End of Year Summary for Solo

by Andy Bell

Another solo season has come to an end for OVR. The 2007 season was a fun one filled with challenges and yet for me was still very fulfilling. This year we held 11 points events, two drivers schools, a test n tune, and a fun run. In addition we helped out the GTO club and Woody’s hot rods with two special events. Very few regions can boast of having so many events. A quick scan of web sites and I believe we had the most of anyone within the Great Lakes Division. A quick count also shows that we had over 450 individual participants in our events this year. For most of the year we were able to run just about every other week and at three locations in the Columbus area. Again, most clubs are lucky to have 1 or 2 sites, we now have three with owners who like to work with us. Over the course of all of these events, my chiefs have been there for me and the club through thick and thin. They are at the events early, spend hours working on events during the week (from course design, answering e-mails, reviewing results, etc), and usually are the last ones to leave at the end of the day. To them, I give my heartfelt thanks and gratitude. We couldn’t do it without you.

To Brian and Neva Hoover I give my personal thanks. Without you, I would not have had a ride this year, and this has been my favorite year so far with the stiff competition and friends I have made driving the F125. Before this year, I was very content to drive at a local level, but now I want to see how far I can push my skills and I look forward to learning more and more. Whether Brian realizes it or not, he has become my unofficial "coach!"

This year we faced a few weather issues but lucked out on the majority of our events. We fixed Moby mechanically so that it runs and drives more reliably than it has in many years. We expanded our use of the National Trial facility to have multiple events there. We worked with OSU when they resealed the Ackerman lot and all of us had to deal with the rising costs of fuel and transportation which made it nice that we are so competitive in our local region.

As I look forward to where we are going, I would like to touch on some areas where we need help and improvement to keep OVR as one of the premier autocross clubs in the country:

1. We need to continue to search for more autocross locations. The fate of Cooper stadium is unknown in 2009 and we need a plan in place should that venue become unavailable. We have 1 year to make that plan.
2. We need to welcome new racers into our group and make them feel at home. Next year we may try a mentoring program so that new racers can have a "go to" person to help them advance and grow their skills throughout the season. We will need volunteers for that position who will work with our Novice chief. This would be above and beyond your regular work assignment but is a great way to make new friends.(and get a couple extra rides!)
3. Non members will see an increase in entry fee next year. The increase will make them a temporary member for the weekend. There are many details to come out on this, but it is not unexpected and has some benefits. In a way, it can be an installment payment plan for some of our folks to join the club. The extra fee paid, can be put towards a regular membership. We need to minimize this impact this price increase will have on new people trying out our events.
4. Regular members may see an increase too. We took an almost 20% hit on sanction and insurance costs going into this year. If it increases by that much in 2008 too, we will have to increase our fees to cover it. The national office has told us it will go up, we just do not know how much yet.
5. I would like to see us get involved in a competitive traveling series again. This is not without some associated stress levels for the organizers, but it is good to see how well you do against others in the division. It also helps to see how others do events too. To that end, we will be bidding to hold a GASS series event in 2008. The GASS series will once again contain all SCCA sanctioned events and currently all of their events will be within the Great Lakes Division. I encourage our drivers to try out this series to get you to the next level of driving and car prep. In many ways it will bring back the excitement of your first few autocross events.
6. We will do at least one Tire Rack Street Survival course weekend with OSU. This is a departure from our regular community service work, but one I think is critical for our young drivers. This program is for 16-21 year olds using their own cars to put them in real life basic driving situations. We will teach the kids how to feel when their car is on the edge of control, what to do in wet conditions, what distractions can do to your driving techniques and what to do in case emergency evasive action is required. We will have some volunteers from the Club racers who will join us as instructors for this as well. I have a feeling this could be a HIGH demand event that we can grow over a few years.
7. We need to do a better job at the end of an event. My only gripe this year has been the lack of participants who will lend a hand during the cleanup phase. The more people we have, the faster this goes and the faster we get cleaned up, the faster we can do trophies and get out there at the end of the day.

Finally, I want to thank the participants themselves. Many of you have talked with me one on one about various issues and I appreciate your opinions and feedback. Whenever possible I try to work that fee dback into the way we run an event and hope that it makes the event more enjoyable for everyone. I will send out information about the banquet later this year and hope to see everyone there. Thanks again for supporting OVR and I look forward to racing with you in 2008!

2007 November