Sierra Chapter BMW Car Club – Reno, NV
14 February 2013 @ Pearce Motors
AGENDA

1. Happy Valentine’s Day!
2. New Members
3. BMWCCA Regional Meeting 2/1-3 Update
4. Draft Events List
5. BMW Websites
6. The Ultimate Driving Community
7. BMW Trivia
8. Dinner @ Ling & Louis

27 in Attendance

Pat McGoff, President, called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.

1. Head count was done for Ling & Louie’s to be called in by Cheri for dinner after the meeting. Dinner group of 21. Jeff Warner gave all the women beautiful pink roses for our Valentine’s Day meeting. John English endured us singing happy birthday to him
2. New member was welcomed and we introduced ourselves to him.
3. Pacific Regional Meeting – February 1-3 at SFO Crown Plaza (attended by Pat McGoff, John English, John Strom, and Sharon Goodrich.) Sharon Goodrich said it was a great gathering, very informative. BMW CCA was looking for diversity of vehicles, people and ages. Some hand outs were given that Puget Sound made, including a calendar (they have over 2400 members). All fourteen chapters attended except for Las Vegas. Sharon made one oops saying SUV and was immediately corrected that it was SAV. Someone else present said the other common error is not having a space in BMW CCA.
   Pat McGoff said that BMW CCA membership was declining a little, so they wanted to increase it. All ideas were welcome. There was a lot of talk about the Internet and the actions that could help promote chapters if done correctly.
   John English discussed the Oktoberfest as an example of problems with the Internet. They were given a list that highlighted the worst web sites. The Sierra Chapter was not on the list. Then they looked at the dealer web sites and information on the chapters. It did not look like any of the chapters were included on any of the dealer websites. Discounts were not included on the dealer sites either. All fourteen chapters were scored. Sierra Chapter had two that needed to be corrected: the ByLaws (not a problem) and gallery of photos. The photos depended on available site space. The Sin City Chapter got all “nos” and the rumor was Chris Willett/others had closed it because of convertibles not being permitted on the track. Las Vegas had 9 members. We were at 119 on February 1st.
   Jeff Warner asked if Las Vegas chapter could then be transferred to Reno, as we were from them when this chapter was formed. Russ Huntoon said that we had the highest percent of chapter members attending. John Strom said our membership retention was the same as last year; stable membership was good, but growth would be better. Pat McGoff mentioned he was impressed with the number attending our monthly meetings; however, it looked like the majority attending were officers, board members and committee chairs.
   Oktoberfest costs were not organized at the meeting, Pat McGoff said. The information is now available and will be sent to all our members. The West coast was not as successful with Oktoberfest as the East Coast, so this may be the last one if attendance is not greatly improved. Russ Huntoon asked if they had banners for our Chapter yet – which would make our group be more visible.
   The BMW CCA Foundation and Capital Campaign are trying to break all records in raising money for Street Survival. They would like to double the numbers from 2500 students at 85+ locations to 5000 at 200 locations. They need a new facility that will cost $5.5 million and include a museum (not for cars) and space for expanding over the years. It would be perfect between the performance track and the Spartanburg facility and the land is for sale now.
   
4. Events List Comments.
   1. Jeff Warner said Street Survival at Fallon was on hold since they were not responding. John Strom said Porsche was doing a Street Survival March 16 with SCCA. Dave and Carol DeBorde at [email protected] have SCCA pamphlets.
   2. Jeff Warner said the web site was originally very stoic and then there were two others that had it before Carol took it over. It is a great improvement and very user friendly for the event listings, which we really needed to encourage more participation.
   3. John Strom said the June 8 Mystery Wine Tour was still on. JoAnn McGoff said she tried to access the Porsche one as she thought it would be the same for us. John said he figured someone would try that, so he removed it. Therefore, it is still a mystery.
   4. DeArmond Sharp said that fourteen rooms were blocked for the Fall Wine Tour at the Shenandoah Inn at Plymouth, CA. There is a wedding party that weekend, so the sooner we sign up, the better for us. Last year there were 15 rooms.
   5. August 8 meeting will be at Pat McGoff’s house, not Pearce, and will be a potluck.
5. Websites.  Pat McGoff said we needed to expand events and the Roundel and Pearce information on the web site.  Information that anyone provided would be welcomed.
6. Jeff Warner, Mike Dietel and Gilbert Dayao went out to Reno-Fernley to check the track and lands around it. There were two parcels, one was now a dirt track. There was a ten year lease on the road course by a very savvy new guy. We should be able to use it for ten years, but there will not be a lot of improvements. He will do a new configuration, possibly an H configuration and 2.5 mile track. The main problem is the gravel not being cleared from the track.
7. Pat McGoff asked about restaurant options. Twisted Fork (old Bullie’s spot) at 1191 Steamboat Parkway has private room. Johnny Carino’s Italian Grill at The Summit will also do separate checks. Brassiere St James Brewery/Restaurant, at 901 South Center Street opened four months ago, they also do separate checks.

General Meeting was stopped at 6:55 pm and a stampede for the door was done.  It was Valentine’s Day, and everyone at Bill Pearce was ready to head out as soon as we left too.