Board Meeting Minutes; Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum Leeds, AL 10/10/2022

Brian Larrabure (Chairman of the Board), Arthur Kowitz (Treasurer), Al Anderberg, Mike Dixon, Jim Korn, Albert Newmann, Rob Poole, Beno Rodi, David Rutherford, Luke Sayer, Kelly Shane (Secretary), Tim Terrell

Craig Grantham (Executive Director), Cindy McLean (Communications),  Terry McPhillips (Off-Road Race Director), Richard Brodock (Dirt Track Race Director), Jennifer & Dan Thornton (Membership Coordinators), Dewanna Comer (Road Race Director)

Terri Korn, Jim Barker, Alex McLean, Tracy Bower, Kirk Fisher, Michelle Fisher, Jeff Hargis, Wendy Stefaniak, Brian Sharp, Kim Sharp, Leona Dixon, Al Barber, Chuck stewart, Renee Schuelke, Tim Joyce, Carl Anderson, Colton Roberts, Tony Paul, Ralph Wessell, Kim Middleton, Hugh Dunklee, Jon Schultz, Mary Schultz, Tyrus Wilson, Jesse Davis

Call Meeting to Order

Brian Larrabure called the meeting to order at 8:00 am.

Designate a Quorum. A Quorum was designated.

Adopt Agenda (motion required for approval). Luke Sayer (LS) motioned to adopt the agenda, Albert Newman (AN) seconded.

Chairman Opening Remarks

AHRMA started the year with $100k in debt. With our move to the new accounting system, we discovered we were short an additional $200k. We were helped out with a low interest loan. We are currently $330k in the red. We are working on a plan to make changes to improve our financial situation going into 2023. We had an over-optimistic program for 2022, without knowing what was to come with the economy. 2023 has a much-reduced schedule with the intent to recover financially. Rather than having three MotoFests, we are reducing that number to one. Laguna Seca will be our only MotoFest. Nobody will lend us money if we continue to make bad decisions. Continued borrowing is not the solution, using the data to plan is the only way we will carry on.

Reading and Approval of Prior Minutes (Motion required for approval)

Kelly Shane (KS) moved to accept 7/18/2022 Laguna Seca minutes, Rob Poole (RP) seconded, and David Rutherford (DR) motion to vote.

Yes – Luke Sayer(LS), Beno Rodi (BR), Kelly Shane (KS), David Rutherford, (DR), Rob Poole (RP), Albert Newmann (AN), Brian Larrabure (BL).

Abstain – Al Anderberg (AA), Tim Terrell (TT), Arthur Kowitz (AK) since they were not present at the Laguna Seca meeting

No – Jim Korn (JK), Michael Dixon (MD). JK felt that the minutes didn’t accurately reflect the actual content of the meeting.

General Reports (Craig Grantham, Executive Director)

Executive Director Report (to view presentation, please click here)

• Thank you
  • Members (owners) – AHRMA couldn’t do this without your level of participation
  • Race Directors, Regional Coordinators & Volunteers: They all work very hard and provide a great member experience.
  • Internal Team Staff: Cindy, Dan & Jennifer, Stephanie, Jim Doyle
  • Maggie Shane, Lisi Bratcher: working on continued systems improvements and are the primary support for our financial reporting (BoT request)
  • Executive Committee & Trustees: Providing ongoing support, sharing and guidance as we’ve tackled unique challenges.
• Challenges – We had 12 RR events, 3 MotoFests, and a lot going on with off-road and Dirt Track. Participation was down – 20-30% across all events, disciplines. Attendance was down at Laguna Seca, but race entries per racer went up.
  • Manage events to reduce losses: Financial pressures as the US continues to decline
    Tremendous pressure to produce revenue. Orgs are canceling events. This situation not exclusive to AHRMA.. We need to focus on results which will help us get back into the black.
  • Venues, organizations, suppliers continue to increase prices
  • Create actual plans by event that will provide pre-advice and real expectations
    Make sure we don’t lose what we are famous for – member experience.
    Craig asked for financials, and plans when he arrived on the scene.
    Big events require a tremendous amount of effort and a specific well-defined plan.
    2022 we created a desktop data driven P&L – by discipline and by event.
    Event planning document which starts with prior P&L. We’ll be able to put our best estimates in, we’ll be able to also plan our marketing.
  • Track metrics to the events to adjust as necessary as the season unfolds.
  • Plan marketing and merchandising that supports our events properly
  • Listen to and execute input from the BoT and members at our quarterly Town Halls.
• Financials (ED Presentation – click here)
  • P&Ls derived from input coming from Race Directors, promoters, etc.
  • Dirt Track – Richard focused and very active. Those events that are big money losers will not be repeated. Fixable – the losses are very small.
  • MotoFests – encouraged by numbers – Daytona and HMP virtually break even.
    Laguna Seca was a pretty big hit.Richard Brodock asked if breaking even is our goal, and Craig replied that that’s our FIRST goal, making a profit is our ultimate goal. Wendy Stefaniak asked what the input & output was for Battery Park – Craig didn’t have that detail to share at this meeting. Luke Sayer shared additional information regarding losses for off-road and dirt track. Tyrus Wilson requested that if we post the financials online that we show the cost and the loss. Chuck Stewart stated that finances should be available without delay or excuses any time. Craig agreed with him – we will provide financials once we are able, based on the inputs received from the race directors. Arthur Kowitz reviewed how P&Ls are analyzed. Carl Anderson expressed concern regarding sharing proprietary information, that it could hurt us during contract negotiations. Jim Korn made the comment that the financials shown will be used to fine tune getting the right venues to improve the bottom line.
  • Off-Road has done fairly well first half of the year – we experienced a loss with Jackpine Gypsies, but can be fixed.
  • Road Race – a few challenging events (High Plains / Thunderhill) Thunderhill is a profitable track – for the track. That is, they are busy and successful. The fact that we had such poor turnout was on US – lack of marketing and pre-event work. NJMP a huge loser, Blackhawk and Gingerman did quite well.
  • Summary – first half
    Income good – close to a million, cost of goods sold
    Expense: -$275k
  • Third quarter -$55.6k (total -$330k)

Member Comment Period (one hour)

• Jennifer Thornton. Disappointed as a member how members have been treated. 50% of member experience is what happens on the tracks. The other 50% is customer experience. Shame on you for comments made to members. Members deserve more credit than what we were given this year. Issues with apparel. Dan distributed an apparel plan to the Board. Brian asked Jennifer to elaborate – she pointed out the way the fee increase was presented. Membership gets a lot of feedback regarding how people are treated.
• Tim Joyce. Second the apparel thing – he wanted to buy AHRMA merchandise but none was available. Dewanna Comer is one of the best road race directors. Road Race makes a lot or loses a lot of money for this club.
• Charles Stewart. Get back to the financials. There’s always the bottom line. Identify the fat. Many classes – only one or 2 riders in some classes. Identify what works, and what doesn’t. Concentrate on keeping us in business. David Rutherford answered that this is one of the huge challenges we have at AHRMA. We are unique – we provide a motorcycle experience unlike any other organization in the world. In RR we have classes with 1 or 2 people. We have 55 road race classes. Our challenge is to consolidate classes so that we can continue to grow. We still need to provide the handshift, vintage bikes a place to run. How do we grow the membership and not run people off? Let’s work on it together and grow and evolve.
• Wendy Stefaniak – for every class you eliminate, we will lose a class sponsorship.
• Tyrus Wilson – A lot of spectators were asking for Motocross – Signage for Laguna Seca signage wasn’t very obvious. – need cognitive informational signs for spectators – events/times/where to park etc. At Barber, signs were in the parking lot, but not good information for shuttle riders. Would like to see Motocross back – swap meet. Swap meet people asked for a shower trailer because the shower facilities were limited. One of our members was not able to get into the paddock. Tyrus also got stopped when heading to the awards ceremony. Overall Barber is a premier event – bring back motocross. It was pointed out that the Barber event is controlled by Barber, not AHRMA. Richard Brodock made note that there used to be MX at Barber, but MX decided they didn’t want it there.
• Colton Roberts (Vintage Road Racing Rules & Eligibility Committee). Formula 750 Rule was reversed without notice. Established comment period – members made comments after the comment period that resulted in a change. Why did the board think it appropriate to go against the board’s original vote? We rely on member comment and committee comment to make decisions. Brian explained that the comments that were made during the comment period were overlooked and later brought to our attention. Colton was thankful that David Rutherford was able to notify the committee and let them know what was going on and would appreciate being brought into the loop before something like this happens in the future. Tim Joyce. Being linked to the sponsor Brian should have recused himself from the vote.
• Jim Barker. Got involved with AHRMA roadracing last year. Incredibly positive experience, life changing. Had an encounter with Ralph this weekend – Jim said he doesn’t really know what’s going on. Feels like he can be a spokesman for AHRMA. Complete ego thing. He had a chance to go around the event, see the spectators and see if from their side. He realized “I am an entertainer”. This changed his perspective on what we are really here for and made him feel strongly on making sure it continues. What could have been different – communicate canceling of the Ridge event. Not good about signing up in advance – wish a message had been sent out. Same with Thunderhill – make sure members help get the word out. Don’t assume they will be well attended. Sad that happened – only 68 people and sad that Ridge got canceled. Laguna Seca – didn’t get some of the gate we should have because of the way the gate was handled. Loved the Town Hall meeting at Gingerman.
  • Brian responded to Jim’s comments on the Ridge – It looked like we were going to lose as much as $45k as we got closer to the event date. Dewanna was able to get the Ridge to offer us an out – but with only a day to decide. The decision had to be made quickly. WRT the Laguna gate – we realized there were several thousand people coming in that didn’t pay. Laguna staff waved people in without charging them. We will be managing the gate next year. We’ll be getting that money and a reduction on the contract.
  • Arthur had the same gate issue at Daytona and had to make some corrections.
  • Jim Korn – Dewanna has done an incredible job getting events loaded into MSR – with the template this will happen more quickly in 2023. We are working to get the information out to you earlier. We can share with the membership how many attendees we will need to make our goals.
  • WRT entry into the organization – Jim took the school with Mark Morrow. Challenging entering into the sport – Mark was super positive. Intimidating as far as the machine you are using to begin this lifestyle. Is it possible to intro someone based on speed rather than machine?
  • Mike Dixon spoke to the nature of closing speeds/speed differential, and Dewanna / staff have been looking at this.
  • Renee – She has been racing all year, and is slow. She has been wearing a yellow vest all year long, so that people would know she is a novice.
  • Richard Brodock has a plan for Dirt Track.
  • Kelly Shane – went to novice-only motos which made a huge difference. They don’t have to worry about getting lapped. Broken down by class as well, but doesn’t matter what you are riding. They are monitored and when they start getting fast they are graduated to intermediate. OR has 3 skill levels, RR has none.
• Jon Schultz. Jonathan Hollingsworth never got his award. Cindy McLean stated that we were aware of the issue and we will be working on this.
• Brian L. regarding closing speeds – maybe we can have one race with all machines for the riders that are at a much slower pace. Jim Korn said they are talking about it.
• Richard Brodock. We should have a Venmo account rather than taking credit cards.
• Tim Joyce. Been at this for about 28 years and has stacks of plaques – hats off to Dewanna for giving us stuff that’s cool.
• Leona Dixon. Dewanna thinks outside the box – not only does she do something different she knew she needed to cut back on expenses. Did the same thing with lunches – kept it simple. She did all she could to cut back on the road race expenses.
• Tyrus Wilson. For the Off-Road committee and EC – w.r.t. membership – we should look into letting kids race. We have families who have raised their kids around vintage bikes. Look at the insurance policy and see what we have to do to let the kids race. Had probably 30-50 kids turned away at Laguna Seca. Brian has that for the off-season agenda. Albert asked Richard what the age requirement is – Richard said that he was told 18. Kelly said insurance company has different stipulations based on discipline, because of expected speed. Insurance company looks the other way. No room in the program to have youth classes. (call Kelly). Richard pointed out that being a not-for-profit / 501(c)(4) that members shouldn’t be liable. Should be ways to address this. Has been asking the question for 10 months and shouldn’t take that long (call Richard)
• Jesse Davis. Formula 750 decision directly affects him. When the rule was passed, John Turner found and purchased a bike that was legal. He believes that word of the purchase got to Brian and believes he initiated the reversal and that this is personal. He believes the sponsor threatened to take the sponsorship money away. When this was reversed, AHRMA lost the other sponsor. A lot of discussion – Sportsmanship – Some actions are so egregious they should not be allowed to pass without action. Brian hired a pro racer so that Jesse couldn’t win the championship. The pro won the race. Brian – you incorrectly assumed that you were going to win and the math shows that was not the case, even if you remove the points for Stefano Mesa, Brian L. still wins.
• Brian Sharp. Address member conduct. Directed to Jesse Davis – Brian didn’t appreciate lewd gestures made to infield spectators – when he was beaten by Brian Larrabure. Jesse stated “there is no proof” that he made those gestures.
• Tony Paul. Running for trustee. Solicited votes
• Ralph Wessell. This is a vintage organization, I run some of the oldest stuff. I’m here on behalf of the members. Members had a great time – disappointed on no t-shirts. Members have signed a petition – not enough to call for a house cleaning. Too much playing in the sandbox. Dewanna needs the authority to run her program. Fuel prices have hurt us a lot. You are put on notice by the members we’ll get the rest of the signatures we need to do a house cleaning of the problems if they aren’t corrected.

10 minute break – reconvened at 10:30am.

Treasurer Financial Report (Arthur Kowitz)

• Arthur has pushed to allocate overhead expenses. If we can allocate our overhead, then the bottom line will be the real bottom line. We can come reasonably close to the effort and expense to the club to include that in our financial statement. Arthur helped with tweaks on the P&L reporting. If you are curious about a specific event details Arthur is happy to help.
  • Jim. Asked if the P&Ls are available to review. Arthur said yes – Jim said he’d like copies.
  • Luke. Is the GA included in P&L. Craig – Not included in THIS event by event recap. This view only has the revenue and expenses of each event. The overhead will be part of our TOTAL P&L reflected by time frame.

Secretary Report (Kelly Shane)

Currently working on the Policies & Procedures manual

Membership Report (Jennifer & Dan Thornton)

• Barber compared to last year gate. 2021: 406 – 2022: 462 $4k at the gate. 3320 members.
• Had some issues with membership this year with the forms. Never one perfect solution, work in progress. Vitally important they be filled out legibly and completely. The reason why we put things in yellow is those are the things that MUST be completed. Temperature is an issue – hard to fill out on a cold morning. But if it’s not complete, can’t put it into the system. Without a date of birth, can’t put it into the system. Need to make sure we are using he current membership form with the correct pricing. Had offered to send out packets to regional coordinators so they don’t have that additional cost. Need them in accurately and more quickly. Getting them by email makes it so much quicker. There have been issues and have been working with Cindy and MSR to resolve issues. People don’t always make sure their addresses are correct and have to deal with member cards that are returned. We are also working on issues with rule # assignment.
• Brian asked about possibly using something like DocuSign. Richard said he’s hoping to get a couple of tablets and use electronic pdfs. Kelly – Offroad is more complicated because of the number of coordinators. Richard said tablets are $40. Brian – add this to the discipline planning committees agendas.
• Jennifer – Talked about weekend memberships. Albert – asked if there was an issue renewing early. Dan – explained that the system will take the payment, but that the credential won’t show as updated until the previous one expires. Arthur pointed out that someone had issues renewing her associate membership and Dewanna said that for competition events, associate member is not available for purchase.
• MEMBERS SHOULD CALL MEMBERSHIP IF THEY HAVE ISSUES WITH MSR!
• Jennifer. We are not currently receiving the list of cards being mailed out by MSR
• Weekend Membership – Kelly – the whole idea was to grow the weekend memberships to full memberships. Most trustees don’t see it necessary to input the weekend members.
• Albert. We should put the weekend membership in. If they are in the system and we are going to manage them, we need to know their skill set level.
• Tony. AHRMA uses Trackside, can tell if they are full member or weekend member. You can track those that show up based on their skill levels.
• Albert is taking charge of weekend membership marketing, etc.. Albert said weekend memberships outsell full memberships 3-1.

Off-Road Race Director Report (Terry McPhillips)

• 2022 Generally in the black – Chaney Ranch was in the red, had to find a new venue quickly because the previously planned venue didn’t put us on the schedule. Waiting several event settlements. Expect the trend in OR to continue with many being in the black. How to increase member experience with the resources we have.
• Cutting down number of races we are doing next year – 14-16 events across all regions as opposed to 26 we had last year. Working to get Cross Country and Trials schedules into place. Waiting for promoters to have schedules available (later in the year). Need to leverage regions for support of national events.
• Communications are an issue – cross communication between disciplines and regions. Communications are going well, but improvement required.
• No Chaney Ranch in 2023, maybe 2024
• Laguna Seca – increase participation especially in PVMX and NGMX
• Arthur asked about increasing visibility / sponsorships – Terry said he’s working with Jim Doyle on that. Arthur noted that many of our class sponsors are racers that just want to support the club. He believes there are a lot of off-roaders that would do the same. Kelly said he reached out for sponsors for Northwest – got some people to step up to sponsor – got their name on a banner and on the regional t-shirts. Albert asked about Bridgestone and how that income is distributed. Brian said it goes into the general pot – contingency is only for road race. Albert said there’s no tires really for off-road from Bridgestone contingency. Terry has that on his follow up list.
• Jim Kor asked about sponsorship role since he heard that Jim Doyle was stepping down. Brian said we have a new person taking on this role and there will be a formal handoff. Craig said that Jim single-handedly managed the heartland event this year. Doubled the value of our sponsorships in 1 year.
• Albert asked Terry if the pre-entry levels are low will we start canceling events like Dewanna had to do with the Ridge? Terry Yes, that may happen. Al Anderberg – his national event down 50% on pre-registrations, but the total event entries were up from last year, so we need to be careful when canceling events based on pre-registrations.
• Dewanna – regional sponsorships. Is there anything that goes back to the AHRMA coffers as a whole? If Kelly’s getting sponsorships for the region, the region benefits. We should give them a reason to sponsor AHRMA as a whole – how can we do this? Local sponsors are looking to pull money in locally. To go national, we may not be able to do that with all the regional sponsors. Arthur asked wouldn’t a regional class sponsor also be National? Kelly – No, you need a company with a national presence to be a national class sponsor. Terry – Regions don’t get anything from National. If a National falls in a Region it’s also a Regional race. Albert – aim for a budget that will give us nice trophies and apparel.

Road Race Director Report (Dewanna Comer)

• Member comment regarding lewd gestures. As the road race director, knew there were issues. Knew that Jesse was unhappy due to the situation with Brian. None of the corner workers/staff saw what Jesse was said to have done. She must rely on her staff to make the best judgements. She endeavors to make sure the event is the best / safe it can be.
• There was no road race director in the position for a while when Dewanna was hired as road race director. Things that should have been put in place in the off-season were not put in place. Putting out schedules in advance. If members ask for something and it’s reasonable, we try to do that. One negative feedback is that financial reporting could be improved. Reports what she has as quickly as she can. Board makes decisions that required her to take her time to support the implementation of fee increases. We had to touch every single event, as well as communications regarding fees. The offseason is the time to get the budgets in place. Schedules are getting closer to being finalized. Last year the schedule that was made was aggressive and almost impossible. There have been multiple changes that have been implemented and that has been a challenge. She believes she can budget and keep us to task in the coming years. With regards to the MotoFests the membership would probably be interested in seeing the breakdown by disciplines.
• Wendy noted that the only financials that didn’t appear on the financial report was Talladega.
• Dewanna pointed out that the Blackhawk and Gingerman were back to back, and we were almost immediately into Talladega and Barber back to backs. She has an idea on improving on the Barber qualifying process.
• Wendy said everyone thinks Dewanna is the best. Dewanna said it’s her team. We don’t come into a weekend haphazardly. They have regular planning meetings, and seasoned veterans who will call her out when necessary.
• Leaving Gingerman, she was responding to members who didn’t know whether they were qualified or not.
• Brian Sharp – Thinks she did a good job. The members appreciated the Town Hall. Maybe we could do 3 a year in different regions so that people who don’t travel as much can know what’s going on?
• Ralph – we should have merchandise. Dewanna – I didn’t have merchandise because it requires having someone to manage it. We will have a plan to have more merchandise next year – mostly pre-sold.
• Luke – Talk to Jim Barker about merchandise since he wants to help out.
• Mike Dixon – after I register, I get a tentative schedule by email. As a volunteer my wife and I get notifications regarding events. When we get there as a racer/volunteer everything has already been taken care of.
• Kelly Shane – A lot of costs for Road Race are travel expenses – what are your plans to fix that? Dewanna – Expense report forms were introduced, and all team members could see what is available for reimbursement. She was instructed to let them know what they were eligible to submit for expenses. Many people didn’t realize they might be eligible for certain expenses that they submitted. At Laguna Seca she expressed that all of her people are important. She will be looking closely at these costs, and will be looking to take advantage of winning events that will help her to cover the travel expenses of staff needed to cover the losing events. For the iconic tracks, cost will be higher. We lost money at Thunderhill because we had a non-AHRMA member who didn’t think it was necessary to collect money at the gate. There’s also an issue with people taking advantage of the sponsor gate list. A lot of this year was “how can I improve processes?”. Also looking at track locations.
• Jennifer – reached out to every single sponsor to get their list of regular guests. No longer can someone just throw out a sponsor name to gain access.
• There’s a lot of work that goes into managing the sponsor gate lists.
• 2023 we will be planning ahead with posters for every event and expect membership to pass these out locally. A lot of things we can put into place which will help us for the next season.
• Jesse – a lot of clubs distribute posters.
• Brian Sharp – hard card for sponsors. Would like to control the gate hard cards and would be happy to pay extra to cover the cost of this.
• Ralph. Cindy Cowell would make sure Ralph would get posters. He and Sierra would hit Daytona Main street and put up posters. Took Friday night and hit the bike shops. Has souvenir programs from this year. Hits swap meets and promotes the organization. Social media is good, but the people that will show up are grass roots folks. We need posters.
• Dewanna. You and I talked about that, and this year you will have posters. Ralph distributed hand created posters in South Haven, Michigan for the Gingerman event.
• Tyrus – local radio station talked about AHRMA for 3 days before Barber.
• Dewanna – at Motorcycles by Moonlight, we were recognized by Barber

Dirt Track Race Director Report (Richard Brodock)

• We lost money this year, but it’s a fraction of what we’ve lost in years past.  Three races that contributed to that loss.  We have dropped one of the races, and fixed one, and the last is Laguna Seca which we will have corrected next year.  We will be in the black next year.  We experienced an entry increase of 322% for 2022.  He attributes this to event promotion.  The biggest challenge is letting AMA members know their bikes are legal to run in AHRMA.  Over the last 8 years, average participation was 57, in 2022, we had 294 racers (new members/weekend members/members who have not raced with us before).  We put anybody who shows up on the track.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

OLD BUSINESS

TT motioned to preserve and restore integrity to the AHRMA rules process by reversing the September 21, 2022 Formula 750 Rule clarification by changing Rule 10.3.1 Formula 750 back to the language originally approved by the AHRMA Board of Trustees permitting the Suzuki GT750 and TR750 as eligible F750 motorcycles in 2023 with a one year probationary period. This motion is to correct the error in judgement made by the AHRMA Board of Trustees and make Rule 10.3.1 Formula 750 read as follows (### indicate the beginning and end of the verbiage):

###
10.3.1 Formula 750

Fully GP-kitted two-stroke and four-stroke machines up to four cylinders, manufactured as 600-750cc and built prior to December 31, 1972, and like design. Among the eligible F750 motorcycles are:

• Kawasaki H2 and H2R
• Suzuki GT750 and TR750
Note: 450/500 Honda four-cylinder-based machines are not allowed, regardless of displacement
Any Formula 500 legal motorcycle may “bump up” to Formula 750.
###

JK seconded. Vote: 8 yes (AN, BR, LS, AA, JK, TT, DR, MD) / 3 no (KS, RP, BL) / 1 abstain (AK)

This motion was passed.

AK motioned to have a F750 Town Hall to discuss with those who are planning on participating in the Formula 750 race next year whether or not to retain this class as the Vintage Cup for 2023. Motion revised to have JK chair the Town Hall. DR seconded, Vote unanimous in favor.

New Business

2023 Executive Committee Positions (Brian Larrabure)

• Executive Committee positions and responsibilities
• Open discussion on responsibilities
  Current procedure – there is a secret poll and the Board of Trustees elect a trustee on the new board to the different positions, Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer. First year trustees typically aren’t selected since they don’t have a knowledge of the inner workings.
  • Chairman – time consuming. Have to have the time to do the job. There are numerous committee meetings to attend (RR, DT, OR planning, AHRMA MAG, Branding, etc.)
    • Dealing with ED on issues that come up
    • Communications look at and approve press releases, other communications that go out.
  • Treasurer
    • Frustrating to see what’s in the books but not have the authority to fix it.
    • On day-to-day, week to week, reads the reports, if it looks, smells, feels wrong ask for additional detail
    • Good to read the P&L statements to understand where we are
    • The Treasurer’s position should be for someone who understands numbers/finances.
  • Secretary
    • Ceremonial based on Roberts Rules of Order.
    • Based on the strength of the ED as to how much those two positions do.
    • Mostly management team who help guide the ED.
    • Least amount of work
    • As secretary, Kelly has kept us apprised of what dovetails into the bylaws and handbook – which we rely on.
    • Good balance to pivot on the EC.
  • Kelly elaborated – a trustee really needs to have 2 or more years to have enough understanding of Board operation to be eligible to hold an EC position.

Review 2023 Dirt Track Outlook

• Richard wrote an open letter to the board regarding 2023 classes.
• A lot of classes were changed in 2021 to increase participation. They were reversed in the 2023 rule change proposals.
• Lightweight brakeless class were set to 1967 to keep out the Yamaha DT1. Changed to 1968.  Lightweight brakeless class was really 1970.  We are trying to be more inclusive to bring more
• Heavyweight brakeless class was changed to 1968 in 2021, and an RCP that was approved changes it back to 1967.
• Changing the rules back to the way they were will turn away the momentum we have gained with increased participation and $$.
• The argument was made that when 2 strokes were allowed in these classes the class went away.
• Leave it at 1968 which was approved for 2021.
• Can’t afford to lose the entry gain and momentum.
• Beno asked how many DT1s came out this year.  Richard said 1 DT1, but a couple of Ossa’s and BSA’s came out.  Discussion.
• Jim Korn – Due to the issues surrounding other vote reversal this puts the process in question. Not comfortable with re-voting.
• Kelly agreed with Jim.  Give Richard the discretion for 1 year
• Kelly Moved to allow the Dirt Track Director authority to continue 2022 rules 14.2.8 & 9 for the 2023 season provisionally for 1 year.  A rule change proposal must be submitted for 2024 to make this a permanent change. Seconded JK

Vote: (10 yes / 2 no BR, RP). Motion carried.

Age Restriction for Dirt Track (Richard Brodock)

• Discussion on age restriction for Dirt Track
• $$ went to the promoter since we don’t allow under the age of 18. We lost at least $3600 (from 2 races)
• Align with offroad @ 16. Open discussion for under 16
• Can structure and restrict CC and bike size.
• Not a path for a pro license.
• Sportsman 125 class would be perfect for these youths.
• Brian suggested that Richard outline this in writing so that it can be presented to insurance and legal for consideration in the off season.
• Al said the winner for American Flat Track (AFT) was 17.
• Richard – we are not a path to the pros. Best way to promote vintage motorcycles is to start them young. In past years 90% 3^rd party promoter, AHRMA now promoter of most of our races. We can get the money back. We can become the sanctioning body and promoter.
• Kelly – if DT age dropped to 16, when is the push to drop RR to 16?
• Arthur – insurance has a “speed rating” – if we go under 200cc would that achieve an acceptable speed rating to permit these younger ages to compete?
• Richard – we can structure it as insurance sees fit to make it acceptable. If we don’t allow the kids, we could potentially be losing entries from Dad and Granddad.
• Albert – has to be the parent signing waiver, so will be present.

Legacy Class Proposal (Luke Sayer)

• Discuss potential to add a “Legacy Class” for non-points paying/no National Championship for those racers wanting only to do laps at the races
• The AHRMA Handbook , Section 1 talks about AHRMA is dedicated to enhancing the sport of Historic Motorcycle Racing.  This includes the sights and sounds of vintage motorcycling.  Richard and Luke have a proposed solution – give people with neat old bikes to do parade laps around the race course.  Bikes and riders have to meet all the safety requirements.  Benefits spectators will see riders riding and having fun and may be motivated to join as well.
• This is for all disciplines.
• Jim Korn suggested that this kind of proposal should go to the race directors before this is even brought to the Trustees.
• Brian agreed with taking it to the race directors first.  This is something the Board would entertain if the directors agree.
• Arthur pointed out a program that Bill Brown (Historic GP) had that included a “non-race race”.
• Luke will share this idea with Dewanna. Richard is already on board, and OR doesn’t really need this since they already have “novice” classes.

Race Schedule Approval (Albert Newmann)

• The expectations of the BoT from guidance, outline, goals and approval to our directors.
• Albert suggested that the trustees review the proposed schedules to determine if the venues are viable or not.
• Brian is not in favor of micromanaging the race director’s efforts. If a trustee has an issue with a venue, they should discuss this with the Executive director and/or race director.
• Beno talked about Barber and how road racers and off-road racers can’t cross-pollinate.  Not unusual for race directors to schedule same weekends within 200 miles preventing people from doing multiple disciplines. RR should put their schedule out first.
• Terry said the directors are already coordinating their schedules.
• Brian said that for MotoFest, people aren’t going to want to pay for 3-4 days, they want to wander around and see all the different disciplines competing.
• Kelly agreed with Brian.  Quality of the events should be #1.  Small percentage of cross pollination.
• Richard gave an example of Harpster DT and Talladega RR happening the same weekend.
• If we waited until RR schedule is ready, we won’t have the opportunity to book quality tracks.  We get in where we can and sometimes they overlap.

Sponsorships and Magazine Ad Revenue (Albert Newmann)

Albert chose to not speak to this.

Member Social Media Conduct Crack Down and Actions to be Taken (Brian Larrabure)

• The negative comments are hurtful to AHRMA. Potential and current sponsors could be discouraged from participating. If you have complaints talk to the officials. Talking about things you don’t like on social media doesn’t fix things you are upset about. Other clubs can have major issues on a race weekend but if you look at their social media it’s rainbows and unicorns. If we want to continue to see the growth that we have, we need to collectively stop the social media negativity as it could cost us sponsorships.
• Tim added that if one of our major sponsors should see the social media negativity, it could cost us their sponsorships.
• Brian – the club has to support the club. It hurts us when you trash talk the club on social media.
• Luke – to make matters worse it drives members away or prevents people from wanting to join – could potentially lose sponsorships.
• Dan Thornton – WERA uses a person to respond to a lot of the comments to close down negative comments.
• Brian – Social media is not the place to talk to AHRMA. We have a contact form on our website which should be used to get your answers from.

OPEN FORUM

Builder’s Cup (David Rutherford)

• David Rutherford was tasked to work on a road race program called the Builder’s Cup.  He believes it was approved by the EC.  Builder’s Cup concept is a program to get more vintage bikes back on track for people like him who have a garage full of old bikes but aren’t racing anymore.  Put younger riders on the bikes to keep then out on the track.  There would be a championship.  No fee to promote the concept for 1 year.  Vintage only, not NextGen, Modern, SOS.
• Mike Dixon – issues with scoring, maybe Dan May can help
• David – John Rickard is the class sponsor.  If it’s ok with the board David with Cindy’s assistance will put together an announcement and roll this out for 2023.
• Kelly – possible different riders on the same bike?
• David – Has Rob Hall riding his bike on the east coast, but can’t go to Laguna Seca, so he may have a different rider race his bike in Laguna Seca.  Race numbers will have to change based on rider.  Can the builder have a race number?
• Jesse asked if it was possible to have 5 bikes in 5 classes. Answer is yes – each bike accumulates points.  The rider gets the usual trophy – separately the builder’s bike is accumulating points.
• Kelly asked if the RR director has agreed to this.  Jim pointed out that it doesn’t affect RR race operations.
• Kelly said it doesn’t really need board approval for this.
• Brian told David to go ahead and get the press release drafted.

NEXT YEAR’S MEETING SCHEDULE (Brian)

This year we had 2 eastern meetings and 1 western meeting (Daytona, Barber, and Laguna Seca). For 2023 we should have 2 western and 1 eastern. Discussion of potentials – 2 of the meetings will be Laguna Seca and Barber, and we need to schedule the first meeting to get the new trustees on board.

BUSHEY (Rob)

Off-road people are concerned about the cost of road racing and whether there will be any benefit to off-road. Brian said that we will be bringing a new sponsorship team on board – not yet ready to announce but absolutely will have opportunity to develop sponsorships for off-road. Kelly – off-road folks feel like road race loses a lot of money and that off-road could use some help. Brian was asked if the marketing group was commission only and he confirmed.

Rob’s last meeting – Al Anderberg brought the fact that it was Rob’s last meeting as a trustee to the board. Everyone thanked Rob for his years of service.

FINAL COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR / ADJOURNED

Arthur motioned to adjourn, Tim seconded.