It’s newsletter time again, folks. Let’s start off with the most important news to hit the ORCCC since the invention of the dog bone! The ORCCC is in fact, the premier R/C race site in the state of Florida. To all the people who have made the idea of a super track a reality, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Man oh man, there isn’t anything a group of R/C enthusiasts can’t accomplish when they work together and the A2Z Race Park is evidence of this. Thanks to all the racers and visitors who’ve come to join us and we thank them all for their kind compliments! Plan a visit soon, if you haven’t already enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

Never ones to sit idle for too long, the ORCCC is taking it on the road again. This time it’s for a little pavement action! November 16th will be the first of what we hope will become a monthly racing event.  The Ocala R/C car Club, in conjunction with Easy Street Family Fun Center, will be hosting On-Road racing!  These races will be held on Easy Street's HUGE cement go-kart track located at 2727 SW 27th Ave. in Ocala.  Racing will be open to ALL on-road electric and nitro classes, including 1/4 scale!  If you bring it, we'll race it!  If you don't have an on-road vehicle, bring your off-road vehicle; we'll put a class together for you.  Easy Street will offer discounted food and game token deals to all racers and their families.  Registration will be $10.00 per class and you can pre-register on-line by using the on-line race registration form on the club’s website.  Registration at the race site will begin at 6 p.m. and racing will start at 7 p.m.  There will be no discounted registrations for this race.  For more information about Easy Street, call (352) 861-9700 or visit their web site at easystreetocala.hypermart.net.

The holiday season will arrive soon and the ORCCC is proud to announce our continued support of local charities. November will be our annual food drive.  Pay your race fees, or any part of them, in canned goods.  Each can or package of non-perishable food items is worth $1.00 of your race registration fees at any Saturday club race with the ORCCC for this month.  Yes, guys and gals, that means you can bring 7 canned items to pay for your race or you can pay cold hard cash, like always. Either way, the race fees (Max. $500.00) and food donations for these races will be given to the Interfaith Food Bank of Ocala to help those in need through the holiday season.  (Here’s a Martha Stewart moment for those unfamiliar with feeding a family. Good choices of canned goods include tuna, baby formula, baby food, canned meats and of course, canned vegetables. No one, even those in need, are keen on canned beets or 42 cases of green beans!) Last year the ORCCC raised about $200.00 in cash and 3 large boxes of food.  With the turnouts that we are enjoying now, this should be our biggest giving year ever!

Another annual charity event hosted by the ORCCC is our December Christmas drive.  All race registration fees for this month (Max. $500.00) will be donated to Big Sun Volunteer Agency of Ocala.  Again, we should be able to make a sizable donation to this organization to help those less fortunate than ourselves.  Help us to make someone's holiday especially bright.

Now to our regularly scheduled programming….

The latest club meeting was held at the A2Z Race Park on October 19^th. Those in attendance were Christian Ginter, Shawn, Caleb and Dylan O’Hara, Brian Seckel, Carl Ross, Danny Mayer, Fletcher Grosz, Bill Hamilton, Melanie and Tom Hitchcock, Mason McCombs and myself. The next meeting has been rescheduled from our normal third Thursday routine to TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14^th at 7:30 PM at the A2Z Race Park.

Lawn cutting season has pretty much wound down for the rest of the year, but we do not want to forget the precarious lawnmower that Melanie uses every week to keep the lawn in tiptop shape. The club has decided to get serious about purchasing a lawn mower (Track guys, note it’s a lawn mower, not a track-dragging device!!!! Don’t let me catch you with the deck removed!). We will begin setting aside money weekly towards the purchase of a new lawnmower to get ready for spring. Keep your eyes and ears open for a great "end of season" sale on a suitable machine.

The creation of a playground area has been postponed until further notice. Liability and traffic to the track as a local playground was mentioned as possible deterrents to this great idea. Although the club would love to have a specific area for the kids to play during races and practice, we’ve got to think long and hard as to whether it is a feasible addition to our racetrack.

The idea of a spec class series race was discussed. Due to the charity drives, the addition of on-road racing at EASY STREET FAMILY FUN CENTER and the basic stress of the holiday season, it was decided that we would discuss it in January. Racers, keep this series race in mind come January and let us know if it is something you would be interested in!

Changes in the race classes were made during the meeting. NITRO race times will be as follows: 6-minute qualifiers and 10-minute mains. MONSTER TRUCK class has been ditched in the interest of time. We have a full race schedule with the number and classes we are already running. PRO STOCK classes have been dropped due to lack of participation and also in the interest of time.

The very last track improvement to be made is finishing the computer room under the drivers’ stand. The plan is to eventually stop disconnecting and packing every single piece of equipment after each race, only to unpack and connect it before each race. This is very time consuming and also damaging to the equipment. Once the floor and roof are completed, the club can truly have a more permanent set up that will help the races start and finish more consistently.

Hey, in case you missed it, the ORCCC held their grand opening festivities on October 7^th. What a great day it turned out to be! The day was complete with free hotdogs, chips and drinks, as well as free racing! The highlight of the day had to be the prize patrol. Tom Hitchcock and Jim Stearns were hooked up with an "official" timer that went off every 20 minutes to indicate give away time! Everyone was on pins and needles after about 18 minutes just dying to see what was going to be given away next from our stash of donated goods and services! Special thanks go to all the folks who donated prizes to make the day extra fun! Thanks to General Silicones Co. USA, Lowes, W. S. Deans Co., Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, Superior Hobbies, Millennium R/C Distributors, Easy Street Family Fun Center, Rob’s Hobby World, Jack’s Hobbies, Team Associated, Team Losi, Silver Springs Attractions, Tanning Hut, Designs by Joy, Superior Pest Control, Chapala Imports, Tekin Electronics and all the others that never made it on my list because too much was happening too fast for me to keep up! We will always remember these folks’ generosity in making our grand opening truly GRAND!

The very next weekend, the ORCCC hosted the 1^st race of the 2000-2001 Florida State Off-Road Series. There was practice on Friday, October 13^th and practice on Saturday, October 14^th, until about 3 PM. The club hosted a regular race on Saturday the 14^th until about 10:30 PM, only to return to the track the following morning, Sunday October 15^th, to hold the state series race! The racers and club crew were all on R/C overdrive! It was worth it, though, because everyone truly seemed to have a good time. The series hosted 111 entries and the racers have to be complimented on helping us keep a good pace. Everyone registered on time, went to their turn marshalling positions quickly and keep the races right on schedule. What a breeze the race turned out to be. Thanks to everyone and good luck on the series!

All in all, the ORCCC is the place to be if you want to have R/C fun. The local crowd has really gotten to know one another and we’ve become a crew that can work together well to get the job done of providing a superior race facility. For the millionth time, thanks to everyone that worked so hard to make the A2Z Race Park such a fine facility. Thanks, too, to Tom Peek for the use of his "back yard".