The January 2009 MKC General membership meeting came to order at 7:35 PM by President Bill Anderson.  Eleven members were in attendance.

2009 Officers

          President:                  Bill Anderson

            Vice President:         Tom Howerth (Ace Wheelie)

            Secretary:                  Chris Williamson

            Treasurer:                  Sue Anderson

            Board Of Directors

Ron Taylor (member at large)

Bob Kocsis

Rod Williams

Dave Williams

Pat Willey

Volunteers for additional board positions are open.  The club needs folks who are interested in planning and executing the 2009 program.

Financial Report

The treasurer’s report was reviewed.  There are adequate funds to run two events this year, although both need to be financially successful.  The audit of the transactions covering the past two years was conducted.  There were no issues.  The new treasurer, Sue Anderson, stated that as a corporation, MKC needs to keep an inventory of assets.  That needs to be updated before warm weather.  Officers, past and present. are storing the major equipment but an accurate list is needed.

            Areas were identified where spending can be reduced in 2009 without seriously affecting the quality of race events.  The major area for cost reduction is temporary safety tire barriers.

Waterford Hills

Two Dates are available for races.

Saturday      May 1, 2009

Sunday        August 2, 2009

The membership desired a weekend at Waterford in 2009.  A discussion of the feasibility of holding one day event indicated that members wanted an event but desired a 2 day event so that adequate practice time was available.  In 2007, a 2 day event was held with Saturday being devoted primarily to practice and Sunday was raceday.  Due to limited operating hours, 10AM to 6PM,and that there are competing WKA events on the same weekend as the Waterford dates, the road racer members felt the track was not viable for karting this year.  A motion to NOT conduct a race at Waterford in 2009 was passed 8 votes to 2.

Grosse Ile  Grand Prix III, June 6 & 7, 2009

We have a 2 day event on the MKC race calendar as part of the Island Days Carnival and Festival.  Lots of good food, carnival rides, vintage aircraft displays, crafts, talent shows, music, vintage airplane rides, helicopter rides, and of course the MKC kart racing event. For those who have never had an opportunity to race at an airport, this temporary course allows MKC plenty of room for parking, camping and the ability to alter the layout each year.  Above all, it allows karters the ever important public exposure to our sport.

 Rod Williams is our liaison to the Grosse Ile Island days planning committee.  This year, the plan is to move the track layout away from the refueling station and also away from any aircraft traffic.

This year we again looked for race weekend partners.  Attendance is always a concern so we have had conversations with Great Lakes Pro Series, Thunderbird Kart Club, Great Lakes Sprint Series, Fremont Kart Club,and East Lansing Kart track. Karters from each of those tracks / Series are anticipated to compete and have modified their schedules to fit the MKC GI GP weekend.  This year we have the added benefit of working with GLPS Super Karts group organized by Terry Riggins.  These racers put on an exciting show.

Website News

            Ace Wheelie related a story that is worthy of note.  When website domain names come up for renewal each year, there are some entrepreneurs who make it a habit to steal the names that expire and then resell them at a profit to the groups or businesses who are slow to renew their domain names.  In MKC’s case, we came close to losing out michigankartclub.com domain name because our original webmaster had not transferred the billing address and contact responsibility to Ace Wheelie.  Using due diligence and much patience, Ace made all the important phone calls, emails, and other contacts to eventually prevail over the potential domain name thief and retain our name for another year.  Thanks Ace.

Winter Social Event

            Charlie LaFollet sends greeting from the TBirds.  They have issued a mini challenge to MKC to see if MKC’s amateur bowlers can even come close to the scores racked up by the regular bowlers at Thunderbird Kart Club.  The event is Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009, Skore Lanes, 22255 Ecorse Rd, Taylor, MI, 2 PM Check-in, 3PM Bowl. $25 per person includes 3 Games of Bowling, pizza, pop, salad, and dessert.  Contact Sue Phillips: 313-363-1626 or 313-299-1195.

OVKA SWAP MEET Saturday Feb 7

Setup Friday Feb 6, 3 – 7 PM

A group of 4 or 5 MKC members plans to attend, hand out GIGP race flyers and meet with Terry Riggins from GLPS.  Our display is to have snapshots and video from previous GI Events.

2009 Membership Renewal

            It is time to renew your 2009 general membership.  For a modest $15 you get a family membership, membership, MKC bumper sticker and the satisfaction that you are helping to keep the lights on at the MKC web site.  Like every good club, we have miscellaneous everyday expenses for printing and postage and related administrative activities.  Membership dues cover that part.  Our business model is based on the premise that the racers need to support the expenses associated with track activities.  The club is host and tries to meet pre-race, race day, and post race activities with proceeds from each event.  So, please help us support karting in Michigan.  Renew today.  There is a form posted elsewhere on www.michigankartclub.com.

Email Address Database Update

We have a list of folks who participated in past Grosse Ile Events.  Ace wheelie agreed to transcribe the names from paper to electronic form to make a collection of email contacts.  We will use the list to spread the word that we are ready to give them a great event again this year at Grosse Ile.

Other Series News

            WKA Daytona 2008 Results were presented by Karen Farr.  Weather was perfect for practice plus two racedays.  There were 650 road race entries and 700 speedway sprint entries.  Jim Farr was recognized for his many years as an active karter by being inducted into the Karting Hall of Fame.  Karen presented this award to her dad at the post race celebration and the 500 Club at the speedway.  See MyLaps.com for complete results.  Only the top 10 finishers are posted on WKA website.

            WKA has high expectations for the upcoming event at Road America.  Using the sprint track and road race track, they project over 2000 entries will be on hand for 3 days of racing excitement.

CES (Dave Larson) road racers will be at GMan May 30, 31 and Grattan Aug. 29,30.  Dave has a new points format.  In order to reduce the costs of competing in a championship, Dave is offering the same classes for both days of an event and awarding points for both such that a racer can get points for two weekends worth of racing by racing one weekend.  See Championship Enduro Series site for more info.

9:25PM Motion to adjourn:  Karen Farr

Many thanks once again to Chris and David Williamson for hosting the club meeting at AMI.  For those who haven’t attended, the atmosphere is informal and the refreshments are great.  Come join us on February 18^th.  7:30PM.  See notice on this web site.

2009 Grosse Ile Details and Analysis

No Celebrity Race

2 Day Event

Expanded operating Hours

New track layout

Partners

Thunderbird Kart Club – Sue Phillips ( Flat Rock )

          East Lansing Track – Bob Haun Considerations:

Need their Classes on GI Schedule

          Have track Set up, Disassembly, and Race Day helpers.

GLPS – Terry Riggins (traveling series)

Needs track with Scales, Turn Marshalls, Gate control, track   pickup, Ambulance

Needs Block of Free Track time on Sunday

Has Scoring trailer with generator, equipment, personnel

8 speaker PA system

14 Radios

Terry Co-Ordinates his class and race activities. Will serve as Race director for his group.

They are interested and will participate pending MKC

membership approval

Insurance:  NKA

Rules:  Basic WKA with local option classes:  Blue Clones, SKUZA