Welcome & RE'S Corner

Dick McCollister

Regional Executive

Miscellaneous Rambling from the desk of the R.E.

My apologies to everyone, as we missed sending out our July & August Newsletters. I will make every effort in the future to be certain that something is sent out on time every month. Please keep in mind that any member can contribute to the newsletter. The Event Chairmen, board members and R.E. have full plates already, so any contribution is welcome.

Solo Charity Event -Congratulations to Solo group for their recent Charity Event.  The turn-out was encouraging, considering the event was put together with such short notice.  Thanks to the 80 or so participants who attended and their tremendous generosity, the event far exceeded my expectation.  Super Job to the Solo Group (See note from Dave).

Mid-Year Meeting - Steve Eckerich and I attended the mid-year meeting in Atlanta.  Most every region from the division attended this meeting to review rules and set schedules for 2008.  CCR had determined going into the meeting, that if nothing else was accomplished, we needed to move the date for the National Race which was held in February.  This decision was made due to frequently low attendances caused by cold weather in the Carolinas and bad driving conditions in the north.  Mission accomplished, almost.  We were able to move the date in the SEDIV schedule to March 15, but are now trying to resolve scheduling issues with CMP.

The 2008 schedule looks like:

            March 15 & 16......................National Race.................................TBD

            May 24 & 25........................ Double SARRC..............................CMP

            June  7 & 8...........................Wolf Ridge Hill climb.......................Mars Hill, NC

            June  14 & 15........................Double SARRC & MARS................Lowes

            August 16 & 17.....................Eagles Nest Hill climb...................... Banner Elk, NC    

            October 18 & 19...................TBD................................................TBD

My biggest concern with this schedule is that we will have three events in four weeks.  This is going to put a real drain on the Specialty Chief’s and our core-base of workers, along  with requiring that sufficient funds are available to prepay track deposits, insurance and sanction fees. 

HighRock Raceway - On August 9^th, the Town of Spencer, NC, gave its approval for a “Conditional Zoning Variance” to the developers of the HighRock Raceway.  This approval allows the developers, to begin building the proposed road course at highway 29 and I-85.  If you’re not familiar with this project, the developers have been attempting to get this off the ground for almost 4 years.  This is a tremendous opportunity for CCR and I hope that we can establish a strong relationship and plan to work toward that goal.  Not every region has a race course.  Far fewer have two tracks.  We’ll have three, a world class facility at Lowe’s, a well established road course at Carolina Motorsports Park, and now HighRock Raceway.   

SWCCR (Greenville) Chapter - I want to offer a special thanks to those who attended the SWCCR/Greenville Chapter meeting, Thursday, August 9^th.  You Guys and Gals are hard core.  How can I say this you ask?  When I arrived at Ryan’s Steakhouse, they were closing the doors.  Not because I was late, but because the entire city block was without power.  Did our troops leave, hell no…. They sat in the dark, no air conditioning, no lights, just the evening light through the windows.  Ted and company managed through the challenge.  I was especially glad to hear from Ted that they may have found a site to hold solo events are beginning discussions with the owners.  Good luck, and let us know how the CCR Board can help.  Everyone did a great job.  When they finally got around to letting me speak, I raised my hand, and the lights came on.  If only they had let me do that when I got there, I might have gotten something to eat.  I want to thank Todd Owenby, for stepping forward.  During my little talk, I spoke about the up-coming AGM, scheduled for Greenville this year.  Todd indicated that he would begin look for a location.  This was a great meeting.  

Dick McCollister
R.E. Central Carolina Region SCCA

Solo Review

Dave McKenzie

CCR Autocross Chairman

NTI Autocross School & 12 Hours for Charity

Dave McKenzie
Solo Chair, Central Carolina Region SCCA

Remaining 2007 CCR Schedule of Events

• October 6 - NTI School

• October 7 - CCR #8 at Nascar Technical Institute

• November 11 - CCR #9 at Statesville

Time Trial Review

Tony Wentworth

Hillclimb Director

2007 Eagle's Nest Hillclimb

Eagle's Nest

Banner Elk, NC:

Take the following ingredients: a spectacularly beautiful North Carolina mountain development, a sports car show, rock ‘n roll music, 46 SCCA hillclimb drivers, spectators to see it all and put it in the hands of developer John Turchin and Central Carolinas’ Region of the SCCA. Mix it and you have the first annual Rock-N-Road Hillclimb at Eagle’s Nest.

Spectators were able to mingle among the cars and drivers as they prepped for the 1.5mile, 21turn course that actually starts downhill then begins a steady, steep 1,500ft.climb to the finish.  Turchin provided a challenging road with ultra smooth, grippy pavement with more than enough challenge for all competitors.  Perennial King of the Hill, George Bowland said he had a couple of scary moments but managed to post a hill record of 81.182 seconds.  Bowland, driving his BBR Shark that has taken him to so many Time Trials, Solo and hillclimb wins said that he had visions of Chimney Rock days as he drove the hill.

Stan Vann, in his Formula Ford, was second with a best run of 93.141 seconds.  Tommy Richardson’s ’69 Corvette led the V8 ground-pounders at 96.561 barely edging Rich Shafer, in his Cool Shirt Camaro at 96.561. 25 classes of cars competed during the two-day event. 

John Turchin, known in South Florida for hosting large parties, invited sports car owners to come have their cars judged for blow-glass trophies, hired bands to play each day and featured Donna the Buffalo playing in his beautiful amphitheater built into the side of the mountain. 

Turchin is already making plans for next year’s event by making the course more spectator-friendly and slightly longer in the process.  We can’t wait!

Tony Wentworth

National News

From SCCA.com

SCCA Launches New Website

TOPEKA, Kan. (September 7, 2007) --

Welcome to the new and improved SCCA.com.

The site you’ve just landed on was completely rebuilt based on feedback from the membership, staff and fans of SCCA. It’s not just new bodywork on an old chassis. We’ve built this new model from the ground up with new chassis, drivetrain, driver and navigator equipment and body.

First and foremost, we’ve added speed, something that was missing before. You’ll notice the new site is on par with the best sites you visit every day on the Internet....  View complete article at www.scca.com.

View the new SCCA website: www.scca.com

Members - Want to save big $$ on your next renewal?

SCCA is now offering $5 off your next renewal for every new member you recruit! 

Visit this link for more details: www.scca.com

Online With CCR

Rich Little

Membership Chair / Webmaster

Calling all members!!! Join us online - We have a very active forum, discussing all things racing and some thing that have nothing to do with racing. Here's the link to our main message board: CCR FORUMS.

Thread of the month from our forum: What was the worst car you owned?

Out of the CCR Gallery: (Click Image to Visit the Gallery)