The registration for our 2000 United in Portland is underway! Just a reminder…get those registration forms in and make your hotel reservations early. The hotel only has so many rooms held for us and they can start releasing them by July 25^th and the room rates may go up if you reserve after that. Also, getting your registration form in before August 10^th avoids the late registration penalty!

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Donna D'Amelio who has taken over as lead Webmaster (Webmistress?, Webperson?) and is working hard to get our new website completed and available. Malcolm McDonald, our previous Webmaster, had put a lot of work into getting a new site going, but the pressures of a new job and all have consumed his time. They will now work together as a team with Donna doing the content and maintenance and Malcolm hosting the site. Thanks to both of you. I will let you all know when the site is up.

At our General Meeting held at the United in August, we will start the process of a first for this Club…the nominations for the election of the Board of Directors. Obviously this is a very important process. Currently, the Board is made up of the Regional Reps. Starting in 2001, the Board will be elected from and by the membership, as approved in our By-Laws changes approved earlier this year. We will be discussing this whole new era of the Club at the Meeting and in subsequent President's Columns so you can decide and vote on an informed basis.

I just got Christmas in June, and man was it neat. I had received for Christmas a three day "Introduction to Racing School" put on by Skip Barber at New Hampshire Speedway and just got back. It was a Blast! Monday through Wednesday, 8:00 am to 5:00pm. A little classroom instruction but mostly driving or watching others drive and learning. The cars are formula Dodge, identical to the ones used in the race series. They are open wheel, tube frame, rear engine cars that weigh 1040 pounds and have 135 hp Neon engines. They are pretty peppy, handle great (1.2 g's) and brake hard. It was amazing the amount of learning and confidence one gained from Monday to Wednesday. We were really flying….or so it seemed to my inexperienced butt…getting to 100 mph at the end of the long straight. I have never autocrossed before will be giving it a shot at the United this year. Maybe my schooling will pay off.

A correction for the description of the solution for oil usage in the 347 engine I mentioned last month: The solution being used in the motor I am getting is not the "plug" in the wrist pin hole as I described. It is actually a wider (taller) than normal oil ring groove so that, in addition to the oil ring, there can be a full circle "support band" under the oil ring, giving the oil ring a full circumference of support. Sorry for the bum info.

The British car show season is here and a lot of our Reps and members are making good showings for the Sunbeam Marque. Let's all get out, show off our numbers and support them.