JCNA Rally Committee ReportFebruary 27, 2006

By Brian Blackwell

The Rally Committee consists of:

NameRegionPhoneEmail

Brian Blackwell

Kurt

Dave

Phil

(no representation)SW

Dick

Only minor improvement in number of rallies held over the last year. Eleven rallies were held in 2004, versus thirteen held in 2005. Seven different clubs sponsored rallies in 2004, versus eight in 2005, with the difference being in the Challenge Championship.

Rally committee discussions in Orlando at the last AGM resulted in some rule simplifications warranted in some areas, and clarifications that are needed in others. These proposed changes include:

  • Clarification of novice definition and how rallymaster determines prior to event
  • Prohibit novice to expert changes after the event
  • Expand team member qualification to all family members of JCNA members, from only immediate family existing
  • Clarify how Rally Committee addresses protests
  • Eliminate M1 class (redundant to T1 for Great American Race format)

We have three issues which we would like to bring before the BOD at the next AGM:

  1. Issue of single memberships within one rally team, and husband-wife memberships allowed by JCNA.
  2. Rally sanctioning for JCNA points of events organized by other entities, with or without the participation of a local Jaguar club beyond a minimum of a sanctioning request. Such events would have to have independent insurance equal or greater than that carried by JCNA, and possibly JCNA being named as an additionally insured party on said insurance.
  3. Vacancy in the Southwest region, and advice on when to consider rotating to new members in some regions.

Issue Discussion:

1. A protest filed over changes to a team’s novice classification in the 2005 Challenge Championship rally, which impacted other overall rally results in Class T2, was formally initiated on January 31, and resolved on February 16, 2006. It was determined that the team in question only had one JCNA membership and were not husband and wife, so they did not meet the rules for rally team member qualification requirements of paragraph 7.4.1, which say:

7.4.1. Both driver and navigator must be a JCNA member in good standing in order to be considered for the North American Championship awards.

7.4.1.1. Only exception to this rule is for teams comprising a JCNA member with their spouse, child, or parent as the other team member.

The husband and wife definition for joint membership in JCNA By-lawsis being interpreted to include common law relationships, as defined by laws of the state of residence for entrants. If that is correct, we put club rallymasters in position of having to ask those questions, and defend their answers to third party protesters. One possible solution would be to preclude questions by others of qualifications and/or experience, similar to Concours.

2. Question has been asked about possibly allowing other rallies, put on by other clubs or commercial entities, to be made eligible for JCNA points. Anything that gets more rally participation and teaches more members about how to participate in or organize rallies is a good thing, given our current level of participation. The insurance issue is certainly one of the largest concerns, and aside from all entrants being JCNA special event members, an event would certainly need to have liability insurance equal to or greater than JCNA’s insurance requirements to be considered. Having JCNA named as an additionally insured party maybe also should be included as a requirement.

3. A vacancy in the Southwest region representation needs to be addressed since the unfortunate passing of Mr. Tony Bill just over a year ago. While no one has asked to leave the committee, the details of maximum stay on the committee, and having the chair duties rotate to other members has been raised by some members to me over the past year. We do not see many changes in the other JCNA event committees, but any changes the BOD would like to have will be accommodated.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Blackwell