by
John Lieberman
As my tenure as your Regional Executive finally draws to a close, I thought I’d take a few minutes to look back over the past ten years that I’ve held office. (And, as I’ve told you many times before, that’s about eight years too long!) I’m not doing this to brag. I just thought it might be interesting to take a little look back through time at some of the things that have happened since 1993. This is, by no means, inclusive, It’s just a random gathering of thoughts culled from my beer-fried brain.
One
of the first things I did after taking office was to re-instate our
incorporation status with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. That had
sat idle for many years. Then, I was able to obtain our 501-C-4 not-for-profit
status with the Internal Revenue Service. That had never been done before.
Without those two steps, we would not have been able to renew our yearly SCCA
charter each year since then.
I
established a Red River Region archive. I now have three filing cabinets and several
boxes of “stuff” in my house. It needs to be sorted and catalogued, but at
least it’s all together in one place instead of being scattered all over
northwest Louisiana.
We’ve
been semi-successful over the past ten years when it comes to obtaining alternate
Solo II event sites. I was able to secure our use of the Downtown Airport
(until the pavement shifted and it started getting busy again!) and worked out
the great win-win relationship we have with Red River raceway. I almost had the
Desoto Parish Airport too, until the new Parish Administrator came on board.
Bob and Boo Boo were able to get the Essler airport for us in Alexandria (until
the Parish gave it to the National Guard) and now they’ve been able to get us
back onto the Pollock Airport.
Together,
we’ve beefed up our equipment quite a bit and we’re not done yet. We now have
new tables, an EZ-Up, new fire extinguishers, more cones, and, of course, new
timing gear.
We’ve
gone back to having regular monthly club meetings – something we had suspended
for many years because of dismal turnout for those meetings. We now have
Porta-Potties at out Lee Hedges Stadium events again – something we had
suspended because of the dismal turnout for those events.
But,
more than anything else that’s happened over the past ten years, we’ve
maintained our reputation in the state and the Southwest Division for putting
on top-quality, fun events. And we’ve done that because each and every one of
you has picked up the spirit of Red River Region and run with it. We may be a
little Region, but we’ve got more spirit than a lot of the larger Regions.
A
lot of really good people have come and gone over the past ten years. But new
people have joined our ranks and carried on the tradition. Now it’s time for
others to take up the challenge and lead this Region into the future. If I can leave you with one parting thought as
my much-too-long tenure as RE draws to a close, it would be this: “KEEP THE
SPIRIT OF THE RED RIVER REGION ALIVE!”
Now,
go do something FUN in your car
John
by
Gary Linde
Hey,
gang! Would you believe your editor has no strong opinions to voice in this
edition? Well it’s true. So I’ll tell you a little about our last autocross
event (since most of you were absent). It was chaired by Rael Nidess and Perry
Boutelle. The course was designed by
Rael, with many last minute changes due to deteriorating pavement and a long
line of school buses. It was an extremely challenging course, with many cones.
Thanks to our new chalk marker the course was easy to follow, with very few
DNFs. The first side of the course was extremely busy. I was constantly in a
state of turn, the second side had enough area to let the car out a little.
There was no where on the course that I hit my rev limiter in 2nd gear.
I was really impressed with Tom Schultz and Justin Hobart turning such good
times in those big Mustangs on a course that was designed for a Miata or a
Mini. I can’t speak for everyone, but I had a good time even though that damn
WRX bumped up to me and whipped my butt. What can I say, Barry and Connie are
both such great drivers, it is a real pleasure just to watch them.
It
looks like we will still have a club next year. We have nominee’s for most all
elected positions. I breathed a sigh of relief when Gary McFadden volunteered
to run for Newsletter Editor/Membership Chair, as I’m sure John did when we
heard Rick Bagnard would be willing to run for RE. Barry Booker is running for Asst. RE, and Connie Booker for
Treasurer/ Secretary again. I am running for Publicity Chairman.
Really
looking forward to our event at Pollock Airport on the 27th. From
everything I’ve heard it should be an event not missed by anyone. Supposed to
be an excellent site and the course that Boo Boo Fogleman is coming up with should
be to everyone’s joy. Every time I think of a course, I think of that BMW
commercial; “Joy is not around the curve, joy IS the curve!”
That’s
it for now. Remember “Drive Fast, No Cones, and have FUN!!!!”
Gary
Expenses: Income:
Ins/Sanc.
7/21 $110.00 Event
9/1 $395.00
Hats
222.98 Hats/T Shirts 160.00
Newsletter
Print 71.45 Rule Books 15.00
Misc.
(John)
19.33 Membership dues 24.00
Metrocall 7.29 National dues (to SCCA) 134.00
National
dues (to SCCA) 134.00 ----------
--------- $728.00
$565.05
Equipment fund 1,297.37
-------------
Active
Account Balance $1,742.51
Oct 6th,
2002
Lee Hedges Stadium
Co-Hosts: Rael
Nidess & Perry Boutelle
Class |
Bump |
Car # |
Name |
Car |
Time |
PAX |
PAX Time |
Rank |
|
CS |
DS |
12 |
Barry
Booker |
Subaru WRX |
89.761 |
0.761 |
71.629 |
1 |
|
CS |
|
55 |
Gary
Linde |
Miata |
93.798 |
0.812 |
76.164 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DSL |
|
10 |
Connie
Booker |
Subaru WRX |
92.143 |
0.798 |
73.530 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FS |
|
68 |
Tom
Schultz |
Mustang |
90.165 |
0.809 |
72.943 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CSP |
FSP |
45 |
Gary
McFadden |
AH Sprite |
97.547 |
0.817 |
79.778 |
1 |
|
CSP |
|
3 |
Josh
Queen |
Miata |
DNF |
0.842 |
DNF |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AP |
EP |
51 |
Bob
Evenson |
Datsun 510 |
88.611 |
0.868 |
76.914 |
1 |
|
AP |
SM2 |
56 |
Samuel
Tichel |
Honda CRX |
99.210 |
0.856 |
84.924 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DP |
|
11 |
Randy
Edwards |
AH Sprite |
95.067 |
0.849 |
80.712 |
1 |
|
DP |
|
37 |
John
Lieberman |
Austin Mini |
103.894 |
0.849 |
88.206 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPL |
|
151 |
Jamie
Jordan |
Datsun 510 |
94.839 |
0.868 |
82.320 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
STS |
|
63 |
Perry
Boutelle |
Honda Prelude |
90.010 |
0.784 |
70.568 |
1 |
|
STS |
|
54 |
Rael
Nidess |
Honda Prelude |
98.060 |
0.784 |
76.879 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SM |
|
13 |
Justin
Hobart |
Mustang Cobra |
90.727 |
0.834 |
75.666 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F125 |
|
32 |
James
Cox |
Tony Kart |
75.500 |
0.932 |
70.366 |
1 |
Results-Overall
|
Rank |
Class |
Bump |
Car# |
Name |
Car |
Time |
PAX |
PAX Time |
|
1 |
F125 |
|
32 |
James
Cox |
Tony Kart |
75.500 |
0.932 |
70.366 |
|
2 |
STS |
|
63 |
Perry
Boutelle |
Honda Prelude |
90.010 |
0.784 |
70.568 |
|
3 |