November 12, 1999

Well, we’ve officially had three meetings since my last newsletter so fire me!  Please! Just joking.  I’ve never shaken that teenage habit of procrastination, so by the time I buckle down to do the newsletter, we’ve had another meeting.  Things are really hoping, what with membership up and the new site slowly becoming a reality…so stay tuned for all the latest and greatest from the best little R/C car club in Ocala.

Our regularly scheduled meeting on October 20^th was poorly attended due to the confusion with the time of the meeting.  FROM THIS DAY FORWARD UNTIL THE END OF TIME…THE MEETINGS WILL BE HELD AT 7:30 P.M.!!!  The folks that made the meeting were Carl Ross, Jim Pfeiffer, Bill Hamilton, Mason McCombs and myself.  We discussed many things, including having a “building committee” meeting two weeks after the regular meetings to keep the new site plan alive and moving forward.

The next meeting was held October 27^th and those in attendance were Danny Mayer, Mason McCombs, Susan, Megan and Melissa Danvers, Carl Ross, Zack and Paula Montgomery, Bill Hamilton and myself.  Two weeks later, as decided, we had a building committee meeting on November 10^th with Carl Ross, Mason McCombs, Danny Mayer, Bill Hamilton, myself and new member Fletcher Grosz in attendance.

ITEMS OF IMPORTANCE:

• The tin can drive will continue through November 20^th.  Race fees, in the form of cash and can goods (1 can is equal to $1), will go to the Interfaith Food Bank to assist those less fortunate in the community.  100% of the registration fees for that time frame will be donated as well.
• Our December fundraiser for the Big Sun Volunteer Service Bureau will run from November 27^th through December 18^th.  100% of the race fees collected during this time will be used to make the holiday season a little brighter for a needy family in our community.
• Need ideas for Christmas gifts???  The ORCCC is selling their groovy club t-shirts for $14 each (racer, dog, truck and ORCCC banner on the back, the website address on the sleeve and the state of Florida with your name above it).  For an additional $5, you can have this setup enhanced by a graphic of your choice (within reason!).  ORDER NOW BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH!!!
• Don’t forget, the website (www.orccc.org) has on-line racing for those that feel the need to race R/C cars during the week.  CHECK IT OUT!
• If you are not a member of the ORCCC, maybe you should be!  You can save $5 for your first class of racing and $4 for each additional class of racing if you are a member of the club.  DO THE MATH, FOLKS, IT PAYS TO BE A MEMBER.  For more information, see the “membership application” page of the web site for the rates and register on-line.  Your first race after becoming a member is FREE.
• Another perk to look for on the web site is the “race registration form”.  You can register to race on-line prior to the races and save $1 off of each class you register for.  MORE SAVINGS!  SUCH A DEAL!!
• Coming soon…Jack’s Hobbies ON-LINE STORE!  Our very own VP, Bill Hamilton, is teaming up with Jack Martin (proprietor of Jack’s Hobbies) to design an on-line store for shopping for all your r/c needs.  We’ll keep you posted as to when the store opens and remember, on-line means they’re never closed!

NEW TRACK NEWS:

We’ve done a lot of paper planning on the new site and soon we will be ready for the actual work to begin.  We are always looking for help in the form of bodies and in the form of cold hard cash, so if you’ve got either one to spare…come see us!

 The following is a basic outline of what we need to do to accomplish our task. 

1. Put in a culvert for the new entrance that will be on the opposite side of the property from the entrance used by the A2Z Pest Control folks.
2. Tree trimming and basic property clean up.  So far this team of workers consists of Zack Montgomery and myself.  We’ve got our tools ready to get into action. Join us if you like!
3. Install a power pole, meter box and power box.  We are considering using the current power pole set up from the current race site and the City of Ocala Electric department will do the hookup.  Danny Mayer, Carl Ross and Fletcher Grosz are arranging this task.
4. Tapping into a water outlet already in existence at the new location of the track.  The plan is to put one faucet at the tie in point and put two faucets on opposite diagonal sides of the track to make the watering process during the races more convenient.  Again, Danny and Carl have a handle on this achievement, but are looking for other helpful volunteers.
5. Carl Ross and friends are going to generously relocate the current drivers’ stand to the new location.  We would like to enclose the portion currently used as the computer room under the drivers’ stand for a storage area.  Moving it is the hard part, but as always, our trusty volunteers will succeed without incident.
6. Hey, look at this list!!  We need folks to arrange fund raising for our growing building expenses.  Anyone out there with a silver tongue for rounding up money?  If so, the ORCCC wants YOU!
7. Lastly, but most importantly, the actual track.  The dimensions that designer Mason McCombs is working with are 100’ X 80’.  We’ve decided we need 240 cubic yards of premium clay to fill in our site.  Does anyone know how many cubic yards a standard dump truck holds?  I’ve got visions of 1,000’s of trucks rolling into the backyard of A2Z for 40 days and 40 nights to accumulate that much dirt! 
8. The entire collective of the November 10^th meeting decided on the amount of wood needed to frame out this mega raceway.  Lumber people (hint, hint, Billy Newhouse and Bob Struyk) give us a hand.  We need 36 ea. 2x12x10 boards of pressure treated lumber for the framework.  We need 24 ea. 4x4x8 pressure treated posts to cut and bury to hold up the frame.  Doesn’t sound like much, but we were frying brain cells to come up with those!

The plan of the ORCCC is to have our first race at the new site on the first Saturday of the new millennium.  How awesome would that be!!!

As you can see, there’s a lot going on at the best little R/C car club in Ocala!  Join us for racing, moving or meetings.   Remember we are all here to have a good time and enjoy the camaraderie of folks with a similar interest…(even though, I know a lot of you are here to avoid “honey do’s” at home!)   Come one, come all!