informed, but since I purchased a life (yeah, blue light special at K-mart…used my own money, too) my track duties have been slipping. Either that or we just have so much fun and so many activities with the ORCCC that I can’t keep up!

Before I get started on the meeting and minutes, I’d like to take some time to note the dates and corresponding events that have kept us hopping:

The club held a meeting on December 21, 2000 at the A2Z Race Park. Attendees were Susan, Megan and Melissa Danvers, Christian Ginter, Melanie Stalnaker (n/k/a Hitchcock), Tom Hitchcock, Fletcher Grosz, Danny Mayer, Bill Hamilton and myself. The next meeting was scheduled for January 19^th at the A2Z Race Park.

New member Greg Grassette has come up with a novel approach to fund raising for the ORCCC! He’s got a 1949 vehicle that he would give the club to raffle off for cash. The car doesn’t run, but it looks good! He just wants it off his property and thought this would be a good way to raise some money for equipment. Obviously, the raffle method needs to be checked out (sometimes those things get tricky and illegal!) and we need to discuss the possibility of this accomplishing the desired goal. We thank Greg for his idea and will keep him posted as to the decision of the club.

The leaves just keep falling and blowing from the neighbors yard onto our site at the A2Z Race Park! Many concerned members have made a point of trying to keep them from completely swallowing the track and we appreciate their efforts. I can see it now, some new racer goes to the proper address, but all he sees is a brush pile of leaves! There would be Mason trying to convince the person that there actually is a racetrack under all the debris!

The club now has 4 locks with interchangeable keys so that one person isn’t responsible for opening the track for practice and maintenance. Great idea, I just wish we’d have thought of it sooner!

Hey, in case you haven’t heard, the Saturday races start at 6 PM, with registration at 5 PM. The plan of starting everything an hour earlier did not seem beneficial, so we went back to the original night time schedule.

The original plan of the A2Z Race Park included a site plan for stationary pit areas. We’ve known from day one where pits could be placed. Obviously, the prime locations have already been snagged (you know, the one’s close to the porta-john) and lots of racers are asking for space to position their permanent pit. The back side (south side) is available after the camper is removed, one or two pits can be positioned on the east side next to the Sternemann/Daly camp and we’ve always planned to locate another row on the west side, sorta behind the presidential row. (This row will be on the property line on the west side so that plenty of vehicle maneuvering room is left available between the rows). There are to be no more permanent pit areas along the row occupied by the community pit area. The community pit area was set up at its location to provide a nice, convenient area for guests, but obviously it has become first come first serve. The permanent pits are private and should only be used by others after 6 PM or after obtaining approval of the owner. Please let a board member know if you are interested in erecting a permanent area and we’ll help you make the right choice!

In case you’ve forgotten, the track set up and lay out is not to be changed without talking to the board member responsible for the track. Apparently we have some racers and/or guests that like to experiment. We discussed posting a sign advising racers of this fact.

Hey, no wonder there was some confusion during registration time! The club enacted a new rule to take effect on January 1, 2001. Unfortunately, the notification hasn’t gotten out until now, so thank heavens I haven’t leaned too hard on anyone! Again, I apologize for creating this mess. SO.. EFFECTIVE February 1, 2001 the club requires two frequencies to register for club races. If you are unable to secure two frequencies, we will tack on an additional $2 to your race fees per class. PLEASE VISIT AN R/C STORE TO OBTAIN THE EQUIPMENT NECESSARY TO RACE (I’m begging you, because I would hate to rag anyone for more money to race!). Another point that needs to be made, this rule applies to on-line, as well as at the track registration.

The latest club meeting was held on January 18, 2001 at the A2Z Race Park. Those in attendance were Tom and Melanie Hitchcock, Bill Hamilton, Jeremy Farr, Danny Mayer, Mike Gitchell, Joel Martin, Fletcher Grosz, Christian Ginter, Carl Ross, Mason McCombs, Susan Danvers (Megan and Melissa were there, but not there!), Bobby Moore and myself. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, February 15^th at 7:30 PM. Plan to attend.

The first order of business was the discussion of the purchase of a riding lawnmower for site grass cutting. Since we were planning to spend $1000 to $2000 for this equipment, why don’t we double our money (yes, folks, I look on the cheap side!) and get a tractor of some sort that could support a bush-hog and bucket. It seems like a lot of money, but it would make track and site maintenance less of a chore and more likely to get done on a regular basis. Tom and Fletcher are going to be pounding the pavement to see what we can find in that price range. The goal is to save towards the purchase, with the desired amount to be in the ½ cash down range. Also, we urge everyone to keep their eyes and ears open for what we are looking for and let us know if you think you’ve found the deal of the century.

The club has now officially decided on an evening and day race schedule. Instead of changing on a whim, we’ve decided as follows: Effective November 1^st, 2001 the ORCCC will switch to day time races to take advantage of the beautiful fall days and avoid freezing our patoochies off. We will continue racing during the day until March 1^st, 2002, at which time we will return to evening racing to avoid the scorching heat that comes with Florida’s spring and summer seasons.

To offer racers a chance to assist in the track layout, the club is changing the manner in which a new track design is determined. The majority of the board agreed to the following policy regarding track design: Every 6 months the track and racers will enjoy a new track design. So that means every June and January we would have a new layout. Submissions for the June layout will be accepted from April 1^st until the May club meeting. During this meeting the board members will narrow the submissions to the top three. These three designs will be posted at the track on the following Saturday race for the racers to vote for their favorite. The design with the most votes will be implemented in June. Submissions for the January layout will be accepted from November 1^st until the December club meeting and the process noted above would be repeated with the new track layout being implemented in January. The submissions for track layout must be in the form of a drawing that can be used by the maintenance folks with ease and must meet ROAR guidelines (no hen scratching on a paper towel!). The submissions must be given to a board member and will be collected every Saturday and stored in a central location until the board votes. This should be an exciting change for the ORCCC!

Unfortunately, with this change comes another change. Effective this meeting, Danny Mayer has chosen to step down as the elected off-road track director. Danny is going to spend more time tweaking his vehicles so he can spank the other drivers!

The lighting does not seem to be as optimal as is needed to race at night. Carl Ross said that there is a medical theory that your eyesight decreases as the temperature decreases?? Actually, the track crew seems to think that if the lights were re-aligned the problem should be solved. If not, we’ll add more lighting.

Again, the need for an enclosed trash area on the road was brought up. The plan is to have a storage area for the trash, so that we can leave the trash by the road for pickup on Saturday night without the fear of it being "crittered" by Tuesday, trash day. The plan is to check with the county to see if it’s even allowed and if so, contacting Tom Peek, the property owner, for his approval. Get your saws and hammers ready for the day we get the go ahead!