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

The meeting was called to order by President Karl Seeger at 6:55 PM at Round Table Pizza in Overlake. Those in attendance were:

Karl Seeger, President
Lance Richert, Past President, Concours Chairman
Jim Millet, Zundfolge Advertising Manager
Tom Cox, Treasurer
Ken Olsen, Tour Coordinator
Greg Mierz, Roster Manager
Ken Hill, Vice President
Wes Hill, Track Events Chairman
Rick Gulstrom, Membership
Kevin Chow, Banquet Chairman
Miki Haraguchi, Web Meister
Doug Adams, Jr., Member
Chris Chow, E30 SIG
Doug Haussler, Member
Don Robisch, Member
Tom Olsson, Member
Jennifer Nazarko, Member
Pierce Hoover, Member
David Lightfoot, Secretary

Opening Comments

Karl welcomed everyone. Introductions were made around the table.

News from National

Driving Events Committee (DEC)
Nominations for the Committee close November 30th. Wes talked to Wynne about the procedure for becoming a candidate. Dan Tackett is running for re-election. Wes was urged to talk to Dan and see whether he is running because there is no one else. He may be willing to step aside if there is another suitable candidate.

Elections
Secretary, Treasurer and three regional Vice-Presidents are up for election. Our RVP, Keith Wollenberg, will not be seeking reelection. There is only one candidate for Pacific Region Vice President, so Eddie Funahashi will be our new RVP. Barbara Adams will be the Secretary and Tom Soule from LA will be Treasurer. There are also a couple of proposed bylaw amendments to vote on.

National Board Meeting
The next Board meeting was held in Austin, Texas on November 2nd and 3rd, 2002.

Gateway Tech
Gateway Tech is scheduled for March 19-24, 2003 at the Pacific Palms in San Gabriel, California. Toyo Tires has stepped in and offered to help with the event. Whether the event will happen is still in doubt.

Annual Reporting

The various forms that have to be filled out annually are due at various times but most of them are due around the end of February. Many of the forms are financial in nature and are handled by the Treasurer. Tom and David will work together on these.

Nomination Committee

Jim Millet, as chairman of the Nomination Committee, reported that the Committee’s work is complete. He also noted that there is one correction to the candidates as reported in the November/December Zundfolge. Jim will be the second Board position representing the Zundfolge but he will not be Tech Events Chairman. Tom Olsson will be the Tech Events Chairman. Karl commented that he was very pleased with the work of the Nominating Committee.

Job Descriptions

Jim Millet and Rick Gulstrom completed their job descriptions but no one else did. Karl urged everyone to complete their descriptions by the December Board meeting. They should be sent to Ken Hill.

Future Board Meetings

The December meeting will be at the Mercer Island Community Center. We do not have any first quarter 2003 dates confirmed because the MICC will not take reservations until November 15th. There are TV/VCRs available if we need them at MICC. A member who works for the Kirkland Fire Department told Karl that many of the firehouses have meeting rooms that are available for free. The Seattle Fire Department also has meeting rooms available. It was also noted that many libraries have meeting rooms. Some libraries allow food to be brought in and all the fire departments seem to allow food. None of them allow alcoholic beverages. Kevin Chow will be providing the food for the December Board meeting.

ICSCC

The International Council of Sports Car Clubs (Council) will have their board meeting in November. We have been provided with a list of licensed drivers who are affiliated with our Club. There are 28 drivers on the list. We need to provide Council with a list of our events. Karl did this and noted that in 2001 we had 31 events and in 2002 we had 36.

General Meetings and Events

Wine Tasting
Kevin reported that the event was held October 9th at Esquin’s in Seattle. About 35 people signed up and 27 actually showed up. It was a good event with lots of wine purchased. Equin’s was pleased and would like to do it again next year. Many of the participants expressed interest in more social events.

South Sound Tour
Doug Haussler reported that the tour went well with about 50 cars participating. This included about a dozen from Oregon. There was a real variety of BMWs including everything from 2002s to new M5s to an E65 7 Series. The E38 SIG, the Seattle Sevens, was out in force. There were some complaints of fast driving and passing in dangerous situations. Doug is working on a disciplinary system to be used on tours. Otherwise, the tour went smoothly and on schedule.

E36 Tech Session
Jim Millet said the event has been full at 50 people for over a month. The event is this Saturday, November 9th. There will be several stations: water pump replacement, brakes, top end of engine, etc.

Video Night
Lance has a few more spots open for this event on November 20th at Bison Creek. The event will accommodate 75 people total. In the middle of his report, Lance also presented a birthday card to Ken and Wes Hill who will turn 40 on Sunday. We also enjoyed Albertson’s “autumn cookies” that looks suspiciously like leftover Halloween cookies.

Z4 Debut
BMW Seattle has invited our members for an unveiling of the Z4 on Sunday, November 10th. The open house runs from noon until 6:00 with the unveiling of the car at 2:00. Many members are going to the auto show after the Z4 event. Bellevue BMW has already done their Z4 event and Northwest isn’t going to do one.

Other Future Events
Besides the events mentioned above, a number of other potential future events were discussed. David passed out a mostly blank 2003 planning calendar and urged people to start setting firm dates for events and putting them on the calendar.

David said he would put on a meeting about BMW books in mid-February. It will be a good winter event. Rick will be in charge of the New Members meeting in March. Haury’s Auto Body is interested in holding a tech session. Bradley’s is next up to host a detailing session, probably about May or June. We should have another meeting at Griot’s; last year’s was oversubscribed.

The Hills will put on another SUV tour in August or September. There was interest in another tour to the LeMay car collection. Kevin said he had a member who might put together a German beer night.

Web Site
Miki said she is looking into a photo gallery with a different web service. It would allow for slide shows. She also presented a handout on service statistics. It shows that weekends are the site’s slowest time. The peak usage occurs on Monday mornings, when everyone is back at work! The new server is working great and there have been no problems. The Board member profiles need to be updated.

Zundfolge
Lucetta wasn’t in attendance. Jim reported that we have some new advertisers: Haury’s Body Shop, Bellevue Motor Works and a waterless car wash product. The new contract, drafted by Tom, is being used with new advertisers. The deadline for the January issue is November 26th. The deadline for the February issue is January 7th.

Roster/Membership
Greg reported 3,029 members with 290 associate members. We have 591 members in Oregon. The bulk email system includes about 1320. He will be writing a procedure for Doug Adams, Jr. to follow next year. Rick had nothing to add regarding membership.

Track Events
Wes reported on progress setting next year’s track dates. We will be getting a date at Laguna Seca, probably in the summer on a Tuesday or Thursday. We will try to get a date at Thunderhill or Sears Point at the other end of summer.

We have put in for the same number of days as we had in 2002 at Pacific Raceways. Nothing has been decided by track management but we should get five days total. Our request is also in at Bremerton. Our Novice School is probably going to be the last weekend in April. We are trying to get three summer weekend dates.

Our Instructor Clinic will be on a Sunday in February. We will also probably have a few dates at Monroe Speedway. In total, we should have ten to fifteen track events in 2003.

The October Driving School had 37 cars with three no-shows. The revenue was about $3800 and the expenses were about $2400. The event was safe and fun.

The track town meeting had about 40 people in attendance. It went well and we received a lot of ideas and constructive criticism. Those in attendance also now understand that it isn’t possible to just have more dates.

Banquet
Kevin reported that he is beginning to receive early registrations for the banquet. The first registration forms appeared in the November Zundfolge. There has been considerable interest from other clubs, including the Porsche Club. They would like to see about getting David Hobbs for their banquet which is the day after ours.

Kevin hasn’t been able to come up with a sponsor for the event but we may not need one. David needs to talk to Hobbs about putting a cap on his travel expenses. Silent auction items are to be solicited by various Board members for area businesses.

Tours/Rallies
Ken Olsen noted that the Classic Car Club Rally was poorly attended by BMW Club members. The promotional article in the Zundfolge was confusing as to who was putting on the event. It was unfortunate as it was a great event and the entry fee was low.

The E3 (Senior Six) and E9 (Classic Coupe) groups had a tour along Chuckanut Drive. A dozen cars participated with about ten coupes and two Bavarias.

The Fall Rally starts this weekend in Everett. It works its way up to Abbotsford, B.C. where there is another rally on Sunday.

Next year we will have Club-sponsored spring and fall rallies plus other opportunities for members to participate in rallies.

Concours d’Elegance
Lance had nothing new to report on the 2003 Concours d’Elegance.

SIGs
Chris Chow reported that he is working on creating the new SIG Coordinator position for next year. He is contacting the 02, E31 (8 Series), E38 (7 Series) and Z3 groups.

If any of these groups need Club support, they need to schedule things to accommodate the long lead times of the Zundfolge.

Treasurer’s Report
Tom and David have been working on the Bonus Dues amount we are to receive from National. David talked to Keith Wollenberg about it before the National Board meeting in Austin. Keith and Wynne discussed the calculation in Austin and they are sure the amount is correct. We are getting the bonus dues amount on all but about 20 of our members. These 20 or so members are members of more than one chapter.

Tom reported that our checking account has $55,590.55 plus we have $6,313.22 in a CD. Wes noted that we will soon have to pay a lot of money to the various tracks for next year’s events.

Karl said that Bill Spornitz is still working on insurance issues. Karl again requested a copy of the policy from National.

Roundabout

Wes—one of his jobs is driving for Ashton Limousine service. Contact Wes for a discount if you need a limo. Ashton will be a new Zundfolge advertiser. The Hills are building a new M3-powered sports racer. He bought a ’93 325is for $3,000. It is dark blue and needs a head gasket.

Don—wanted to know how much experience was required to go to Laguna Seca.
Rick—talked about the PA system the Club owns. It turns out the microphone needs a new battery virtually every time it is used.

Jennifer—attended the Spokane driving school and had a great time.

Chris—said the new BMW film from The Hire series is out today. He went to Griot’s “Garage Sale” and got some great deals. Griot’s is now open on Saturdays for walk-in business.

Lance—asked if we wanted to do our annual Christmas cards. The consensus was we did. Lance’s father-in-law, Jim Poole, will draw a cartoon of Santa in a Z4. The cost should be about $300.

Kevin—has talked to Al Lang with the Porsche Club about the all marque concours. An effort is being made to resurrect it for 2003.

Doug—Cutter BMW in California has two extra Z4s for sale. He is enjoying his new car, a black E36 M3.

Jim—said there is a nice ’99 M3 at Lynnwood Acura. It has Dinan stuff on it.

Tom—mentioned that a group is going to the auto show on Sunday after the event at BMW Seattle.

David—said he knows of an E28 M5 with black interior for sale. Also, his daughter’s 325iX is for sale. Said that BMW Mobile Tradition had purchased the 328 Touring Coupe from Jim Proffit.

Greg—said his daughter had the opportunity to see a presentation by representatives of BMW AG and NA at the USC Marshall School or Business, where she is a student.

Pierce—noted how much work goes into planning Club events.

Karl—said he had been contacted by a guy in Florida that does nice trophies. Other than that, he had a bad week.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
David Lightfoot
Secretary