Welcome & RE'S Corner

Dick McCollister

Regional Executive

Miscellaneous Rambling from the desk of the R.E.

Wow, I certainly hope everyone had a great time during May.   

Two Solo events, the first being our initial “Danville Super Regional” and the second event which occurred on Mother’s Day. We held our First Annual Wolf Ridge Hill-Climb and they even asked us back.  We held our Memorial Day weekend event, squeezing it into just two days this year and everyone seemed excited to be headed home for the Monday holiday .

 Every weekend last month CRR hosted an event and each one of 

those events made money, not much, but some.

My only disappointment from last month was our decision to cancel the Lowes event.  The board needs to re-evaluate this  and try to determine how we sponsor a successful event during 2008.  I’ve spoken with Lowes and they want to work with us to get the event back on the schedule.

 Now, looking forward...

Greenville/Spartanburg Chapter:  Steve Eckerich and I spoke with Scott Franklin at the May Memorial Monster and he was asking  how we might service the western section of our region.  We rolled the question back at him about helping establish a socializer and a chapter to service all of the autocrossers and racers in the area.  The result was our first meeting/social held on June 14 at the Greenville Ryan’s Steakhouse.  We had an excellent turn-out with many people interested in stepping up and helping grow our club in that area. Ted Theodore has stepped up to try and keep the momentum and help grow that program.

PCA at Lowes:  We are still looking for F&C workers for the PCA HPDE.  The local chapter of the PCA approached us several months ago, asking if we could provide workers for their event at Lowes, as Lowes was not providing F&C workers.  The board agreed that this a another opportunity to put some cash in the bank while providing an opportunity for our members to gain experience without spending two days at a track 90 miles away.  This is a one-day event, is on July 1^st, starting about 11:00am and finishing at 8:00pm.  Free dinner and you get paid in the process.

July Mid-Year Meeting:  The board is preparing for the mid year meeting of the SEDIV in Atlanta on               July 28 & 29

Eagles Nest Hill-Climb: (our second hill-climb of the year) Plans are well underway for the First Annual Eagles Nest Hill-Climb.  Mark your calendar for August 18 & 19.  People are telling me that if you thought Wolf Ridge was fun; hang on with both hands for Eagles Nest.

Volunteers: I want to take a minute and thank every individual who has worked a CCR event this year.  The goal of CCR is provide opportunities in automotive performance in a safe and controlled environment.  This only occurs when a group of volunteers gathers and gives their time so that everyone can enjoy the experience.  Please feel free to bring a friend along the next time you attend an event.  Only then, can they appreciate the excitement and choose to volunteer for future events.

Dick McCollister
R.E. Central Carolina Region SCCA

Solo Review

Dave McKenzie

CCR Autocross Chairman

CCR and Continental Tire 24 hour Autocross 

      Labor Day Weekend!! What a great chance to finish the summer. Families gather to go to the beach or mountains; unless one or more of them is a member of the Central Carolina Region (CCR) of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). Every year, Labor Day Weekend is the traditional weekend that the CCR members and members of other SCCA clubs participate in the 24 hour autocross.

     The 24 hour autocross starts at 12 noon on Saturday and continues nonstop until 12 noon on Sunday. Participants can sign up to run for 12 hours or 24 hours. They must work a 2 hour shift for each 12 hours they sign to run. When not working, they are free to run as often as they are able. There are no run groups, as in a normal autocross; just get in line and run whenever you are ready. It is great to run a few runs, take a break, grab some food, socialize or do some fine tuning of the car.

      At dusk, the lights come on and a new dimension is added to the driving experience.  Some participants from the ‘boomer generation’ find their speeds slowing due to limited night time vision.  The drivers, who are coming from their day jobs, come out and just get started.  As Night falls the early birds go home for some rest or sleep and others may spend the night in a hotel. Die hard auto crossers stay at the site all night and get their rest in their cars or in tents so they can get up and run, or ‘wrench’ on their cars.

      The 2006 24 Hour Autocross was made possible by Continental Tire in Charlotte NC, who was very generous in allowing the CCR to hold the event at one of their parking lots. The Continental lot was spacious and fenced in, perfect for spectator control and safety. The paved area for the grid was ample and had nice spectator areas. Participants felt very safe and the guard at night was appreciated.  Steven Rankins was the chairman for the 2006 event.  The success of this autocross would not have been possible without the generous and gracious cooperation of Continental Tire Company. The course was fun, the weather was wonderful, and fellowship was terrific, making this a memorable event. During the 24 hour period there were over 3000 runs made, which probably left enough rubber on the site for Continental to manufacture a tire or two.

       There are many others who helped to make this one of the best autocross events of the year.   The course was designed by Rob Falkner, who has a reputation for making challenging courses. There were 157 drivers representing 30 different classes.  A broad range of drivers, from novice to several National SCCA drivers participated. National drivers such as Jonathan McCallister, Will Mahan, Rob Falkner, Steven Rankins, Per Olof Ezelius, Geoff Zimmer and Tara Knoll did their best to conquer the course.

      Per Olof had the fastest PAX time of the day edging out Rob Falkner with a time of 28.988 in his 05 Mini Cooper S. It was a day of seconds for Rob, since he also finished just behind Michael Bright, who had the fastest raw time of the day at 35.019 in his 03 Nissan 350Z. Sandra Falkner came in first in ladies class with a PAX time of 31.586 in the Falkner 04 Porsche SE 550.    

     The 2006 Continental Tire 24 hour autocross went so well that we are going back this year. The CCR has planned at least 2 more autocrosses this summer at the same site. The 24 hour autocross this year will be Sept 1-2. We look forward to maintaining a successful long term relationship with Continental Tire.  Grab some tires and come run with the CCR. (Watch out for the cones!)

Dave McKenzie  

Remaining 2007 CCR Schedule of Events

• June 24 - CCR #4 at Statesville Auto Auction

• July 7 - NTI School

• July 8 - CCR #5 at Nascar Technical Institute

• July 14 - CCR non-points fundraiser at Knights

• August 12 - CCR #6 at Statesville Auto Auction

• August 18-19 - Eagles Nest Hillclimb - Banner Elk, NC

• September 1 and 2 - CCR #7 24hours of AutoX at Continental Tire

• October 6 - NTI School

• October 7 - CCR #8 at Nascar Technical Institute

• November 11 - CCR #9 at Statesville

Time Trail Review

Tony Wentworth

Hillclimb Director

2007 Wolf Ridge Hillclimb

Scenic Wolf Resort

Mars Hill, NC:

On a hill reminiscent of some of the mountain courses of the past, Wolf Ridge Hillclimb was “born” May 18-20, 2007.  King of the Hill, George Bowland volunteered: “this the scariest hill I’ve driven since Chimney Rock!”  Bowland, driving the Bowland Boys Racing BBR Shark, set fastest time on Sunday of 1:47.203!  Second-fastest driver, Stan Vann, in a vintage Formula Ford at followed Bowland: 2:01.921.  The Mashburn Boys father Mark and son John, shared their ZO6 Corvette to 3rd and 4^th, with Dad besting son by 10/100^th of a second. 

An estimated 2,000 spectators viewed experienced drivers going faster with each run during the two day competition.  Cool temperatures greeted drivers on Friday as they came to a mountain that many had never seen prior the event.  Saturday dawned frosty but warmed as the competition cars made their first parade down the return road to staging and grid.  Following practice runs in the morning, the Central Carolinas Region timing crew, Steven and Jane Rankins, assisted by Carolina Willes declared the new timing system ready and timed runs began after the worker lunch break.  Chief of Start, Rick Mitchell sent the first driver up the hill, SE Time Trial sponsor, Rich Shafer in his Cool Shirt Camaro.  Shafer kept his 700hp beast on the pavement to cheers from workers and spectators alike as he made his way up the mountain, followed by other V8 “ground-pounders”, the Mashburns, Tommy Richardson in his vintage (yes, it used to be Butch’s (Kummer)) 69 Corvette convertible, Shep Cordray in his Chevy-powered Nissan  280Z and Lars Lattstrom’s bright yellow Cobra replica.

Tommy and Tom Richardson represented the second of 3 father/son combos along with John and Jonathon Cort, truly making this a family affair.  Grassroots Motorsports club editor, Scott Lear declared that his first hillclimb was the most fun he’s had in years.  Lear drover his Honda CRX to an impressive 2:10.863 improving more than 6 seconds over the two days, very impressive for a hillclimb “rookie”.

Scenic Wolf Resort developers, led by Rick Busey and Tim Bryant, will shyly admit that the road up the mountain was built with hillclimbing in mind.  Rick was a fan of Chimney Rock and Beech Mountain hillclimbs.  He and Bryant approached CCR members Jan Davis, Nick Seymour, Jerry Hagan and Wesley Nicholson about hosting a hillclimb.  The latter three men became the event organizers and secured the sponsorships and local support necessary to hold the event.  CCR board members Steve Eckerich, Steven Rankins and Tony Wentworth assisted them.  Busey and Bryant are enthusiastically looking forward to this event next year and promise that it will be bigger every year.

Tony Wentworth

National News

From SCCA.com

SCCA Launches MySCCA

TOPEKA, Kan. (June 13, 2007) -- Sports Car Club of America, Inc. (SCCA) and Haymarket Worldwide announced today the launch of MySCCA.com, a community Web site for SCCA members and enthusiasts. MySCCA.com allows members of the site to post photos and videos, create blogs and form groups of members with similar interests.

Developed for SCCA members to meet up online and post user-generated content about their SCCA activities as well as images and in-car video of their racing ventures, MySCCA.com also allows users to create groups so members with similar interests, motorsports-related or otherwise, have a central gathering point. Other features include the ability to create debates, discussions, promote events and share information about individual racecars with the rest of the community.......  View complete article at www.scca.com.

MySCCA is live now, and can be found at www.myscca.com and through a link at 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: CCR Celebrities....(or maybe just look-a-likes)

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

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