2022 Candidate Statements

Voting is now open for the 2022/2023 Regional Executive and Board of Directors. You must be a member of the San Francisco Region to vote. There are three Board of Director positions open with nine candidates running for the office. To vote log into MotorsportReg and click on this link:

https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/scca-san-francisco-club-racing-thunderhill-raceway-park-membership-178840#organizer.

Voting closes on November 15,2022.

Read on to learn about all of the Candidates, good luck to all.

My name is Brent Morgan and I’m running for the SCCA San Francisco Region Board. SCCA SFR has a rich racing history and I believe that with the right leadership and management, we can continue to grow that history while welcoming a new generation of racers, members and volunteers to the region.

I’m a Military Veteran who after graduating from University with a Bachelor of Science degree, served as a Fighter Pilot flying fighter jet aircraft in the US Air Force, serving during the first Gulf conflict period. In addition to flight duties, I trained and participated in aircraft accident investigations, combat operations, security details and was a certified FCF (Functional Check Flight) test pilot conducting numerous test flight sorties of fighter aircraft after major maintenance to approve the aircraft for return to flight status.

After my Military Career I flew as an airline pilot for a major commercial airline flying numerous commercial aircraft models. I am also founder and owner of a small business with over 100 employees serving the northern California region.

I started racing with Jim Russel Racing Drivers School back in 2003 and currently own and operate Exclusive Racing Inc. with my son Zak. We sell and run the Ligier brand, including the JS-F4 and JS-F3 formula race cars.

I have worked in the performance car and racing industry for over twenty years. Six of those years I have owned and operated my own successful race car shop in the San Francisco Region. Over the years I have had ideas that could help improve and grow the region so I finally decided to run for a board seat. I want to better understand how the region is operated, and be able to come up with ways to help cut costs for members and racers. I can help the board be more transparent with the members, find a way for the members voices to be heard, and have more input into the region sustaining itself and growing. I want to find ways to attract new members who will race with SFR for years to come. For example, finding other ways to advertise at local events (car shows, pro races, etc.) to grow awareness of the region. I look forward to your support! DIG Motorsports will be having a meet and greet Friday evening, October 28th at 5 – 7PM during the final regional at Thunderhill Suite B1. If you have any questions feel free to come by!

Greetings, My name is Mark Milazzo and I am interested in joining the board of directors of the San Francisco Region SCCA.

I have been a member of the SCCA for over 30 years, and SFR has been my region since 1997. I got my start in motorsports through SCCA Solo Competition and enjoyed many years of autocrossing before moving to California to road race, and eventually manage the Jim Russell Racing Schools at Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway.

I am a PMI Certified Project Management Professional and very proficient at taking an idea, developing it, and carrying it through to completion. I have worked for World Speed Motorsports in a variety of capacities since 1997 and oversaw the development of multiple racing series, schedules, and even a clean-sheet open-wheel racing car. I am currently the Director of Business Strategy & Communications at World Speed Motorsports while also overseeing operations of Reilly & Company (vintage car trackside support)

My experiences give me a clear understanding of racing AND business, and I believe that I would be a great asset to the region. My motorsports credentials and industry endorsements can be reviewed at: https://www.RacingPro.net

If elected, it would be my pleasure to assist the club in any way that I can. In my opinion, it is important to listen to all of the stakeholders before making large-scale changes of any kind, and to be fiscally responsible at every turn. I’d love to hear from any member who has an insight as to what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are, and what they think is the best path forward. There are a lot of challenges in front of us, let’s work on them together.

First, let me thank you for the opportunity to serve on our Board for the last 2 years. These are challenging times for the club and our sport. We have stepped up to meet many, and many remain.

Let’s talk progress. In the last 2 years, we’ve:

• Completed a full review of our financials, restructured the systems, and given ourselves a clear view of where our money comes from and where it goes. I’ve reported on this at the recent membership meetings, have reviewed with many of you, and am happy to review, answer questions , and get feedback with all.
• We have made some changes, and for the first time in 2 years, have returned the club to break even. These changes were not easy, and we must continue to be diligent, while remaining true to our support of volunteers, racers, staff, and the organizations that support us.
• We have upgraded many systems, including the technology at Timing & Scoring, who with new PC’s, upgraded software, and great leadership can now efficiently do a great job providing our results, as well as new safety equipment & training making our safety and volunteer crews the best in the business.
• We have returned the website to currency from its state of disrepair in recent months. It’s still primitive, but it now has accurate content.
• We have initiated several exciting new events. The IndyCar support race was a huge success with 39 racers participating, rubbing elbows with Indy 500 winners, and providing great exposure & promotion for the club. We have also announced the creation of the Western Shootout, a new event with full support from SCCA National whose intent is to be the third leg in “the big 3” – The Runoffs, The June Sprints, and the Western Shootout. Stay tuned for more info on this exciting new addition to the SCCA schedule.

But there’s much more to do. Top on our list has to be getting more track time/more value for the racer $. As we all know, we’ve seen entry fees increase while track time has decreased. This is unacceptable. While economics times dictate that increases in our costs to put on an event are inevitable, we can take specific actions. First, we can continue to be frugal, keeping out cost base practical. But more importantly, we can find ways to increase track time for competitors and engagement for volunteers & guests. I’ve spoken to many of you on this, and we have several initiatives underway on this front. The net result will be more value for our racing $, a good thing for all. We need to flesh these ideas out, with full input and participation from the entire membership. I look forward to working with all of you to do so, and give us more value for our time and money.

With your vote, and input, I look forward to working with the other members of the Board, and membership at large, on these initiatives. See you at the track!

Hi my name is Peter Phung, and I’m honored to be one of the candidates running for a board of director’s position. I have been racing with the SCCA since 2018, during my time as a member of the club, I’ve volunteered as an instructor for driver’s school, as well as helped build a race team with multiple cars, and some of the best teammates any racer could ask for.

I’m running for the board of directors first and foremost as a dedicated driver that loves the SCCA organization. I’m confident that I can contribute a big part to the organization by working to help make positive changes, that will help improve the driver experience by focusing on more track time, adding mandatory practice sessions for every regional/majors’ race, while maintaining current budgets, and not adding extra cost.

If elected I would like to come up with a plan to also introduce a time trial group to the regional/majors’ events, to help attract more members that could potentially become future SCCA racers. The annual school has successfully brought on new members, but if we can also offer another option through time trials with volunteer instructors, mandatory number of events attended, and instructor approval, we will gain more members that will pursue their passion for racing with the SCCA at a faster pace. Other organizations are currently offering this, I believe it would be within the best interest of the club for SCCA to do this as well. The more attendees we have, the easier we can keep the cost down and ultimately make it budget friendly for all. I will also focus on networking through social media and other advertising options. Volunteers will be another subject I will be focusing on. They need more compensation for their loyalty, ie: hotels, and all travel expenses paid, or the option to drive during the event weekends for free through time trial. They should benefit more through the VIP program as an appreciation for their time and dedication, because without them we wouldn’t be able to race.

I know what I am presenting won’t be simple and will take time, but if I am elected as a board member, I am confident and committed that together we can make these

changes both strategically and in a manner that benefits all.

Hello Fellow San Francisco Regions Members!

I want to thank you for allowing me to be a member of the SFR Board of Directors. It’s been a pleasure and a challenge. Because it is a challenge, I ask for your vote again. My work is not done.

You may not know this, but I have been a member of the board of directors longer than anybody in the history of the Club. 16 years! That being said, I am not one of those guys who says we do it because that is the way we have always done it!
But the advantage of being around as long as I have is that I know why decisions were made. I know the environment in which those decisions were made. That does not mean the environment cannot change. There has been one constant cry from the members since I have been a Board member. That is – we need more volunteers and we need a younger populace of volunteers.

I came up with an idea of using Engineering Students enrolled in the Formula SAE Program as a means of recruiting new volunteers. These Students donate their time and the club in turn makes a donation to the Formula SAE program. The results have been fantastic. Our affiliation with the San Jose State SAE students has ensured that many of our events are properly staffed. Not only are we getting a robust enrollment of volunteers, we are getting people who are young and enthusiastic. These students represent the future of our club; and so far, we have had several become full-time volunteers outside the Formula SAE program.

Being a racer, I understand about the costs of racing and how it affects your ability to do what you love to do. Believe me, I have looked at the amount of track time and figured out how much it cost per minute to race. In recent years that cost per minute has gone up substantially. This has been a topic of discussion for several board meetings. Because I have been around so long, I reintroduced the idea of restricted regionals. This is something we did in the eighties. The idea is that the run groups that typically are undersubscribed will not be part of every race weekend. By not inviting one race group per weekend, we can add enough track time so that every run group can run a 20 minute feed-on, feed-off practice session. This will be part of the schedule next year.

Another challenge that has got us to this place and time has been the need to be financially stable. We cannot exist if our racing activities do not pay the bills. But several factors have made it hard to stay in the black or to break even. Some of the factors we do not control. Things like track rentals, ambulance fees, and food costs are out of our control. When there are costs that you cannot control, you have to look at the things you do control. One of those things was the cost of printing the WHEEL Magazine. If I was a guy that said “because that is the way we do things” we would still be printing the magazine. But when it came time to really tighten up the belt, I suggested that the printing of the WHEEL was a luxury that we could no longer afford. I proposed publishing an online version only of the WHEEL. This one move has saved the club over $40,000. No other cost saving measure has even come close to saving the club that kind of money. It was very hard to give up the printed version of a magazine that has been around for 63 years. But always looking for a silver lining, we have been able to add more features to the magazine, more photos, and all in color. We have become much more flexible with the deadline and timeliness of our race coverage. Bottom line is I feel the WHEEL has improved and became more responsive to the members needs. And we will have a year-end printed issue.

Owning Thunderhill Raceway Park is a huge benefit to the club. The problem is a lot of members do not really see the benefit. I am currently working with members of the Thunderhill Properties board to make sure the club does see a larger benefit in ownership.

When the track was first proposed one of the selling points was that we were going to get testing time for our $50 surcharge. The track was built and there was never a mention of the track time. I came up with the DRAFT card. The DRAFT card stood for

DRivers
Assistance
For
Testing

It was designed to get drivers to volunteer their time working events in exchange for testing time at Thunderhill. It accomplished two goals; getting more volunteers and delivering on a promise to the drivers. Another Track benefit that I insisted was the free test day. One day out of the year Thunderhill makes the track available to all of our members at no charge. No one thought about giving back to the drivers especially something free of charge but I pressed the issue until it became a reality.

I am not done yet. Let me continue to work with the track so that we all appreciate the benefit of ownership.
Like always, we have some work to do. Like always, I understand what needs to be done and am willing to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Please vote and please mark one of the three Board of Directors positions for me,

Blake Tatum.
See you at the track!

I am Gregg Schlaman and I am running for a position on your SF Region SCCA Club Board of Directors.

I am a 32 year member of San Francisco Region and SCCA. I joined in 1990 and have been a volunteer race official my entire time with this club. I have worked in several different volunteer specialties, from Communications, Flagging, Scrutineering, Worker Transportation, Course Marshals and most recently the Emergency crew. I have been known in the volunteer arena as someone who has typically been at as many events as I can participate in, and when I do I try to help out any way that I can.

I live in the small town of Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains with my wife and daughter. In my day job, I am an electrical engineer in the Aerospace Industry.

One of the biggest issues I have encountered in my tenure with SCCA has been the dwindling membership numbers… not only with drivers but also the volunteers that we need to make club events happen. This is a problem nationwide; but we cannot count on the national club to help us locally. Yes, we can ask that National improve. Do more advertising of the club; that certainly would help at all levels, but we need to be in control of our own destiny and figure out new ways to recruit and retain volunteers for our race events.

We also need to come up with more effective ways to entice and retain interest for drivers at our events. We need to provide the best value for the price participants are paying – racing isn’t cheap! I realize that a lot of this is based on the venues we run our events at, and perhaps there are opportunities for improvements that can satisfy our racers, volunteers, as well as the venues we race at.

I realize that being on the board is not a “solo” effort… it takes a team; and if you choose to elect me to your region’s board, I will work together with my fellow board members and YOU, the membership to create the best racing environment we can so that members can appreciate and enjoy the experience at every one of our events.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you at the track.

All the best, Gregg

I am running for the board of SCCA San Francisco Region because I feel my knowledge and expertise in the auto racing world, 40 years to be exact and past experience of being an SCCA steward will be bring a fresh view point from a past & current SCCA racer. I also have years of experience and observations from many of the older members that I knew as a boy growing up around SCCA. I now also have the insight of the new and current generation of racers in SCCA. I feel it is imperative to blend the two to make our SCCA region the best it can be. I am currently stewarding again which gives me another vantage view point. It is important to me to convey the concerns and ideas of each and every member of our region, so that every member feels their voice counts. I am looking forward to making a positive and productive impact on the board.

Frank Zucchi