July 2015 2015 KC Region Officers and Board of Directors 2015 KC Region Officers 2014 SOLO ADVISORY Other KVRG Representatives REGIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Kent Prather, Asst. Chair Chris Kern - 913-558-1265 Jeff Bartz - 603.727.6042 Rick Taylor, Secretary [email protected] [email protected] Jesse Prather ASST REGIONAL EXECUTIVE James Cahill - 413.358.0844 Neava Ford - 913.522.9872 [email protected] KVRG Race Officials [email protected] Greg Cheney - 913.522.4940 Race Chair - Gary Kern, 913-515-3878 SECRETARY [email protected] Co Race Chair - Chris Kern Jessica Dorn - 308.830.2257 (c) Al Hermans - 816-478-2386 Paddock Marshall - Chris Kern [email protected] [email protected] Chief of T & S - Sharlene Bettinger TREASURER Jeremy Salenius - 913.608.1648 Asst Chief of T&S - Bruce Bettinger Paula Diehl [email protected] Registrar - Linda Henson, C 816-225-5100 816-795-8520 [email protected] Other KC Region Contacts PAST REGIONAL EXECUTIVE Chief Instructor PDX - Jim Wheeler Race Group Chairman Joe Tasler - 816-550-9007 Chief Driver’s School Instructor - [email protected] Charlie Clark 816-257-7305 Chief Scrutineer - Michael Pearson BOARD MEMBERS Solo Group Chairman Chief Starter - Adam Miller Donna Cross—913.908.0380 Al Hermans 816-478-2386 Chief of Pits - Bob Nowlan [email protected] Webmaster Chief of Grid - Larry Hinton Al Hermans - 816.564.6176 Doug Patterson and Joe Tasler Course Marshall - [email protected] Checkpoint Editor Ken Ragan 913-422-5778 Mike Hill - 816-779-4562/ Barbara E. Garrett Hospitality - Marla Worthington H 816-678-3540, [email protected] [email protected] Chief of F&C - Chris Keith Jeremy Salenius - 913.608.1648 Business Ads and News Worker Coordinator - [email protected] Reporter Char and Ken Keith, Brad Smith—913.708.4531 Paula Diehl, [email protected] [email protected] c 816.225.5100 Chief Medical - Robert Thompson Dave Vincent—913.306.3284 [email protected] [email protected] Club Historian Mid-Div Contacts Sharlene Smith 816-353-8922 Peter Zekert, Area 6 Director Richard Holden, Rep to SEB KC Region Representatives Keith Pfaust, Executive Comm. Chmn. To Contact the SCCA National Office To Kaw Valley Race Group Bill Allman, Driver Licensing Call 1-800-770-2055 or Chris Kern, 913-558-1265 785-267-5613(w) 785-478-3235 (h) Visit the website: www.scca.com Alex Clark, Treasurer, Scott Bowman, Executive Steward Kansas City Website & Forum 913-558-0176 [email protected] Charlie Clark, 816-257-7305 www.kcrscca.org Commercial Ad Rates Classified ads are free as they benefit our members. We will run an ad for three (3) months Members Non Members and request that you let us know Business Card 15.00 25.00 if you would like it removed earlier. Quarter Page 20.00 30.00 Half Page 40.00 50.00 Contact Paula Diehl Full Page 65.00 75.00 816.225.5100 Prices are per issue, Banner Ads included email: [email protected] YOU MUST PROVIDE ARTWORK Words from Chris, our RE: June and the first weeks of July have been some of the most intense I have had in SCCA and without a lot of help I’m not sure I would have made it through the events and other issues! 1st I would like to thank everyone from both KVRG and Kansas / Kansas City regions for all the work that they put in to make the Kansas Speedway Majors the event that it was! If we do this again next year I hope we can get more of the region members to come out and participate in one form or another as it is a great venue and close to home for most of us. Solo has had a great few weeks with event entries at an all-time high and nothing but good reviews from the people that were there. “We need to get more of our region members out to help with these events as they are a lot of fun and a great way to meet the other members” Rally Cross has an event coming up on July 18 and 19 th at the Grain Valley Sand Drags. Please come out and enter and / or help with this and all other events as they are a lot of fun! Bylaws, I want to thank the committee for all their hard work with the draft that was presented to the members at the July General Meeting! I also want to thank the members that came to the meeting and voiced their concerns and ideas that will be taken back to the board. As you may have heard the St. Louis and Southern Illinois regions are asking the National BOD to move from MIDIV to CINDIV. At this time, there is not much to report other than the REs in MIDIV are talking about the upcoming season and what we are going to do if St. Louis and S. Illinois leave or stay to make this a better division. There will be a lot more on this in the upcoming weeks. I would also like to pass on the Region ’s condolences to Jim Wheeler and his family on the passing of big brother Steve Wheeler. See you all at the races! Chris Kern A DAY AT THE TRACK WITH YOUR FRIENDS Article and photos by Doug Patterson Sometimes we go to a Formula 1 grand prix, a MotoGP race weekend, World Endurance Championship event, or a World Rally Championship rally to see the best drivers/riders and machines in the world com- pete at levels that appear to us mere mortals as superhuman. We witness remarkable feats of vehicle con- trol and intestinal fortitude that make us think that surely these are aliens piloting alien technology, and we’re supremely entertained and inspired by this. Sometimes, however, you just want to hang out with your friends at the track, and what you witness is that, on occasion, you see glimpses of that alien-level greatness in the guys and gals you share beers and burgers with at the monthly club meetings. This past weekend, the Kaw Valley Race Group and the Kansas City Region SCCA hosted the eighth round of the SCCA U.S. Ma- jors Tour at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS. Long-time readers of Formu- la1Blog.com will remember that the crew at- tended the ill-fated Indy Lights and IndyCar Series race at the Speedway back in 2009, but since then, the facility as expanded and now includes an infield road course. Yes, I know, rovals aren’t always ideal courses, especially from a photographer’s point of view, and this is no exception. This was the only Majors event to be held on a high-banked track. As The #30 Formula Mazda of James Wright and the #5 such, it is a good opportunity to prepare for Formula Continental of Brandon Dixon crossing the Start/Finish line at the Kansas Speedway. this year’s National Runoffs which will be held at the Daytona International Speedway on their roval. It was strange showing up to the Kansas Speed- way and not seeing crowds of fans milling around, looking for autographs, and a media center packed with reporters and photogs try- ing to get their work out to their editors. It was almost like the 2010 IndyCar race. (oh, too soon?) It was pleasant in a way, too. Stepping into the media center to register and seeing not only the Speedway staff, but many of my friends from the club organizing and coordi- nating all the logistics was pretty neat. Once I received my marching orders from our Region- al Executive, Chris Kern, off I went to do my photog thing. David Vincent preparing his #73 Formula 500 machine on Sunday morning. Working the paddock, there’s one thing that was immediately clear. There are a LOT more cars at hand than during a typical IndyCar or Rally America event! There were 104 competitors racing in 31 classes in seven separate race groups. Yes, 31 clas- ses seems a bit excessive to me as well. It could be worse. It could be Solo. It meant that my tagging work became a lot more complex and time con- suming. I’m still tagging photos! It also meant that there was a great diversity of cars on track from the small, non-aero open-wheel cars like the Formula Vee, Formula Ford, and Formula 500 (I want one of those cars!), winged open-wheel cars like For- mula Mazda and Formula Atlantic, prototype-style racers like the Spec Racer Ford (wouldn’t mind one of those either), to GT sports cars like the Cor- vettes and Vipers. Dane Smith in his #21 GT-1 Corvette trying his best to The Kansas Speedway crew were amazing. Nor- find traction with slicks on a very wet race track. mally during a race weekend, the security staff are so stressed out from dealing with the beered up masses that they are usually gruff at best and rude and force- ful at worst. Frankly, I don’t blame them for their attitude. They have to put up with a lot of crap. In the lower stress, more relaxed atmosphere of the Majors event, the security crew were extremely friendly and helpful. The Guest Services Coordinator, Cole Cochran, even help arrange things for me to allow me to drive my car onto the outer rim road so I could do work from the outside of the oval and flag stand. On a day where tem- peratures were in the triple digits, the ability to sit in my air conditioned car in between sessions, and to drive between the outside and infield made my work a LOT easier.