July 2018 REmarks
Hello Everyone, I hope everyone is doing great.
I attended my first June Sprints® as RE. Wow, what an experience. I truly appreciate all the hard work from our volunteers. I was able to visit most of the corner stations, race control, starters room, and pace car drivers. Other areas like registration, tech and safety crew, there was always way too much going on to bother them or I just missed them.
I did get to watch our crew handle a huge mess when a car left oil from turn 12 to pit lane, race control handle countless issues, protests and extremely close finishes and see timing and scoring working intently during a race (even thought I had no idea what each one of them were doing, they were doing it intently).
The morning meetings were filled with information and a great positive spirit and plenty of reminders to stay hydrated. The day flew by with action from sunrise to beer at sunset.
Peter Cunningham was the Grand Marshal and did a fantastic job. He waved the green flag for the first race and then spent the rest of the time watching the races and congratulating the podium finishers in winner’s circle. He also spoke at ourSaturday dinner and visited with the attendees.
The management and staff at Road America were great. They are a key partner in our success for the June Sprints and it’s a fantastic long-term relationship.
Eric Prill, VP & COO for Sports Car Club of America, was on hand and announced that the 2020 Runoffs will be held at RA. I was very happy that this was shared early in the weekend so the buzz around the track could happen all weekend.
There was an interesting project going on at the track. A two-story hospitality suite was being assembled for the Indy Car race the following weekend. My understanding this had everything including hardwood floors and 19 TVs!
I camped on sight, stayed dry during the storms we had and the weather wasn’t too hot. My son Max is an Eagle Scout and my daughter Nicole was a Girl Scout so camping was nothing new. Unfortunately, there was an autocross on that Sunday that I missed; somehow our solo group managed to host an event without me there.
Chris Gregor
Regional Executive
Chicago Region SCCA
