Hey gang, it’s newsletter time. Before we get too deep into it, I would like to draw your attention to the snazzzzy logo at the top of this letterhead! The club asked for logos when we launched the website, hence the birth of the dog/guy/truck logo that we’ve become famous for. Once Bill Hamilton found out that frequent racer Earl Bersamin is a graphics artist, he’s been hounding him incessantly to hook us up with a modern, professional version of our logo (free of charge, of course!). Well, what you see is the result of Earl’s hours/weeks/months of hard work! Dang, that college edumicashun really paid off! Thanks, Earl.

Our latest meeting was held at the A2Z Race facility on September 20, 2001. Attendees included Mike Dranchak, Jonathan Hicks, Mike Gitchell, James Tate, Carl Ross, Christian Ginter, Mason McCombs, Carlton, Justin and Davy Tipton, Tom, Melanie and Tommy Hitchcock, Susan and Melissa Danvers, Fletcher Grosz, Tom Evans and Bill and Bonita Hamilton. The next meeting is slated for OCTOBER 18^TH at 7:30 PM.

The Region 3 and 4 shootout race has been postponed due to the time constraint. Our goal is to pick another date that isn’t too conflicting to either region and start over. The more time we have to plan, the more successful we can expect to be.

The latest storm at the track really reeked havoc on the pits. Four of the stationary pits were totally trashed. I’m talking shredded tarps and twisted metal frames. While Tom "the prez" Hitchcock was re-building and cleaning up the mess, he came up with an idea. Tom’s drawn up a site plan showing the layout of the track for pit areas. We have room for 28 spaces, with 12 of them currently available. To keep a running tab of who the tenants are and who to contact in case of an emergency (like after this storm!), we’ve decided, by a unanimous vote of the board present at the meeting, to implement PIT RENTAL AGREEMENTS. The agreements will be daily and quarterly. A 10' X 10' or 10' X 12' space will rent for $6 per month or $2 nightly. The agreements will be very explicit as to what is expected of a renter, so make sure you read them before you sign them. The new change will take place OCTOBER 1^ST. Tom has graciously agreed to be the slum lord and Carlton Tipton will be his muscle man! Thanks in advance for assisting us with this transition!!

See, the key, folks, is to never tell Bill what you do for a living! It seems that we are trying to snag Joel Martin for his expertise in audio! (You remember, he used to be known as Joel Audio ‘cause no one knew his last name!) It seems the speakers need to be re-wired, re-placed and re-vamped to accommodate the way the pit areas are laid out. Anyone else that would like to lend a hand, it seems this is going to be our next big project! How can the racers help us run the races smoothly when they can’t hear what’s going on!

We are revising the meeting schedule this coming month. I was hoping for less, but it seems that more is better. We don’t want to do away with the club meetings that are open to everyone, but we need to have just the board meet periodically to keep things going on a positive track. We will now have an open CLUB meeting on the third Thursday of each month. We will have a BOARD MEMBER meeting every other month on the Thursday prior to club meeting Thursday. IN A NUTSHELL, THE NEXT CLUB MEETING IS ON OCTOBER 18^TH AND THE FIRST BOARD MEMBER ONLY MEETING IS ON NOVEMBER 8^TH.

Pursuant to the minutes of the January 18^th meeting outlined in the January 30^th newsletter, we are fixin’ to have a race schedule change. Effective NOVEMBER 3^rd, we will start racing during the day. The time has yet to be decided on, but we’ll let you know as that date draws closer.

The club will continue it’s annual November and December charity donations. During these months, all the proceeds collected for race registration will be earmarked for charity. The November charity is more food oriented and so we collect can goods in lieu of or in combination with cash. All the cash and cans will help stock a local food bank. In December, we operate strictly on cash, using the same format.

New member, Tom Evans, was the first to mention it, but EVERYONE wants to do it! In light of the tragic terrorist acts of September 11^th, the club has decided to come together to raise some much-needed cash for charities offering assistance to the victims and their families. Saturday, SEPTEMBER 29^TH is the ORCCC’s RACE FOR AMERICA. EVERY DIME COLLECTED AT THE TRACK ON THAT DAY WILL GO TO OUR CHARITY. We will collect money for race registration, concessions, 50/50 ticket sales, homemade baked goods sale (compliments of the concession chicks and their friends), prizes collected from local businesses, the sale of patriotic paraphernalia donated by racer, Bob Rienhardt and the concession TIP jar. Join us to race, to eat, to shop or to watch, but help us help others during this time of need.

New and renewal members since our last update include Norm Hoover, Shawn Keairns, Mike Gitchell, Terry Dunbar and Lee Worley. Great to have you folks with us and remember, next June you could be voted on to the Board! Ha.

Thanks to all the people that help us make this club so awesome. We have folks that donate time, products, expertise and money on a daily basis. We enjoy all the racers, family and friends and we hope to see you at the track often!