Lost Creek Raceway Meeting Minutes

Date:  November 19, 2009

Location:  Uncle Buck’s, Warm Springs, MT

Meeting called to order at 6:45 PM by Dale Anderson President

 

In Attendance:

J. J. Potvin	Anaconda
Sarah Weber (Worker’s Now)	Butte
Keith Garrick (Worker’s Now)	Butte
Rich Potvin	Anaconda
Chad & Lisa Robertson	Belgrade
Willie Den Boer	Lincoln
Dale (Den Boer)	Lincoln
Debi Hall	Butte
Dale Anderson	Butte
Mike Dowling	Helena
Wade Hall	Butte

 

Introduction of Attendees and initial announcements were made by Rich Potvin

Reading and Approval of the Meeting Minutes from the last meeting was done by JJ Potvin – minutes were approved and seconded

Reading of Correspondence was done –

·         First was a letter of ides/suggestions put forth by Mr. Bill Biggers –some discussion was made on this and all were asked to table the conversation at this time and to consider the suggestions so that we can have further discussion of these ideas at a later date that is more appropriate. 

·         Additionally, we did receive an outside request from another insurance carrier who would like to provide Lost Creek with a bid for event insurance.  Rich will be looking into this further and reposting back. 

·         We also received the letter from the City of Anaconda that provided a physical address for the race track.  The new address is 595 Galen Road and that will be added to the website.

·         Finally, we did receive notification that the Race in Helena will be occurring this year and the date that they have scheduled in June 26 (Sunday).  Ideally we will want to work around this date.

Treasurers Report was presented by Rich Potvin and all were provided with an up to date printout of the bank ledger.  Treasury Report was approved and seconded.

Other Committee Reports – An announcement was made by Debi Hall for the Fund Raising Committee regarding the Hillbilly Nationals for January 30, 2010 in Lincoln, Montana and all were asked to start collecting items for the auction. Our fiscal goal for this event is $7,500 so that we can purchase both the VHT and the anti-dust spray for the pits.  It was suggested and encouraged that all officers and Board members plan to attend this event to help make it a success.

Unfinished Business - There was a very quick discussion and review of the Flat Track issue presented by Rich and Dale – nothing has been confirmed as far as dates and contracts.

New Business –

·         Concessions – were approved to continue letting Worker’s Now provide the service for Lost Creek. Discussion was also made to let Sara Weber know when there will be a late race event or when there will be a pot luck event so that she can schedule her people accordingly.  They will continue handling the Beer sales for Lost Creek with the profit from that coming back to the track.  Sara also askled if something could be done about the grill top because it is nasty and doesn’t always work right.  Dale volunteered to clean the grill and during Track prep the grill electricity will be looked at to see if it can be fixed.

·         Adding a Dumpster – to be placed by the concession stand was approved by an overwhelming vote!

·         Track Operators Meeting in Seattle – held 12-10-09 through 12-13-09 was approved and both Rich and Dale will be attending to represent Lost Creek Raceway.  They will provide a report at the next meeting.

·         25^th Year Anniversary for Lost Creek Raceway (1986-2010) – Carl Hoyer would like to coordinate a special 25^th anniversary T-Shirt that will be for sale and anyone can put a sponsors add on the back of the shirt for a fee of $100.  Also, Carl would like to make arrangements to start a raffle for a trip to Pomona for the 2010 end of season drag race finals.

·         Discussion of Officers Duties and responsibilities:

o        The By-Laws for the track desperately need to be re-written and updated.  The section most in question was section 7 about officers duties and responsibilities.  Comments from the attendees were as follows:

§         Need to be in attendance and helping

§         Need to make tough decisions and enforce them with the best interest of the track in mind

§         All need to be in attendance at meetings (70% of the time) and  at track fund raising functions

§         Need to be in attendance out at the racetrack for weekend races and be helpful – too much work and too few people to do it.  Officers and Board need to set the example.

§         Be available, be helpful, be supportive – look for solutions that will work.

Election of Officers:  was held by a written vote from each attendee and there were 3 emailed votes received to Rich prior to the meeting.  Both Sarah Weber and Keith Garrick opted out since they are with Workers Now and they agreed to tabulate all of the votes as a disinterested third party.  Voters selected four (4) of the nominees and also the position to place them in.  The results were as follows:

·         Vice President : Mike Dowling (term up 2011)

·         Board of Directors Member: Chad Robertson (term up 2011)

·         Board of Director Member: Jerry Patterson (term up 2011)

·         Secretary: Debi Hall (term up 2011)

An announcement was made to advise all that Rich Potvin will NOT be retaining the Track Manager position after the conclusion of the 2010 race season.  Therefore, it is imperative that all Board and Officers start looking for potential candidates to fill this position.   Offices that do come up for election next year include: President, Treasurer and 1 Board of Director Member.

Further Discussion:  Ideas were presented / suggested to improve Lost Creek for 2010 that included:

·         Sponsored races

·         Poker Race

·         Focusing on increasing Car Count

·         Focusing on recruitment with the High Schools to again run the High School class

Announcements:  Next meeting held on December 17, 2009 at Uncle Buck in Warm Springs starting at 6:30 PM

Meeting was adjourned at 8:47 PM

Notes compiled by D. Hall

Lost Creek Raceway Meeting Minutes

Date:  December 17, 2009

In Attendance:

Introduction of Attendees was skipped as there were no guests and initial announcements were made by Rich Potvin

Reading and Approval of the Meeting Minutes from the last meeting was done by Debi Hall – minutes were approved and seconded

Reading of Correspondence was done –

·         2010 NHRA Rule Books are not being distributed free of charge with paid memberships any longer.  There is a website available for all racers to be able to download and print a copy of the rule book.  Discussion was made that this is a concern because many people will not use the web and keeping racers in compliance could be a problem.  Dale mentioned that he did receive a few copies of the rule book at the Seattle conference and that LCRA did order some books that will be available for sale.  We will post the link for the rule book out on the website after the first of the year so that all drivers have the information available if they want to print it.

·         MDRA Banquet will be February 27^th at the Billings Convention Center.  There will be a Chassis Certification at that event as well as TECH testing. 

·         Received notification from Norm Jones that he will also host a Chassis Certification in Missoula on Saturday, April 3.  Again, TECH testing will be done and it was suggested that we schedule the Missoula Racers Meeting that same day to include as many people as possible.  Carl will be coordinating the details for that meeting.

Treasurers Report was presented by Rich Potvin and all were provided with an up to date break down of the funds and payments made.  Treasury Report was approved and seconded.

Other Committee Reports – An announcement was made by Debi Hall that she will have information for the 2010 End of Year Banquet for the next meeting.  Also, Attendees were assured that the Hillbilly Nationals information would be updated and available on the website very soon!

Unfinished Business – included discussion on:

·         Track Operators Meeting in Seattle (December 11-13) – Some of the major topics are the NHRA Insurance is changing and tightening up.  New policy is that ATV/4-Wheelers can ONLY carry one person and the driver MUST be licensed and at least 16 years old – NO EXCEPTIONS.  Lost Creek Raceway has signed the Member Track Agreement for three more years.  ET Finals this year will be in Mission (Canada) so ALL drivers, family members and Crew MUST have a passport in place.  Estimated Passport cost is $90 for a ten-year document.  Links for the passport and information will be made available on the web soon so that people interested in going can plan ahead.  The passport process usually takes 4-5 months. Additionally, the JR DARGSTER class will be an official class at the finals rather than a fill-in.  Other changes included Pro class at 9.0 seconds, and no auto-shifter. As of January 1, 2011, all vehicles that race faster than 135 MPH (6.39 or faster) MUST have an engine blanket. There have been changes to the Parachute mount for 2010 – please see your tech person or look in the rule book for specifics.  All 10.99 or faster cars MUST have a locking dipstick to race for this year.  According to the meeting, GPS systems and their technology for tracking is NOT legal for racing.   Finally, ALL Juniors now need to have a signed Medical release from a physician just like the regular race drivers to be allowed to race.

·         25^th Anniversary T-Shirt – Carl lead a discussion regarding the T-Shirts and presented a few design choices.  The consensus was that it would be the best option to have all three designed (as modified by discussion) available and ready to open the sales at the Hillbilly Nationals in Late January.

·         Pamona/Vegas Drag Race Trip –Discussion lead by Carl to include ways to boost racer attendance which might include one free chance for this trip with every paid race entry as well as being able to purchase additional chances.  Carl strongly suggested this not be viewed as a fundraiser for the track but rather a way to increase car count and spectators all year long.  He will continue to pursue this and see if he can locate sponsorship.  All attendees seemed in favor of this idea.

New Business –

·         A purchase was made for 1 barrel of VHT and a drag-behind mower from Gordie (out of Billings) for $1500. Rich sent out emails and received Board approval.

·         Lost Creek Raceway 2010 Schedule was discussed and the DATES were finalized pending the State banquet conversation.  Event Schedule is only pending at this time and subject to changes but we will confirm and lock in the events soon.    Discussion centered on a split schedule (some full weekend races and some Friday-Saturday only races) to see where we can appeal to our greatest audience.  Final date schedule will be presented at next meeting.

·         NW Funny Cars / JET CARS and special events were discussed and have been decided to follow up with these different groups to see if we can create a bigger audience.  Discussion further focused on giving these groups part of the gate “spectator take” for the dates that they run.  These events would be classified as “Special Events” and our gate price would be increased to compensate for the split.  All agreed that was acceptable and Rich and Carl will be working with these groups to see if we can schedule them.

·         We are actively looking for a Sponsorship Coordinator – Please see Rich if you are interested or know of someone who might be interested in this position.

·         Rich Potvin has a person whom he would like to designate as the Advertising Coordinator – Sandy Bodette.  She is retired and not a racer but very involved in Anaconda/ SW Montana and is good at selling AD space.  Approved and Seconded.  It was approved that she takes this position and will be compensated on a floating schedule for what she sells.  Carl has agreed to make the telephone number change on the advertising flyer, and will print these and have them available for the next meeting.

·         Meeting dates and places was discussed and it was decided that YES, we do want to have a Helena meeting, a Missoula meeting, and a Bozeman meeting.  The Board representatives from those areas have been tasked with setting up a meeting date, place and time and letting the Board know ASAP.  Also, it was agreed that a trip to visit the Idaho racers was worthwhile time expenditure last year and we will once again make this happen.  Date is pending. All Board members will be encouraged to attend this meeting.

·         Finally, all of the Quick 8 racers were sent a letter and have been asked to attend the last meeting in January to help determine if this is a possibility for the coming year.

Further Discussion:  Discussion was held on the race in Helena and Mike Dowling commented that he had been in contact with Mike Johnson who is looking to purchase ½ barrel of VHT for the event up there and was hoping that we could help or provide him with seller contact info.

Announcements:  Next meeting held on January 15, 2010 at Uncle Buck in Warm Springs starting at 6:30 PM and will be focusing on the budget  and finances for the coming year

Meeting was adjourned at 8:54 PM

Notes Compiled by D. Hall

Lost Creek Raceway Meeting Minutes

Date:  January 15, 2010

Location:  Uncle Buck’s, Warm Springs, MT

Meeting called to order at 6:39PM  by Dale Anderson, President

 

In Attendance:

Rich Potvin	Anaconda
Chad  and Lisa Robertson	Belgrade
Carl Hoyer	French Town
Debi Hall	Butte
Dale Anderson	Butte
Mike Dowling	Helena
Sherri Dowling	Helena
Jerry Patterson	Anaconda
Carol Patterson	Anaconda
Keith Harbour (Sleeping Giant Ambulance)	Elliston
Phillip Legg (Sleeping Giant Ambulance)	Helena

 

Introduction of Attendees was done as well as introductions of Guests from Sleeping Giant Ambulance who also brought a proposal to offer LCRA EMT services for the 2010 season.  Initial announcements were made by Rich Potvin

Reading and Approval of the Meeting Minutes from the last meeting was done by Debi Hall – minutes were approved and seconded

Reading of Correspondence was passed as there was no correspondence received since last meeting.

Treasurers Report was presented by Rich Potvin and all were provided with an up to date break down of the funds and payments made.  Treasury Report was approved and seconded.

Other Committee Reports – A presentation was made by Debi Hall for the 2010 End of Year Banquet with handouts for comparison between the Holiday Inn Express and the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.  Conversation is leaning towards Holiday Inn Express with the availability to provide our own bar and keep the funds (Debi has help for this event for the bar if we choose this option).  Discussion also involved looking into other locations to host the banquet.  All agreed with the stipulation that if it is outside Butte/Anaconda someone local needs to be coordinator for that event.  Sent email with Hotel questions to Mike Dowling (Helena), Chad and Lisa Robertson (Bozeman) and Carl Hoyer (Missoula).  Follow-up discussion will happen at 1/28/10 meeting.

Unfinished Business – included discussion on:

·         25^th Anniversary T-Shirt – Carl has made the changes and showed new graphics at the meeting.  Graphics approved for 1 T-shirt with a large design on back and the special 25^th Anniversary logo on breast pocket.  Also is having T-Shirts printed for the Hillbilly Nationals as  a special event commemorative item that will be available for sale January 30^th.

·         Trip to Idaho to meet with the Idaho Racers has been set for Saturday, February 6^th.  Rich will take care of talking to the Idaho folks so that they can get something set up for a meeting sight.  As many officers as possible are encouraged to attend.

New Business –

·         A lengthy discussion was held with Keith and Phil regarding why we should change ambulance service to Sleeping Giant.  Keith pointed out that they are a contracted service not a 911 provider, they are reasonably priced and are looking for a long term relationship with LCRA, they are trained to handle fast-paced events where the potential for trauma is very possible (Rodeo, stockcar, etc.). Keith also provided a bid proposal that Rich did a cost comparison on with what we paid last year and the savings looks to be over $5K.  Keith also provided references which Dale will check and report back to Rich on Monday.  Motion was made and seconded to accept the bid for Sleeping Giant to provide EMT services for the 2010 season pending the reference checks.  Motion carried.  Per discussion with Dale on Monday, January 18, references were stellar and he did place the call to Rich to secure Sleeping Giant.

·         Event  insurance is currently carried by Wells Fargo Motor Sports but Rich is seeking a quote from K&K as well before renewal to see if we can save some additional money.

·         Payouts for the 2010 season were discussed and it was discussed that last years payouts were 60% of car count take straight across the board.  Extensive conversation was made to lower the cost of the Sportsman class to $30 to help encourage more drivers in this field (motion made, seconded and carried).  Further conversation continued to amend the payout structure to 60% for Electronics and 50% for Non-Electronics (motion made, seconded and carried).

·         Discussion was held on Trophies – changes in awards will be as follows: S/P and Pro will be awarded for 1^st and 2^nd place only  (but will retain the same budget so the winner trophy will be larger); Sportsman, HS, and JR classes will award trophies for winner through 4^th place.  Motion made, seconded and carried.

·         A full printout of the P&L report was provided for each attendee again opening up our books for review.  Discussion was made regarding the 50/50 tickets – last year in three weekend with sales every event we cleared $791.00.  We need to find a volunteer to take on this since it is an easy chore but provides profit for LCRA. 

·         It was discussed that we need to get working on advertisements and Carl did pass out the forms for securing advertising in the program book.  It was decided that the HARD deadline for advertising to make it into the book would be MARCH 26^th, 2010.  Debi asked that this year a proof of the book be made available for review/editing before copies are printed to correct the errors from last year.

·         Approval of an advertising budget was made of $600 for newspaper and to help cover the live remote.  Each Board member was asked to check into rates for their High School newspaper(s), Local newspapers (Butte Weekly) and any other source (Mini Nickle, etc) to see if we can get word out for race weekends.  Debi will add into the “Community What’s Happening” section of the Butte paper since she knows folks on staff who will help.

Further Discussion:  none

Announcements:  Next meeting held on January 28, 2010 at Uncle Buck in Warm Springs starting at 6:30 PM and will be focusing on the Quick 8 Series, Summit Series, MSCA,MDRA, Friday Night Gambler/Test-n-Tune/MSCA and Car Club events.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM

Notes Compiled by D. Hall

Lost Creek Raceway Meeting Minutes

Date:  January 28, 2010

Location:  Uncle Buck’s, Warm Springs, MT

Meeting called to order at 6:34PM  by Dale Anderson, President

 

In Attendance:

Rich Potvin	Anaconda
Dawn Potvin	Anaconda
Chad  Robertson	Belgrade
Debi Hall	Butte
Dale Anderson	Butte
Mike Dowling	Helena
Kevin Delap	Bozeman
Shane Heintz	Belgrade
Scott Dringle	Belgrade
Wade Hall	Butte
Mike Hall	Butte
Gregg Jones	Missoula
Norm Jones	Missoula
Vern Mills	Missoula
Randy Kptecki	Missoula
Joe Bauer	Missoula

 

Introduction of Attendees was done since there were several folks in attendance who normally do not make the meetings.  Initial announcements were made by Rich Potvin

Reading and Approval of the Meeting Minutes from the last meeting was done by Debi Hall – minutes were approved and seconded

Reading of Correspondence was passed as there was no correspondence received since last meeting.

Treasurers Report was presented by Rich Potvin and all were provided with an up to date break down of the funds and payments made.  Treasury Report was approved and seconded.

Other Committee Reports – none were made at this meeting

Unfinished Business – included discussion on:

·         Reminder about the Hillbilly Nationals coming up this weekend and that we need people to attend as well as auction items.  Reiterated that this fundraiser is the money we will be using to purchase VHT and, if we raise enough, we will use any extra to help purchase the Mag Chloride to spray down the pits and help control the dust.

·         Trip to Idaho to meet with the Idaho Racers has been set for Saturday, February 6^th.  Rich will take care of talking to the Idaho folks so that they can get something set up for a meeting sight.  As many officers as possible are encouraged to attend.

New Business –

·         We will be tabling discussion of the Friday night gamblers/ MSCA/ and test-n-tune until next meeting – currently we have four confirmed Street Rod events scheduled for 2010 including the Flathead racers and the Butte car club.  If Board members know of other car clubs in Bozeman/Helena or Missoula who would like to run, please have them contact Rich.

·         MDRA (state Points Racing) will be confirmed at the February 27^th Meeting in Billings –Will confirm dates and information after that meeting.  Right now it looks like the Billings track is for sale and will NOT run this year unless it is purchased and the new buyer gets a schedule put together.

·         Meetings are being held to see if they can find another person/group to run the Spokane track but it is, at this time, scheduled to be open and running this year.

·         Summit Series races will either run in 2010 on Saturday – with 2 races on Saturday or will run Saturday/Sunday – like they did in 2009.  If there are two races scheduled on a Saturday, we need to list the last race time trials time so that people who cannot make both races still have an opportunity to race in the late event.

·         Track clean-up days are currently scheduled for 3/27 and 4/24 – please plan on attending and helping.  Times and a list of planned accomplishments will be provided closer to the date.  The Casino Night Fundraiser will coincide with the final track clean-up day event.

·         Most of this meeting was dedicated to the Rocky Mountain Door Slammers Quick 8 Series.  Again it will be a Private Car Club event series run and managed by Vern Mills and the RMDS Board.  Discussion occurred to review the rules and iron out what LCRA will provide and what fee that the track expects to receive in conjunction.  Updated rules and policies will be posted to the web site .  The biggest change is that there will be a “membership fee” charged to race in the RMDS Quick 8 and that fee will be either a full-season membership OR a one-event membership.  Like last year, there will be a six race schedule but this year there has been reserved a “rain out” date if it becomes needed.  If more than one event is rained out, then the season events will be reduced since no RT tree racing will be done for the Quick 8.  All Quick 8 racers are encouraged to help raise funds to boost payouts  and need to let Vern know the amount no later than 4/14/10--  funds go for events and at the end of the year.  Further meetings and discussions will be held outside of a LCRA Track meeting.  Additional notes (hand written) are available as a courtesy service.

Further Discussion:  none

Announcements:  Next meeting held on February 11, 2010 at Dowling Sandholm in Helena  starting at 6:30 PM and will be focusing on Track duties, MSCA discussion, and more.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM

Notes Compiled by D. Hall

Lost Creek Raceway Meeting Minutes

Date:  February 11, 2010

Location:  Dowling Sandholm, Helena, MT

Meeting was NOT called to order as there was no quorum of track offices to be able to vote on or approve any items.  No Meeting notes since no official meeting was held.

 

UNOFFICIALLY,

 

The following people were in attendance:

Rich Potvin

Dale Anderson

Mike Dowling

Terry Thomas

ChuckHoagland

 

No minutes were read or approved

No treasury report was approved

 

Reading of Correspondence was done by Rich and covered the proposed bid for the Banquet from the Gran Tree Inn in Bozeman which was submitted by Lisa Robertson

 

Unfinished business included:

·         a recap of the trip to Idaho – The Montana vs Idaho race will happen again this year and we need to start getting things together for that.

·         The final report from the Hillbilly Nationals – profit from that event was $4300 and that will completely pay for the VHT this year.

·         A review of the Quick 8 rules and the discussion from the previous meeting.  Still a private car club event run by the Rocky Mountain Door Slammers.  More meeting will be held for this group outside of the LCRA meetings.

New Business included:

·         Montana Street Car association which will be expanding to three classes (5.90//6.90//7.90).  Racing fee will be $25 this year and D&K will provide the trophy’s

·         VHT has been ordered through Joe Bauer at a rate of $835 per barrel – we ordered 4 barrels

·         Discussion on starting times, Spectator pricing, Track insurance  and job duties has been tabled and moved to the next meeting

·         A note was made to talk to O’Dell’s about the Helena Race

·         A suggestion was made to do some radio advertising in Helena

 

Next meeting on Feb 25 at Uncle Bucks to cover Track Rules, LCRA laws and By-Laws, Winter work to be done (scoreboards//electrical power to the ticket booth//women’s bathroom//set-up timing system// etc.) as well as the items from this meeting which were tabled.