Editors Note:

By: David Brown

This issue of The Observers Stand is coming out a little sooner than normal as we want to make sure everyone is aware of our Annual Tech Day and Socializer at Alliance Autosport on April 2 from 10-2. Be sure to have your logbook and helmet and plan to stop by for an in person outing.

We also want to make sure we have program calendars out for all our groups as soon as possible so you can get your schedules together for the year. Registration detail can be found on Motorsportreg.com so get your plans ready now. Our road races will be listed much sooner this year and our Majors race is available to register now for competitors here and for workers here.

Solo has exciting news with more opportunities to race including several weekday evenings at Fortress Obetz. They get the year off to a start soon with the trophy presentations from last year and an annual tech. You can find more info here.

Schedules are posted below for all events, but as always could be subject to change. Please consult the website and our Facebook pages and groups for the latest updates.

We are hopeful that things return as closely to normal as possible and are actively searching for meeting space for Board Meetings as well as Socializers. All help is welcomed so if you know of a place please let us know either by replying to this email or contacting the RE or any Director. We’ve also dealt with the challenges of sending bulk emails as on the last issue both AOL and Yahoo bounced every one sent. It’s made the job of editor a bit challenging and there really isn’t much we can do to get around it. We’ll work to get these posted on our website in PDF format and continue to post links on our various Facebook platforms. You can always add sccamail@mail.com to your address book to help get around these measures as well. I’ve included the most recent BOD minutes and will continue to add these to each forthcoming issue. As a reminder BOD minutes are available from any BOD member–just ask. Finally, I always want to hear what you think so please send feedback to me and I ALWAYS want stuff to put in the next issue.

Annual Tech  April 2, 2022

1.      Majors Path: The performance criteria previously suspended for 2020 and 2021 will be reinstated for 2022.  Drivers must finish in the top 50% of a Conference’s point standings in class or in the Super Tour point standings.  If a class has fewer than 20 participants in a point standings, drivers must finish in the top 10.
2.      2 Majors + 2 Regionals Path: Previously, only Regional events occurring in the calendar year (so after Jan. 1) were eligible in the 2 Majors + 2 Regional path. This now includes any Regional occurring after the 2021 Runoffs and two (2) weeks (Sept. 13, 2022) prior to the start of the 2022 Runoffs.  Enduros are still not eligible.
3.      Canadian Provision: There will not be a Canadian provision in the 2022 Runoffs qualification criteria.
4.      Divisional Path: Drivers will still be required to participate in 4 event weekends in a single division in the same class and finish in the Top 3 (Top 5 for SM/SRF3) of the Division’s point standings However, now all events held in a single division between the end of the 2021 Runoffs and two (2) weeks prior to the start of the 2022 Runoffs (September 13, 2022) will count toward the 4-event weekend participation requirement, regardless of whether it’s a points race.  Divisions will still choose the events that count as points races in their Divisional Championship point standings.  Enduros are still excluded. The reason for this change is that every divisional plan is different.  Some divisions count all events while others don’t.  By counting all events in a division for weekend participation, we are able to bring more consistency across all divisions the Runoffs qualification path, make it easier for drivers, region and divisional leaders to explain, understand and administer which leads to happier members.
Additionally, drivers that have also qualified through the Majors path or are a defending National Champion in the class, will no longer be removed from the Division point standings allowing drivers finishing farther down in the points to move into the one of the Top 3 (or Top 5) finishing positions.  Drivers qualifying outside of the these finishing windows will not move up and will not receive an invitation to the Runoffs.   Divisions are encouraged, but not required to only count points from Regional races within a division.  By not awarding points at Majors events, Majors-only drivers won’t score Divisional points, providing two distinctly different paths to the Runoffs.

Area 4 Director Update for February, 2022

Wow…. January was quite a month for me.….so much for the “off season”.  The holidays were nice as the OU Sooners and MSU Spartans both won their bowl games.  In addition to the usual monthly fare, I was tasked with preparing a presentation for the SCCA National Convention on the Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC).  As a sales rep, I’m used to speaking to folks but doing it via Zoom was different and I was nervous leading up to doing it.  It turned out great and you can view the session on YouTube by clicking here.

Elsewhere in the Division, in case you missed it last month, it bears repeating that our divisional Spring meeting will be on Saturday March 5^th with a casual gathering the night before. Details will be announced as they are finalized on the GLDiv website.

Last month I mentioned that 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 takes only a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself.

The various national schedules for 2022 are starting to coalesce and they can be found here:

Pro Solo/National Tour, Time Trials National Tour, Hoosier Super Tour, Enduro.

Video Conference Meetings:

• Club Racing Board (CRB) (1/4):  The CRB has a new Chair this year and he wants to run things a little differently.  This change in structure meant we had more time to discuss topics on a deeper level.  The results can be seen here.
• Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (1/12):  Our discussion on rules sets, track relationships and safety continued.  We continued to work on the convention presentation.
• BoD (1/24):  Our meeting was pretty standard fare.  Unfortunately, in addition to the usual stuff, we had to discuss a couple of member complaint letters that were sent to the CRB.  The writers made allegations that needed to be discussed at the highest levels.  As this is a sensitive topic, I cannot elaborate here.  We also discussed the IT tire rule.  I lead the charge against making this change.  It was too broad and we asked the CRB to try again.
• EVAC SCCA Convention Presentation (1/27):  The EVAC was asked to give a presentation during the convention about what we’ve accomplished and where we’re heading.  To view it, click here.

SCCA Events:

• As the competition season is over for most of our specialties, I did not attend any SCCA events this past month.  I have updated my calendar on the GLDiv website with events I’d like to go to this season.  Click here to see where I’ll be this summer.

If any region out there wants to have an “Ask the Director” session during your monthly meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me so we can schedule a visit.  I retired last summer so have plenty of free time and would thoroughly enjoy the chance to visit with your members.

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
Area 4 Director
Great Lakes Division 517.889.1117 (h) dframe@scca.com

Area 4 Director Update for March 2022

The racing season has already started in the warmer climes of our country….but, of course, not here.  With all due apologies to our RoadRally and RallyX friends who run around in the snow, its still way too damn cold to play with race cars (at least for me).  ☺

I hope everyone has registered for the divisional Spring meeting.  If so, I’ll see you there.  If you haven’t, please consider joining us in Fort Wayne on Saturday March 5^th with a casual gathering the night before. You can register by following this link.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Last month I mentioned that 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 takes only a couple of minutes. Be prepared to upload a headshot picture of yourself.

The various national schedules for 2022 are starting to coalesce and they can be found here:

Pro Solo/National Tour, Time Trials National Tour, Hoosier Super Tour, Enduro.

Video Conference Meetings:

• Club Racing Board (CRB) (2/1):  The CRB is dealing with a lot of “balance of performance” (BoP) requests from the BSpec community.  We spent a lot of time wresting with how to equilibrate the class.  The results can be seen here.
• Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee (EVAC) (2/9):  Our SCCA National Convention presentation went very well.  We thought that for a weekday afternoon time slot, we had pretty good attendance.  There were over 100 who attended “live” and twice that have watched the recording of the presentation since then.  If you’re interested, its available to viewing on YouTube at this link.  Our regular meeting continued working on various rules packages and laying out the steps for implementation.
• EVAC (2/15):  We had an additional meeting to work on additional language for our EV wiring protocol.  This was a couple of hours of VERY esoteric stuff.  Mind numbingly boring…..but necessary.
• EVAC (2/24):  A couple of us from the EVAC had a side meeting with Peter Jankovskis (BoD Chair) and Steve Strickland (BoD Vice Chair) to iron out some feedback they had gotten from some of the program boards.  Most were simple misunderstandings of the intent and once we discussed it, all apprehensions were erased.
• BoD (2/28):  As it’s so close to the end of the month, I’ll report on this meeting in my next update.

SCCA Events:

• As the competition season is over for most of our specialties, I did not attend any SCCA events this past month.  I have updated my calendar on the GLDiv website with events I’d like to go to this season.  Click here to see where I’ll be this summer.  All that is about to change as I head to Fort Wayne for the divisional meeting on 3/4, 3/5.  After that, I’ll be off to VIR for a Major race there in early April (and a visit to my brother who lives close by the track).

Just a quick reminder, if any region out there wants to have an “Ask the Director” session during your monthly meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me so we can schedule a visit.  I retired last summer so have plenty of free time and would thoroughly enjoy the chance to visit with your members.

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
Area 4 Director Great Lakes Division 517.889.1117 (h)
dframe@scca.com