2009 National Convention, final day report

Club Racers Honored, SCCA Hall of Fame Adds Five as National Convention Closes

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Feb. 22, 2009) -- In addition to another full day of productive seminars and meetings, the final day of the 45th SCCA National Convention, at the South Point Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nev., recognized achievements in Club Racing and added five new members to the SCCA Hall of Fame.

Like the previous two days, Saturday's convention schedule was chalked full of valuable sessions to keep members up-to-speed with the latest happenings in SCCA. Throughout the convention, each program department help a town hall meeting, allowing the program's leadership to field questions from members. Several technical and steward training sessions were also held throughout the event.

On day three, a session on volunteer and event best practices gave Region Executives from the jumbo regions (1,000-plus members) a chance to share their success stories with leadership from other regions and provide ideas for new communication tools, volunteer incentives, budget planning and community outreach.

Sessions regarding the Tire Rack Streets Survival program are always popular at the SCCA Convention and this year was no different. One of the final sessions of the event, presented by Tire Rack Vice President of Marketing Matt Edmonds, BMW CCA National Program Manager for Street Survival Bill Wade and SCCA Vice President of Rally/Solo Programs Howard Duncan, covered the basics of what the program is, how it works and why it's important for SCCA.

Several prestigious Club Racing awards were handed out at lunch. Lone Star Region's Jim Averett was awarded the David Morrell Award for his work as a steward. Runoffs E Production polesitter and podium finisher Greg Ira, of Florida Region, was presented with the Kimberly Cup as the most improved Club National driver. Reigning Formula Ford Champion Chris Keller, of the San Francisco Region was presented with not one, but two awards. Keller took home the Jim Fitzgerald Rookie of the Year Award, as well as the Road Racing Drivers' Club Mark Donahue Award. The shock of winning both awards left young Keller practically speechless on stage, but he did express his gratitude to the Club for welcoming him like a second family.

The 45th SCCA National Convention closed with the Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Banquet Presented by American Honda. Though previously presented with his award at the 2008 Solo National Championships, Raleigh and Velma Boreen were recognized as the Solo Cup winners. Andy Porterfield was named the John McGill Award winner for significant contributions to the Club Racing program. Three-time Formula Continental National Champion Niki Coello was selected for the President's Cup. The inaugural SCCA Worker of the Year Award went to Carol Cohn, for her years of service to the club. SCCA's highest honor, The Woolf Barnato Award for outstanding contributions to the Club, went to longtime member and current SCCA Foundation Chairman Larry Dent.

Paul Newman (accepted by racing partner Michael Brockman) led the list of SCCA Hall of Fame inductees, which included Bill Chambres, Bill Johnson, Jim Kimberly and John Timanus.

Presentations and audio files from the 2009 SCCA National Convention will be posted shortly on www.scca.com.

-credit: scca