Oct 10/11 Championship Raceweekend

kevin_skinner

kevin_skinner

Member
ICSCC Headquarters has run out of time and must regrettably remove race #13, the Oct 10/11 Oregon Raceway Park hosted by Team Continental, from the 2009 Championship. In spite of Herculean efforts by T.C. and the full support of the e-board, the owners and managers of O.R.P. have been unable to complete the necessary track certification.
Our insurance carrier will not insure an event staged on a new racetrack until that venue has received certification for racing by a recognized sanctioning body (i.e. F.I.A., S.C.C.A. or A.S.N.) This is not a new policy and has been in effect for a number of years. Headquarters is obligated to abide by ICSCC Competition rules #206, #207 and Policy and Procedures #15.2.1. These rules prohibit ICSCC from scheduling, sanctioning or conducting an event without having insurance in place, insurance that we are unable to purchase for O.R.P. until certification requirements are completed. T.C. has requested multiple time extensions to allow O.R.P. to complete the required certification and the e-board has always voted to support these requests, the latest expiring Aug 22. It is O.R.P. that has been unable to deliver this facility on time. Not T.C. or the e-board. The amount of work necessary to comply with certification is challenging. When I visited the track on Aug 17, the day before the S.C.C.A. Certification Team was to arrive, there were no tire barriers in any locations. In fact, there were no tires in sight on the property; either as raw tire piles or as barrier works in progress. O.R.P. has committed to remove the derelict barn that was a known certification requirement but work had not yet been started. These are just two of the items requiring completion before certification can be granted. There is work yet to be completed at O.R.P. and compared to the amount of work done it is small and achievable this year. It is questionable if it could be completed in the time requirements of our regulations. Race #13 would have been the last championship race of 2009 and would carry the benefit of awarding double championship points. Our members need certainty to contest the 2009 championship.

T.C. and headquarters are exploring possibilities for utilizing the Oct race date and allowing our enthusiastic membership to sample this new track. Once O.R.P. receives certification we will be able to schedule an event without the restraints of the championship requirements.

I have every confidence in T.C. and O.R.P. completing the facility and look forward to attending the first T.C./O.R.P. Championship

Kevin Skinner
2009 ICSCC President
 
Kevin, since you have made this declaration would you be willing to publish the E-board vote on the decision for the general membership?
 
thats to bad to hear. I feel conference and the e board hvae failed as the work there would have no problem in being completed. I cant believe that conference would turn down an oppertunity to be the first to race at ORP. I hope to see tc get more then one race weekend next year as i know many will be disipointed to see this. I hope TC will still put a race on even though it wont be for points.

I personaly feel confrence is truning into scca more and more every year. This is supposed to be a group of grass roots racers and has turned into a political stanglehold.
 
Blaming Conference for issues outside it's control is not very logical Jeff. The support has been there, but abiding by our own rules comes first, and at this late date an unpopular decision had to be made. This is not an emotional process, but rather a legal and business process that involved a lot of people and a lot of time and effort.
I am very disappointed, but I will be there for the non-points race in October as I'm sure a ton of others will be too. Points or not, I believe the support will still be there!
 
As the deadline has not yet passed the SCCBC E board rep has not yet voted on this issue. As far as I am aware a vote has not taken place yet.
 
I didnt mean to blame confrence, I have just seen through this last year that some attitudes have not been what I was expecting. I still hope there is a race and cant wait to see everyone there. Another Question, How can we say there will be no race if a vote has not been had? I do feel the same as you wes, i know the support will be there. I just am a little emotional as is many in TC im sure (cant speak for them).
 
"It ain't over till the Fat Lady sings"

"Got to have a safe track" List of completed of items corrected equals certification
"Got to have certification for insurance to race"
"Have to give consideration to drivers in tight points races" None points race?
Everyone wants to race there.

I have a question?

Why wasn't the list of items that needed correction made public after the first inspection (or even now) and ORP/TC asked for help from all the clubs to get done what volunteers could accomplish? We are all in this together if we want to race at ORP. As an example my son and I drove to Spokane some years ago and helped build turn stations. So did a lot of other IRDC members. Ken Dye built the start finish stand. Help is out there if you organize it and ask for it. Incentives would also help, its a long drive.
 
>>"It ain't over till the Fat Lady sings"<<

Dick:

I too have questions.

I am very new to Conference and this wonderful sport. I don't understand half of what is being said in regards as to why we can not include ORP race to the Championships.

It is a given that all of us want to race at ORP.

I have read from those in the leadership role that ....."Got to have a safe track".

Isn't the ORP track safe?

How is it that we can race at ORP, safely, and yet is not safe enough to be considered eligible for Championship points?

Wouldn't the SCCA certification for ORP to be considered as a "safe track" suffice? Why would SCCA certify an "unsafe" track? Remember, they are the ones with the lawyers running things.

I am willing to bet my U.S. citizenship, that if we carefully re examine all the tracks we currently use, .............. WE WOULD, find SOMETHING "unsafe".

I also read .................. "Got to have certification for insurance to race".

Again, .............. Doesn't the SCCA certification meet the insurance requirements?

I chose Conference because I loved the concept of .......... "this is a place for all us to race"

Unlike "other" racing organizations, the Conference leadership is composed by racers instead of lawyers. I believed that the bureaucracy would be eliminated or drastically reduced when racers ran the show for racers.

At the risk of dropping something nasty in the punch bowl, I can't help but think that there are internal politics that somehow have interfered with the process; .............. a Catch 22 thing. Am I wrong?

It seems to me, a newcomer, that for a very long time all of us have expressed, openly, an ardent desire to race at ORP. Why are all these issues suddenly appearing? Didn't we know?

I couldn't agree with you more. Why have we not kept track and addressed all the of issues that could potentially prevented this sort of thing from happening?

Every management lesson I have ever learned, states clearly that in order to correct a problem, the problem needs to be correctly and objectively identified.

I refuse to believe that the "fat lady is singing". If she is, lets get the hook out and get her ass off stage and lets fix what is wrong.

In behalf of all us, I respectfully submit that we review and identify all the deficiencies and correct them ASAP.

Can we ask, as clients or customers, our insurance company to reevaluate their position based on the SCCA certification?

Am I missing something?

J.C.

P.S. I happen to know where there are resources that can make things happen in hours instead of months. These individuals will work relentlessly until the job is done. The Border Patrol and the Immigration Dept might not be very happy but, ................... things would get done much sooner than the time it takes the "Fat Lady" to drag her fat ass to the stage.
 
The issue is that the SCCA hasn't certified the track yet. Until that happens (or the FIA or a similar body does it), Conference can't (so far as I know, because of the rules in the P & P's) hold an official, championship-qualifying, points race.

(Posted "as me," rather than as a Conference officer. This is my unofficial, personal understanding of the situation.)
 
I think that's it in a nutshell Steve. Are Cubans familar with nutshells by the way JC?
If it isn't yet certified, it doesn't count. Time ran out on the process for this year per our Conference president, and they had to make the decision that was made. We have heard nothing that supersedes that this week, so I guess we wait to see if the non-points event will go forward.
You didn't answer my email the other day JC. Sup wif dat homey?
 
>>I think that's it in a nutshell Steve. Are Cubans familar with nutshells......... JC?<<

Perhaps, intellectually, the concept of nutshells escapes me. I do however, understand the difference between B.S. and ........... simply incredible.

Perhaps from many years of experiencing revolutions and a rapidly deterioration of the greatness of our Country, I've become cynical. I despise stupid politics and the consequences. My only claim to knowing or being astute, is to simply state that, .................. I didn't just fall of a mango tree.

Apparently, I was misinformed. I believe I read somewhere, before I left for China, that the S.C.C.A pukes were inspecting the track and the certification was imminent. Am I the only who assumed this?

>>You didn't answer my email the other day JC. Sup wif dat homey?<<

........... homey??????????

You have spent much too much time in "South Bellevue".

I live in a executive ghetto here in Redmond. We don't refer to our neighbors as ........... "homeys". My neighbors can not literally translate the word "homey" in their native tongues. In India and Taiwan there are no "homeys". Microsoft does not employ "homeys"

I have never belonged to a gang. Aside with from hanging out with the open wheel riff raff, I have never been associated with a group or organization of questionable purpose or intent.

Was a private e-mail or a forum e-mail?

Love ya man;

J.C.
 
The SCCA guy said he was recommending certification, but that was pending completion of the punch list. It hasn't yet, so far as I know, actually been certified.
 
I believe that even if all the work gets done that is required, then there has to be some sort of SCCA meeting for the certification to be approved and issued. Don't know if there is lag time there from final things being finished until the certification meeting is held.
I think that until rubber stamped, the Fat Lady may just have to hummmmmm.
 
I'm curious about where in the rules the track certification is. The rules referenced in President Skinner's edict don't say anything about track certification.

No SCCA meeting is required. Getting final approval for the punch list would be a day trip. The SCCA doesn't "certify" racetracks.

IS the Championship race off the table for October????
 
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Holly I think we all pretty much agree that SCCA does certify or rather sanction a race track. It's either them or an independent company that resides out there somewhere. Without that document our insurance carrier apparently can't cover an event at that facility.
Rule 207, paragraph 3 explains the annual sanctioning process, and the alternate method to be used if a sanction can't be given at the spring meeting. That involves a minimum of 45 days before said event, which has now passed without the official sanction being in the Presidents hands.
It's been said before, but at this point in the season drivers need to know the remaining schedule so they can plan accordingly, and now they know.
 
Take another look at the original post in this thread. It appears to answer all your questions. (SCCA doesn't certify tracks as such, no, but it does approve them for SCCA events. This is, I gather, what the insurance guys are looking for.)
 
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