BMW CCA, Puget Sound Region
Board Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2002

 

The meeting was called to order by President Karl Seeger at 7:00 PM at BMW Seattle. The meeting was moved to allow those attending to also attend the E65 7 Series introduction event being hosted by BMW Seattle the same night. All Club members were invited by BMW Seattle to attend the 7 Series event. Those in attendance at the Board meeting were:

  • Karl Seeger, President
  • Lance Richert, Past President, Concours Chairma
  • Jim Millet, Zundfolge Advertising Manager
  • Lucetta Lightfoot, Zundfolge Editor
  • Tom Cox, Treasurer
  • Alan James, Member
  • Doug Haussler, Member
  • Ken Olsen, Tour Coordinator
  • Jacqueline Kahn, Track Events Director
  • Walt Conley, Track Events Assistant
  • Greg Mierz, Roster Manager
  • Ken Hill, Vice President
  • Rick Gulstrom, Membership Chair
  • Ken Wear, 02 Special Interest Group
  • Kevin Chow, Banquet Chairman
  • Chuck Christensen, Charter Member
  • Miki Haraguchi, Web Meister
  • Bill Spornitz, Member
  • David Lightfoot, Secretary

Opening Comments
Karl welcomed everyone. We then went around the table and introduced ourselves.

National

Elections
The national office has urged members to vote. Only 10% of the membership has voted thus far, even with website voting now available. The Pacific Region was even worse with only 8% voting, probably because we do not have an election for our Regional Vice President this year.

Gateway Tech
Karl reported that this will be the last year in St. Louis for Gateway Tech for a while. The event will probably be in Southern California next year.

Newsletter/Website Congress
The Web Meister/Newsletter Editor Congress was mentioned again.

Reporting Requirements
Karl said that there were a number of forms that need to be completed for required reporting to national. Most of these will fall to Tom Cox as they are financial reports.

Member Survey
Lance reported that has not yet compiled the results of the Member Surveys. We have over 200 response and they have pretty much quit coming in.

Tee Shirts
Lance reported that the design has been settled. The goal is to have the shirts available for sale at the Members' Appreciation meeting on March 30th.

Model Contact List
Eleven contacts have volunteered. There will be an article in the next Zundfolge and the contact information will go on the website.

BMW Seattle
Karl reported that he and David met with John Vance, the new general manager at BMW Seattle, on January 26th. John was enthusiastic about the dealership's relationship with the Club. He is interested in things that will specifically benefit his business. We anticipate continuing our good relationship with BMW Seattle. The invitation to the Club to attend the 7 Series introduction tonight is an example of things the Club and the dealership can do together.

Ken Olsen suggested a coordinated approach to BMW Seattle and the other dealerships when asking for support. All agreed. Lucetta said that advertising was a part of the dealerships' support of the Club. Bill Spornitz noted that the discount the dealerships give Club members is the biggest financial support they provide.

Lance and Ken Olsen are to put together something on the Concours and Tours. The overall package will be assembled by Lance. Other Board members are to provide a 200 to 250 word description of their area of responsibility. This package will then be used to approach the dealerships about support and interaction with the Club.

July Board Meeting
Because our July Board meeting, normally on the first Thursday of the month, falls on Independence Day, we had previously moved the date to July 3rd. That date still stands. However, Round Table Pizza is not available that night. Karl volunteered to host the meeting and barbeque. The offer was enthusiastically accepted.

General Meetings and Events

E30 M3 Tech Session and Video Night
The Tech Session is on schedule for February 16th, Saturday afternoon. Lance and Bill, event chairpersons, said everything is arranged at Auburn Foreign Car for the Tech Session. Lance reported everything is also ready at Bison Creek Pizza for the Video Night. Todd Jenne will provide rare, European-format videos of DTM racing during the E30 M3s' heyday.

Vintage Racing Motors
Bill reported that everything is set for our meeting at VRM on March 16th. Longtime member Byron Sanborn will be our host.

Karting Enduro
Miki said that this March 24th event has been announced on the Club's bulletin board and will be in the next Zundfolge. Miki has assumed the position of event chairperson.

Get to Know Your Club Meeting
Aka Member Appreciation meeting, aka New Member meeting. Whatever we call it, the event will be held March 30th at Simpatico restaurant in Kent. The meeting will be immediately before and after lunch. The restaurant will provide full menu service. Rick Gulstrom is the event chairperson with help from Jacqueline. The new Club tee shirts will be available for sale. There will be a video of Club events to see and Board members will talk about their area of responsibility.

Griot's Garage
Doug Haussler is the event chairperson for our visit to Griot's Garage in Fife. He is working with Mark Greene of Griot's who is also a Club member. The event will be April 6th, Saturday. The last time we visited Griot's we got a huge turnout; we're hoping to get another good showing. Courtesy email reservations will go to Doug. Griot's will have five historic race cars on display including a newly acquired Ferrari F1 car. Refreshments will be provided.

SAE/WWU Visit
Ken Hill is putting together a meeting at Western Washington University to visit their automotive program and see the latest Viking car. The Viking will be the university's entry into the SAE-sponsored contest for universities. The date was tentatively set for June 8th, subsequently confirmed. It is likely a tour will be organized to get members from the Seattle area to Bellingham.

Mini Meeting
David spoke to the owner and Mini representative at BMW Northwest. They are enthusiastic about hosting a Club meeting to see the new Mini. However, they are uncertain on when they will get their first car. It could be in March but is more likely to be in May when their new building is completed.

Pacific Raceways
Jacqueline has been talking to Jason Fiorito about a meeting to bring interested parties up-to-speed about the changes happening at Pacific Raceways, formerly SIR. A tentative date for the meeting was set of April 18th, Thursday night.

Safety Seminar
Jacqueline is trying to put together a Safety Seminar meeting for people who want to drive at the track. It needs to be on a Saturday before May. Tentative dates are either April 7 or 14th. Location will likely be either at the building at SIR or at the Mercer Island Community Center.

(Note: Subsequently the Pacific Raceways meeting and the Safety Seminar were consolidated. Both will be held on April 7th at Pacific Raceways.)

02 SIG Events
Ken Wear reported that the 02/02/02 Drive had 41 cars and great weather. The group took a two to three hour drive around the city. KING 5 TV covered the event briefly and accurately. KING said they may cover the 02 Fest later this year. Phil Marx has asked for an article for the Roundel.
An 02 Tech Session will be held at a garage in Bellingham in April, probably the 13th or 20th. Ken also reported that the 02 SIG is approaching 100 members.

Web Site
Web Chairman Kurt Lieber has had to resign his position as he has taken a job in New York. Miki Haraguchi has volunteered to fill the position; she won the vote in a landslide.

Miki reported that Kurt programmed the new site in PHP which no one else knows how to use. The overall architecture of the site will remain. Miki will try to get new postings up in a timely manner. Lance mentioned that he would be taking photos of Board members tonight for the web site.

Zundfolge
Lucetta said that she was having problems with late submissions. With all the people involved in the process, this was throwing the whole schedule off.
The last two issues had problems with the quality of the color; the printer has changed. As of June we will need a new back cover advertiser. RK Photo's one year commitment will be up. Jim Millet and Lucetta will discuss finding a replacement.
Lucetta said that she received the information about the Newsletter Congress. The contract for advertisers is still being considered. Lance got some feedback from other chapter presidents about advertising contacts they may have or use.

Roster/Membership
Greg provided a handout with our current membership statistics. We have 2,786 members including associates.

The national office is aware of a software glitch affecting those members who opt to pay chapter dues for more than one chapter. The primary chapter knows they are a member but the secondary chapters do not. The problem is being worked on. A notice will appear in the Zundfolge. Members should contact the national office to fix their particular problem.
Greg will be meeting with Doug Adams, Jr. to go over Doug's assumption of the Roster Manager position.

Track Events
Kevin Oelschlager, a former Club member, is now the Sales Manager at Driving 101 which bills itself as the, "World's Fastest Driving Experience." This is a school in Las Vegas that uses Indy Cars. We are being offered a 10% discount in exchange for a link on our web site. This was approved.

The Instructor Clinic classroom session will be held February 23rd at the Courtyard Marriott near Southcenter. The time is 2:00 to 5:00. The on-track session will be the next day. Jacqueline has too many people who want to be Instructors and will have to turn some away.
Registration for the May schools will open with publication of the March Zundfolge. Jacqueline has been frustrated with the old information on the website and looks forward to having Miki update it.

Tech Inspections will remain $35 at all participating shops. This program has been good for all the participants and all have decided to continue this year.

The ICSCC board representative was Michael Lord last year. He has decided not to continue as he will be racing a Mazda this year. Jacqueline will take the position.

Banquet
Kevin reported that we had 84 people attend the banquet despite snowy and icy conditions. Kevin recapped the finances:

From dinner $4,595
Auction proceeds 2,802
Helge Pedersen -1,250
Equipment rental -350
Auctioneer -300
Meals -4164
Other -130
Net $1,203

The Board voted to donate $1,000 of the proceeds to Children's Hospital, leaving a net profit of $203.

Tours/Rallies
The Spring Rally date has been set for April 27th. The Rally instructions are in draft form. The course will be test-run this weekend. Ken Olsen has arranged for a restaurant in Anacortes that will allow us exclusive use without a minimum. Event shirts will be available for an extra charge.

The Wine tour will likely be June 22 and 23. Ken is working with Bill Linder and Columbia Crest Winery.

Concours d'Elegance
Lance reported that the contract has been picked up from Bellevue Parks and Recreation. We will be paying for the site rental upfront. Registration Forms for the event will be in the June Zundfolge.

Treasurer's Report
Tom reported we have about $35,000 in the treasury. This is unusually high since we have still not paid for our track dates yet. Our track deposit will probably be about $12,000. No one has turned in budgets yet.

Roundabout

  • Lance-Bought back his old M3, $1,000 less than he sold it for and with 10,000 more miles on it.
  • Ken Hill-Every Friday at 3:00 Pacific Raceways has an open house. The new track configuration is going well. The hot pits will be outside Turn 8. The straight runs down the old hot pits. Ken went to the 24 Hours of Daytona to help Team Seattle. They ran two Saleen S7s with Park Place. Each car went through $50,000 worth of tires.
  • Doug Haussler-Has a couple of friends in the restaurant business who would like to do something with the Club. One of them is Billy McHale's in Federal Way. Doug's going to fly over SIR with another Club member to take photos of the progress.
  • Lucetta-Has extra copies of Zundfolge.
  • Greg-Showed the video of the 02 drive coverage from TV.
  • David-Asked that he be informed when event dates are firmed up so they can go on the calendar. The Club is doing so much that it is hard to keep track of it all. Asked if the January minutes were on the web site. No one was sure.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
David Lightfoot
Secretary