| Notes from the Director’s Chair Area 4 Director Update for April 2024 Race season must be coming along soon as I am starting to travel quite a bit in support of the Division, the Area, the Club, and its programs. Trips to Detroit and Kansas City were on the docket this month. So, here’s what I did this past month….. Video Conference Meetings: ➢ Board of Directors (BoD) (3/4): Our February meeting was moved to the first week of March. Once again, our financials look solid. Yes, it’s early in the calendar year but we are meeting budgetary figures. This was the last month before our annual audit which will likely be held in April. Results from that audit will be posted on the SCCA website. We received an update from the Compensation Committee about Mike Cobb’s salary and bonus package. We were informed of a couple of additions to the staff. Jeff Barrow will replace Deanna Flanagan as Director of Road Racing (link). The Club hired a Media Marketing Manager and a Social Media Coordinator (see details here). As the Club moves away from a monthly magazine, these new folks will help market the Club across many different platforms. ➢ Club Racing Board (CRB) (3/5): The group ran through the usual early season letters. A conversation was had about the introduction of Radical sports racers to our array of classes. Apparently there are a lot of them racing across the country and they are looking for a place to compete that’s less expensive. They also worked on some agenda items for the face to face meeting to be held in Kansas City later in the month. The results of all of the CRB rules changes can be seen here. ➢ Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (3/13): The group started working on a “Fact Sheet” for regions and venues to use when investigating EV participation. We’ll also work on a definition of “hybrid” for the SCCA. As there are so many variants of a hybrid EV, we need to specify the language for our members. This will help see what cars can compete and how we deal with them. ➢ Touring Advisory Committee (TAC) (3/18): As the EVAC has been working on language for a Touring Electric class, the TAC had some questions about the rules package. I sat in on their meeting and discussed the rules set with them. They offered some valuable suggestions and I walked away with some action items. ➢ BoD (3/25): The financials slipped a bit from budget over the last month. Nothing serious and somewhat expected as the competition season has barely started. We got an update from Heyward Wagner on the status of the Club Spec program. We approved both Club Spec Musting and Miata MX5 rules packages. We also approved the name change for the Endurance Racing Board to the Race Experience Board and their rules package. I updated the board on the CRB’s decisions for the program. Unfortunately, we also had to discuss a couple of members behaving badly. SCCA Events: ➢ GLDiv Convention (3/1, 3/2): The divisional convention was held at a different location this year as our old facility was under construction. That said, this site (The Summit in Fort Wayne) turned out to be a nicer offering. Like last year’s event, several honchos from the National Office attended. They addedmuch welcomed guidance. When you have national, divisional and regional managers in one room discussing a program, good things happen. Ideas about best practices and policy flow up and down the food chain and all walk away from the conversation wiser. I hope you will consider attending next year. The date (2/28, 3/1) and same location have been set and details will follow as they become available. ➢ Detroit Region banquet (3/10): Melinda and I were invited to the annual banquet held by Detroit Region. As they had a very tight agenda for the awards portion of the evening, I limited my remarks and only spoke for a few minutes. The dinner was nice (Mediterranean buffet) and the conversation at our table was fabulous. We had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. ➢ CRB (3/22, 3/23): Like last spring’s meeting, this gathering was solely focused on the long term and strategic planning for the Club Racing program. I spoke with the CRB Chair (John LaRue) several times over the last few months on this topic. We agreed on many points and chatted about how to guide the conversation and keep everyone focused. Serious discussions were held and some serious decisions were made. Decisions that should have been made over the course of the last few years. But bold decisions about policy are tough to come by and this group should be commended for their aggressive conclusions. The changes made will take a few months to formulate and announce. It will take even longer to implement. Of course, these changes will not please everyone but rest assured that the CRB has the best intentions for long term program health. They made some necessary decisions. ========== Be sure and visit the GLDiv website for information about all of the SCCA programs within the division. We have schedules, official’s contact info, standings, etc. for all the SCCA programs. Please take a few minutes and make sure your contact information is accurate in the SCCA database. It’s important to have the correct information there so the club knows how to contact you. Log in to your my.scca.com page and check. There is a new path to getting your annual waiver. You can now get it through the Member Account Portal (MAP). Follow this link to get the instructions. There is also a story about the program here. I’ve done it and it only takes a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have about any facet of the GLDiv. I want you to make the most of your membership and I will help out in any way possible to make that happen. Dayle Frame Dayle Frame
Area 4 Director
Great Lakes Division
517.889.1117 (h)
dframe@scca.com | 
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