November 30, 2000

Well, at least I’m consistent in my procrastination. That’s right folks, right on schedule and 3 weeks after the last meeting, here’s the newsletter! The club is running so smoothly these days, that I am getting lazy in my duties of secretary. Go ahead and dock my pay, maybe it will shock me into better work ethics….NOT! Here goes the latest news on the best little R/C car club in Ocala.

The latest meeting was held at the A2Z Race Park on Tuesday, November 14^th at 7:30 PM. The meeting was changed to Tuesday due to the Easy Street on-road racing. Attendees of the meeting were Susan, Megan and Melissa Danvers, Terry and Jim Stearns, Tom and Melanie Hitchcock, Fletcher Grosz, Jeremy Farr, Bill Hamilton, Mason McCombs and myself. The next meeting will be held on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21^ST AT 7:30 PM AT THE A2Z RACE PARK, plan to attend.

The club race challenge previously discussed with our fellow R/C fanatics in Daytona has been put on hold until further notice. The guys were experiencing equipment problems and didn’t want to host a race until they were fully operational.

Sunday, November 20^th was a general clean up day at the track. We got all of the extra tools and equipment behind the fence panel for aesthetics and managed to rake up about 1/3 of the total 5000 tons of leaves currently occupying the space where grass used to grow. Our plan is to get a good lawn tractor with a bagger to pick up the leaves during the fall and winter, ‘cause raking just doesn’t get it! Thanks to all the folks that helped out. Additional plans for further cleanup will be scheduled in the future.

The track is almost 99% of what we envisioned six months ago. The last task is to complete the computer room floor and add a small light for registration. All the hard work and planning really paid off, because we keep getting compliments from racers as well as hosting plenty of racers each Saturday night. By George, I think we got it right with the A2Z Race Park!

Future plans for the track include improvements to the concession area. Tom discussed getting a small hot water heater to supply the concession area with hot water for hot beverages, as well as for use in the nightly clean up ritual. He also mentioned installing a laundry room type sink to also assist in clean up. We’ve got equipment to meet these needs for the moment, so the plans were postponed until after the holidays and our charity drives.

We will be installing 4 locks with the same key for our secure areas. This way if you’ve got a key for the track you can unlock anything. Currently, we have a key for concessions, a key for the power box, a key for storage and a key to the special "lockbox". It takes almost half the board members at the track just to open everything up! We hope the new locking system will eliminate the confusion.

Hey, hey, the computer room now has a dehumidifier to keep the equipment in tiptop shape thanks to member Jim Stearns. On Saturday morning, the computer room is like the Sahara Desert! This will insure that the equipment lasts a good long time.

We’ve decided to ask property owner Tom Peek if it would be feasible to construct a garbage collection facility by the entrance to the A2Z Race Park. This way the trash can be placed curbside on Saturday night without having to worry about neighborhood critters rearranging it out of the plastic bags! Melanie has already cleaned up 2 acres of our trash in the past when this occurred. The plan is to build a 4 sided, 3 feet high enclosure with a gated entrance to make loading and unloading easier. We’ll keep you posted as to his decision and then immediately ask you for help in getting it built!

The ORCCC is changing toilets again! The huge handicapped portajohn ain’t cutting it, so we have decided to go to a small men’s and small women’s bathroom at a slightly elevated expense. The addition of lighting should eliminate some of the "spillage". I’ve had about all of the portajohn swabbing I can stand!

The newsletter will start incorporating a new member listing in order to welcome our newest members. Inductees over the last month are Jim Stearns (new), Joel Martin (new) and Christian Ginter (renewal). Welcome aboard folks!

Here’s a reminder (for the 10 billionth time) Danny Mayer is the ORCCC track director. The track is maintained by Danny or by others according to Danny’s final decision. If you have a suggestion as to the track conditions and/or layout, talk to Danny. If Danny is not available, either wait until Danny is available or contact Tom. Danny is the track director by a majority of the votes of voting members at the time of the elections (yes, we are able to handle the voting thing free from pregnant chads!)

The race schedule will continue on Saturday nights until it gets too cold to think clearly. Personally, I would rather put on a jacket than sweat my shoes off (some girls dew, I SWEAT!) We will vote on changing the schedule each month. As of this meeting we still race on Saturday nights, with only a slight time change. REGISTRATION WILL NOW OPEN AT 4 pm WITH RACING TO BEGIN AT 5 PM. This schedule will help us accommodate the large number of racers we have enjoyed, as well as allow us to be toasty at home before the temperature drops to freezing!

The latest meeting attendees now know why Fletcher never wears a jacket. He got so cold (it was chilly and very damp that night) that he pulled his arms out of the sleeves to keep them near his body. Well, after a few minutes he realized that he couldn’t unzip his jacket to use his hands. Thanks to the quick reflexes of a fellow racer, his jacket was unzipped for him before he wet his pants. The trick is to be smarter than the jacket ;-)

The ORCCC hosted the first race at the Easy Street Family Fun Center on Thursday, November 16^th. We had quite a few folks come to join us and experience a little racing on the concrete. After a few discussions, it was decided that with a few alterations this could be a set up that many of the racers would enjoy on a continuing basis. THE NEXT RACE AT EASY STREET WILL BE ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19^TH. Registration will begin at 6 PM with the races starting at 7 PM. Plan to attend if you enjoy fast paced on road action!

The Y2K race was such fun, that we are going to do it again this year. The ORCCC will welcome in the New Year with a Y2K+1 race on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31^ST (THERE WILL BE NO CLUB RACE ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 30^TH FOR THIS REASON).  Registration will begin at 8 PM with racing to begin at 9 PM. No matter how the racing goes, the first main will begin at exactly 12 midnight! Last year we had lots of fun ringing in the New Year with good friends and good fun. It’s an enjoyable and safe way to spend this night with your family and friends. Plan to attend and keep checking the website for further developments.

The month of November was our annual food drive for Interfaith Emergency Services. We really raked it in guys! Thanks to all the racers that joined us during the month and helped us to really make a difference here in Marion County by supporting this agency that helps out folks in need. Bill delivered a full Jeep load of canned foods and baby items, together with a check for $500 on Tuesday, November 21^st. Needless to say, it was well received!

We will continue the charity drive during the month of December by donating the race registration income (not to exceed $500) to the Big Sun Volunteer Agency. Big Sun helps low income, needy people and families that need a helping hand in making their lives a little easier by providing goods and services that they just can’t quite obtain on their own. The Ocala Star Banner runs articles about Big Sun and their assistance throughout the month of December, so check out the local paper to see how necessary donations such as these really are. Join us for racing this month and help us to assist those in the community.

That wraps up this months news. Check the website for further information and feel free to e-mail us or call us if we can assist you. Thank you to all the board members and racers for making this club the best little R/C car club in Ocala!!!