December 2021 Issue
2021 - Year in Review
As we look forward to welcoming 2022, let’s take a look back at the great 2021 with the Viper Club of Ontario.
2021 started with a hugely expanded calendar of 25 Covid-safe events, with all at least partially funded! Covid restrictions delayed their start until later in June but then we went wild with one event after the other until mid-October. Past club Sponsors stepped up once again with their incredible support, and new sponsors joined! Membership exploded with the appeal of our many social and track events, making us the 3rd largest Viper club in the world…with 15 days left to become #2!
Our 1st Annual Signature Ontario Viper Event, ONVE 2021 - Windsor and Surrounding Area, was a great success. We created 2021 Event Participation Awards and will be presenting them at our May 15, 2022 AGM! John Malatesta passed the reins to Bruce Hadfield, Paul Brocca became VP, new directors Enio Parette and Jeff Kormos joined in the fall, and Jason Leslie from Trenton has just joined our Board of Directors. We’re well-organized and ready to take on 2022!
2022 - Forecast Looks Amazing!
Our club is committed to further improve on the unsurpassed Viper Ownership and Club Experience that our members have enjoyed. We offer our members more events, more fun, and more value for their annual dues … and we’ll be able to provide even more in 2022 with our expanding membership, and hopefully strong sponsor support.
Our 2022 Event Calendar is almost complete and it is truly impressive! We have club directors and members organizing events from Windsor to Ottawa. We currently have 36 events listed and there will be over 40 as dates are confirmed for the remaining events. These events have been carefully planned to provide regular local events to all members wherever they live from Windsor to Ottawa! Many are all-new events, as is our 2nd Annual Signature Ontario Event…ONVE 2022 – Niagara & Surrounding Area!
We’re expanding our club’s visibility and fun with a joint event at Hagerty Garage + Social on May 15th with the Ferrari club and owners of Ford GT and Cobras, and hope travel restrictions will permit the VCO and Motor City Viper Owners clubs to jointly participate in some of each other’s events. Please check out our 2022 Event Calendar at https://www.viperclubofontario.com/events.
Welcoming New Members
We welcome new members Suzy Timbol & Ben Pigott from Brampton, owners of a lovely red 2003 SRT-10. And another couple who I can't identify yet because our VCO membership is a Christmas gift! We'll have to wait to officially welcome them in January!
Club Finances
The Viper Club of Ontario is in very good financial health thanks to capable management all the way back to 1997! We will be proudly presenting a full financial report at our AGM on May 15, 2022.
But I’d like to share a couple of highlights now…the club spent well over $11,000 this year to provide our members with a great club experience, which is far more than we collected in membership dues! How did we do it? Well, our members purchased over $2300 in club apparel, which was fantastic, but it was mainly through STRONG sponsor support!
We can not tell you enough how instrumental our long-time Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealers have been to our club’s success over many years, along with all of our other sponsors. We urge you to support them all in return, and with your vehicle purchase and service needs. Ontario is envied by other Viper club regions because of the outstanding service available by our numerous sponsor’s Viper Techs! We are very luck to have our sponsors support not only of our Vipers, but the financial health of our club as well.
Please support our 2021 VCO Sponsors!
Ontario Chrysler, Mississauga Raceway Chrysler, Toronto
Islington Chrysler, Toronto Wellington Motors, Chrysler Guelph
Kingston Honda and Acura, Kingston Gold Motor Garage, Saint George
Johnson Research & Performance, Miss. RSP Motorsports, Komoka (London)
Dettmer Tire, Guelph S&W LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants
Details at https://www.viperclubofontario.com/sponsors
Board of Directors
Our 10-member BOD is made up of officers (president, vice president, secretary, treasurer) and directors. The Board performs a wide range of club functions, including annual budget and finances, membership initiatives, sponsorships, event planning, health & safety, our relationship with the VOA, and more. Our club president sits on the VOA’s BOD as well.
We are fortunate to have had the dedication of our past board members, several of whom served for many years. As we continue to bring new members onto the Board, we extend our sincere gratitude to others for their years of service until fairly recently, including John Malatesta (president to 2021), Claudio Sagasse (VP to 2020), Kim Blake (secretary to 2020), and directors Brent Foster and John Wach (to 2021). Thank you all!
Our 2021-2022 Board members bring a very broad range of expertise and experience to our club’s leadership, and are as follows:
President - Bruce Hadfield, Vice President/Secretary - Paul Brocca, and Treasurer - Nick Sawrantschuk
Directors - Jay Tnt, Garrett Nalepka, Dan Frankian, Jason Willis, Enio Parette, Jeff Kormos and Jay Leslie
We are pleased to announce that Jay Leslie has just joined our BOD and will have responsibilities for members and events in Eastern Ontario along with Jason Willis. Jay is pictured below front left, and clockwise with myself, James Smith and Tony Schmalz.
We encourage interested members to consider getting involved as event planners, coordinators, and future directors.
Viper Owners Association Financial Crisis Update
All of our members until very recently have been VOA stakeholders through their VOA membership, and it is my responsibility to keep you informed of issues affecting you, the VOA, and your renewal decisions.
The VOA's leadership has taken responsibility for the financial crisis, and VOA’s Board of Directors (37 region presidents) who are responsible to provide governance over the VOA were not aware. The crisis has also been badly mishandled since then and downplayed to membership. The inclusion of the expensive VQ magazine in the 2022 renewal plan has worsened the ability to start effectively resolving the crisis, and there’s been little progress made to reduce other costs or increase other sources of revenue. We do however expect measurable action to start soon.
The financial burden is being borne by members in the form of increased annual dues and reduced benefits, and by the regions whose share of annual dues needed to support their club’s events has been reduced from 50% to a flat amount of $52 per member, which is as little as 26% of your dues. If 2022 renewal funds are insufficient to cover VOA costs, the production of the magazine would be halted again and the regions share of dues put at risk as they were in 2021. Our claim and struggle to receive over $2700 USD in 2020-21 dues owed is almost over, with full payment expected to be received next week.
Membership Renewal Options
All memberships expire on Dec 31st and we now encourage you to renew for 2022. This will be helpful to the Board as we will be preparing our 2022 budget in January.
It’s your choice whether to renew with the Viper Club of Ontario through the VOA for 2022, or directly using the new 2022 VCO Direct option. Rest assured that the club will be very happy with whichever renewal option you choose. If you require more information, please don’t hesitate to contact me at vcotracks@gmail.com and I’ll phone you to discuss.
Here are your 3 renewal options:
VCO Direct, $125 CDN. 100% of dues are used to fund our local Ontario events. You can still renew with the VOA in a future year if you wish, perhaps for the magazine or to attend a National Viper Event. Payment can be made by e-transfer to vcotracks@gmail.com, or by cheque made payable and mailed to: Viper Club of Ontario, c/o Bruce Hadfield, PO Box 282, Cannington, Ontario, L0E 1E0.
VOA Standard Membership, $150 USD. $52 of your dues are to be shared with the VCO to fund our local Ontario events. You are to receive Viper Quarterly digital e-magazines, although that may change. Renew at www.driveviper.com.
VOA Mamba Membership, $195 USD. The same $52 of your dues are to be shared with the VCO to fund our local Ontario events. You are to receive printed copies of the Viper Quarterly magazine, although that may change. Renew at www.driveviper.com.
2022 Vaccination Policy
Our club’s policy continues to respect the right of every member to choose. We’re committed to holding many events exclusively outdoors for the enjoyment of all members. There will also be some that are partially held indoors that will require full vaccination status. We will be following evolving health guidelines, and of course ask anyone who is not feeling well to skip an event and stay home.
Holiday Wishes
On behalf of our club directors, we wish you and your families a very safe and enjoyable holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2022!
Bruce Hadfield