A Note from Richard Sainato, a member for your Board of Directors

[riche30]

To our esteemed membership,

 

I have some very serious reservations about what has happened over the past week within our club.  I want you, the membership, to know that I DO NOT support some things and am working diligently behind the scenes to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Firstly, Mr Chisek's Red Flag Video was posted and his words and actions are not shared by myself.  Mr Chisek has acted unilaterally in deciding to censor our forums and social media as well as has acted without the Board's support to threaten to remove member's who question the way our series is run.  I can assure each and every one of you that so long as I remain on this board of directors (13 more months) that I will fight tooth and nail to protect every member who questions our series when we're at fault.  As of this note, Tuesday at 3pm, the Board of Directors has not met nor officially discussed any actions resulting from Barber.  I will be working to try to get these posts restored.  Mr Chisek is not a benevolent dictator and these kinds of decisions will not be made alone.

Mr Chisek states clearly we, as a series, have faulted.  That' on US.  We need to make it right.  I completely disagree with the assessment that because we made a mistake that we would not accept a protest.  Yes, our mistake CLEARLY affected the team that crossed the line first on Saturday.  It's a shame.  And we need to make it right.  However by trying to make it right for one team we've done the other 60 teams that were on track wrongly.  If our staff do not or can not understand our rules to apply them consistently then we as a series need to look at ourselves and ask if we have the right people in the right places.  

If a team does not comply to our rules then we need to be prepared to remove them from the podium.  In this particular case, assuming Mr Chisek's video gave the full details, the teams that discussed protesting opted to waive their right to protest.  I'd like to thank those team captains for having the class to not want to win the race in impound and wanting to do so on the track. 

I also understand that there is a serious perception issue with the ShiftUp program, Shell/Pennzoil and the CCES staff.  CCES is not affiliated with Shell/Pennzoil, the sponsors found on the R3R cars.  Having CCES employees on social media taking "Shellfies" to promote this program while wearing CCES clothing and promoting ShiftUp in conjuction with ChampCar is not something we should be doing.  Even to me it gives the perception that we are working with Shell.  We are not and our employees should only be promoting those sponsors working directly with ChampCar.  ShiftUp is a great program and deserves our support.  But it should have been supported without mention of any corporate entities.  We love having them in the series and look forward to seeing ShiftUp again soon.

I personally want to apologize to the membership for the way this past week has played out, publicly and privately.  Just know that the Board is working diligently behind the scenes to protect you, the membership, above all.  

[wvumtnbkr]

Thank you.

[Jer]

I support Rich in this.  I won't be voting to terminate anyone's membership because they have a bad word to say about the series.  Please keep libelous statements off the interwebz, but criticize away.  That's how we get better. 

 

And there's a lot more to the Saturday night stuff.  

[a914freak]

Well said Rich. We can't forget the people that built this organization into what it is today.

[Grufton]

28 minutes ago, Jer said:

I support Rich in this.  I won't be voting to terminate anyone's membership because they have a bad word to say about the series.  Please keep libelous statements off the interwebz, but criticize away.  That's how we get better.

 

As someone who has voiced a fair share of criticism (particularly towards Jer), I greatly appreciate this stance.

 

Grafton Robertson

[shutupracing]

Thank you. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by shutupracing

[hotrod]

Well said Rich I support all your views on this. 

[Snake]

Thank you both, I hope the rest of the BOD agrees with you two.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Snake

[Slugworks Paul]

Thank you Rich. 

[Chris Huggins]

Thanks for your post Rich, I feel this clearly communicates a few points that needed to be made.

Thanks for your addition Jer.

 

 

I would like to add:

 

Please consider the things you say here and on the Champcar FB as a representation of the club.  There are certain things that cannot be said.  Certain language is also not acceptable.  The club, as an organization, has to be cautious of some things (think, HR at a job - what would NOT be acceptable to say to another employee).  Statements of fact are OK.  Criticisms of things that took place are OK. Personal insults are not OK.

 

I believe the discussion thread here has been restored and locked.  The FB thread was deleted by its creator, not CCES - see the 2nd to last post in the forum thread.

 

 

 

On another note, 

 

My personal stance is that Mike made a mistake by posting that red flag video before all the information was in his hands.  As a leader he had to make a decision on when to make a statement.  Too soon and you don't have all the information.  Too late and the crowd works itself into a frenzy.  I think he compromised and both happened (lol).

 

After watching the video I was angry.  He gave a poor explanation of what happened, followed by 7 minutes of discussion on an obscure rule and "threats" of banning members.

 

I called him and we had a good discussion.   I think the message about banning members was not really what he intended, and I hope he corrects the message in the future, once he has had time to digest what happened and discuss with his staff and the BOD. 

I also believe that the technical picture he presented was not fully accurate.  It's my understanding that he did not have the full picture when he made that video this morning.  I hope he can provide more information about the technical happenings at some point.

 

I believe he is on the right path, and is trying to make things right.  I have faith that the mistakes that were made will be assessed and corrective actions will be made to improve the series.  

Also, I dig the suit.

 

Regards,

Chris

[cmi11er]

Rich, thank you. This is the best use of the forum I have ever been a part of.

[Ian]

@riche30

 

The bravery it must have taken is not lost on us, and I can not put in to words how much I appreciate you're stance.

 

As I told @Jer in the previous thread, we stand with you.

 

When a mistake in judgment is made, there are always 2 choices.  Dig in heels and double down on the mistake, or admit that all of us are falible, and make the tough choices to right the wrongs.

 

R3R is not the victim in this.  The writing is on the wall, and I don't need to see actual conversations to know that they knew they were pushing the limits of the rules.  It appears, (and appearance is everything) that they used their clout and their professional racing background to lobby for allowances to our rulebook not available to normal membership.  This Can Not Happen, as it will be the end of the series.  That type of favoritism, or even the appearance of it must be prevented At All Cost.  When you play deep into the grey area, you run the risk of being DQ'd.  They knew it, but apparently the sponsorship juice was worth the squeeze.

 

Rich and Jer, You are the heros we need, but not the ones we deserve.  I can not thank you enough.

[TimS]

Lack of true details of what mistakes were made and what should have been done is just a steady stream of gas to the fire.  Transparency is tough to achieve but without it there will be grey areas that cause problems.

[bbaker480]

Thank you for doing this.  I have faith that all will work out in the end.

[Eman911]

Thank you Rich. I have been watching Chumpcar (this is not a typo) slowly and inexorably morph into something it was never meant to be. I hope common sense breaks out and the direction changes back to the limited prep, budget racing series it once was.

 

[morganf]

5 hours ago, riche30 said:

If our staff do not or can not understand our rules to apply them consistently then we as a series need to look at ourselves and ask if we have the right people in the right places. 

1000% agree

[55mini]

Rich,

Thanks and I have been talking off line to other BOD as well and know you are all working to get this right or shall I say take the best corrective action you 

can. I know everyone of you are trying to put all the pieces together. All the members should hopefully understand this takes time and effort as I think the problem

has taken time to develop and will take more time to correct.

 

We as  a  team have asked for open communication since being involved in this series and now more then ever it is needed.

Keep up the good work to you and all the present BOD.

 

[OmniGLH]

Jesus H what a cluster

[MoparBoyy]

8 hours ago, OmniGLH said:

Jesus H what a cluster

 

 

PLEASE tell me you are going to bring an Omni into the series. 

 

And huge thanks to Rich and Jer for this post.  

[Ian]

21 minutes ago, MoparBoyy said:

 

 

PLEASE tell me you are going to bring an Omni into the series. 

 

And huge thanks to Rich and Jer for this post.  

 

If they do, I bet it will go like hell....

[tommytipover]

15 hours ago, Huggy said:

 My personal stance is that Mike made a mistake by posting that red flag video before all the information was in his hands.  As a leader he had to make a decision on when to make a statement.  Too soon and you don't have all the information.  Too late and the crowd works itself into a frenzy.  I think he compromised and both happened (lol).

 

After watching the video I was angry.  He gave a poor explanation of what happened, followed by 7 minutes of discussion on an obscure rule and "threats" of banning members.

 

I would encourage Mike to take down that video, it does more damage to the series than anything I've read here.

The "if you don't like what we're doing..." statement at around 7:05 was a bad look.

[riche30]

11/27/19 UPDATE: 

Tentatively there is a Board of Directors phone call scheduled for this evening.  That IS NOT an indication we'll be saying anything public tomorrow or this weekend.  It's a holiday weekend, after all. I just wanted everyone to know that discussions are on-going.

[JDChristianson]

Thanks for standing up for us and the club Rich. !!

[Ian]

47 minutes ago, riche30 said:

t's a holiday weekend, after all.

 

Good point 

 

Y'all should be arguing with your regular family for the next few days.  Arguing with your racing family can wait.  

[55mini]

1 hour ago, SonsOfIrony said:

 

Good point 

 

Y'all should be arguing with your regular family for the next few days.  Arguing with your racing family can wait.  

Now wait just one minute its one and the same with our team or at least part of it, three of my sons in the group. Even if it is a holiday I still reserve the right to argue!!!!

 

Just trying to lighten up with some humor.

 

On a more serious note, I wish everyone on here a huge thanks and hope you all have a nice holiday and weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!