Mark Bundick at TARC 2008 with second place team Mulberry Grove High School. Photo: AIA.

THE PLAINS, Virginia USA — Addressing attendees of the Team America Rocketry Challenge this past weekend, the National Association of Rocketry's long term president Mark Bundick officially announced that he was stepping down from his position at NARAM 50.

Bundick, who has served tirelessly for years as the NAR's president, was up for re-election at the organization's annual meeting, the National Association of Rocketry's Annual Meet, or NARAM for short, to be held this year at Great Meadow near The Plains, Virgina, July 26th through August 1st.  This year's event celebrates the 50th anniversary of the organization, having been founded in 1958 by rocketry cult hero G. Harry Stine.

A valiant crusader for the hobby, Bundick has led the charge for the hobby for years, joining together with the Tripoli Rocketry Association and taking on the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, whose ever-encroaching regulation has had the hobby in a deathly stranglehold for nearly a decade.  As a result, the hobby hasn't enjoyed much growth over that timeframe and needs regulatory relief in order to continue to introduce and prepare tomorrow's budding scientists and engineers for aerospace careers. The crush of deadlines and court docket dates had to have had an effect on Bundick's personal life, since his presidential role is a voluntary position.

Apparently Bundick made the decision not to run for re-election and announced plans to turn over the reins to NAR vice president Trip Barber, who is up for re-election to the NAR Board of Trustees in 2009.  The hobby owes a debt of gratitude to volunteers like Bundick who devote their lives so that others may benefit.

05-18-2008 10:15 PM  #1
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2429	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July I'm sure it was a bittersweet moment for Mark. While many of us found reason to criticize this and that, I sincerely doubt any could or would ever question his devotion to and passion for the hobby, nor willingly taken on the burden of gaving so unstintingly in a sometimes thankless job. Best of luck to his successor, Trip Barber.

05-19-2008 02:24 AM  #2
Just Jerry Freeform rockets advocate   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 737	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Say what you will about Mark, and I have said plenty, he is "going out on top" with the TARC success and the "progress" on the ATF lawsuit. He was not destined to be a President over an era of membership growth and expansion, or freedoms, nor did he want to, but he did act as a stalworth NP President and strong advocate for the baseline NAR rocketeer, many of which are the armchair style. TARC was the shining exception and Trip being the leader in that field is a sensational choice as successor for Mark, just as Putin selected his successor. Mark your SERVICE is noted and appreciated. Jerry

05-19-2008 09:54 AM  #3
jsdemar NAR/TRA L3   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 331	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July I wonder why this was announced here and has not shown up through the "official" NAR Sections Yahoo group. There's also no mention on the NAR website or the "official" email list channel.

05-19-2008 10:18 AM  #4
H_rocket Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 328	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Probably because the announcement is not yet "official" Darrell and his hoard of bespectacled minions are always prowling the world for news. I'm only peeved because I was there and wanted to post it first. For the tally books the announcement was in a wholly unrelated context at the team briefing and that was just his retirement. I prodded around and was never able to find out who the likely successor was. I guess Darrel has better placed minions than I. If Trip is the replacement, I hope he has the bandwidth to keep TARC at it's extraordinary level and herd the rest of the cats.

05-19-2008 10:51 PM  #5
Steve_Shannon When in doubt, ask Keenan   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1844	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July I agree that we owe Mark for his steady leadership and commitment. Thank you Mark, and I hope you get to just enjoy rocketry for a change.

05-19-2008 11:16 PM  #6
n5wd Just another B.A.R.   Joined: May 2007 Posts: 20	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Quote: ... I'm only peeved because I was there and wanted to post it first. Well, since it appears that it was my post over on TRF that let the cat out of the bag (a whole 23 hours after the fact), lemme just say that I would have waited if you would had said anything.... Quote: For the tally books the announcement was in a wholly unrelated context at the team briefing and that was just his retirement. I prodded around and was never able to find out who the likely successor was. I guess Darrel has better placed minions than I. Jack Sprague (a long-time NAR and DARS member) and I spoke with Bunny for quite a while after the closing ceremonies in Manassas on Saturday, while we were waiting to wind our way through that gosh-awful line for the BBQ. I don't remember hearing Mark ever saying that Trip was the "annointed successor", but what he did say was that he had worked hard to get the right people (plural, more than one, several, whichever definition you would like to use) in the right positions at NAR so that the organization is able to continue progress as opposed to marking time, or retreating. And when you come to think of it, that's what a leader is supposed to do: once the most pressing needs are taking care of, insure the continuity of the administration for the future.

05-19-2008 11:20 PM  #7
H_rocket Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 328	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Next time I take my laptop out of the car and into the hotel. I coulda had it online inside two hours. I guess I'll never be a real reporter type.

05-19-2008 11:30 PM  #8
n5wd Just another B.A.R.   Joined: May 2007 Posts: 20	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Quote: I wonder why this was announced here and has not shown up through the "official" NAR Sections Yahoo group. There's also no mention on the NAR website or the "official" email list channel. Well, I can answer the first part of your question, but not the second. It was "announced" here when I posted a synopsis of the TARC competition on That Rocket Forum Saturday evening after the competition was over and I had dragged my poor old tired carcass back to the Holiday Inn. Darrell picked it up from my posting, worked the story, and wound up with his posting, here. Bunny never told anyone at the TARC competitor's meeting that it was a secret... in fact, it was surprising to me that none of the other over 1,000 people in that high school auditorium would have not posted the news here or somewhere else. It was obviously an important announcement - Jack and Suzy Sprague, both long-time DARS and NAR members and I were sitting together with my team and we just looked at each other with disbelief when Bundick said what he said, to make sure that we heard what we thought we heard. As to why there hasn't be any announcement in the more official NAR news outlets, you'd have to ask someone who speaks for NAR... and I ain't him.

05-20-2008 11:58 AM  #9
UncleVanya   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 1966	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July In a private email to me a while back Mark had hinted that he was going to step down. Until this was public I would not talk about it. In that email it was really more than a hint. But the point is that several people have known about this for a while. Public admission of the thing was what happened at TARC this past weekend. Mark - for all his warts - has been a tireless advocate for NAR. I may not have agreed with all of the changes or lack of changes that he was at the forefront of - but he seems to have been genuinely interested in the well being of the organization.

05-20-2008 09:25 PM  #10
Just Jerry Freeform rockets advocate   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 737	Re: NAR President Mark Bundick to step down in July Word. Just Jerry