KILLINGTON ASCUTNEY?

[Earl Hayes]

Hello Hillclimb Fans,

I have some good news, or some bad news, depending on where you fall on the question. Now, unfortunately, this letter has to be rather lengthy, so prepare yourselves.

A month or so ago it became rather clear that the "Burke Company" was not going to be forthcoming on a Burke II event for this season. That left us with one question: do we run a short season or try to capture another hill for what would have been the Burke II date of August 27 & 28. As a hillclimber for the past 28 years, I made the rash assumption that drivers would, overwhelmingly, want a full schedule if at all possible.

As administrative chair of the Okemio events, I reached out to my state of VT contacts to see if we could get a 3rd Okemo. Due to previously scheduled event dates, the number of possible hill closings, foliage and tourists, a 3rd Okemo could not occur. The conversation then turned to a more general "where might we go" question. Equinox, Mt. Mansfield and Ascutney were suggested by the Dept. of Parks & Rec as possibilities. I contacted Equinox but found that our only practical date was just one week after a previously booked event, so.....NG. While I was gathering contact information on Mansfield, I received a message that Ascutney might be doable. In a lengthy conversation with the head of that park, I was ultimately told that we could do an event there on 8/27 & 28. That information came to me on Thursday 2/10. On Saturday 2/12 I met with my co-chair of operations, the new Killington President, Victor Parrotta, and brought him up to date. Soon after, Victor spoke with the presidents of both clubs, SCCV and SCCNH, about the date/location and that we planned to "race to the very top". We received happy blessings from both. Then, at first opportunity, Victor made the general announcement. Now at that point I thought everyone would be happy, but.......................NOO!

Almost immediately, Victor and I started getting complaints. . . well, one complaint followed later by others. Now at this point let me say this: Victor and I are a team................he is in control of operations, and I do administrative stuff....we discuss everything, but one does not step on the other's "turf". Poor Victor has been getting........not very friendly.......emails telling him what a screw up he is and everyone hates the idea of a Killington Ascutney. I am not, at this point in time, at all certain that this is accurate, however, the point here is that Victor is not to be blamed---so stop yelling at him!!

There appears to be two camps within the "I hate the idea" party. One is that a Killington Ascutney should have been discussed at the KSCC meeting and voted on. Well, perhaps, however: A. Victor had not had a chance to talk with the other two club presidents at that point so it was not yet a certainty, and B. This was good news! We announced as quickly as was practical and again....it was good news!

The other camp seems to be of the opinion that "we can not possibly make SCCNH angry". Now do you recall that a moment ago I said Victor was in discussion with the other club presidents? Did we have to do that? No, it just seemed to be the right thing to do. And do you recall that both of those club presidents offered a positive response?

Kudos to Don Taylor who either volunteered (or was drafted) to be an emissary of peace between SCCNH and KSCC. Don contacted Victor with the message that SCCNH would be ok with a Killington Ascutney if: 1. We made them co-sponsors of the event 2. We split any profits with them and 3. Because SCCNH does not allow motorcycles to enter....KSCC will not be allowed to have them either. Now I have no idea of how SCCNH went from a positive to a negative in a blink of the eye, however, the three terms were, to me at least, a total non starter.

So here we are, a plan to salvage a full schedule with a familiar mountain and a course that we haven't run for four or five years. A plan that has gone from what I believed was a good thing to an idea that "everyone hates". The bottom line is, of course, if "everyone hates" the idea, then no one will show up to race. If no one shows up, we obviously can not hold the event.

It is not too late to cancel the Killington Ascutney event....BUT

I need to know if drivers will or will not be at the event. Yes, I know that it's February and no one can guarantee if we'll even be alive in August, however, please take a minute (and assume that you will be alive in August) and respond as to whether you will attend a Killington Ascutney on 8/27 & 28 or not.

Thank you for your input, Earl Hayes

[KevinGale]

What the presidents indicated is immaterial.

I've been a club president more than once. The presidents of any of the clubs don't have the authority to decide these matters. At this point there isn't a KSCC Ascutney event. Victor with the best of intentions announced something that doesn't exist. No one in KSCC knew about this or voted upon it. It wasn't even mentioned in the meeting we had just a couple hours before the announcement. Once we have a meeting and if vote in favor of this event then it can be said to exist. However I think that would be a bad idea.

There are lots of reason this is a bad idea but the one that bothers me personally the most is you are declaring open season on all the hills. You started out by pointing out that Okemo and Burke have a limited number of dates available. So since it is open season what is to prevent SCCNH or SCCV from starting to make calls today to get all the available dates for those two hills booked for next year? I think creating a war where we are all lobbying the state and the mountains for dates is a really bad idea. Within NEHA, SCCNH owns Ascutney just as much as KSCC owns Burke or SCCV owns Philo.

I'm not interested having a KSCC event at Ascutney without the blessing of the SCCNH membership.

Kevin

[sdwarf36]

Earl,
What is with your sudden disregard to KSCC? You've been a long time member-and past president-and now it seems it has become the sole job of you to make decisons for everyone involved. You have been to and presided over many meetings, and know plenty well how the club works-we vote on + discuss EVERYTHING!!!!!! Always have. Now, even after having a 45 minute meeting before dinner WHERE THE TOPIC OF NEW EVENTS + VENUES was discussed-and written down, not one single word of anything. A meer 2 hours later, all of sudden an annoucement was yelled publicly. And since it was coming from Victor,being the president of the club, one would assume this was something coming with the blessing of KSCC. For whatever changing reasons you and Vic have stated for keep this from us at the meeting, it was purposely kept from club members. And now that opposition that couldn't be brought up at the meeting is making it to the prez. of the club, YOU post on a public board asking ""I need to know if drivers will or will not be at the event."" AGAIN-going right around KSCC members. It didnt even make it to the kscc mailing list-straight to public forum.

This is not how we work.

[PRODOG]

Good Evening --
I am responding per request of Don Taylor who is currently sitting on the side of the road working a check point for John Buffum in a rally. Don wanted me to post that when he was speaking with Victor regarding the "killington ascutney" issue he was offering his personal opinion - not as any sort of club officer, liason, etc. Don is a member of all 3 NEHA clubs and was simply making a statement asan individual.

I hope you all have a pleasant evening!

Drew Young

[Number_5]

It’s not the first time a ‘foreign’ club has sponsored a climb on another clubs mountain. I co-chaired a couple of climbs on Philo for KSCC, with the blessing of both clubs.

At a time of revolution in the entire middle east this probably wasn’t a good time to go ahead and do something “for the good of the people” without their support.

As a member of KSCC I think we should have a meeting of some sort to see if we can salvage this opportunity.

Respectfully
John Marsha

[KevinGale]

I co-chaired a couple of climbs on Philo for KSCC, with the blessing of both clubs.

That blessing part is key.

[4th2ndgendennis]

If there is a hillclimb on Aug 27&28 I will be there.

It does not matter to me what club sponsors it, or where it is.

I thank any and all of those involved in booking and planning events at the hills---all of them: SCCNH, SCCV and KSCC. It is not a task I am interested in taking on, yet I know it is the only way I will get to race.

I can not believe that Victor or Earl intended any malice when acquiring a date at Ascutney. I believe they did have the best interest of all NEHA drivers in mind when looking for a venue--any venue. I am sure they expected the event to be met with cheers from all. In the future I am sure they may go about "booking" an event in some different fashion, but there is a date available and I thank them for the leg work.

I would rather run at the same hill all year than shorten the number of events.

It is confusing to me why any participant would be upset at having a 3rd Ascutney versus one less event.

-Allan Dennis

[sdwarf36]

"It is confusing to me why any participant would be upset at having a 3rd Ascutney versus one less event."


The view from participant to someone who has to worry about enuff entries changes drastically.
If some club somehow got to get a Burke date 3 weeks before ours-and managed to run from the bottom, I'd be worried to death about our event breaking even. And If I heard about the date without the common courtesy of at least asking our club about it, I'd be furious. I wouldn't want our club to be treated that way-so in turn I wouldn't treat any other club like that.

IF this had the other clubs blessing--AND it was ,say, in July where it wouldn't hurt each other's event, It would be worth considering.

[kjdenbro]

Why does this date hurt other clubs (including kscc) events? curious, thats all...

[sdwarf36]

Why does this date hurt other clubs (including kscc) events? curious, thats all...

It would be great for KSCC- I wouldn't bank on it not cutting into SCCNH's entries-particularly if long course was run 1st. It certianly is a big enough decision to warrant discussion from alot more than just 2 people.