Blog

From the Archives #6, August 2022

We’re going to call December 1974 the last month of our Region’s first year, even though it had been chartered for only nine months.  We’re doing this because they started 1975 with new officers (Paul Riley, President; Carl Young, VP), and a new-look newsletter numbered Vol II No. 1.

So…. Our predecessors had quite a start. They put a lot of emphasis on “autocrosses/time trials.” They held events at (can you believe this?): Ontario Motor Speedway, Willow Springs, Riverside Raceway, the Las Vegas Convention Center, Holtville, and the Las Vegas Speedrome. At least three of these six sites no longer exist and the Convention Center parking lot isn’t available today (well, it’s available, but other folks are using it all the time.)

They held tech sessions, enjoyed dinners, happy hours, picnics, and pool parties.

They organized and participated in rallies, although the type of rally isn’t known.

They held regular monthly meetings.

The Region membership started with 35 primary members (the affiliated membership is unclear, although there were quite a few) and grew to 41 by the end of 1974.

The Club treasure averaged under $200 as reported in the monthly board meeting minutes. In today’s dollars, this would be about $1,200. (We’re sure Treasurer Dugan would admit that we have a bit more than that in the bank today.)

But the most impressive statistic is that, after examination of the results posted from various competitive events and the participation reported for the social activities, we calculate that the participation by our very early members was from about 85 percent to over 95 percent. If we had that level of interest today, we would have about 700 attendees at the monthly brunch or at the Driver Education events at Spring Mountain. Things sure have changed.

Next month we’ll begin a review of our Region’s second year, 1975.