Com Sports Car Club - Time Trial - Time Attack

2020 COMSCC Season

COM Members,

It is 2020, and your Board of Directors has been hard at work getting things ready! There are lots of great things in the works to talk about, but first, I’d like to take a quick look back to the decade in review.

The club has had a very successful run over the last 10 years, primarily due to the ground work laid by those that came before us. If it were not for the efforts of the folks that have given so much of their time and energy to the club, such as Will Martins, John Spain, Nate Hine, Bill Hosselbarth, Paul Shearer, Mark Swinehart, Stephan de Penasse, Tom Cannon, and a host of others that literally could fill pages upon pages in the sixty-two year history of this club, we would not be where we are. These are the folks that have kept us focused and our path true. The ability of the club over the years to be as member centric and fiscally responsible as it has been are a testament to the example they set and serve as a guide for us as we move forward into a new decade.

There are some new people on the Board this year, and they are already injecting fresh ideas and energy into what we do. We welcome Jason Gannett and Robert Steenson to the Board, and Jon Cowen who has joined the executive team as COM’s new Secretary. Special thanks to Jeff Wasilko who had held the position for the last decade! I’d also like to extend thanks to exiting BoD members James Ray and Matt LeBlanc who served in 2019, and helped us grow and accomplish goals in new areas.

So, what’s new?

Mobile Application – for 2020, we’ll be moving to a new mobile application. The company supporting the previous platform we used has gone belly up, and we were offered a similar deal by another provider. Jeff Wasilko has taken on this task and we should be up and running on the platform very soon. Stay tuned for updates.

COM iRacing League – members Chad Fox, Jon Cowen, Nick Fontana and Bert Schmitz continue to grow the league into a professionally run, organized activity that is useful for building driving skill, reinforces tack etiquette, and is above all, fun. If you are going to take sim racing seriously, this is the group with which to involve yourself. Feel free to reach out them through the FB page.

MotorsportReg – you may notice that the look of MSR has changed to be a little less generic and is more club-centric. As we move forward, the MSR team along with our critical event staff may begin to take advantage of new features that will affect how we manage membership, licensing, financial incentives, etc. Members Peter Fontana and Sash Dias will be hard at work to see that any changes we make are tested and will work upon launch, along with a broadcast to the group.

Venues – relationships with our venue partners are as strong as ever. Our feedback is that COM is a well-respected, professionally run, and organized outfit with fast drivers that are safe, have good track etiquette, and are very respectful to the track officials and staff. I have been told directly by our venue partners that this is an increasing rarity in a market that is becoming flooded with DE clubs whose operations are disorganized, passing etiquette that is borderline dangerous, and do not staff to appropriate levels both in numbers and in quality. In short, we have a good thing going. Let’s keep it up!

Membership – we have a burgeoning group of newer people that continue to breathe life and enthusiasm into what we do. Members Eddy Segal, Brandon Travassos, and Chris Taylor are among the group that is leading the charge to the new…..but guys….it is still called “Time Trialing”.  😊 

Staff – there are some new faces and a bit of shifting around that has taken place. BoD member Tom Cannon has moved from Operations to Chief Steward. BoD member Dennis Herrick has stepped forward to anchor event operations. Accounting duties are now being split by members Mikhael El-Bayeh and Emily Berthier. Will Martins continues to do double duty as Treasurer and Chief Instructor, and VP, Dave Lemoine and I will continue to float to wherever there is a need.

Instructors – what an amazing group we have. These are the best in the region, hands down. Members of this group will continue to be hand-picked based on the intangible qualities that make a great COM instructor. That is to say, it is not enough that one possesses the knowledge to sit in the passenger seat and using only words, get a student safely through an event, but to do so while also promoting our culture, and conveying the expectations of good citizenship within our group are key aspects.

Two pages is probably enough, so I’ll stop here. I’m super excited for the upcoming season, and for the future in general. Stay tuned for more news and information in the coming weeks.

We will see you at the track!

Regards,

Troy Velazquez
President – COM Sports Car Club

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