Hello everyone, and welcome to a new year of Giant Scale racing. As most of you know, the new officers and Board members have been busy the first few weeks of this year, and I thought I would bring you all up-to-date.
Annual
Meeting:
The Board convened for its annual
meeting on January 12th and 13th in Las Vegas, and all Board Members were in
attendance. The first portion of the meeting was open to the general membership,
and approximately 10 members came to the meeting.
These members were given the opportunity to address the Board, and many
did just that. The members then
were invited to stay in the meeting room while the Board discussed the first few
items on the agenda. A detailed
summary of the Board meeting is up on our website at www.usra-racers.org under
the link Annual Meeting Summary, but here are a few of the items we worked on.
Incorporation:
The Board decided to proceed with the Incorporation of the USRA, and
Loren Tregallas and Archie Snider are putting together the final documents
needed. This Incorporation of the
USRA will give every member an added layer of protection against liability. When
we file for Incorporation, we will be filing as a non-profit association.
Filing for Non-profit status with the IRS was also considered, but the
$15,000 cost was deemed not worth the benefit that we would receive. It was also noted that a company making a contribution or
donation to us as a form of sponsorship, would receive a larger tax write-off if
they claimed it as advertisement, rather than a donation to a non-profit
organization.
4.6
ci Engine Availability:
With the very limited availability of engines for our 4.6 ci classes, the
Board discussed the options surrounding increasing the displacement limit for
these classes. It was ultimately
decided to increase the displacement limit to 81cc or approximately 4.9ci EFFECTIVE
JANUARY 1, 2003... that is next year, not this year.
This will give us many more options for us to choose from, including
engines made by Zenoah, ZDZ, BME, and Fox.
The ability to easily update a current Zenoah 445 into a GT-80 at a
reasonable price factored heavily into our decision.
USRA
World Championship Series:
The Board decided to make a few changes to the point system from last
year to encourage participation in the Championship Series.
Beginning this year, you will be allowed to count your best three out of
the four races towards the Championship. This
will still give a slight advantage to those who can make all four races, but not
unduly handicap those who can only make three events.
The points awarded for a DNF or did not finish have been eliminated this
year as well. In the past, a class
needed to have five entries at an event in order for those entries to earn
points toward the Championship. That
has been amended so that classes with 3 or 4 entries can now earn points at an
event. If there are 4 entries in a
class at an event, 1st place will receive 15 points instead of 20. 2nd will
receive 11pts, 3rd = 8pts, 4th = 6pts. With
only 3 entries in a class, the points will be awarded like this, 1st = 11pts,
2nd = 8pts, 3rd = 6 pts. It was
also decided that a class will only be eligible for USRA World Championship
status if there are at least two events with enough participants to earn points
in that class.
Constitution
and Bylaws amendments:
Amendments were passed by the Board to better establish that the USRA is
a rules body, and sanctions races for its Championship series.
Amendments were also made to establish guidelines for how the Board
conducts business during the year when it can not meet face-to-face.
These changes were made so that it is not necessary to hold board
meetings at our races. Since every
member on the Board is a racer, expecting them to make decisions that effect the
future of the USRA at a racing event that they are competing in is just not
fair. Other amendments eliminated
prorating dues when a member joins late in the year, and established a late fee
if a member does not renew their membership within 30 days of the new year.
(Renew next year on time, or it will be an additional $20 charge)
This late fee was established so that incoming dues would be received
early in the year when most of the Association’s expenses occur.
The Board also streamlined the nomination process for election, and moved
up the dates for the elections so that the new officers and Board members can
participate in the decisions that will effect the next racing year.
Rules
and Specifications Revisions:
At the annual meeting it was also decided to move the renewal date of the
rules and specifications so that they would not be due for review on the same
year as the installation of new officers and Board members.
With that in mind, only minor wording changes were done for clarification
purposes to these documents. The
Rules and Specifications will be reviewed throughout this year, and next
year’s version will be valid for 2003-2004.
Financial
Report:
At the time of this report, I have still not received all records and
receipts from the outgoing officers of the USRA.
This has made it difficult for me to construct any sort of financial
report on our account. In February, I will begin constructing this report with
the information that I have, and will make this report available to the
membership after review by the Board. In
the meantime, the Treasurer and I have control of the account, and will fully
document any expenditures that are necessary for USRA business.
I would like to welcome and thank our new Treasurer Kevan Avery for his
help with this matter. I also would
like to commend Lynda French for her hard work in assisting us with last
year’s election, and for her continued excellence in handling our membership
duties. A big thanks to both of you.
AMA
Trade Show in Pasadena:
The USRA had a booth at the AMA show in Pasadena as part of our Special Interest Group (SIG) status with the AMA. I had a lot of help from members in putting the booth together, and many more members volunteered to bring aircraft for display. I actually had to turn some of the offers down because we ran out of space! Archie Snider and the AeroSport team brought down a T-6, and an Experimental for display, as well as the “small” set of pylons with lights. We also had a laptop hooked to the datalogger in the Experimental displaying a graph of some engine data. Scott Baker made a great looking engine display with some different racing powerplants that we use courtesy of Mike Johnson Ford Racing. We had flyers advertising the racing series, and Roger Smith of R/C Excellence sent us two cases of magazines to pass out as well. We also created a sign displaying some of the sponsors that helped us in the past. The booth was very well received, and we were very busy the entire weekend. We had a chance to see some of our members and catch up with what they are doing, and some members took the opportunity to renew their USRA memberships while they were there. I had the chance to speak with many of the AMA folks, and they are enthusiastic about our future. I really want to thank those members who helped me put the booth together, and stood on their feet for hours answering questions. They were all great ambassadors for our sport. Thanks to Robert Holik, Dave Presta, Kelley Hartranft, Scott Baker, Kent McKenna, and Steve Sahagian for your help.
What
does the USRA do?:
In the short time I have been in office, I have been asked this question
or a variation of it many times, often by our own members.
I have also had to dispel many misconceptions and rumors about our
Association. I have even learned a
few things about USRA that I didn’t know.
With that in mind, I wanted to give you all a small primer on the USRA
that you might find educational.
That does it for this month, I hope you are all getting ready for the
upcoming year. We have 74+ members
already renewed, and the grapevine is buzzing with news of new racers, and
racers returning to action. It
should be a very well attended racing season.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the races!
Ken McSpadden