Sam Mehler-Member of the YearDavid Griffin-Solo Driver of the Year

Election Results

Bill’s BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Sno-Go Rally Flyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Awards Banquet Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Solo Championship Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5November Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . 6December Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

January Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8More pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 January Membership Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Membership Application and Officers List . . . 11Dates to Remember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2015-2016 Winter Edition

David Griffin, our PAX Champion and Solo Driver of the Year

Sam Mehler, ourMember of the Year

Bill’s BS by Bill Stewart 2/29/16 And so one season ends and another begins. Major congratulations to our 2015 Member of the Year, Sam Mehler, our Solo Driver of the Year, David Griffin, all the class winners, and really all our participants! You are all winners! And also major thanks and congratulations to Kathy Vanderwende on another fantastic awards banquet!

Over 40 of us graced the premises of Bob Mazza’s South Shore Inn in North East. We enjoyed food from Calamari’s and Mazza’s wine, beer, and whisky. Everyone seemed to get a t-shirt or a hat for a door prize and what a great selection in the Chinese Auction. You could have won a helmet, a jack, a canopy, or a whole bunch of books. Excellent stuff!

Our Member of the Year, Sam Mehler, is the guy every organization needs. He steps up when you Really need someone to do a job that Must be done. He had barely been a member when he volunteered to take over our web page. When we had two of our Solo Chairs move away, Sam came forward, and now he is our new Regional Executive! He does pretty well in that Honda S2000 too.

David Griffin has a serious Solo addiction ! And Misery Bay has taken advantage of it. I understand that he ran his GS Volkswagen GTI in at least 18 events last year. He first came down from Hamburg, NY for our July 19th Solo and finished 4th in the PAX. He then won the next 3 Solos and was 4th in October. David is now a Western New York, Finger Lakes, and a Misery Bay member. Congratulations to our Solo Driver of the Year!

While KV and I kept our jobs as Treasurer and Secretary, our RE, Tim Mackey has retired down to the Board of Directors to be joined by new Board Members Justin Gibala and Lance Dunn. Dave Hammer moved up from the Board to be our new Assistant RE. Most important of all, Sam Mehler was elected to be our new Regional Executive! Congratulations to all !

If you missed the banquet and won something, it will be mailed to you. We had raffles for the entire Misery Bay membership. A Misery Bay glass was won by Walt Peterson. Former member Neal Mann donated some books that were raffled off also.

The weekend after our banquet, Charlie Campbell, Dave Hammer, and I ventured up to Saratoga Springs, NY for the Northeast Division Mini-Convention. It started Friday night with the racing schedule scramble. Saturday’s seminars featured the Real Roger Johnson and how the best Solo courses are

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Mahoning Valley’s Sandi and Reed Kryder with Roger Penske at the

SCCA Hall of Fame Banquet

After the National Convention I did a short track test of this new Ferrari 488

Bill, Dave, & Charlie at theNEDIV Mini-Convention continued on p.7

The Misery Bay Region of the Sports Car Club of AmericaPresents the

Sno-Go Road Rally

Drive Away Those Winter Blahs & Blast Away the SnowSunday, February 28th, 2016

Registration Opens at 1:00 PM Drivers’ Meeting at 1:30Burger King I-90 & Sterrittania Road(PA 832)

A Road Rally is a contest of driving and navigation skill on public roads. A driver and navigator are given a set of directions including required legal average speeds. Any licensed driver may compete in any state inspected vehicle. A navigator is required but may be a minor. Often whole families compete in minivans and SUVs.

ContactBill Stewart

(814)774-0178bstewart@sccaonline.net

Misery Bay RegionSports Car Club of America

mbrscca.com

ESP and Modified Race Tire PAX Champion

Aaron Young

Kart ChampionDeb Young

Awards Banquet Pictures

ASP and Modified orPrepared Street Tire

PAX ChampionTim Mackey

Our 2016 Officers: Justin Gibala-Board, Sam Mehler-Regional Executive,Kathy Vanderwende-Treasurer, Dave Hammer-Assistant RE,

Tim Mackey-Board, Bill Stewart-Secretary, Lance Dunn-Board was absent4

2015 Misery Bay Solo ChampionshipResults

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Kart PAX ResultsPlace Name Class Car 1st Overall, 1st in Class Deb Young K Kosmic Kart

Street Road Tire PAX Group ResultsPlace Name Class Car1st Overall, Ist in Class David Griffin GS Volkswagen GTI2nd Overall, 2nd in Class Drew Bickel GS Honda Civic Si3rd Overall, 1st in Class Sam Mehler BS Honda S2000 4th Overall, 1st in Class Tom Hall AS Pontiac Solstice5th Overall, 1st in Class Bill Stewart SS Porsche Cayman R6th Overall, 1rst in Class Keith Schneider ES Mazda Miata

Street Touring PAX Group ResultsPlace Name Class Car1st Overall, 1st in Class Andrew Ferrara STS Mazda Miata2nd Overall, 1st in Class Lance Dunn STF Acura RSX Type R A-Spec3rd Overall, 1st in Class Logan Flaherty STU Nissan 350Z 4th Overall, 2nd in Class Andrew Donalson STU Subaru Legacy GT5th Overall, 1st in Class Nick Schneider STX Mazdaspeed 3 6th Overall, 3rd in Class Kathryn Bell STU Hyundai Genesis Coupe7th Overall, 2nd in Class Nate Lord STS Mazda Miata

Modified & Prepared Street Tire PAX Group ResultsPlace Name Class Car1st Overall, Ist in Class Tim Mackey ASP Mitsubishi EVO2nd Overall, 1st in Class Jeff Britton SM Subaru WRX STi3rd Overall, 2nd in Class Justin Stull SM Scion FR-S4th Overall, 3rd in Class Justin Gibala SM Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX5th Overall, 1st in Class Marvin Alvarado SMF Honda Civic

Modified Race Tire PAX Group ResultsPlace Name Class Car1st Overall, Ist in Class Aaron Young ESP Ford Mustang2nd Overall, 2nd in Class Henry Young ESP Ford Mustang

Novice ResultsPlace Name Class Car1st Overall Gary Layden II SM Volkswagen R32

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Misery Bay Region SCCAMembership Meeting

Cornerstone Bar & GrillNovember 5, 2015

Members in attendance: Members in attendance: Tim Mackey, Kathy Vanderwende, Dave Hammer, Andrew Ferrara, Logan Flaherty, Jay Dumbeck, Sam Mehler, and Bill Stewart.

RE Tim Mackey called the meeting to order at 7:18 PM. Sam Mehler moved and Jay Dumbeck seconded that the minutes of the October meeting be approved. Motion passed.

Committee ReportsMembership Report: Bill Stewart reported that we have a new high total for the recent years of 91 members listed, but 6 of those are overdue.

Rally: Bill reported that our Covered Bridge Rally was the most successful in recent history with beautiful weather and 13 entries. Unfortunately 10 of the entries were novices and there were some typos in the spreadsheet, so he had to do the scoring afterwards at home. Dave Sellers and Janis Ford from Columbus won. Dave Hammer was the Safety Steward. Dave, Tim Mackey, Lance Dunn, and Neohio’s Greg Lester and Ken Swarm manned the checkpoints. Kathy Vanderwende helped with registration. The main prizes were Mazza wine.

Treasurer: Kathy Vanderwende reported that are current balance is $13,262.86 with a surplus of $1,626.55 for the year.

Dave Hammer reported that former Misery Bay Secretary, Treasurer, SCCA Racer, Starter, and Racing Steward, Susan Robishaw has died after a 5 year battle with cancer. She was a starter for the Niagara Falls Trans-Am race and was pic-tured in Car and Driver, waving the checkered flag at the last SCCA Longest Day race at Nelson Ledges. She is survived by her husband, Gene Kern. We will send a card.

Banquet: Kathy said that we will sell $2 tickets for drinks. Mazza will supply wine, beer, and whisky. She will bring rum. Logan still has leftovers from last year. She has picked up the desserts. We will have drawings for a Misery Bay glass and the books that Neal Mann donated. We will set up at 5, cocktails at 6, dinner at 7, and awards at 8. There was a long discussion about the helmet in the Chinese auction.

KV wants to handle all credits for Solo entries for event chairs and at motorsportreg and grant them ASAp. We cannot hold them over to the next year. Bill moved and Sam Mehler seconded that KV handle all Solo event chair credits. The motion carried. Sam relinquished his credit. KV will give certificates for an entry next year.

Bill announced that he, Dave, and Charlie Campbell will be going to the NEDIV Mini-Convention November 14th at Saratoga Springs, NY. The Roger Johnson, guru of Solo course design, will be presenting along with many other Solo seminars. The awards dinner will be at the famous Saratoga Auto Museum. The region will pay the registration fee.

Bill won the 50-50 and donated the proceeds to the Region. We will have a December meeting.Logan moved and Andy seconded that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:59.

Bill StewartSecretary

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Misery Bay Region SCCAMembership Meeting

Cornerstone Bar & GrillDecember 3, 2015

Members in attendance: Tim Mackey, Kathy Vanderwende, Andrew Ferrara, Logan Flaherty, Nick Schneider, Joel Donaldson, Lance Dunn, Henry Young,, Aaron Young,, Sam Mehler, and Bill Stewart.

RE Tim Mackey called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM. Sam Mehler moved and Andy Ferrara seconded that the minutes of the November meeting be approved. Motion passed.

Committee ReportsMembership Report: Bill Stewart reported that we have 90 members listed, but 7 of those are overdue.

Rally: Bill is tentatively planning the Sno-Go Rally for February 28th.

Treasurer: Kathy Vanderwende reported that our current balance is $11,627.94 with a loss of $8.37 for the year. She is working on one banquet payment and our motorsportreg.com account. She predicted a loss of $76.92. The Covered Bridge Rally cleared $265.

Trophies: Dave Hammer reported that we have a bunch. One of the class plaques from the Awards Banquet had a typo and we will replace it.

Banquet: Kathy first mentioned that Walt Peterson sent a Thank You card for the Misery Bay glass that he won in our member drawing. Comments were excellent site, drinks, and attendance. Major Thanks to Bob Mazza!

Registration: Logan Flaherty found a bug in his old Solo Championship points spreadsheet. Easier this time. Difficult scoring himself with many different cars, classes, and class groups. The Pit Signal needs the the Championship results. We need some cross training on Logan’s system.

Solo: Sam Mehler said Lake Erie Speedway has asked for our 2016 dates. Since he was elected as our new RE, we will need a new Solo Chair. Our Solo surplus for the year was only $567 with the last 3 events losing. Possible burnout? Do we need to count points from more than 5 events?

Tech: Sam will update the Solo results. Contact him if you can add anything to our site.

Merchandise: Kathy announced that she approved the design of our new Logo and the new shirts, hoodies, and hats should be available by the next meeting.

Old and New BusinessFolks interested is volunteering for chairmen should contact Sam. Kathy will put Sam on our checking account and our PO box. Logan reminded us that Sam will need to renew our SCCA Charter and update our access to the SCCA website. We need to send out the 5 gift cards from Tires for Less. We also need to ask Bonnell’s about their sponsorship.

Dave reported that he, Bill, and Charlie Campbell went to the NEDIV Mini-Convention at Saratoga Springs, NY. Dave presented Charlie with our Race Driver of the Year award. Dave attended the RE meeting and the Solo Safety meeting, The awards dinner was at the Saratoga Auto Museum. Roger Johnson, guru of Solo course design was there. Steel Cities’ Mark Andy is now the NEDIV Solo Development Coordinator rather than Division Solo Steward . The traditional Spring Roundtable has been discontinued. Bill will discus Solo Safety Steward training for us with Mark at the Convention.

The National Convention will be January 19-22 at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas.

Bill moved and Sam seconded that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:55.

Bill StewartSecretary

Misery Bay Region SCCACornerstone Bar & Grill

January 7, 2016

Members in attendance: Sam Mehler. Tim Mackey, Kathy Vanderwende, Andrew Ferrara, Logan Flaherty, Nick Schneider, Joel Donaldson, Andrew Donaldson, Lance Dunn, Dave Hammer, Rich Hall, Charlie Campbell, Bill Stewart, and non-member John Berwick

New RE Sam Mehler called the meeting to order at 7:22 PM. Dave Hammer moved and Tim Mackey seconded that the minutes of the December meeting be approved. Motion passed.

Committee ReportsTreasurer: Kathy Vanderwende reported that for 2015, our events made $285.67. The banquet lowt $128.41 Our current balance is $11,190.91 with a loss of $585.40 for the year. She has already filed with the IRS.

Trophies: Dave Hammer reported that we have a bunch. We have 3 First place trophies and 7 First place glasses. We have 11 Second place trophies, and enough third places for the next 3 years. We have 2 FTD mugs and 4 of our old coaster types. We bought 24 first, second, and third trophies during the year. Dave volunteered to continue as Trophy Chairman. Gary Lyden II’s corrected Novice trophy will be mailed to him.

Membership Report: Bill Stewart reported that we have 86 members listed, but 3 of those are overdue. We have lost Ian McCune, Marvin Alvarado, Bill Crowe, Matt DeLacy, Andrew Gentry, Tim Wise, Kevin Burkholder, and Eric Confer.

Rally: Bill is applying for a sanction for the Sno-Go Rally for February 28th. The 50th Ohio Winter Rally will be Febru-ary 6th. We need workers and entries. Ideally we need 6 to 8 workers. Bill also needs pre-runners the weekend before. Sam will turn 10 the next day.

Registration: We need the year end and the last Solo results. We need to crosstrain on the software and classing. Sam requested that we have a mock event to practice. Logan has most of the equipment, but the cables are in the trailer at Henry Young’s.

Solo: Joel Donaldson and Andy Ferrara have volunteered to be Co-Chairmen. They have started working on the sched-ule. April 30th and May 1 is available as a 2 day event. Discussion of a single event, 2 events or test and tune on one, with a picnic on Saturday night. Neohio lost their site. Steel Cities will host a Solo Match Tour at Pitt Race July 15-17. We discussed dates to avoid, using Penn State-Behrend, and other possible lots. Bill needs to provide a regional race sched-ule. Bill will talk to Mark Andy, our new Divisional Solo Development Coordinator at the National Convention about Safety Steward training.

Tech: Sam will update the web site with the Solo results. Contact him if you can add anything to our site.

Merchandise: Kathy distributed the items that were pre-ordered.

Pitt Signal: Bill is waiting on the year end Solo results from Logan.

Old BusinessDave continued his report of the NEDIV Mini-Con from last month. We must use the MS2A Minor waivers. They need to be signed by both parents on-site or notarized. There is a Solo Cookbook of files. Bill has them on a thumb drive. We should have a Novice Coordinator. Tim volunteered. A Regional Operations Manual was suggested. Sam is working on our SCCA Charter. We need to distribute the Tires for Less certificates.

continued on p.98

January Minutes continuedNew BusinessWe need to work on getting more sponsors. Maybe we could put a flyer in dealerships and parts stores listing our sched-ule.

Bill went to the NOR Porsche Club meeting and the Neohio Region meeting earlier this week. They both had autocrossed at Lakeland Community College and have lost that site to a new building. NORPCA will hold a spring and fall HPDE at Mid-Ohio and an autocross and HPDE at Pitt Race in July. It was reported that someone has signed a 90 day option on Nelson Ledges. Neohio has the possibility of a large Teen Street Survival program.

Bill will be attending the National Convention and the Teen Street Survival Summit.

Tim moved and Bill seconded that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:32.

Bill StewartSecretary

Bill’s BS continued designed. Dave went to the Solo Safety Steward seminar while Charlie went to Stewards meetings. That night, the banquet was held at the beautiful Saratoga Auto Museum. Dave presented Charlie with our Race Driver of the Year Award.

In December, Marv Drucker died. He founded Nelson Ledges Road Course with John McGill in the early ‘60s and owned it ever since. There are rumors that someone has a 90 day option to buy the track. I know that we all hope for the best.

The North American International Auto Show is one of the most important in the world and I was lucky enough to get a free ticket from the Audi Club, the Porsche Club sold out their breakfast in 35 minutes! The Ford GT and the Acura NSX were the most exciting. The most important were probably the Chrysler Pacifica mini-van and the Honda Ridgeline pickup. Porsche introduced their new Turbo Coupe and Cabriolet. Audi had their A4, while BMW had the M2. Oh, and the Lincoln Continental debuted. The car that surprised me was the Buick Avista, a truly beautiful coupe. Downstairs there were some very interesting National Guard vehicles and several universities displayed their SAE cars. Always worth the trip.

The SCCA National Convention was back in Las Vegas at the South Point Hotel and Casino. Our SCCA registration was delayed by a Donald Trump rally. The convention had the most enthusiasm that I have seen in many years. Our membership is up 5% and we had a $400K surplus. Our new Track Night in America was a huge success as was the Friday Night Under the Lights Spec Miata Runoffs Race. Our Manager of Experiential Programs, Heyward Wagner, led several of the seminars about all the new programs. Our Mission is “TO HAVE FUN WITH CARS!” Very exciting.

Our Hall of Fame inducted the late Alec Ulmann, who founded Sebring and the late Hubert Brundage, who created Formula

Vee. The very alive Roger Penske, Randy Pobst, and Bob Henderson were also inducted. I am sure that you have heard about Penske, and have read Randy’s columns in Sports Car. WYN’s Bob Henderson was a very successful Toyota dealer and while on what was then the SCCA Board of Governors, he created Showroom Stock racing. He also helped Misery Bay split off from WNY and become our own region.

Sunday was the Tire Rack Teen Street Survival Summit. I attended with Neohio’s Bob McDonald. Mahoning Valley’s Sandi Kryder received the Circle of Excellence award. Automobile accidents are THE major cause of death for those 18 to 25! Tire Rack sponsored 100 schools last year. A Cleveland based advertising agency with the SCCA and BMW clubs hope to bring 500 students through this program in the next 2 years. This is an enormous challenge and it could include Misery Bay Region. I have gone to several meetings and Mahoning Valley will host the first school at Boardman Park, April 17th. They would appreciate our help.

I’ll be reporting about The Ohio Winter Rally and our successful Sno-Go Rally here soon. We will have our Solo Schedule and information on races and Solos too. The most immediate thing is the Cleveland Auto Show this week! Don’t miss it!. Racing has started down South and Drivers Schools and PDXes are coming to Summit Point and NJMP. The first Track Night in America at Pitt Race is April 28th.

Get Ready! THE Season is Coming!

Bill

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10

Membership ReportJanuary 31, 2015

85 Full Members3 Renewals Overdue

WE REALLY MISSAmanda & Rob Cox

Ken HoovlerAndy Stevenson

Matt BaselerFrank Victor

Scott SpangenbergJason MaherIan McCune

October RenewalsMarvin Alvarado

Bill CroweMatt DeLacy

Andrew Gentry

November RenewalsKen Wise

December RenewalsEric Confer

January RenewalsHoward Shedd

February RenewalsTim Mackey

Dave MichalakJon Rausch

March RenewalsJohn Pearson

Taylor Pearson

You can check your status and renew online at SCCA.com

Make sure that your membership card shows a membership in

Misery Bay Region 104

Don Smith & Dave Hammerat our banquet

New to the SCCA Hall of FameRandy Pobst, Roger Penske, and

WNY’s Bob Henderson

SCCA Chairman, John Walsh presents Steel Cities’s Paula Hawthorne with the

Member of Excellence Award

2016

April

2-3 SCCA Drivers School Summit Point, WV

7 Monthly Membership Meeting Cornerstone Bar & Grill

15-17 SCCA Majors-VIR

16 SCCA Steel Cities Starting Line Solo School Pitt Race

17 Mahoning Valley SCCA Teen Street Survival School Boardman Park, OH Steel Cities Solo-Pitt Race

28 Track Night in America Pitt Race 4-8 PM

29-1 NORPCA HPDE- Mid-Ohio SCCA Majors-Summit Point

February 4 Monthly Membership Meeting Cornerstone Bar & Grill

4-7 Erie Auto Show Bayfront Convention Center

6 50th Anniversary Ohio Winter Rally Solon? Ohio

12-15 Pittsburgh Auto Show David Lawrence Convention Center

27-3/6 Cleveland Auto Show IX Center

28 MBR Sno-Go Rally Erie, PA

March 3 Monthly Membership Meeting Cornerstone Bar & Grill

1-6 Cleveland Auto Show IX Center

3-6 SCCA Pirelli World Challenge & MX-5 COTA-Austin, TX

12-13 SCCA PDX & Club Trials Summit Point, WV

18-19 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International

18-20 SCCA Majors-Road Atlanta SCCA Drivers School-Summit Point

26 CNY-SCCA Rallycross Walczyks Farm, Weedwport, NY