The May 2017 monthly meeting of the Central New York Region of the Sports Car Club of America was called to order at 7:10PM, Wednesday, May 10th, 2017 at the American Legion in Liverpool, NY by Regional Executive Ed Leubner. Twenty people were in attendance.

Ed welcomed new meeting attendees Dave Cardillo, Ludmila Whaley and Sasha Whaley.

Ed Leubner made a motion to accept the minutes of the April meeting. The motion was seconded by Jay Cartini and approved by unanimous voice vote.

Regional Executive's Report
Ed announced that Bob Holcomb is enjoying his flagging duties with the S Central Region in Florida.
Ed met with the Mustang Club and discussed CNY presence at one of their Saturday
Car show events which are held on Saturdays between 7:30-1030 am at the Wegmans parking lot on Rt 57.
Based on showings at Cantech and other such gatherings it seems appropriate that CNY partners with a group to promote our Rally/Solo events.
Ed detailed his event with NASA, it was a 2 day event with a split of 1 day sun/ 1 day rain. Ed would also like to add that the National park in Watkins Glen is under construction. The parking lot is being expanded, as well as the old Indian Path is again receiving some attention for public usage.


Assistant Regional Executive's Report
A.R.E. Mark Bizzozero had no report.

Treasurer's Report
Treasurer Jay Cartini reported that April was a weak Month with $145 in revenue and $156 in disbursements with 1 sponsor payment still outstanding.
Jay would also like to thank Apex for their support by placing CNY advertisements within the magazine.

Secretary's Report
Chris Whaley had no report.

Activities Report
Activities Chair Ted Barbuto, the Summer Picnic and Car show’s location is still planned for the Onondaga Yacht Club. Dates of August 10th or 16th are possible options. We need to determine which date best fits the summer schedule.


Solo Report
Solo Chair Scott Newton presented the group with details on the cancellation of events at Cherry Valley on April 30th. The bank took ownership of the property and while they clear up the closing details and arrange for the proper insurances and other financial details, the new owner (Tony Goddard) will not be able to operate. Once the closing is complete the track will reopen under Tony’s stewardship. He has planned several improvements to the site, one of which is resurfacing of the track, rebuilding of the club house and other upgrades to enhance the property.
It is possible to reschedule the April date, but a review of the current schedule needs to take place first.
May 21st is the 1st event at Oswego County Airport and a group will go to the site on Saturday the 20th to begin preparations.
The contract agreements need completion and finally signatures as we work through the details with the OCAP lawyer. Some fine points of the agreements are the insurance cost of $6.50 per person, No One under the age of 18 is allowed on the site due to CNY’s SCCA insurance coverage, cost of usage for the site is $500.00 each use.


RallyCross Report
RallyCross Chair James Quattro described how the 3rd event at CNYRWP was wet…” So wet that a duck was on the course!”. Some people had issues with water in their intakes, especially the Subie’s, despite this, 24 people attended the event. The event seen a high attrition rate which is not normal for these events.
We have low interest in the Virginia event and it might make sense to replace it with another event locally at CNYRWP.
James is exploring the possibility to run a Rally Sprint. This a new style being run by SCCA which requires a “Log book” and a prepared car. We need more details before club can consider running an event this season. If it is considered a possible time would be in August.
James will gather more information.

Flagging and Communications Report
No Report.


Racing Report
No Report.

Membership Report
Membership Chair Andrew Beyer reported that CNY current membership stands at 172 members. Andrew explained how membership assistance can be resolved with a phone call from the SCCA head office.
New Members include:
Evan Merrill, Todd Nielson and Kevin Smith…. Let us all welcome them.
Members with Anniversaries in May include:
Brian Hidy – 30 yrs
Mark Bizzozero – 15 yrs
Mark Mangacaro – 5 yrs
It was a fun piece of information that Raphael Orlove from Jalopnik.com is a member of CNY and finds our Solo program worth the trip up from NYC.

Old Business
none reported.

New Business
Mike Donofrio is looking for nominations for the SCCA “Membership Hall of Fame”. Mike would like to nominate Lee Hidy for this honor. Mike will explore the details on what is needed to submit the nomination.

Special Guest Presentation:
Mike Gould provided us with a great story that started with him going to
Watkins Glen as kid with his dad which started his fascination with
cars, to buying a race car and competing in a Formula Continental car in
SCCA, continuing on to his Group 44 Jaguar XJ5 restoration project.
Then the topics ranged from hybrid cars to various questions about
various makes and their features. In addition, Mike's many years of
experience working in the car business provided interesting discussions
with questions from the audience.

It was an interesting and educational evening for a room full of car
fanatics! Thanks again to Mike for speaking!

The 50/50 raffle sum of $18 was won by Ed Leubner.

At 8:02 PM a motion was made by Rex Franklin to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Mike Donofrio and passed unanimously.

Our next regular meeting will be held Wednesday, June 14th, 2017 at the American Legion in Liverpool at 7:00PM.

Respectfully submitted by Chris Whaley



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