From the Safety Stewards Seat from Mark Johnson, Atlanta Region

It’s been more than a decade since I could call myself an active rallyist. From the mid 1990s through 2005, I was a regular on the Northeastern events. But a southern move, new job and new family all kept my weekends filled and rally events were mostly fly-away events for me.

After a few years of not being able to start anything here in Georgia (my lack of time at fault), I dropped my SCCA membership. A couple of years were between my events, it just didn’t make sense.

Earlier this year, though, I made the call to Topeka - sign me up again, I want to play.

There still weren’t any events locally, or even regionally, but my time was freeing up and I wanted to roam. I’ve written events before, I can do it again.

Then I caught wind of the SCCA Targa Southland, a three-day event mostly focused on racing but with an afternoon road rally thrown into the mix. The goal of the event was to introduce SCCA members to all of the facets of SCCA - autocross, track time and, yes, rally.

A little poking around and I found out Peter Schneider and Bruce Gezon were going to fly down to set up the event, with Schneider returning to run it in early August. I offered up my services to work (the start was 90 minutes from my home) and, next I knew, I was asked to do the check and be the safety steward.

Nothing like coming back at nearly full speed …

The check was, for me, a lot of fun. Most of my runs had been on straight-forward TSD events, a lot of dirt, snow and darkness. This was a very different event - three short Monte Carlo style legs, then a follow the instructions and answer questions along the route.

The three checkpoints all came in the first seven miles, competitors had the mileage and the time for car zero. The general instructions said there would be no creeping penalties, so motor up, wait and then roll in.

One competitor at the end claimed it was the most stressful eleven minutes of their life. But that was said with a pretty big smile, shared by the other 33 teams who did the route.

Through the rest of the event, Gezon and Schneider had put together a beautiful, winding route that really showed off the hills and views of North Georgia. On the SCCA RoadRally Facebook page, I posted a 360 degree video of my favorite three mile stretch of asphalt. Click here to view (does not play on Safari) and enjoy the ride! I’d make the drive back up just to run that road again. And again. And again. 

I have several items to discuss this month that I believe will be of interest to the road rally community.

First, a recap of the first SCCA Targa event. In my July column I described the response of several members of our community to the request for help in organizing the road rally component of the inaugural SCCA Targa event as a reason for optimism concerning our sport.  Now that the event is in our rearview mirrors I can provide a few more details.

When the request for organizing assistance went out two individuals with extensive experience in writing and organizing rally events quietly stepped forward and offered their services to write a rally that went through the north Georgia mountains ending near Chattanooga. Peter Schneider and Bruce Gezon both stepped forward and offered their services. Peter and Bruce worked together and wrote an event that was very well received by the entrants. The event wasn’t strictly a course, tour or GTA, but a good old-fashioned road rally that combined elements of several formats. 

The rally started with several Monte Carlo controls, timed legs where being on time was the determining factor in determining the winner. Montes are a great way to introduce rallying to those contestants who may be math-phobic. No calculations are required. The ideal arrival times are given. The later part of the event was a sign-hunt format with about one-third easy questions, one-third more challenging questions and one-third difficult questions.

The event was viewed very favorably by the contestants. According to the Targa organizer, the talk at the Saturday night gathering/party, all the talk amongst the competitors was not about their experiences on the tracks or autocross courses, but about how much fun they had on the Rally even though most of them had no clue what they were going to be doing on the Rally. This came as a complete and pleasant surprise to the organizers, and probably to the participants themselves.

Bruce and Peter were ably assisted by Mark E. Johnson from Athens, Georgia who pre-checked the event and worked controls. 

Thank you again to Bruce, Peter and Mark for showing that a quality event aimed at first-timers can be successfully and quickly organized. Well done!

Second, a few comments on the proposed 2017 Road Rally Rule changes. The RoadRally Board released for public comment proposed rule changes as an addendum to the August minutes. You can read them here. These proposed rule changes were also sent to our mailing list of rally event organizers.

The RRB is accepting comments up to the October meeting. Send your comments to rrb@scca.com. We’ve heard from a number of people already. Don’t miss your opportunity to give the RRB your feedback.

Finally, it is time for my annual request that those of you who may wish to serve on the SCCA RoadRally Board in 2017 to make that desire known. The members of the RRB are expected to serve three-year terms and are appointed annually by the SCCA Board of Directors. An email to rrb@scca.com with a brief rally resume is the method by which to make your intention known. 

I don’t know how many openings we’ll have in 2017. I do know that the BOD will require the RRB to have an odd number of members, currently 5, but we could grow to 7.

As always, I welcome your questions or comments to rbireta@gmail.com.
Rich Bireta, RRB Chairman

Here are some of the upcoming National and Divisional Events and Regional events you might be interested in attending: