February 2019 REmarks

Hello Everyone,

The 2019 National SCCA Convention reported how we did, overall SCCA had a good year. We had approx. 10M in expenses and revenue to net break even. The “bad” is that this includes 1M in losses by SCCA Pro Racing. The “good” is that we had enough revenue to cover this loss. The Chicago Region and Area 5 expressed their dire concern and requested better oversight and reporting since Pro Racing’s forecast for 2018 was to break even. The national staff did explain that they failed to receive payment from a major sponsor that was contracted to be 1M a year for 3 years. They are pursuing. 

The other areas of the club had a good year including Solo that had sellout attendance at the Solo Nationals. Our Solo board hopes to have the 2019 schedule out soon so watch the website and Facebook for updates.

The Track Days Program is doing well nationally and is very strong locally. Our region members have built their program to one of the best. See our region website for the 2019 schedule. Nationally there is support for Track Cross/Sprints that are timed events that use a portion of a road race track. Track Night in America continues for 2019.

Rally Cross continues to grow. The Chicago Region does not currently have any Rally Cross events but would be willing to support if there was a group of members that wanted to spearhead that effort. Note: Milwaukee region has had several events and are looking to continue that program.

Our Road Racing program is looking forward to a great 2019, see the Chicago website for the schedule. We kick off 2019 with “CenDiv Spring Training and All Worker Training” March 16-17. Also, we are happy to have the National Runoffs back at Road America for 2020 and expect to see an increase in attendance at our events in 2019 and 2020.

The Street Survival program continues nationally and locally. The Chicago Region hosted two schools in 2018 and plan to continue in 2019. We thank Route 66 Raceway for their support of our program; they provide use of their facility including the classroom, the lot and the firehose for the skid-pad free of charge. 

The 2019 Checkered Flag Party is Saturday, February 16 at Ferrari Lake Forest (formerly Lake Forest Sportscars). We will be awarding the Road Racing Driver of the Year, Solo Driver of the Year, Track Day Driver of the Year and several other awards. You will enjoy food and drink while viewing some impressive Ferraris and listening to live music. Weather permitting, there will be a Ferrari Ride along if you want to experience an Italian motorsport masterpiece. Many thanks to Ferrari Lake Forest for opening their fantastic facility to our club and offering fun among Ferraris.

I can’t wait to have the sites, smells and sounds of motorsport push these sub-zero temperatures from my bones. (Some of us didn’t go to Daytona)

Happy Motoring,
Chris Gregor       
Regional Executive, Chicago Region SCCA