Roll Call
Trustees
Al Anderberg (AA), Mike Dixon (MD), Jeff Hargis (JH), Kerri Kress (KK) (at 8:09 am), Wes Poole (WP), Bob Robbins (BR), Luke Sayer (LS), Kelly Shane (KS), Tim Terrell (TT), Greg Tomlinson (GT – Chairman)
Absent
David Rutherford
Staff
Daniel May (DM – Executive Director), Leasha Overturf (Road Race Director), Terry Phillips (Off-Road Director), Paul Elledge (Branding Lead)
Guests
Ralph Wessel (Volunteer and Racer), Maggie Shane (Accounting Volunteer)
MEETING
Call Meeting to Order (Chair)
- LS designated that a quorum was present
- Motion to Adopt Agenda LS with TT second, Unanimous vote to accept
Chairman of the Board Opening Comments – GT
- GT honored Carl Anderson for all that he has done for AHRMA as a multi-term trustee and multi-time Chairman of the Board of Trustees as well as being a guiding light for AHRMA and racers at all the races he attended. Carl will be missed. A parade lap at Barber Vintage Festival will be dedicated to Carl.
- GT thanked all the volunteers and staff for a great Laguna Seca event for both Road Racing and Off-Road.
- GT- 4 main goals for AHRMA
-
- Serving the membership
- Optimizing our organization
- Supporting our Safety Committee
- Succession planning to ensure AHRMA has continuity and back up for staff
MEMBER COMMENT PERIOD
Ralph Wessell made several points
- Members want to go back to Willow Springs International Raceway
- Laconia would be good to go to also
- Ralph wants printed AHRMA Mag issues
- AHRMA Souvenir Programs need to be printed early to support early bike shows and events
Reading and Approval of prior BOT Meeting Minutes from Roebling
LS motioned and BR seconded, motion unanimously approved
Reading into minutes interim trustee BOT vote
LS motioned to accept prior published announcement of Kerri Kress being elected as interim Trustee to replace Albert Newman who resigned. JH seconded and unanimously approved
The voting for Kerri Kress was CA, MD, JH, BR, LS, TT, GT and for Ellen Voermans was AA, WP, DR, KS.
Reading into minutes new Treasurer election
LS motioned to accept the previously published announcement for electing Tim Terrell as our new Treasurer. A secret ballot was conducted electronically per our association Bylaws. Al Anderberg was nominated by KS with DR seconding. Tim Terrell was nominated by BR with MD seconding.
GENERAL REPORTS
Executive Director Reports
- First half (H1) 2024 financial report
DM summarized that AHRMA is in a much better position now than a year ago when we were $350K in debt and didn’t know if we could pay for our remaining 2023 events. We have reduced our debt to $200K and have enough cash to ensure our remaining event schedule will be covered.
2022 was a bad year, as previously reported AHRMA lost ~($335,000) and debt increased to $350,000 plus accrued interest.
2023 was better, with the year ending with a modest profit of ~$56,000, but midyear cash flow challenges impeded operations, and outstanding debt burdened the balance sheet. – The first 6 months of 2024 (Dec – May) produced a net profit of $55,361.03, but this is largely due to decreases in expenses, not increase in revenues. – $150,000 of the outstanding debt has been retired, leaving a manageable $200,000 (plus nominal accrued interest).
2024 budget presented at Roebling Road forecasted a net profit of ~$184,000, of which ~$90,000 was forecasted for the first 6 months. We are ~($35,000) behind the forecasted budget.
First half of 2024 financials are available HERE, and you can find an archive of previous released documents here: Archives – AHRMA
Treasurer Financial Report (TT)
We are financially solvent and look forward to paying down our debt and continue to provide great member experiences with our events.
Secretary Report (LS)
Our Bylaws are up to date, and I am looking forward to a great year for our membership!
Membership Report (DM)
DM covered for Lorraine Crussell who is doing a fantastic job with a high level of membership satisfaction. The biggest issue is that our membership numbers have not recovered from several years of decline. General discussion of reasons such as aging out, tight economy and inflation. One of the main reasons mentioned by former members is that they didn’t know if AHRMA was going out of business. We are not going out of business. We will continue our membership drive efforts.
Road Race Director Report from Leasha Overturf
First, I’d like to say I’m thankful for the opportunity to be serving as Road Race Director. The position has been a real learning experience that has not only challenged me but also makes me happy.
I’ll feel we have turned the corner on a new era with more and more riders on the track, smiles on the faces of the racers giving kind expressions of thanks to the staff, volunteers and leadership. Feeling like people are being energized again.
Thankful for sponsors that are stepping up to show their thanks and appreciation to officials and volunteers
7 months in and feeling more confident and ready to build the season for 2025
Laguna was quite successful and our losses will not be nearly as bad as we first thought
I realize the importance to partner with west coast teams to save on costs but in all reality even the west coast team has had travel expenses on both rounds and in general more expensive than our core AHRMA team. My push is to always have core team with me no matter where we go.
2025 has the first 4 races of the season in place but waiting to finalize details and contracts:
Roebling Road Raceway: February 14-16, 2025
Carolina Motorsports Park: March 14-16, 2025
INDE Motorsports in Arizona: April 25-26, 2025
Willow Springs Raceway in Cali: May 2-4, 2025
June could be both Hastings Motorsports and NJMP, but the rest of the weekends are up in the air until further notice.
Planning for Barber 2024 is underway.
I want to share that several sponsors are stepping up to say thanks to the staff and volunteers by sponsoring an evening meal for the rest of the 3 race weekends this season. I’m told by them that they are very happy with how things are going and want to make sure that the staff and volunteers know it. For me, this is a big achievement.
Focusing on Laguna Seca weekend: 239 racers (Roebling 243)
Practice: 214 entries School- 12 two-wheel Sidecar: 2 pilots, 4 passengers
Sat Entries: 405 Sun Entries: 397 a difference of only 8!!
Going in we knew we were going to be at a loss, but the projected loss is less than we thought it would be. Went from a possible $25k loss to a much smaller amount of $10-$15K once the additional admin side is in.
On the positive I got a great lesson in handling protests myself and could go to a trustee or another racer to get clarification if I needed it. That was a silver lining in the referee situation.
I’m excited to say that I then plan to take us to a new track in Arizona and create a back-to-back with that track and Willow Springs. For both events I will be able to fill some positions with locals simply as I plan to partner with Brady Walker of Ramming Speed to accomplish both weekends. He holds the keys to Willow Springs and by going there and INDE in Arizona it will offer the west coast a new experience.
From there I hope to have a stop in the midwest at Hastings in Nebraska and then move to NJMP. The remaining weekend except for Barber are still being considered.
In closing, I want to say that I could not achieve what I have thus far without the support of Dan May and the staff, volunteers, trustees and racers that are always willing to step up for me.
The way I see it, the track is being repaved, and each lap we are experiencing less bumps and more grip. The racers are happy, the staff is happy and overall, the whole paddock is traveling in sync with great energy.
Thank you!
Off-Road Race Director Report by Terry McPhillips
Weather has been challenging this year but overall we are doing well
Laguna Seca Off-Road was a success and probably the best track at that location thanks to a lot of effort by the Poole family, Jeff Bushey, Charlie Higdon, Blake Warton, Kelly and Maggie Shane and others.
Barber planning is well underway and Alan McWilliams is making good progress on the Lot G parking area MX track. It should be an outstanding addition to the AHRMA program at Barber
We would appreciate more volunteers at events and planning to provide bigger and better events
The 2025 Off Road schedule is being worked on by the Off-Road planning committee and is planned to be released by the Off-Road Finale at Henryetta.
Dirt Track Race Director Report (DM gave on Richard Brodock’s behalf)
Richard is very excited about the future of this program with the new opportunities that come from the recently lifted Team Obsolete restrictions. These include talks with AFT (American Flat Track) for partnerships at events that include television coverage and streaming on a major platform
Richard is also excited to have more of our members step forward wanting to help continue to rebuild the Dirt Track Program. Three new members have joined my team and two have joined the Dirt Track R&E/Planning committee.
An extensive potential sponsorship list was given to our sponsorship team of companies that I spoke with that are interested in becoming partners. I feel our team may be overlooking several smaller partnership opportunities in search of one grand partner.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
OLD BUSINESS
- FYE 2023 IRS Form 990 has been filed and is available for public inspection on the AHRMA website.
- Compiled financials for FYE 11/30/2023 are also available on the AHRMA website at https://www.ahrma.org/member-resources/archives/.
NEW BUSINESS
- Barber Festival planning is underway
- New Off-road track is being built (Covered by Terry McPhillips in Off-Road Director’s report)
- 2025 schedules are being planned
- All disciplines are currently working on 2025 schedules
Discussion of Team Owner and Membership definition moved to closed session.
Proposed Owner/Team Owner handbook update as proposed by Dan May above – DR moved to accept, AN 2nd, 11 voted to accept and KS opposed
Proposed Membership definition as proposed by DR – TT moved to accept, 2nd CA – Final vote was Unanimous for accepting change.
FINAL COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR
GT thanked the Trustees for attending and DM our Executive Director for a well prepared and run meeting.
LS motioned for adjournment, BR seconded, Unanimous approval and meeting adjourned at 12:30 pm.
