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CHECKPOINT CHAT with Rich Bireta - June 2016
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2015 Road Rally Awards If you look in the appendices of the SCCA Road Rally Rulebook you’ll find listed the recipients of several awards that are given out annually by the Sports Car Club of America. Traditionally the winners of these awards are announced at the SCCA Annual Convention, but in 2016 we took a little different approach for one of these awards, as you’ll see.
Arthur J. Gervais Award for Outstanding National Course Rally of the Year Arthur J. Gervais was a longtime Rallymaster of the Historic New York National Road Rally. This award is presented in his memory annually in recognition of the outstanding National Course Rally. Selection is made by vote of the top 20 competitors in each class who have competed in at least three National events. For 2015, the Arthur Gervais Award for Outstanding National Course Rally of the Year is presented to Steel Haul Road Rally, Chuck Larouere, Rallymaster from the Steel Cities Region. This is the third time in the last five years Chuck has won this award. The award was presented by Road Rally Board member Jim Crittenden at the awards ceremony after the 2016 Steel Haul event.
W. David Teter Outstanding National Tour Rally of the Year W. David Teter was a long time Road Rally organizer and competitor. The National Tour Rally of the Year award is named in his memory. This award is presented annually in recognition of the outstanding National Tour Rally. Selection is made by vote of the top 20 competitors in each class who have competed in at least three events in that class. The award for Outstanding National Course Rally of the Year for 2015 is presented to the Badger Trails Road Rally, John Emmons, Land O Lakes Region. This is the 9th time in the last 12 years that John has won this award. The award was presented at the SCCA National Convention during the Road Rally Town Hall meeting.
Regional Road Rally Achievement Award This award is presented in recognition of a Region’s activities in Road Rally for a new or ongoing program. This may include events, promotions, attendance, innovation in public relations, or event participation. The recipient of this award is selected by members of the Road Rally Board. By virtue of their strong regional road rally program and the growth they have shown in their entries during 2012 through 2015, the 2015 Regional Road Rally Achievement is presented to the Milwaukee Region. There had been no Milwaukee Region rally program for ten years prior to 2012. In the last 4 years they have grown into a mature and stable program. In 2016 they will organize six events, including two national events. Milwaukee Region have events been consistently drawing between 20 and 30 entries. The events have been varied, including tours, course and next summer, even a GTA. In general, everything they are doing here is with the goal of serving their region and the local community, and it seems to be working. The Road Rally Regional Achievement Award was presented to Jay Nemeth-Johannes, and the Milwaukee Region at the SCCA Convention.Please join me in congratulating Chuck, John, and Jay and the Milwaukee Region members.
As always, I welcome your questions or comments to rbireta@gmail.com.
Rich Bireta, RRB Chairman
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My First Road Rally by Jeff Boris of Michigan
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While doing spring cleaning of the 'ol inbox, I came across this email reply from Jeff — going back to 2013!
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I ran my first rally 1974, a mailbox hunt and I was hooked. I have and will participate in all forms of rally. My main interest is TSD Tour events. I live, work, and play in Grand Rapids, MI.
The SCCA Detroit Region rally program is only about 2 hours away so I run most of their events. My son and I organize 2 or 3 rallys a year for The Furrin Group, a local car club that has been around since 1954.
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This reply prompted RReNews to write back, “The Furrin Group? Sounds like a business, yet not since 1954? Come on, give...what is the Furrin Group? And they have a car club? I don't remember a car manufacturer with that name. Named after a town? Details, details, please?”
Jeff replied, “The Furrin Group is the car club. Legend has it one of the founding members' mother inspired name by commenting that they all, including her son, drove them funny furrin cars during a get together at her house. Check out our Facebook page or our web site Furrin.org.
My son and I ran all three of the USRRC events in my white 89 Toyota MR2. We didn't set the world on fire, but I feel we didn't embarrass ourselves either.”
Each of you have a My First Road Rally story as well – we've heard from David Head, Sasha Lanz, Jim Crittenden, Bill Leonard and more! Please send in your story, with photos from the era and share with fellow Rallyists!
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SCCA Regional RoadRally Development
by Jay Johannes
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The RoadRally Board is very interested in helping Regions develop local rally programs and has formed a Committee to promote Regional development of rallys.
The Committee is eager to help make your Region's rally program a success. We can provide advice, mentoring, examples, or just be a sounding board for your ideas. The emphasis is on local programs, and not the SCCA National Championship series.
We encourage you to think creatively, and are not focused on any style or set of rules. The idea is to develop more social and accessible programs within the Regions.
We would also like to grow this Committee, especially to get a wide range of experiences and to provide experts who can act as mentors throughout the country.
If you would like to help, if you want to get help on organizing a rally, or if you just want to talk, feel free to contact me at 970-290-9797 or click here to send me an email!
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Exciting "times" continue for App Builders and Users!
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Last month I wrote that I was going to, "...place my trust that Michael Young will welcome exposure to the page for those interested in the development of Road Rally apps for our smartphones and devices." That earned me an prompt email from him, appreciating that word got out about the group so timely.
The newly formed Road Rally TechTalk Facebook Group has seen a flurry of activity, and we look forward to getting a column on their progress for the July Edition. Young wrote that with many existing rally sites woefully outdated, the pages of our www.comeroadrallywith.us page could be a great resource for equipment and apps. I am delighted that they have taken steps to build a standard form for the companies currently in existence to promote their apps!
Please let us know if there are apps that you are utilizing for Road Rally layout or competition and why you value them for our sport. Send an email to rrenews@comeroadrallywith.us today.
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Greetings from the Home Office of RReNews!
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2017 Photo Calendar
Would YOU support a calendar with a road rally theme for your home, office or garage?
RReNews is seriously considering this for 2017 and would like to read your comments and questions! We will report next month on the response, yet we are looking at months/theme idea: Rallymasters, Roads, Drivers, Navigators, Equipment, Camaraderie, Scenic Views, Scoring/Post Event, etc.!
And yes, with online voting, we could even have a system for voting on photos to be included and have personalization for those events calendared by the printing deadline next Spring!
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United States Road Rally Challenge
We've seen this news posted on the RReNews Facebook page and in the SCCA Forums — the 2017 USRRC will be in Alaska!
The dates to be sanctioned are September 15-17th, 2017, to be in the "shoulder season" for airfares and lodging costs...and fewer tourists on the road!
Click here to send an email to be added to the growing list of those interested and committed to heading North to Alaska in 2017!
RReNews will be giving an update on the November 4-6th 2016 USRRC, sanctioned by the New England Region in our July edition.
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Please choose to increase awareness of your events via calendaring when you have the date, to pre-event and post event articles to invite and entice folks to come rally with you.
We have invited (and continue to encourage) the National Events Committee and the Regional Development Committee to utilize RReNews and to reach out to those who have chosen to click on the link at the bottom of these RReNews to “Update Profile/Email Address.
Please, if you have not done so in the last two months, please take a moment now and scroll down — we don’t have a cost to subscribe, yet this is a great way to show your appreciation of our efforts. It is a two-step process, yet should take you between 3-5 minutes to do. Help us with keeping our eList pure and let us know you really want to remain on the RReNews mailing list in 2016!
Rallymasters, we can provide you a link to send out in a Facebook post, place on your Website, or via an email directly to your competitiors — help us gain exposure for RReNews in 2016!
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On May 24th, I zipped into Fitchburg, WI, to go on a pre-check with Rallymaster Jim Crittenden. I had a wonderful time in Jim's company, saw some great counryside I had not traveled through before, enjoyed driving a Dodge (that was a surprise!) on the snakey backroads, and most importantly — I learned more about ways to be a Rallymaster with regard to layout! I did earn my keep and caught one sign glitch.
While usually the Navigator and never having used a board with the routes between us — I did okay. Would have done better with a Navigator reading to me, yet the Roads Scholar Road Rally pre-check was a plus during a quick trek to Wisconsin to work on the family farm!
Some of you may actually be in the Fitchburg area this evening and socializing with fellow Rallyists. I hope the view is as spectacular and the route as enjoy my adventure! Here's to 0's...
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Words from the Wheel
I have to tell you — activities with our Solo program have me swamped right now.
Yet our SCCA RoadRally program is certainly pulling in some great numbers in 2016!
Here are competition numbers through May 31st:
- 53 events have been submitted for Sanction
- 519 Road Rally entries and we still have a handful of audits outstanding that will up those numbers!
Please send in your sanctions as soon as you know the dates, so we can get them on the SCCA.com website and into SportsCar. I can attach fliers to the SCCA website listing, so please send along the pdf-file/URL for your event. I will do my best to help you promote your upcoming Road Rally!!
And then, post-event, close it out within the week by sending me your audit. We'll leport the current numbers next month in RoadRally eNews.
Keep up the good work!
Questions? You can call me at the National office 800-770-2055 x331 from 7AM to 3:30PM CDT, or through eMail.
Deena Rowland
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SCCA Road Rally Minutes
by Jeanne English, RRB Secretary
Minutes from the SCCA RRB Meeting held May 9, 2016 are presented this month. Click here to download!
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Road Rally Events in 2016
Does your Club, Region, Chamber of Commerce or a neighbor town have events planned this year?
Please send date, details and contact information 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 — and we hope to share that in our July edition of RReNews!
And pre-event or post event of special events? Send a write-up and photos to RReNews sharing the event with fellow rallyists as well. Share your enthusiasm and success!
We are still on target for June 26th, when we'll hope to unveil the changes on our webpage to better help promote events and share the road rally news on North America. For those newly posted events, head over to our work in progress at comeroadrallywith.us. You can view the listings as MAP, Photo, List or Monthly view. As always, we welcome your comments 'n kudos!
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SCCA National RoadRally 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 and GTA through May 31st.
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SCCA 2016 RoadRally Planning Calendar
This planning calendar can help you to plan your travels to a road rally and help organizers plan their calendar around others in their area!
Per Jeanne English, this is the latest version of the calendar — June 1, 2016.
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.
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 the About SCCA and the Downloads tab!
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Road Rally eNews is produced in association with the Sports Car Club of America
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