Highlander
03-02-2008, 07:33 PM
March 3, 2008 – HPR What's Happening!
After all of the excitement of January with USR approval and the land
purchase, I expected a calmer February but it has been quite the
opposite. There are so many irons in the fire and little things
requiring attention.
The marketing committee sent out another great mailer announcing the
USR & land purchase. The YouTube videos on the website have created
a lot of excitement. Many thanks to Andy Labout (PCA) and Paul
Leonard (SCCA) for the authentic videos they have each created.
Watch the website for the availability of a game version. Harry &
Greg Mathews (RMVR-CECA), Rome Chelsi (CECA) along with many others
conducted a very successful fundraising dinner last weekend. It is
exciting to see that the energy around the track project is growing
daily!
The design team has been especially busy. The horizontal design of
the track is now complete and the computer calculations for the
vertical design are about to be finalized. Grading and construction
drawings are anticipated to be complete in three weeks and next week
we anticipate having enough details to start portions of the
construction bid process. The bids will give us a badly needed final
budget. My best estimate today is that we need $2.8 million to start
construction and another half million for a few of the desperately
desired amenities. The detailed budget will be released to the
website as soon as it is approved.
Which brings me to the heart of "What NEEDS to be Happening" in
March. The thermometer is currently at $2.3 million. This
represents $900,000 in loan commitments and $511,000 in
contributions. While these numbers are commendable, they represent
the efforts of only a portion of the active membership of the Clubs.
I have talked to so many people considering the loan program or
planning to buy a brick that state that they `just have not got
around to sending it in'! Well we are all racers who procrastinate
till the week before the race to get the car ready. Well March is
that window of opportunity to get ready! If we are prepared later
this month to start construction but are short on money, then we
could miss a lot of green flag opportunities. Now is the time to
send it in!
Your clubs' boards of directors, their CAMA representatives, our many
volunteers and advisors have nearly completed their task to make HPR
a reality. Now it is up to the club members. The future of racing
in Colorado is in your hands. As Harry Mathews stated at the
fundraiser, "You have to `Pay' if you want to `Play' and the survival
of the amateur clubs rests primarily in their ability to control
their own future". Even with tracks in Pueblo, Hastings & LaJunta
how will the clubs survive if they can't generate enough drivers and
workers to those locations to conduct events. All clubs are
reporting large drops in participation levels. The Denver area is
the major populous of Colorado and the future of our sport relies on
having a Denver area facility to draw new members and keep the old
ones active. We at CAMA hope that some of the other proposed track
projects are also successful as they will only enhance that growth.
Inscribe your `Brick' today and let's keep HPR on-track!
Charlie Thompson
CAMA Manager
After all of the excitement of January with USR approval and the land
purchase, I expected a calmer February but it has been quite the
opposite. There are so many irons in the fire and little things
requiring attention.
The marketing committee sent out another great mailer announcing the
USR & land purchase. The YouTube videos on the website have created
a lot of excitement. Many thanks to Andy Labout (PCA) and Paul
Leonard (SCCA) for the authentic videos they have each created.
Watch the website for the availability of a game version. Harry &
Greg Mathews (RMVR-CECA), Rome Chelsi (CECA) along with many others
conducted a very successful fundraising dinner last weekend. It is
exciting to see that the energy around the track project is growing
daily!
The design team has been especially busy. The horizontal design of
the track is now complete and the computer calculations for the
vertical design are about to be finalized. Grading and construction
drawings are anticipated to be complete in three weeks and next week
we anticipate having enough details to start portions of the
construction bid process. The bids will give us a badly needed final
budget. My best estimate today is that we need $2.8 million to start
construction and another half million for a few of the desperately
desired amenities. The detailed budget will be released to the
website as soon as it is approved.
Which brings me to the heart of "What NEEDS to be Happening" in
March. The thermometer is currently at $2.3 million. This
represents $900,000 in loan commitments and $511,000 in
contributions. While these numbers are commendable, they represent
the efforts of only a portion of the active membership of the Clubs.
I have talked to so many people considering the loan program or
planning to buy a brick that state that they `just have not got
around to sending it in'! Well we are all racers who procrastinate
till the week before the race to get the car ready. Well March is
that window of opportunity to get ready! If we are prepared later
this month to start construction but are short on money, then we
could miss a lot of green flag opportunities. Now is the time to
send it in!
Your clubs' boards of directors, their CAMA representatives, our many
volunteers and advisors have nearly completed their task to make HPR
a reality. Now it is up to the club members. The future of racing
in Colorado is in your hands. As Harry Mathews stated at the
fundraiser, "You have to `Pay' if you want to `Play' and the survival
of the amateur clubs rests primarily in their ability to control
their own future". Even with tracks in Pueblo, Hastings & LaJunta
how will the clubs survive if they can't generate enough drivers and
workers to those locations to conduct events. All clubs are
reporting large drops in participation levels. The Denver area is
the major populous of Colorado and the future of our sport relies on
having a Denver area facility to draw new members and keep the old
ones active. We at CAMA hope that some of the other proposed track
projects are also successful as they will only enhance that growth.
Inscribe your `Brick' today and let's keep HPR on-track!
Charlie Thompson
CAMA Manager