Season Update  4/30/2020

Well, it’s time for another Season Update. First off, I want to thank all who participated in the last Survey. It was very imformative for us in regards to decision making. The results are available on our website. www.sfrscca.org

At this point in time we are still under “Shelter in Place” guidelines. Six of the Bay Area Counties have also extended their “SIP” orders until May 31.

This was not unexpected. While Governor Newsom has not extended that State wide yet, he will likely do something similiar. As a result, we have cancelled the May 23 & 24th Regionals at Thunderhill. This was not an easy descision, but it is the right one.

In addition, Oregon Region has cancelled their Super Tour in mid May as well. At this point, the Majors in NW region is still scheduled at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. Reno Region’s Time Trails scheduled in May have also been cancelled.

In terms of the tracks, Sonoma and Laguna are closed until the end of May. There have been furloughs at Laguna and terminations at Sonoma. Thunderhill has kept all employed and not taken any steps to furlough full time employees.

To date, we have had to cancel our Majors in April and now a Regional in May. Our 3 Solo communities have also cancelled events. We do live in a strange time, but we will come out of this. Our Road racing season started off with 8 Regional weekends and a stand alone Majors. That will be altered a bit, but hopefully just a bit. This will give us our Majors back, and keep the Regionals at 15 (not 17) total races.

Our next race scheduled was for June 6-7 as a Regional at Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca.  This race is going to go forward, however, with a slight change.

San Francisco Region

US Majors Tour and Regional 7 & 8

Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca

June 5 – 7 2020

YES!  We will be having a combined US Majors Tour and Regional at Laguna Seca in June. We have added an extra day in order to do this, and Laguna Seca is thrilled to have us as their first “event” after the lockdowns.

Schedule  2020 SFR Laguna Majors Schedule

Majors Supps   2020 June USMAJORS Supp-Regs

Driver Registration is open  https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/laguna-seca-us-majors-regional-7-8-weathertech-raceway-scca-san-francisco-997142

Volunteer Registration is open  https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/sfr-championship-regional-7-8-worker-volunteer-weathertech-raceway-laguna-153232

Please note: Novice Permits will not be allowed at this event. They will be accepted at our other races in the year. This would be a great time for a Novice to work a corner and see the lines. You get Draft Card credit for future entries and you can see from the other side as well.

For those Volunteers who had already signed up and requested hotel rooms, you will need to go back in and select Thursday night as an option if you want to work Friday and stay overnight. We have already been in touch with the Colton Inn and they are anxiously awaiting our arrival. We are opening up more rooms as needed.

We will not be allowing spectators. We will also be following very strict guidelines in terms of safety. These will be relaxed as time moves forward, but it is prudent to adhere to them at this time.

Masks will be required when entering any building on any of the facilities. Wash stations will now be set up at strategic locations through out the paddock. (We will have masks available, although the quantity at this time is unknown)

As the weekend unfolds regular wash downs of all the vulnerable surfaces will happen. Wipes and trash cans should be available at all doors, elevators, and any place that is considered high traffic. You will need to bring your own pen to registration and to the sign in at the gate. (Put one in your vehicle now)

The use of disposable gloves is recommended but make sure once there is an inkling of them touching a potentially contaminated surface discard and replace.

The practice of doing full pulls at the end of a session will be halted until the Governor declares we are in stage four of the opening of the economy (which is large social gatherings). If instructed to report to tech leave your helmet on while talking to the SCCA volunteers.(Open face helmets need to have a face mask with them)

All SCCA volunteers should use only one computer during the weekend and make sure it is wiped down several times during the day.

At the end of the day social activities will be done at a distance. If you have been exposed to a certain group and they are comfortable with less then six feet between you go ahead and sit at the same table with them, but if they are not comfortable or if you have not already been working closely with those people please respect the six feet rule. We will have a seating area, but we are cutting the seating capacity by 50%.

We will be suppling lunches for all Volunteers, though they will be pre-bagged. We will have beverages available after each day as well as a meal for all. We will be providing a take out box for thos that shoose to take food back to their camps.

Handshakes, High fives, and any direct skin contacts between hands should be avoided.

Your cell phone is one of the most contaminated surfaces we all have. Please no sharing of phones; send messages, videos, merge conversations, even face time, before you hand your phone off to someone else.

Carry with you a container of disinfecting wipes. Use them before and after touching surfaces, especially bathroom fixtures, doorknobs, tabletops, and keyboards.

With an over abundance of caution we can have fun and still be safe. We need to work together and respect each other’s wishes; no one should take this threat lightly. We all look forward to the day where normal life returns but in the meantime let’s accept the circumstances and make the best of it. See ya at the races!

In addition, National has advised us to issue the following:

Notice to Participants: In light of the current COVID-19 situation, every attempt will be made to minimize the risks of exposure to the virus. New processes and procedures are being developed and will be put into place for events going forward.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to assess the risk to you, both on-track and off, and to make the decision on whether or not to participate. If you are feeling unwell or are experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath please stay home. If you have been in contact with someone who has been experiencing these symptoms in the last two weeks, please stay home.

While on site please take the health and safety of your fellow participants, volunteers and staff into consideration and practice social distancing, wear a mask, and wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer frequently.

In addition, it you are a Driver, and your car has recently come due for a tech inspection, that will be waived (recently, not 1 or 5 years ago)  You will need to let us know.

National is also acknowledging that recent license renewals have been problematic in getting physicals signed off. If you renew on the National site, you will see there is a form to fill out that will delay your physical requirement until you next expiration.

As far as our office is concerned, Trish is still on full time and is looking forward to assisting everyone if they have any issues.  National is on a less than half staff furlough, with most working from home, but they are available.

Together we can make this work  maybe we need to change the catchphrase to  “#safefunwithcars: ??

Pending anything stopping us, I look forward to getting our season going again!

Stay safe!  See you in June!

Tim Sullivan

Regional Executive

SCCA San Francisco Region