In 3.5.1.H, supps are no longer required to have the names of all members of the SOM, only the Chairman. As supps listing things like "all available SITs" as committee members are not uncommon, this is effectively ratification of common practice.
In 3.5.6, the old section F requiring a medical information card as part of the entry form goes away.

The compliance surcharge for SCCA Sports Racer (the Formula SCCA car with closed bodywork classed in CSR) goes away. This amounts to what, $50 a year or something?

The criteria for Double National Scheduling has been tweaked. the 1 per division rule is removed.

Explicit language is added in a new section 3.1.3 concerning national weekends where the nationals are run by regions in different divisions. the old 3.1.3 ("restricted nationals") is now 3.1.4, and so forth.

This section is substantially expanded in the 2008 rulebook. Drivers should probably check it out for themselves.

The 2008 GCR arrived last week while I was out of town over Christmas. I haven't had time to go through it yet, but I will be doing a series of posts here about changes as I work my way through the book. I'll be going front to back, and will be including the boring procedural sections at the beginning, so I'll label what chapter I'm talking about in the subject.

I just got a copy of the 2008 schedule in email. This should be fairly final: 2008 NEDiv SCCA Schedule.

(liveblogging)
Dave Panas asks for roll call of NEDiv regions.
Kathy McLeod calls roll
Dave Panas introduces council: Kathy McLeod (Secretary), Peter Roberts (Treasurer), Tom Campbell, Phil Henderson, George Blosser. requests approval of previous minutes.
Terry Roberts some corrections to minutes.
Dave Panas minutes approved as corrected.
Peter Roberts financial report. wishes to railroad new person into treasurer job. jerry buckbee's report from roundtable still relevant, george's budget and jerry's projections basically came true. invoices for annual assessments of nediv regions have been sent by email. will generate paper copy on request. assessments reflected agreed upon fee increases from previous roundtable, mini-con.
full report for 2007 will be made at spring roundtable.
peter greatly appreciates help and cooperation from club members as he has taken over the job.
questions?
Barry Kaplan have you heard Jerry Buckbee snickering and laughing?
Chuck Dobbs how many records?
Peter Roberts a shelf full. jerry very thorough.
Dave Panas request approval of treasurer's report. approved.
Recognizes Kathy Barnes (solo national event chair) and Jerry W (chief steward at runoffs).
George Blosser NESCCA budget. details in March. overview: staying even financially ~$7000 on hand. no major changes in program planned.
Dave Panas can anyone speak to the enduro series? no.
Can Pego Mack speak to rally? yes.
Pego Mack any questions?
Judy Blosser request synopsis of weekend memberships
Pego Mack membership required beginning January 1. Weekend membership is $5. national office recommends $15 entry fee differential, $10 to be retained by region. membership is good for entire weekend (e.g, friday through sunday.) may be applied to full membership within 60 days.
Marc Gerstein limit on number of signups?
Pego Mack no limit. limit that could be applied to a membership is $30 due to 60 day rule.
Judy Blosser administrative method?
Pego Mack region can submit electronically via spreadsheet, etc.
?? concerned that it was sprung on members.
Pego Mack brought up at national convention.
?? very concerned about notification
Pego Mack need to bring it up with Area directors.
John Sheridan brought up in RE's seminar at national convention. not warmly received by all. concerned that it works better for road racing than for solo & rally. board position evolved over summer, board decided to support it in August.
Kathy Barnes NER did trial of program this summer. when 90 day trials from summer started expiring, many converted to full membership. Kathy feels program worked well, accomplished goals.
Donna road racing scheduling - calendar updates from weekend. reminds regions of info, fees they need to provide by mid November.
June 6tth NYR - non race event friday.
June 7th MoHud one day regional saturday.
June 20th NER
August 1st, 2nd NNJR National
Tri-Region trying to move date to July 4th at Pocono.
Millville dates remain tentative until track is inspected.
Tri-region requests double at Pocono in August.
some confusion about lime rock dates.
calendar not official until december 1st.
Jack Hanifan DA Funding. formula for funding DA travel to meetings. money available for training budgets. DAs will make proposals to exec stewards who will allocate funds.
Tom Campbell review NARRC committee meetings from previous day.
15 weekends, 10 races count. new points schedule, deeper into field, cover top 20 finishers per class. still tinkering with formula. simplified track participation bonuses. bonus for core tracks (Lime Rock, NHIS, Pocono). new run group recommendation by drivers accepted with one change. dropping prize money, working out use for funds made available.
Kathy Barnes concerned about safety issues in Solo. wants REs to be aware of safety issues and take responsibility. concerned about course design standards, esp. finish area and viewing area.
Judy Blosser asked Pego to speak to safety issues for Rallycross.
Pego Mack no incidents that she is aware of. Rallycross safety committee and safety steward programs in place.
Ed Z (glen region) incident occurred, now take pictures of lots before event to document condition. points out regions that aren't permitting karts at solos, thinks this should change.
?? New Jersey laws are restrictive about this issue.
Terry Roberts registration report. online registration is improving. thanks all for cooperating on helmet stickers, now stickers are going away. some drivers like medical stickers, should continue to sell them.
has document explaining how new weekend membership program interacts with registrars. wants all registrars to charge same amount for weekend membership. trial program seems to have worked well this year. harder for workers. logistics need improvement. should not sell temp memberships to workers, program targeted at crew. non SCCA licensed drivers can race at a regional on temp membership, not valid for schools, nationals. regions must specify that they accept non-SCCA licenses and which ones they accept in their supps for this to apply.
for workers, first weekend temp membership is free. 3 year $30 worker membership available after first weekend. form not yet available online. new form with referral box, members who refer others get reduction in membership rate following year.
Online registration tracking projections tolerably. current projection for next year does not include thunderbolt coming online. There is an expected shortfall to be covered by driver licensing fees same as previous year. proposal for online registration accepted for next year.
motion about event fees, retain them licensing fees. represent income for the division, have for decades. discussion about what to use them for.
motion passed
IT 7 proposal ITA RX-7s now not very competitive, want to get the cars back out. NARRC will include IT7 for a one year trial. question about compatibilty with MARRC IT7. Proposal is for an RX7 built to IT rules but a separate class.
Acceptance of proposal moved. discussion about possible differences between MARRC and NARRC IT7 rules, apparently there are none. proposal approved.
Phil Henderson NESCCA regalia program. hats for race winners, jackets for worker awards. need to replenish trophy supplies for next year.
Barry Kaplan moves that NARRC & MARRS coordinate IT7 rules and make sure there's one set. approved.
Judy Blosser moved for Tri-Region approval for Pocono Double National. approved.
Barry Kaplan requests roll call vote.
Dave Panas asks if there are any objections. several indicate that they would have voted no.
Merideth Croucher requests info about stats, circumstances in national program.
Marc Gerstein reminds of intention that the double national only take place when there are fewer than 10 venues. with new venue about to come online, double may disappear shortly.
Peter Roberts reminds us of entries at nationals, target for entries, met average across division, but a number of tracks were well under target.
Geroge Blosser proposal for promoting National Races. end of season event for top 6 drivers per class per national point system. "NESCCA Shootout". only NEDiv races count for invitation. use last National, structure resembling NASCAR chase where all drivers actually compete but only top 6 are in shootout. 3 or more active drivers required for a class to participate.
discussion of double nationals ensues some drivers really prefer doubles for cost effectiveness reasons.
proposal not intended for approval today, discussion to continue.
Donna Nelson Ledges dual national to occur memorial day weekend. one NEDiv race, one CenDiv track.
Marc Gerstein would like improved publicity for NEDiv conventions.
Upcoming meetings
Glen Region, Ithaca, 2008 round table, march 14-16, Ramada
Mohud, Albany, 2008, mini con, nov 8-9, Best Western Soverign
2009 round table, no volunteer region yet
DC Region, 2009 mini con, no details yet
NNJR 2010 round table, no details yet
Finger Lakes, 2010 mini con
NEDiv council elections
motion to reelect current board. approved.
meeting adjourned.

(liveblogging)
Intro by Bob Introne, Area 1 Director/Chairman of the board
Finances positive results for 2007, $200,000 ahead of the game. There have been a number of good years in a row.
Rallycross growing program, first national championship at Hastings, 50 attendees, event considered quite successful.
Solo successful program, but some ongoing issues. Event safety is becoming a focus due to a few incidents this past year. Solo Nationals were second most successful ever, 1173 entries.
Road Racing generally successful but national entries down 10% or so. Heartland Park improved over 1st year. Contract is 3 years, 2009 venue for runoffs uncertain.
Pro Racing on brink of disaster 18 months ago. consistent money loser, making no progress. Board was revamped, new president hired, increased oversight, more club visibility at events. new tv agreement in place much sooner than last year. pro is now very healthy and will continue.
Annual convention in San Antonio end of january.
Foundation revived. Team driving events around the country.
Comments by John Sheridan, Area 10 Director
Effort to make club activity transparent. Board didn't used to record votes in minutes clearly. Financials are now much more accessible.
Concern about Fastrack migrating from SportsCar to internet (rule changes, board minutes, etc). Beginning in November, BoD minutes synopsis will appear in SportsCar.
John requests more civility and restraint, concerned about intensity of some discussions.
John mentions that Brian Holtz is being term limited out of BoD.
Comments by Brian Holtz, Area 2 Director
Proud to serve the SCCA, urges Area 2 members who haven't voted in BoD election yet to do so.
Questions from the floor
Gee Dub is philly region holding a team driving event in November?
George & Judy BlosserNot on calendar, pushing to do it but not scheduled.
Barry Kaplan Comments on improved National Office responsiveness, thanks Jim Julow.
?? approaching karting organizations for new membership development
Jim Julow various new member projects being looked at, nothing tangible to announce.
?? bar code on membership card?
Jim Julow trying to develop new system to improve registration, etc. trying to cut down on forms. no timetable for completion, being rolled out in modules one at a time.
Terry Roberts regions need to know what's expected as part of this system, some tracks lack infrastructure.
Jim Julow trying to minimize requirements because of diverse situations of regions/tracks.
Peter Roberts runoffs location search for 2009 - requests overview of process.
Bob Introne new RFP being developed, very different from last RFP. Jim Julow will be presenting draft RFP to board in near future. Outreach to tracks in progress to let tracks know that RFP is coming. Also outreach to members to pass word to owners/operators about process. Decision to be made in summer of 2008, news to not be released until after runoffs. Heartlannd Park is not preordained. Previous selection process received 2 credible proposals and Heartland Park won.
Krista Botsford what has the driver feedback been?
Bob Introne survey of drivers being collected now. email comments he's seen run to constructive criticism rather than to "i loved it". 8.5% decrease in entry this year over last year. 5th or 6th largest ever, good event this year, but agreed that improvements are possible.
Brian Holtz moved much further west, feedback from left coasters very positive. improved attendance from Rocky Mountain, SW Divisions. nationals program in SWDiv dramatically improved since event moved.
Bob Introne not all drivers critical, some are very positive about the event.
Kathy Barnes online survey for Solo Nationals very good, is one being done for Runoffs?
Bob Introne/Jim Julow good survey feedback coming in.
Tom McLeod requests status info on Pro, rough driving, etc.
Bob Introne can't really speak to it.
Brian Holtz events are very competitive, 50 minute sprint race, cars are very equal, stuff happens. drivers generally keep their foot in it. great television, great racing. great exposure for scca.
?? does style for pro set style for club?
Brian Holtz/Bob Introne don't think so, different organizations. very close racing in prod races at runoffs this year, no contact.
Sara Bonnier life members, future of community.
Jim Julow can't answer in detail, Colin made changes in program last year, will find out facts and follow up.
John Sheridan what does Sara think should be different?
Sara Bonnier recognition, tokens and incentive for young members
George Blosser will geographical limitations be imposed on runoffs sites?
Bob Introne looking at tracks all over.
Jim Julow from virginia to california
Merideth Croucher are financial benefits to communities being used as ammunition?
Brian Holtz good data available from Topeka, being used
?? how long a contract?
Bob Introne 3-5 years
Jim Julow very detailed RFP by comparison with the past.
Brian Holtz old process worked well for years, but times have changed, process is changing.
John Sheridan sees site moving every 3-5 years in the future. no more 10 year or 14 year stints at one track.
Tina Reeves thanks Jim Julow for showing up here and at Solo Nationals. central location helped solo program to grow over the years. Solo drivers like heartland park except for the sand.
John Sheridan brooms are budgeted for 2008.
Jim Julow promised street sweeper to kathy, been told to never disappoint kathy.
Bob Introne BoD town meetings at Runoffs, Solo nationals, very positive, will continue.
Matt thanks BoD for improvements in transparency. asks about getting visibility into content of RFP when it goes out. wonders about how accurate old RFP info leaked on internet.
Jim Julow will discuss it, probably can't go out before/during process. new RFP will focus on big issues, old RFP was very low level and detailed.
Brian Holtz old RFP doesn't necessarily reflect contract negotiated with runoffs site.
Bob Introne announcement: about a year ago, executive steward selection method changes. now done in November BoD meeting, which will be held tomorrow. however, NEDiv exec steward to be proposed tomorrow is...
Brian Holtz process is customized across the divisions to meed their requirements, NEDiv is somewhat unique. exec steward in NEDiv thankless herding cats job. need to work on national program in NEDiv. Thanks Jack Hanifan, outgoing exec steward for his efforts in peer review, training, working with DAs, great job.
nominee for next year will be Tom Hoffman. long time steward with varied and extensive background. currently on national court of appeals.
Bob Introne closes session. NEDiv council is next.

A heads up: the SCCA BoD has approved new roll cage rules for closed wheel cars registered after 1/1/08, if you're building a new car then be sure to check the rules in the October 07 Fastrack.
There are some new rules relating to formula cars too, but I haven't had a chance to start reviewing them yet.

A heads up: the SCCA BoD has approved new roll cage rules for closed wheel cars registered after 1/1/08, if you're building a new car then be sure to check the rules in the October 07 Fastrack.
There are some new rules relating to formula cars too, but I haven't had a chance to start reviewing them yet.

This is the time of year when, in most parts of the country, the SCCA switches over to holding meetings about racing. I'm sitting here in a meeting room in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, listening to discussion on various topics relating to running the club. In other rooms, there are discussions about Solo (Autocross) and Rally. We will have two awards events today, the NARRC awards luncheon and tonight, a banquet where NEDiv rewards will be given out.
The first session of the morning was for Club Racing in general. Topics included declining Nationals program in the northeast (race count, competitor count, lack of interest in towing to Topeka were all brought up), unification of flagging rules (the east coast differs from the west coast in some significant ways, this is something that people have been complaining about for decades, don't expect progress), fuel testing and the lack thereof, and rules process issues.
Now we're in the NARRC session, and Andy Bettencourt is presenting the results of the driver's committee survey of NARRC drivers. Among the issues are potentially getting rid of the NARRC points fund admitting additional regions to NARRC, and tweaking the points system. Also under discussion is the success of events such as Dick Stewart's Formula Vee festival and encouraging more such events.
Previously mentioned was that there will be a number of races at the new track in Millville. Four Lime Rock races just got added to the schedule last night, but there are a number of issues at Lime Rock which create uncertainties with those races.
Lime Rock costs are also an issue, the track is apparently working to a degree with the regions to mitigate the situation.
The last race of the season at Millville may well be a NARRC-MARRC challenge race; this would be the third weekend of October.
Creating IT-7 (for old ITA RX-7s) is also being proposed; the rules would just be the ITA rules. There are lots of old ITA RX-7s parked in garages because ITA is slowly getting faster.
The NARRC expansion proposal is somewhat controversial; traditionally NARRC consists of the 4 regions that race at Lime Rock - New York Region, MoHud, New England, and North Jersey. One Watkins Glen race is often on the NARRC schedule in response to driver request. Expansion would represent a significant change, but many drivers want NARRC to become something verging on a NEDiv regional championship series.
Some of this may be exacerbated by the challenges at Lime Rock; there aren't necessarily going to be 4 races at Lime Rock despite the tentative scheduling because of the unreasonable cost to run there. We could be looking at one National and the NARRC Runoffs and nothing else at Lime Rock in 2008. There could be 2 regionals up for grabs at other tracks.
Trophies are also a serious topic of discussion. Better trophies and better schemes for controlling trophy costs are an issue.
Pointskeeping issues with drivers who aren't running the series are being hotly discussed. There aren't any really great solutions to this problem, and it's not clear how serious a problem it really is.

Pete Hylton, Ghost Tracks: A Historic Look At America's Lost Road Racing Tracks. Benton, Kentucky: Legacy Ink, 2007 , ISBN 978-0-9796976-1-6
Over the past 5 or so years, Pete Hylton has contributed an entertaining and informative series of articles to SportsCar under the name "Ghost Tracks". In this series, he chronicles the history surrounding a number of lost road racing venues across the United States. The series is one of the most popular ever published in the SCCA's club magazine.
Now those articles, along with some additional material, have been collected into book form by Legacy Ink Publishing.It's nice to see these collected, and they are as entertaining and informative as they were originally. There has been some change at some of the old venues, and Pete has updated the information as needed.
There are some nits: being the collection of a series of magazine articles, the book is perhaps a little thin, and the construction is fairly light. It reads like a collection of magazine articles (Well duh, that's what it is). Additionally, the various circuit maps, while fairly close to the actual track layouts, aren't perfect, as I found out while trying to trace the course of the "New" Thompson Raceway circuit using imagery from Yahoo! Maps and Google Maps.
On the plus side, the layouts for the various airport circuits are wonderful things to get, as I can find most of the airfields based on their names, but figuring out the old race circuits that were laid out on them can be pretty difficult.
This book is proving to be valuble reference material for the expansion of the historical side of the race track directory on this site, but don't assume that this means you don't need the book. I'm not entering all the history; if you want to read the stories, you're just going to have to buy it or dig up your old copies of SportsCar.
For all the nits, I do strongly recommend this to enthusiasts who are interested in the history of SCCA road racing. You can order it online from the publisher Here, and no, I don't get a kickback. I, though, do want to see more like this written and published.

One of the things we look over pretty closely in an annual is the manner in which the seat is mounted in the car.
There are two paths one can go down. One requires a support for the seat back, and one does not. Seats with FIA certification do not require a support in back when they are mounted on the seat manufacturer's FIA approved mount. So if you show me a Sparco FIA seat mounted using a Sparco FIA seat mount, you don't need the brace going back to the supports in the main roll hoop. Otherwise, you need a solid support and it must be attached to the back of the seat (not just pressed up against the back of the seat).
The underlying issue behind the support rule is that some years ago (perhaps a decade) there were two fatalities in quick succession at a pair of non-SCCA events in the northeast (If memory serves, they were at Lime Rock and at Pocono.) In both cases, an unsupported seat was mounted to OE type toothed sliders. In both cases, the car backed hard into a solid structure (guardrail at Lime Rock, the wall at Pocono) and the teeth in the sliders sheered off. Both seats slid backwards and the drivers helmets got caught up in the roll cage and bracing.
As a result, the support rule was made universal and strengthened (previously we had not always required attachment of the seat to the support.) The FIA seat & mount exception appeared a few years later.
Some people play games with the support in order to retain front-to-back adjustability. I generally look these over pretty carefully; the adjustable toothed sliders are the reason for the support rule in the first place and a questionable adjustable support doesn't help matters.
The supports should carefully avoid the "spear pointed at the spine" design; we see these occasionally and usually end up spending some time explaining things very slowly and carefully to the drivers who think these are a good idea.
The support in my own IT car is perhaps over built, but I know it's not going anywhere. It consists of a 12" x 4" 12 gauge steel plate with two 1" steel boxed tubing sections welded perpendicular to the plate. These boxes go back and are U-bolted to the lateral bar in the cage that also provides the shoulder harness mount point.
For the bolts that attach the seat and the support, I recommend using a round headed allen type bolt on the driver's side of the seat, rather than something with square corners that will bother and possibly injure the driver.

From the 2007 GCR glossary, page 116:
Engine Compartment - The loosely defined volume, nominally enclosed by panels on top and sides, which is the normal location of the engine in a car.
From the 2007 GCR, IT Category Specification 9.1.3.D.1.c:
...Air intake source shall be within the confines of the engine compartment or stock location...
At the NARRCOffs we impounded ITS cars to check air intakes. I saw a BMW 325 which piqued my interest, but I decided I was looking at shades of grey and chose not to write the car up.
The pertinent question is whether the engine compartment stops at the radiator and its mounts, or can be thought of as continuing on to the grill area. The GCR definition of Engine Compartment is unhelpful in this regard. Discuss.