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Northern New Jersey Region's
USMC
Toys for Tots "Teddy Bear Road Rallye"
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December 4, 2016 marked the twenty-sixth annual
Toys for Tots Teddy Bear Road Rallye
, hosted by
Northern New Jersey Region
of the SCCA
and
Motorsport Club of North Jersey
. This year’s sponsor and the sponsor for the past four years was
Subaru 46
of Budd Lake, New Jersey.
The
NNNJR/MCNJ ‘Toys for Tots’ Teddy Bear Rally has claimed the title for the longest running charity rally associated with SCCA and the longest contiguous event organized by Northern New Jersey Region SCCA.
Since 1990 we have collected over 3,100 toys and hope to continue the event for many years to come.
This event is a very simple road rally using the back roads of Morris, Warren and Hunterdon Counties. The event started at SUBARU 46 in Budd Lake on Sunday December 4 and ended about 68 miles later at the Long Valley Brew Pub at the intersection of Route 517 and Route 513/24 in the center of Long Valley, NJ.
The event was open to the general public and required only a car or light truck with a working odometer and a pen/pencil to compete. The event is not a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallye, but a mileage based lightly trapped ‘gimmick’. The entry fee, per car, is a brand new Teddy Bear or new toy, worth at least $30.00 retail which is donated to the USMC Reserve Toys for Tots Program.
Toys for Tots began in 1947, when Major Bill Hendricks, and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The idea came from Bill’s wife, Diane. In the fall of 1947, Diane crafted a homemade doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization, which would give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. He did. The 1947 pilot project was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign.
The Teddy Bear Rallye is a mileage based course rallye. 100 points are ‘awarded’ for each mile variance from the official route. The contestants note their car’s odometer reading at manned and unmanned (DIY) locations as listed in the route instructions and the club utilizing an odometer calibration leg to compute corrected leg mileages and compare them with the official leg mileages to determine score.
In 2016, the Region has been posting event notifications on Facebook and targeting individuals in the NJ, NY and Pennsylvania area on Facebook with low cost ads, this in addition to an improved email list and use of Constant Contact have more than doubled our average attendance at our five events conducted this year.
Since inception, the Toys for Tots Rallye has used ‘Photo Clues’ (a format borrowed from the Metro PCA Snowflake Rallye) to provide contestants a little extra challenge. These Photo Clues can be compared to ‘Lettered Route Instructions’ used on SCCA National Course events. The Photos of signs/scenes along the rallye route at times are hard to spot (but not impossible), or are taken of easy to see every day common signs that have slight variations due to weathering or defects. After all if you really look at two “STOP” signs you can see that no two are exactly alike, or depending on how you take the photo the background (trees, a house or other local landmarks) is never the same. All of these features must be taken into account when correctly executing a Photo Clue instruction.
In addition to the Photo Clues, the rallye has also used standard route following traps based on ‘onto’, spelling of street signs, forced turns and reversed numbered route instructions. Needless to say all route ‘traps’ are self-correcting, with the difference in the official on-course vs off-course mileage helping separate the scores.
This year event had 7 legs, an odometer leg and six legs that contained simple route following traps.
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The 1st trap, was a simple spelling trap, which only three of the thirty-three teams did correctly. Instruction #13 directed the contestants to make a ‘R after RIP (reads in part) “GRAMMY PAT’S FARM” onto Musconetcong River Rd’, while most teams took the time to carefully examine the Grammy Pat sign for spelling or RIP traps, they failed to notice that the street sign for Musconetcong River Rd was missing the ‘e’. Those that noticed the missing ‘e’, encounter an on-course control and avoided the penalty points for missing an on-course control and 64 mileage points. Off-course team spotted Photo Clue “A”, which directed them back ‘on-course’.
In the second leg, the trap was based on the General Instruction. The Generals state that “All other signs or objects will be found on the right, unless the glossary term SOL is used. Special Photo Instruction ‘B’ on the left, and the Rallymaster stated in the instructions the scene was ‘seen of left’, but because the instruction did not use the glossary term ‘SOL’, and was therefore invalid. Nine teams ignored Photo “B” and avoided the mileage penalty.
The third trap, involved the definition of a valid rally road. Unpaved roads are invalid per the General Instructions, Instruction #30, required the teams to make a ‘Left at the 1st Opportunity. Teams had to drive pass the dirt road, and turn at the 1st paved road they came to. The route self-corrected at the next route instruction. Those that used the unpaved road, shortcutted the route by a mile and a quarter. Only four teams did this incorrectly.
The fourth Leg Trap, directed the team to turn right at a SOL Dear Hill Road, the first time you encountered Dear Hill Road, the road was on your right, but only the street sign was on your left, not the actual road. Three teams had the confidence to go straight and by using a Special Photo Clue looped around to rejoin the off-course teams and avoided about 2 miles worth of penalty points.
The fifth trap was a simple turn after the quoted Street sign vs the actual road. Only six teams executed this incorrectly.
The sixth and last trap on the event, directed the contestants to make the 1st right after RIP “Point Mountain”, the first sign encountered as RIP “PT Mountain” with the word PT abbreviated. Which when the General Instruction was incorrect, a simple spelling trap. The eighteen teams that turned at the incorrect intersection, got back on-course by executing the last Special Photo Clue.
The event was scored in three classes: Novice, Intermediate and Expert, with special awards for Best First Timer, Best Subaru, Best Saturn (a prior sponsor), Best BMW, Best MG, Best Family, Best Husband & Wife and Dead Last But Finished. We keep the costs down for the awards by using simple frames to hold an individual poster type award created on a quality color printer. But since the event is for a good cause we have never had any objections from contestants on the nature of the trophies.
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Checkpoint Chat with Rich Bireta, RRB Chair
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Year End Wrap Up I’d like to begin this month’s column by acknowledging and thanking the New England Region for presenting the 2016 United States RoadRally Challenge (USRRC). Congratulations to Scott Beliveau, Fred Mapplebeck, John Buffum and everyone who worked to produce this fine tribute rally weekend in honor of Ted Goddard. They had an excellent turnout of 50 cars for the Divisional Tour on Saturday (with a waiting list) and 31 cars for the Divisional Course rally on Sunday.
A few years ago the Road Rally Board sought to increase the participation and interest in the USRRC. We wanted to break the mold of offering three National events and draw more than 10 cars. We wanted an event that would have broader appeal to motorsports enthusiasts and be a “destination” event, one that would be worth attending for the scenery, the roads and the cachet of the event. Thanks again to the New England Region for providing a weekend that fulfilled those targets. My only regret is that time and expense prevented me from attending
2017 is already shaping up as a great rally season. I strongly encourage you to send that information to Jeanne English so that she can include your events on the planning calendar that she maintains. Jeanne’s email is ean21@juno.com. An updated version of this calendar is always available off the scca.com website under the Programs/RoadRally menu tab. My events are there for 2017, are yours?
News from SCCA Headquarters: SCCA car number stickers (0 through 25) and SCCA RoadRally stickers are available through the Member Services Department at SCCA. There was some misinformation that these were no longer available when in fact they have always been in stock and available for purchase
I am also very pleased to note that Timewise 798a rally computers are again available. One particular component had been discontinued by the vendor, but an alternate source was found and these rally computers are in production again. The Timewise web site is http://timewise.us.
As always I look forward to your comments on this or any other item of interest or concern regarding the SCCA road rally program. You may reach me at rbireta@gmail.com. Rich Bireta SCCA RRB Chairman
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SCCA RoadRally Board in 2017
The SCCA Board of Directors (BOD) met in December and appointed two new members to the RoadRally Board (RRB) for 2017. I’d like to welcome Mike Bennett from the Detroit Region and Peter Schneider from the Northern New Jersey Region to the RRB. I will continue in the position of RRB Chair and the remainder of the 2017 RRB will consist of Mike Bennett, Jim Crittenden, Clyde Heckler, and Peter Schneider.Clarence Westberg and John Emmons will not be returning to the RRB in 2017 and we thank them for their service.
I have been a volunteer for several organizations and I have learned that the people who step forward and volunteer their time and talent for any cause or organization make many contributions, many seen but many behind the scenes. The RRB is no exception. It has been my personal pleasure to work with John and Clarence on the RRB and I would like to publicly thank them for their contributions and for their commitment of time and energy to the RRB.
National RoadRally News
The BOD also approved 7 of the 8 proposed rule changes that were described in a previous email. They did not approve the proposed change to remove the requirement for SCCA RoadRally stickers on cars in National rallies. The rule will remain as written in Article 13 and the RRB may revisit this question in 2017.
Voting is underway now for the Best National Touring Rally of 2016 and for the Best National Course Rally of 2016. Ballots have been distributed to contestants who competed in at least three National events in either series. The winners will be announced at the SCCA Convention in Las Vegas in January.
Speaking of the SCCA Convention, we will be offering one hour programs on Safety Steward Training, Building a Regional Rally Program and Having a rally program in an autocross region. If you’d like to join us at the Convention and enjoy some nice Las Vegas weather in January, you can find more information at the Sports Car Club of America website: https://www.scca.com/events/1983542-2017-scca-national-convention .
North to Alaska - USRRC 2017
Finally, preparations are well underway for the 2017 USRRC in Anchorage, Alaska on September 15th, 16th, and 17th. Cheryl Babbe and her Committee promise three days of rallying that will be enjoyed by everyone from Great Grand Masters to folks that are new to the sport. You can get further information by sending an email to Cheryl and her Rally Clan at: USRRC17eNews@comeroadrallywith.us.
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North to Alaska 2017 • September 15-17th
United States Road Rally Challenge
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Shot along the highway in our -16° Recon Trek!
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Cheryl and Gail in their Team USRRC shirts before Recon Deux adventure! Hey! Only quasi-stuck in the ditch once...
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Free Tickets? Really? Two ways exist – Which will YOU choose?
First — We have a generous donation of 100,000 Alaska Airlines miles by a long-time Road Rally organizer for use to kickoff the fundraiser efforts of the IMRRC!
The first four rallyists to raise $2500 for the IMRRC through the North to Alaska 2017 Adventure will receive their ticket for travel to Alaska for the USRRC! We have chosen our fundraising site, which allows each team to setup their own page (it is easy!) and begin raising funds from fellow Region members, rallyists, family and friends via emails and social media! There will be a March 31st, 2017 deadline to take advantage of this offer so tickets can be secured.
Second — The Rallymaster has a code for those who wish to apply for an Alaska Airlines Signature card. The card awards 30,000 miles (one ticket) and also a very popular Companion Ticket for $121 when approved; many Alaskans hold this card for the Companion Ticket alone! As well, it gives you one free checked bag! And, each year you hold the card you receive a Companion Ticket, so it truly is a great means for travel across the United States. You can check their routing on www.alaskaair.com to see that they truly are no longer an Alaska or West Coast-only airline.
With a minimum of ten rallyists receiving the card with the code, the Rallymaster will pass those 25,000 miles along for a Checkpoint Worker Award of one Alaska Airlines ticket!
With these two options, using the “can’t afford to fly to Alaska” has been removed. Will you apply and get your mileage through the credit card and also a companion ticket for Alaska, Hawaii, St Louis, Chicago, Charleston, Atlanta, California, Kansas, Dallas and many more destinations? Or will you be one of the four potential earners of the March 31st deadline for the ticket to the USRRC? The North to Alaska 2017 Adventure awaits!
Three More Days on Recon
The coldest day of our last trek to the Kenai Peninsula was -16°, with a high of 11°. Yet when your are buggying along in a Honda CRV and the heater is working – meh, who cares about the temps outside, ha!
Some of you have been following our posts on the Road Rally eNews Facebook page, which had videos from our September 15th and December 10-13th treks to the Kenai Peninsula, and we appreciated the comments and thumbs-up as we embrace that technology to reach you and fellow enthusiasts considering the trek North!
We enjoyed our lodging at Ocean Bluff B&B this trek with it's gracious host Kathy Carlisle, who called us to say, "I've got dinner ready and it's too dark to be out there much longer!" It was a warm and welcome respite for Gail Engblom and I. Kathy is already laying in plans for she and Rally-partner Rose Bridgman to run the USRRC too!
We've heard of a long-distance reunion for the former Brain 'n Foot Rally Team, with Jake Engstrom seeking to come north from Florida to run with his old Rally-partner Jeff Lynn. A potential team coming out of ABQ too – it would be their first Road Rally! Jeanne English is laying in plans to compete and may be seeking a team mate for the North to Alaska 2017 Adventure!
Peter Schneider
will be doing the Official Pre-check in June, and we may
borrow some rally clocks from him too
. Our Seward lodging has sent our Folio Agreement
just this week
giving us our "drop rooms or pay date" – things are becoming more real that this is happening, ha! I am looking forward to putting in more time and getting internet matters set for the event in the upcoming week – registration, Facebook, and our Fundraising page too!
Come Join Us!
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USRRC is Thirty Nine Weeks Away!
The North to Alaska 2017 Adventure, the destination of the Sports Car Club of America's USRRC, will begin with a reception on Thursday evening, September 14th, in Anchorage, and then we are off to the Kenai Peninsula over the September 15-17th Weekend. 2017 is the Sesquicentennial Celebration of Alaska’s purchase from Russia, the 75th Anniversary of the Alaska Canadian Highway, and we are delighted to have a Road Rally to again celebrate the occasion, as there was also a road rally held in 1967 to commemorate the Centennial!
The entry fee covers the three days of rallying, with lodging on Friday evening in Seward and Saturday evening in Homer, event expenses for layout and worker lodgings, as well as event garments and two meals along the trail! Teams may have additional items they may choose to add during registration, so that we can keep the entry fees lower, and let teams choose to add items important to them. We truly have no idea on the number of teams planning to attend, yet have booked thirty rooms for each town. Registration opens January 1, 2017.
As is traditional at other USRRC events, we will not have a host hotel. We will be traveling and have different lodging Friday and Saturday nights. We are working to provide sightseeing options (besides Alaska’s beautiful scenery) along Friday’s route. And, as many have expressed interest, we are investigating options for the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward Friday evening, too.
Unique trophies will be awarded each of the three days. Friday begins with each team receiving 300 points. By simply running the routes, hitting checkpoints and activities along the route those points are removed and your teams’ earned scores are used for the days’ standings. Saturday and Sunday will be counted as one Divisional Course Rally. While running on Friday is a mandatory part of the USRRC and must be run for your teams’ scores to earn Divisional points for the Saturday and Sunday rallyes — any points earned (if there are such) will not be added to the Saturday and Sunday scores.
Course Rally? What? It is not a Tour? I have already forewarned Mike Thompson, our events' Liaison from the National Events Committee, that I would be using his name in vain! For those that have run one or heard the legend of a Thompson rally — ours are not Thompson “hardcore beat-your-head on the dash” Course Rally events. Rallying here has always been, well, rallying with no distinction between the styles. They will use mileage takes precedence and main-road-rules. Yet, be assured, it is not a level upon level "course rally" — no rock/paper/scissors or imaginary car, ha! Our Generals are being reviewed by the NEC, yet I assure you they are not out of line from other SCCA Regions.
USRRC Fundraising — Because this Rallymaster is a perennial fundraiser for causes important to me, this event will have that component associated with it too! The North to Alaska 2017 Adventure will be raising funds for the digitization and archiving of our SCCA Road Rally archives at the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC)! I traveled to the facility in Watkins Glen this fall and had a tour to convince me this is something that we need for our sport. I am considering sending my collection of Alaskan racing archives there too!
I do not believe that Road Rally archives will be the first archives to be addressed — it will be SCCA Club History, Club Racing, ProRacing - TransAm and CanAm (and others) and Autocrossing before Road Rally, so I want to make sure our SCCA Rally history is addressed in a timely means! These funds are in addition to any the SCCA Foundation may be sending to the IMRRC! We are looking at establishing that 75% of the funds raised go toward Road Rally and 25% of the funds raised go toward ProRally. Should any funds remain after the Road Rally work is complete, we will have it setup so those funds go toward the ProRally archives.
The great part is that we can all raise funds for this cause! While Rallyists may choose to do this as a part of their participation in the North to Alaska 2017 Adventure — all rally enthusiasts can help us bring attention to the archive project at the IMRRC! Should you be ready to join the fundraising team, send an email: USRRC17eNews@comeroadrallywith.us and be one of the first to set-up your personal page. Depending on registration numbers and IMRRC fundraising participation, we are considering additional opportunities for event entry discounts based on funds raised!
Teams and our fellow Rally enthusiasts will have the option of raising funds peer-to-peer via social media through their own page on our fundraising site! This Rallymaster started with one $0.50 donation, and while sharing my idea with others has already received over $601.50 in commitments!
Further, the USRRC's North to Alaska 2017 Adventure will be striving to bring awareness to this very Road Rally and ProRally Community that the IMRRC is a logical repository for our Rally archives — there are many of you who have treasure troves of old Rally history in the form of event mailings, standings, videos and photos! We need to seek a safe place for them to serve the generations to come.
Safe travels, Cheryl Lynn,
North to Alaska 2017 Adventure Rallymaster
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I left the Northeast just over 11 years ago, a one-year teaching contract in the South that wasn't going to renew. After ten months at the University of Georgia, I'd return north, to family, friends and weekends on back roads.
Things change, though - more than a decade later, I'm firmly ensconced in a great community, with supportive colleagues and phenomenal students. Really, the kids are that good.
But that leaves weekends without purposeful wanderings, it leaves gravel roads unswept and time to run by itself, unbent by speed and distance.
For the first few years, I headed north a couple times of year to run with my partner, Frank Beyer. We'd appear for the Winter Challenge, the Pine Barrens Express or the SCR24, then I'd head home and Frank would pick up someone else to run with until the constraints of work and family would free me again. Time grew between events, a few months, then a few years.
There isn't much rallying here in the Southeast (though, stay tuned, that will change in 2017), I didn't have a local group to generate new stories with or retell old ones. The guys at the monthly Coffee & Cars are great, but they split into racers and restorers - I've dabbled in both, but in between ... that's where I like to live.
A year or more ago, Frank reminded me the 50th running of the Covered Bridge Rally was coming up. Having run it a bunch of times, and always having a good time, I made the commitment to fly up. The only Rallymaster in its history, Ted Goddard, was someone everyone knew well - he had a wry sense of humor, a devious smile and a way with a route that made you wonder what was he thinking. If you didn't pay attention, he'd catch you with a little timing error that would send you plummeting down the scoresheet.
My flight was already booked when the news came that Ted wouldn't make it to CB50. My heart broke as much as everyone else's - characters are all around us, but few persist like he did.
Rally morning, I hopped in the driver's seat of Frank's Subaru, set the clock and we were ready to go. The routine came back easily - reader board on top of the center stack, the Alfa display strapped into the storage compartment and angled my way. A reminder to not put on my sunglasses or the old LCD display will disappear.
The odo check went by without a hitch, but as we sat at the out point, watching the few cars ahead of us roll off at one-minute intervals, the nerves set in. It had been two years since we'd run an event, and three years before that. Frank has continued to run, blessed by geography and topography. He was calm, I was nervous.
And I don't know why - rallying has never been about the competition for us, it's always been about the adventure. A good story is better than another little plastic trophy. But chasing time, balancing those little arrows on the display, trying to find the right line to match the mileage ... when you've gone 30,000 miles without seeing a checkpoint, you get a little nervous.
Then the comments from Frank start coming in. Remember on PBX when we were blasting music at the ETZ? Remember finding the end of a road that was supposed to go through? Remember exploring Salem Road, which, as the little old lady at the end of it explained, isn't a road anymore?
Our time came up, I slipped the Forester into first and off we went. Left here, right there, down a little, up a little, rock the cradle, rock the cradle, rock the cradle, checkpoint.
Zero.
I won't lie, that was a huge confidence builder. Until checkpoint two, a five. Followed by another zero at checkpoint three. And then a five at checkpoint four.
In Vermont, most of the covered bridges are posted at 5 mph at the entrance, miss that mileage in your computer by a thousandth or two and you can get a lot of points fast - the difference between 33 and 5 is a killer.
And it's what made Ted's event so special - the course wasn't hard to follow and you tended not to pick up a lot of points if you were reasonably good. But you could spread your scores around pretty easily, putting those in the know into a state of panic.
Now, the second day of the USRRC, John Buffum's A Bridge Too Far, that had me in a panic a few sentences into the generals. I'm not a trap rally guy, I think I'd run two and the tales of woe I'd heard about them didn't have me looking forward to this.
But was I ever wrong. Frank and I never argue in the car, but we came close a couple of times. (I'll admit, he was right - always trust your navigator.)
We started out great on the first leg, not falling for two traps (the first based on if you're on an unpaved road, paved roads don't exist, so the first crossroad we were to take a right at didn't exist). We did miss a small private road sign and picked up a few points just before checkpoint one, but we were happy with not taking a lot.
The second leg, though ... way too much thinking in the car. We essentially created our own trap, putting us on a road that had us come into an off course checkpoint from the wrong direction. Since we couldn't turn around, we had to do a massive loop and chewed up nearly all 19.50 minutes of our morning TA allowance in one shot. On leg two.
I'd say it got better, and at points it did though the scores may not prove that, but I had way more fun than I expected. And John's little trap, buried in a line from the generals that said all roads were in Vermont, forcing us off a paved road at a small state line marker ... that was brilliant.
Once we'd turned in our scorecard, I had to race back to Boston to catch a flight, so I missed the debrief and the chance to say goodbye to a lot of folks I had just gotten to say hello to.
It's time, though, to get back behind the wheel. In October, I met with the SCCA's Atlanta Region Board and they are fully behind launching a rally program, look for our first event in early April. Maybe you should watch out for county line signs.
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My start in road rallying was, suffice it to say, quite a few years ago. Since I'm usually a Navigator, I'm pretty much of a 'numbers guy.' In High School math was my favorite subject. Well, it turns out that four of the teachers in our Math Department participated as two teams in the sport of road rallying, which I knew nothing about. My actual teacher in my senior year explained some of the basics of running a TSD rally, and I said that sounds like fun. About the same time, those same four teachers helped the Student Council organize a rally, with the profits going toward helping fund some extra-curricular activities. That rally was a question and answer event (what we now call a GTA), but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I had a car, well sort of? My Grandmother had died, and I inherited her Nash Rambler. How's that for a rally vehicle?
So I asked a girl that I liked if she wanted to run the rally together. She said, "We're not going to get lost on purpose on some back road are we?" My response, "I hope not. We're not likely to win a trophy that way." So she agreed to go along. How did the rally go? Let's just say not too well. There were four checkpoints along the way (manned by the four teachers) where they collected your answers for the previous section and gave you more instructions. We never found the first checkpoint. Never knew why, yet I remember something about not being able to find a Sisters of Mercy sign.
Eventually, we packed it in and headed to the finish. My partner was not too pleased being a somewhat competitive person, and needless to say that relationship never went anywhere, although we stayed friends and often joked about being lost in the woods together. But at the finish, the math teachers had placed some flyers from a local sports car club for a TSD rally for only novices called "The Nervous Novice." It was what we'd now call a tour, no traps just a ride through the countryside. At the time I had an after school job (when it wasn't baseball season) delivering prescriptions for a local pharmacy. I talked another kid who also worked there into running the rally. This time the results were a bit different. We did well and ended up winning. In fact, we did so well, that one girl asked: "Are you guys really novices?" Geez, our first trophy and we're accused of cheating! I still have the mug we won and sent a photo along with this article.
Then it was off to college, Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. There was a flyer for a rally tacked up on the community bulletin board in the student union. It was sponsored by the Susquehanna Region of SCCA in conjunction with the Appalachian Sports Car Club of Harrisburg. Talked a guy in my dorm who had an Alfa into running. Again a Q&A, but the questions were tricky. We didn't do all that well, but we had a good time, and ended up joining SCCA.
I lived in southeastern PA, and through Susquehanna Region, I found out about other Regions. After I graduated, I transferred my membership to Philadelphia Region which was closer to home, later to South Jersey Region (SJR) when I moved there. Southeastern PA was at that time a hotbed of rallying. There were numerous local clubs and the Pennsylvania Rally Championship Association (PRCA) conducted a championship sanctioning one event from each of the major clubs as counting in the Championship Series. I started running those events. Such SCCA Rallyists as David Teter, Bruce Gezon, and Jim Crittenden competed in those events. New Jersey also had several local clubs and the New Jersey Council of Sports Car Clubs conducted a similar series. I competed in both series with the late Walt Hassinger. Not many people did that. People didn't tend to be like George Washington and cross that big bad Delaware River, at least to run rallies. I tended to run local events until I started running some Divisionals and Nationals with Bob Fink. Then Bob took a job in Antwerp, Belgium, and my SCCA participation became more hit and miss, although South Jersey Region (SJR) did conduct a Regional Series in which I participated. Along the way I got married and then my first child was born, and I took a twenty-something year hiatus until the kids were out of High School. Didn't travel to events, but still ran some local stuff. The SJR Rally Program faded away for a few years, but then Jim Wakemen Sr almost single-handedly resurrected the Regional Program in 2005 and once again I got involved.
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Upcoming Road Rally Events
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Kansas Rally Weekend - Nov 12-13th, 2016
Last month we shared news of The
East to Weston Rally
and Pavement Ends Rally which are
sanctioned by the Kansas City Region of the SCCA.
Each year, post event, this Rallymaster takes the time (or is it makes the time?) to put together a Competitors Report that goes out to his teams and workers. A nice gesture and one that keeps the competitors and workers a part of the event after the event. My guess is that it also aids in retaining competitors who are eager to mark the dates on their calendars early.
So, Rallymaster Bireta — what are the dates for the 2017 Kansas Rally Weekend? Click here to read the 2016 Competitors Report!
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SCCA Matters —
Minutes, Planning Calendar, Championship Points
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SCCA Road Rally Board Minutes
by Jeanne English, RRB Secretary
This month we present the November 14, 2016, Road Rally Board Minutes.
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SCCA National Championship Standings
The RoadRally Competition Season is now a calendar year – January to December.
John Emmons
is the 2016 Points Keeper for the SCCA National Championship. This month we present the points for National Tour, Course and GTA through December.
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SCCA Road Rally Planning Calendar
All SCCA Regions are encouraged to Sanction their events through the National Office as soon as the date is known – it will get it out on the planning calendar, a listing in SportsCar and let fellow Rallymasters know that date is already taken. And, perhaps most important, it helps Rallyists plan their travels to your Rally!
Jeanne English
maintains this calendar, with input from
Deena Rowland of the National Office as sanctions come in from Organizers. Seek out the latest calendar off the www.scca.com website via this link! And while there — checkout the new RoadRally page layout for our programs downloads and information!
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Words from the Wheel
December, Christmas, and 2017! Wow it’s almost here!
For 2016, 131 RoadRally events have been sanctioned. At this time there have been 1243 participants reported, I still have 37 events that (at the time of this writing) are pending with their audits.
How does this compare with 2015? At the end of 2015, 135 Road Rally events had been sanctioned with 1458 participants. Once I have all of 2016 reported I think we are going to be over the 2015 numbers.
I’m going to be sending out notices to those regions who have not turned in audits for their events or let me know that an event had been canceled. Please do check to make sure your region has paid by years’ end – we want to get the final numbers out in the January RReNews.
I really think that 2017 will have even a higher count by years’ end. Many Regions are holding their first events in years! Continental Divide Region has held two RoadRally events this year, compared to zero in the last couple of years! If we get even a few more regions hosting RoadRally events — it is going to make a big difference in showing the growth of SCCA RoadRally and its growing popularity.
Please call me at Member Services 1-800-770-2055 ext 331 or email Drowland@scca.com should you have any questions. Do keep in mind my hours 7A – 3:30P (CDT).
Thanks & Happy Holidays to All!
Deena Rowland
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RoadRally eNews Begins Year Five
And they said it would not last! What is year five to bring?
Many of you are aware that this is not an official SCCA publication, yet one done by Cheryl Lynn, a long time road rally enthusiast. Longing to have a community for the road rally in the Sports Car Club of America, she started RReNews in the Fall of 2012. Yet it is for all independent, marque clubs, and SCCA road rally activities across North America.
Without the support of the many enthusiasts who have given of their time to send in their contributions, and the monthly support of a column by Rich Bireta, the SCCA RoadRally Board Chairman — we would not still be here.
In 2017, we will be clearing off names of those who have not updated their information in the past year. Yet more importantly, we will be striving to reach Rallymasters, Webmasters, and fellow enthusiasts to increase our readership which will yield to additional contributions of content!
How does it pay for itself?
Yes! There are expenses for publishing an eNews such as this one! Giving of my time is my contribution to the sport and I am okay with that and the non-billable hours. Yet, we will need to market decals and garments with a "road rally theme" to cover the expenses.
Does your Club, Region, Chamber of Commerce or a neighbor town have events planned this year?
Please send RReNews the date, the event details, and the contact information. Email them to RReNews@comeroadrallywith.us for our North American Road Rally calendar. This online calendar is for all marque clubs, independent car clubs and SCCA Regions, as well as community events in your hometowns!
We want to help you bring awareness to your events and the sport of Road Rally across North America. We are trying to make your initial input smoother too. Send your p
re-event and/or post-event write-ups of your rallies to promote them and special events? Send the event photo(s) to us for sharing the event with fellow Rallyists as well. Share your enthusiasm and success!
Not trained website gurus, we are closing in our rework of our website to promote events and share the road rally news on North America. As always, we welcome your comments 'n kudos!
As 2016 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank each of you who have sent a quick email after an issue has come out – be it with a constructive comment or words of appreciation. It is nice to know that rallyists are out there reading our efforts. And, to those who have submitted photos and written contributions for an edition — we could not have done it without you! Here's to the year ahead, Cheryl Lynn and Crew
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Road Rally eNews is produced in association with the Sports Car Club of America
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