For those of you that I don’t know personally I’d like to outline some of my history with the region.

Many of you know me as the familiar face you see around the paddock during club racing events. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Gayle Lorenz. I first joined the DC Region as crew for my husband Rich. It didn’t take long to realize that I wanted to give more to the events and was recruited to work on the grid and have been volunteering wherever needed ever since. 

My professional background includes five years as a staff accountant, ten years as Director of Human Resources, a brief stint at Dover International Speedway, and the last few years as a research analyst for a philanthropic organization.Over the years my primary involvement has been with club racing. During the last couple years I have had the opportunity to work more closely with the Solo Committee and have gained a much better understanding of their activities. If re-elected I would continue to work with all the Region’s venues with the hope of learning more about the Rally Cross activities as well as working toward reviving our once very successful Rally program.

I believe in the mission of the Washington DC Region and am dedicated to working toward its goals and to help make it the best possible experience and organization for its members and participants. 

JAMES NOEL

I believe that my varied motor sports experience—I am currently the Region’s Flag Chief—and my 34 years of work experience—I am an Assistant Director with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)—Congress’ investigative arm— will allow me to make a positive contribution to the Board and to all of the Region’s activities.

While there is no question that the Region’s many activities from its racing and autocross programs to its budding rally cross programs are among the finest in the country, there is always room for improvement. If elected to the Board, I would focus on the following areas.

• First, I believe that we need to increase the level of positive communication throughout the Region. Frequently, why things are done a certain way or how decisions were made
are not effectively communicated to the affected individuals, potentially leading to misunderstandings and/or wasted time re-explaining or justifying why decisions were made.

• Second, I believe that we also need to renew the spirit of cooperation in our racing program. The very difficult, often bruising, decision making process that resulted in our current 10 race group format has left its mark on both the racers and volunteers. I think that it is vitally important that we all mean it when we say that “we are all in this together” and that we work together to renew the spirit of cooperation and comity that has long existed in the Region.

• Third, I believe that a clear plan for how the Region’s resources are used needs to be developed and communicated to the members. Remarks are often made about the large amount in the Region’s bank account. In addition, assets are acquired, based on my observations, in a somewhat haphazard way. Clearly establishing short and long term spending targets, communicating these targets and working within them would reduce what I see as a source of potential friction.

• Fourth, in the 7 years I have been flagging at Summit Point, I believe that the Region’s business has taken a back seat to Summit Point’s other business interests. This is evident in aging, often dangerous facilities—like the hot tubs—and unaddressed worker safety concerns—such as the loose tires at Station 2. I think renewed and persistent effort is needed in this area.

• Finally, I believe we need to pay real attention to our aging and shrinking volunteer workforce. Much lip service has been paid throughout the club nation-wide to this
phenomenon, but the time to address this issue is growing short. Leadership and action are needed.

I said at the outset that I felt my motor sports and work experience qualified me to serve on the Board and to address the issues I have just raised. Let me briefly summarize them for you. With respect to my motor sports experience:

• I am a graduate of the Jim Russell School at Willow Springs, California. I was also owner, sponsor, crew chief and backup driver on my son’s go kart team. While never a
great driver to be sure, I think these experiences give me insight into what is like to own and race in a wheel-to-wheel setting.

• I was an avid autocrosser for many years, running in what were then D Stock and F Modified. I felt it important to “give back” to the autocross community. So with Vinnie
Mandile and Earnie Manzella, I helped form the first autocross committee. As a member of the committee, I negotiated with the City of Frederick and obtained permission to use the lot at Harry Grove Stadium, where we competed for many years. I also acquired timing equipment and helped the Region’s program grow from one event a year to four. (By the way, I am completely awed by what has been accomplished since I left autocrossing and I commend all of the Region’s committee members for what
they have accomplished.)

• Looking for a change and with college and graduate school bills to pay, I started flagging in 2001. My immediate reaction was “Why didn’t I start doing this earlier?” I was asked to be Assistant Flag Chief several years ago and this is my second year as Flag Chief. In that time I have worked hard to improve our recruitment, develop and codify our
training programs and build a positive, cooperative management team with the Assistant Flag Chiefs. In that regard, Wayne, Fred, Greg and I took the lead to help forge a
compromise that addressed the 10 race group issue. While candidly we did not get the outcome we thought was right, we have worked hard since the Competition Committee’s
decision to make the format work.

With respect to my professional life, as an Assistant Director with GAO, I have spent over 30 years studying how to make organizations work more effectively and leading people. I believe that those skills are directly translatable to goals I set out
above.

Finally, if I elected I promise to participate at least once (although perhaps not very well) in every series the Region has in order to ensure that I have the broad perspective needed to serve on the Board.  Thank you for your time. I will see you at the track.

Greg Olsen is currently employed as a software engineer, developing network security research projects at Advanced Concepts, Inc. He graduated from the University of Maryland - College Park in 2002 with a degree in Computer Engineering. 

In addition to cars, his other interests include reading and writing, theology, philosophy and fine wine, with a goal of one day becoming a small business owner of a wine and spirits outlet. Greg collaborates with a friend to host an informal high school discussion group that converses about philosophical issues in today's world. 

My name is Bill Radford. I race an ITB BMW 2002 in the MARRS Series and a FM Formula Vee in Solo.

For the past four years I have served the D.C. Region as a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Club. As Treasurer I have worked to improve the Club's finances and accountability by setting up procedures and controls, reducing costs, organizing and scheduling accounting functions and regulatory filings and developing a participatory budget process. I have also headed up our sponsorship efforts resulting in a multi-year deal for sponsorship of the Labor Day Double. In addition, as the Business manager for The StraightPipe Magazine I have worked hard to revitalize our advertising effort to help offset the cost of publication. In the past, I served as Drivers Rep to the Competition Committee for the ITB group and still attend many of the meetings. 

I would like to serve on the Board to continue work on several of the initiatives underway. Our accounting procedures have improved over the past year but we still need to complete the written documentation of these procedures. Our efforts to provide better financial and administrative support to the Solo group have been successful. We need to continue improvements in our assistance to Solo and extend the efforts to the Rally and Performance Rally groups. Both Solo and Road Racing have obtained significant sponsorship funds this year. With the cost of these programs increasing it is imperative we continue to bring in more sponsors to maintain the quality of our events, improve what we offer our workers for their time and effort and keep our programs affordable for the participants. I believe I have the experience and the time to devote to helping the club continue its success. 

EVANTHE SALISBURY

Evanthe, her husband Steve, and their son DJ live in the Baltimore metro area with their 2 adopted Italian Greyhounds.

JIM THILL

For me, it's all about the joy of motorsports and the many close relationships I have formed over the years. In that time, it has been impossible not to notice that these events require a significant amount of work by volunteers to pull off successfully.

I care about the quality of our events. I care about minimizing the costs to our entrants. I care that the entrants, the crew members, the volunteers, and our member spectators have a great time like I do.

I have been a member of the Washington DC Region SCCA for 10 years and served as a driver representative for the road race program and regularly assist at the twice-annual driver's schools. I am a retired military and commercial airline pilot. My background has trained me for many years to be able to make quick and accurate decisions and to work together in a team environment to achieve a common goal.

The WDC Region has a very diverse pool of talent to draw from, and I will not hesitate to request their assistance. Our finances are sound and I believe that financial decisions made by the Board should be based on the input of our members. This is your club.

JERRY WANNARKA 

I am a forty year member of the SCCA and have been initially involved with rallies and autocrosses drifting into road racing. Most of my activities involved road racing as either a driver or a steward. 

My education includes a BS in pharmacy and MS from South Dakota State U. and a PhD in Pharmacology with emphasis in drug development from Purdue U. I started my work career in retail pharmacy but was called to active duty as a Pharmacy Officer at Walter Reed. I retired from the military in 1992 as a Colonel having spent most of my military career in medical research and development. All of the chemical defense antidotes currently carried by the military were projects that I either worked on as ascientist or program manager. 

Since moving to the Washington, DC area in 1972, I have been involved in a variety of activities with the DC Region: Car Care Clinics in the 70’s, Board of Directors several times, won the first MARRS race in GT4, held the GT5 lap records at Summit and Brainerd Int’l Raceway, been a steward for 25 years and am the current Chief Steward for the National Runoffs. 

In my SCCA career, I have been a member of 4 different Regions, lived in 3 Divisions, been the Executive Steward for the SOWDIV, the stewards representative to the DC Competition Committee for 9 years and am the Deputy Executive Steward for Area 2. And, after a 15 year lay off, I have returned to racing this year.