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Jason Pokines OVWR 200201
ROAD RALLY eNews — January/February 2020
Your Road Rally Roundup of News, Views, and How-Tos
Under the Hood of the
Road Rally eNews !

• Road Rally News from the NEOhio Region's Ohio Winter Rally, Texas Region's Sweetheart Ride, Dreyfus Rally and Detroit Region's Son of Sno*Drift
• SCCA Hall of Fame Inductions — there are two for our sport!
• Convention Award Winners

From our Columns —
• Smuncher's Attic by Gezon
• There's an App for That!
• Friday Night Run of the Month
• Upcoming Events Request
• Words from the Wheel
• RRB Minutes & Calendar
• SCCA Championship Standings
• Promoting Your Rally - MSR
and a bit more!

Coming in March
• My First Rally by Robertson
IMRRC CLB Visit
Photo from the Intl Motor Racing Research Center stop after the 2016 United States Road Rally Challenge. Cheryl (r) wanted to make sure the IMRRC was the right venue for her fundraising efforts. She got her answer!
Happy New Year! Our first edition of 2020 is here, and our collaborators include Rallymasters, Organizers, Rallyists, SCCA National Staff, and the International Motor Racing Research Center.

We are pleased that efforts to increase readership are bearing fruit in 2020. Yet more so, that we have Rallymasters believing that  RReNews  can be a trustworthy resource to get the word out to potential competitors! Between editions, we share news and posts of upcoming road rally events that cross our desktop to our  Road Rally eNews  Facebook page.

We know that the pages are full this month. That is a by-product of those wonderful contributors above, beginning the eighth year of production, and efforts to gain exposure. Please, don't just scroll a few screens and depart — there is much to see!

This month we welcome a new collaborator in  Gary Starr , under the  Friday Night Run of the Month  column, which will offer a different Armchair Rally from his archives each edition.

We have received emails from readers with encouragement and with suggestions as to where we go from here. One option is a pdf-download link contained in an email (acknowledging that this may take more work). Do we send  RReNews  with teasers of article contents and link to web-based articles (a common means for many online eNews) or do we continue with each story (even if three pages) printed in the current style of  RReNews  email delivery to your inbox? We know we are at a crossroads; should you wish to share your written suggestions, click here to send us an email today . 

The  RReNews Clan  is looking forward to 2020, and we are delighted that you are with us for the adventure. Like all of you, we plan to road rally this year too — who knows, we may see some of you at a local rally! Former rallyists ask of "When is the next rally?" are getting louder, so a return to being Rallymasters may be in the cards once again too!

Please take a moment to click one of the four options below, and give us your feedback right now — before you begin reading the pages of road rally news, views, and how-tos this month.
Okay! Here is my RReNews Preference...
RReNews PDF-layout. Yes, I know it takes more work!
No matter how long an edition - keep the current style of RReNews
Close down, pull your checkpoint sign, and call it a day!
Keep it short with teasers of articles and links to the website!
Texas Region Report by John Poulos
On Sunday, February 9, 2020, the Texas Region’s 2020 Sweetheart Ride Road Rally was just starting to get rolling when the lead car called the Rallymaster to report a closed road. A road that had been open on Saturday afternoon, just 24 hours before, was now closed. Fortunately, of the two cars whose time to pick up their route books — only one had left the Fat Daddy's Sports and Spirits Café building in Mansfield, Texas, where participants had gathered for registration, lunch, and the start of the rally.

Even more fortunate, they were still walking across the parking lot and had not yet reached their car (or pickup truck in this case as this is Texas after all) when Rallymaster Jerry White chased them down on foot while still on the phone trying to sort out how to reroute around the closed section. Route Instruction 13 quickly turned into Route Instructions 13.a through 13.f since there was also a closed road on the reroute route! Those instructions plus a new Instruction 14 in place and got participants back on the proper route, having added a mere three-tenths of a mile to the rally. Mark, the manager at Fat Daddy's, made it easier for everybody by making copies of the new hand-scribbled half page of instructions. Teams were sent on their way, with only a 20-minute delay from the one given in the General Instructions.

As participants made their way through the three legs of the rally, they were trying to solve puzzles, many with a Valentine’s Day theme, that used signs or objects to come up with words that would suitably fill in the blank left in the statement of the puzzle. For example, one puzzle was:  She was a bit of a nut but she sure liked his "_____." The quotes in this puzzle indicate that sign content was to be used to come up with the correct answers, and four possible answers were given as part of the puzzle. None, one, two, three, or even all four of the supplied answers could possibly be found along the route.  

A puzzle’s answer did not even have to be a whole actual word from a sign. They could come from the first or last part of a word, or could be a homonym of all or part of the word, or could even be part of a message given by graphic symbols on yellow and black highway signs, such as stop-ahead or a curvy road. The choices given in the “nut” puzzle above were "can," "Mack," "chest," and "cash." "Cashew Dr," "Macadamia St” and “Chestnut Dr” were three of the street signs along the route followed by a “Pecan Ridge Farm” subdivision entrance sign. All four answers were thus correct in this case, so participants couldn't get a penalty point for a wrong answer on this puzzle, but they did get one penalty point for each correct solution that they did not claim to have found.

Claiming to have found a correct solution was done electronically for the first time for this rally this year; we used Google Forms, one for each leg. A practice form was made available on www.roadrally.page a couple of weeks before the event so participants could check to see that their hardware and browser were compatible with Google Forms. The day before the rally, the official forms for use on the event were posted on the same website (and they may still there) so that p articipants could download each one into its own browser tab. This was particularly helpful if they were using a tablet with only Wi-Fi access to the Internet instead of cellular data.

Eighty miles, 72 puzzles, 140 findable solutions, and a few strained eyeballs later, the rally made its third checkpoint stop at the House of Hotrods back in Mansfield where everyone got to look at the fabulous collection of vehicles in the showroom. Those interested had a grand tour of the many workshops in the House of Hotrods complex, where around 60 cars were in the midst of restoration, re-creation, or fabrication.

Fifteen teams set out on the rally, and all but one made it to the finish.   Brian Mielock and Trevor Mielock , frequent rallyists in our General Class, came out First Overall with a score of 38 points (lowest is best). Brad Walker and Liz Walker , on their first road rally, came in third with a score of 46 points. All enjoyed (and in some cases struggled through) winding North Texas country roads while putting their wits and observation skills to the test.
SCCA Membership Programs by Rick Myers
By now, many of you reading this have heard the headlines: SCCA now requires a paid membership to compete in RoadRally. While I firmly believe it is the right direction for our club for many reasons, the sequence of events that brought this to be left us with no communication plan, and we launched at the SCCA Annual Convention without sending information out. The concept had been in the works for most of the second half of 2019.

To preface this change, I believe a little backstory is necessary. As a club, the SCCA BOD and National Staff operate under the following in terms of participation:
  1. To actively compete in an SCCA event, you must be a member of the SCCA.
  2. We have two types of memberships: Regular and Weekend. 
  3. All competition programs should be aligned in their administration of membership
  4. Weekend Members are an essential part of our culture, and we need the means to communicate with them about upcoming events, join discounts, etc.

The resources spent on all the unique “deals” associated with Weekend Members were not sustainable. Writing “passenger” or “free” was problematic, and we ended up reversing a large number of invoices each year that were unnecessarily created by those errors. Step one was to come up with a form and process that eases up on resource requirements. We processed 27,000+ weekend memberships last year. We have created a new Weekend Membership form that also includes a Trial Membership (available in the File Cabinet when you log in to my.scca.com). The Weekend Member side is for active participation; the Trial side is for those that are just there casually and want a brief experience.
 
As a side note to the above, the initial concept meant that both Driver and Navigator had to be either full or weekend members. We have since adjusted and went back to the original Weekend Membership intent where at least one individual in a Road Rally vehicle must be a member, so concessions were still provided for RoadRally.

Here are some notes from the National Convention from my perspective.
Convention takeaways:
  1. The new form is THE form to be utilized for all SCCA sanctioned events as it relates to Weekend Memberships and passengers.
  2. To actively participate in an SCCA sanctioned event, you must be an SCCA member (Weekend or Regular). 
  3. Trial membership is designed to cover anyone not actively participating yet in a “hot” area, Solo/RX passengers, specialty volunteers that are observing/learning the specialty, and potentially lunch ride-along sessions at TNIA and Road Racing events (TBD). RoadRally is the only “exception.” For purposes of SCCA Road Rally events, the Trial Member will be considered a participant. A road rally team must have at least one SCCA Member (see above for types). For those that do not have a Regular member, the team is to utilize the new Weekend Membership Form. For simplicity of discussion, Driver is WM and the Navigator is TM (this is likely the preferred method for Risk Management purposes).
  4. The changes are/were needed to align all programs on the above. Regions are still free to charge what they want for Weekend Memberships, yet Regions will be invoiced $10 for each
  5. During the Town Hall Meeting, the RRB had asked when the new programs were effective. I stated that from my perspective, The Convention was the launch of the new program. The RRB asked for a brief pause for RoadRally to get the word out to Rallymasters, Organizers, and participants. The effective date is April 6, 2020. 
 
Road Rally was initially granted a pause in the Weekend Membership program (2008ish) in large part due to falling rally membership and concerns over participation as the economy tanked; it was never meant to be a permanent solution. As membership and other areas have recovered, the programs probably should have been reviewed and adjusted some time ago.

I will agree that there is room for improvement in discussing the value of an SCCA membership (at any level), but I do believe that value is there. I also understand the concerns over program viability when there is a membership fee involved. Yet, we need to work through our value proposition and the associated costs it takes to administer programs like RoadRally. I love the sport — always have and always will. I have paid more to enter a RoadRally event than I have a Solo. Having to be a member is just part of the investment of participating in something I love. In its most basic form, SCCA membership dues help ensure that the events we love will continue for another 75 years.

My fellow National Staff and I welcome your feedback . I know the 2020 United States Road Rally Challenge is going to be hosted by my home, Detroit Region, in November. While I can’t promise to make that weekend of challenging rallies, I hope to find my way back to Road Rally events in 2020 — it’s been too long.

Rick Myers , Manager, Region Development
Promoting Your Road Rally - Getting Exposure
First in the Series: Why YOU must use MotorsportReg for your Events!
This is my first column for the new Promoting Your Road Rally series. Many of you know that I am a fangirl of MotorsportReg (MSR), so let's get that out the way first with some history on how that came to be. I began with My Auto Events in 2003. I moved to DLB Racing in 2006 as it was a more modern means – in data entry and the final look. In the winter of 2007, I made a move to MotorsportReg, a new upstart for online registration. Yes, I am one who enjoys being on the bleeding edge of technology, and I am confident that most of road rally events were not following suit for online registration seventeen-plus years ago!
 
I have chosen to start this Series talking about why you must use MSR , as many of us are just beginning our seasons of rally. I strive to debunk the false statements I hear about MSR, some as recent as the 2020 SCCA Convention in Las Vegas when heard. There are two leading falsehoods expressed: they steal our money, and they don't care about road rally programs. Those are both untrue statements, and over the next few months we'll be covering the use of MSR. This month, I'll address a list of the benefits of using MSR — that "Why YOU must use MotorsportReg!" Next month will cover the how about using MSR: setting up an event, samples of registrations, reporting options, and event day use. The last column we will be conversations with users — both new and old, as well as other wrap-up matters!
 
RReNews had hoped to run this series last year, yet the purchase of MSR by Hagerty, once known only for its insurance of collector vehicles, delayed us as we wanted to give them time to make the changeover. I can report that they have not sought to alter my beloved MSR I had come to know, yet they have given the MSR Team the resources to make it enhance features and build out new ones. 
 
Let's get started, shall we? You have a date for your road rally. You know you'll have the regulars, yet who amongst us doesn't want to reach former rallyists, those usual suspects, and those elusive folk we all know are out there just waiting to be found — new road rally enthusiasts!
 
The Benefits of MotorsportReg for YOUR Rally Program — First, Let's Talk Money!
Some of you have already written this article off with a "Must? Who does she think she is? I am not going to use MSR!"
 
Are you aware that there are three account types available?
 
1) Calendar Account (this is a MUST do part as a minimum) : This allows you to post up your event at no cost to you ! You will have a listing that provides the following: name, date, place, contact, and a description of 512 characters. You want to remember this when we get to the promotion section!
 
2) Standard Account : This allows you, again, at no cost to you to post up the information about your event, and it adds the ability for you to have event registration! You will not have the ability to accept online payments, send an email blast, or purchase the text-message option.
 
3) Premium Account : Fangirl says this is where you want to be. Yup! This account is the one that allows you to take online payments and so much more. You can choose to have funds deposited daily, weekly, or monthly with an email advising you of the deposit.
 
Mythbusters #1 — They take our money!! Well, we have two means to have your events promoted that cost you nothing , and one of them allows for online registration! It is true, there is a 5.5% fee associated with MSR use, yet should you utilize any credit card payment system, there are fees; please, let's be fair about this! The current MSR credit card transaction fee is 3.0%+$0.30. That leaves them with a 2.5% base fee for their services. I do want to mention that some marque clubs have usage agreements with MSR, and you may be eligible to receive a discount off the base fee.

For those of us who have worked Registration, we know how hectic it can be: collecting the mail for registration entries, arriving the morning of an event and trying to answer questions, hand out forms, collect funds and have enough change, listen to teams saying they sent their registration and money (deciding if you let them run after filling out another form and hope the money comes in?), asking for the Emergency Notification information to be filled in, answering questions, getting waivers signed and more! Yes! I know that was a long sentence, yet I wanted you to feel exhausted as a Registrar sometimes does!
 
Post-event the workload begins with readying a deposit for the bank and possibly getting a breakdown to the Treasurer, data entry of all the registration forms into our database to reach entrants via email or snail-mail in the future — to thank them for coming to our rally, send standings, and to advise them of upcoming events! And we hope that we can read their handwriting! At this point, what is the value of a volunteer? For $11.25, using MSR, much of this work would be done, and you just need to send out that thank you to your competitors 'n workers and then forward the MSR Financial Report to the Treasure r!
 
Click here to view a chart of the full benefits of each of the above MSR accounts.

The Benefits of MotorsportReg for YOUR Rally Program — Let's Talk Promotion
Ease of use. Customizable for one-day or multi-day event options. Humans who offer excellent customer service and can guide you over any rough spots. Next month we'll cover layout options, yet did you know that MSR can place road rally registration templates into your account? These make it easier to use, and you will just need to amend the event information specific to your road rally! I don't want to get into the building of online registration this month, as I still need to share the benefits of WHY you must use MSR!
 
Here goes, this is my list! I did not study the MSR website to do this. Not all of these indeed hold for the Calendar Account. Yet as a Rallymaster, I encouraged you to consider the Standard or Premium. This article has been layed out for download as a pdf, which has the full detail of these highlights; I hope you will click here to share the expanded details!

These are the most beneficial highlights as I use the MSR platform:
MSR will promote your road rally without any effort from you to a new pool of motorsport enthusiasts — not just the usual suspects!
MSR sends out a listing, on the first of each month, to everyone within 300-miles of the starting location zip code. That means that all motorsport enthusiasts in that mailing are going to know about your event! Yes, MSR users must opt-in for these mailings, yet you will reach potential rallyists not otherwise known to you. With the addition of Hagerty to MSR, your event information will also be seen by vintage and collector car owners who are in the Hagerty system as well!
 
The promotion of my event is made more accessible, and I get to control the details .
While your club website is an appropriate place for rally information, it is not always easy to get your road rally information posted up timely. When setting up my event on MSR, I can make a unique URL for the rally to place in emails, on posters, and post on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It directs folks to the MSR site for information about the event. Some Regions make use of QR codes that can be generated from the site too. These are the small squares of "jibberish" that a smart-device can read and take the user directly to your page; printed mailings and posters are the best use for QR codes.
 
You will have a unique URL for all of your Road Rally events on MSR. You can post directly to social media and entrants can too. Reach entrants via an email blast directly from MSR.
Should your club promote multiple sanctioned events (such as autocross, racing, rallycross), I encourage you to have a subaccount set up only for your road rally events. I know many SCCA Regions do this so their volunteers can amend only their sanctioned events. Here is a link to the SCCA Texas Region and a link to the SCCA Land 'o Lakes Region pages. Post up your events and meetings on MSR and use this tool on printed material and online sites as a one-stop to learn of all your upcoming events. In the Premium Account, there is now a white page option, which allows you to customize this landing page to look like your page.
 
You can share your event directly from MSR to Facebook, as can entrants and others viewing the rally listing. An advantage to sharing from MSR is that information is the master for your event, and should you need to make a change on any entry details, and it will amend the information to those shared pages as well.
 
As teams register, I can send out an email-blast directly from MSR to all competitors of that particular rally or an email blast that reaches all who have run my events previously and invite them to join us for this one.
 
A new Text Blaster package is available as an add-on cost of $49 for 3000 texts, with an option to go up to 9000 for $99. With so many teams having at least one smart device, I can see where it would be useful to reach out to teams prior, during, and post-event.
Allows a competitor to register and make that commitment to attend my rally. Various payment options available and all this aids planning and promotion for Rallymasters!
It is a once and done — no stamps and envelopes to find, no check to write, no scrawling out details on a paper form (remember, you'll have to read that later and put it in your database for future contact), no worries that it arrives before they get to the event. They can make payment as it suits them!

I can commit to attending an event, register in less than ten minutes, get a confirmation of payment, and be done. I like to travel, so I love that I just earned thirty airline miles too, ha!

A competitor only enters this information once, and that is when they signup for their free MSR account: name, mailing, and email address, contact phone information, Emergency Contact information, and if known at the time —their vehicle information. Please, don't be one of the Rallymasters who ask for any of that information during the registration for your event on MSR; it is unnecessary work for the competitor, and it is very annoying too! Unless an entrant needs to amend that personal information above, the next event they attend is a breeze as they only need to click a few boxes for the rally they are entering and choose their payment option.
 
For many years now, MSR allows a Rallymaster to take the payment via credit/debit card and offer a deferred payment. The value of this is two-fold. For entrants, when they know for sure they are going to run (yet funds are of concern), this option allows them to commit to the Rallymaster, knowing their funds are not going to be withdrawn until the date established. Many Rallymasters choose to set this a few days before the event or event day; that has a second value.
 
As a Rallymaster, I can plan on attendance as teams registered early for my event vs. waiting until a few days prior or the morning. I can prepare with ample copies of route instructions and checkpoint slips. Using a GPS App for your event? Getting those early registration commitments allows you time to confirm they are up and running with the App and its registration requirements too.
 
And by having teams register online before event day, I can use these numbers to promote my rally by announcing, "Twelve teams have registered for the Saint Patrick's Day Progressive Dinner Road Rally! Come join in the fun and help our hosts know how many to prepare for on rally day." Teams can click on the Entry List, posted to the right of your event page on MSR, and see who else has chosen to register too!
 
MSR has a secure means to offer a discount (amounts established by you, yet it could be $5 for early-registration as a registration incentive) that automatically drops off the form when that early-registration date passes; those that register after that date don't even see it as an option. There are also options for discount codes you can issue; I used this feature for teams whose trophy from the last rally was an entry in the next series rally! They registered online and entered the code at checkout, which gave them a zero cost.
 
Oh! That argument of registering two members of a rally team?
We will cover that in Part Two, yet let me assure you that having both a Navigator and a Driver register is quickly done by each going in and registering, or one member of the team can be responsible for registering both of you. Many Regions have this developed in their form: one member registers the car, and the second only goes in to select their class and position on the team .
Now, I just heard one of you muttering about "why do both have to register"! This is an easy answer; I don't want you to tell me your rally partner's name, I want to know their information to reach them via phone or email for questions about their registration or to invite them to my next event, as well as have their Emergency Contact information before rally morning.
 
As a Rallymaster, I have no data entry for my events
Once I have set up my event in MSR, I am done. Sure, I may have to go in and make a cash/check payment should a team choose not to pay online. I have gone into an entrants account to amend contact or vehicle information for them. I can generate a list of the Emergency Contact information to have at the event, print out an entry list for my workers, generate a list of paid/unpaid entry fees, and send out that email-blast without having to use my email program and the hassle of updating emails each time. By the way, you can export reports and contact information for use in a spreadsheet program, should you find a need for such.
 
Just approved by K&K Insurance is a new SpeedWaiver process, which allows for e-waivers done during registration. I don't know the release date for our rally programs.
 
Do the SCCA Weekend Memberships (WM) concern you? MSR can process them on your behalf for your entrants to the National Office. Nope! I don't know the process for handling the recently added Trial Memberships, yet there is a system in place for WMs, and I expect this to be amended with recent announcements. There is also a means for an entrant to purchase a Weekend Membership directly off the scca.com website, which would lessen your paperwork event morning.
 
Event Morning Ease and Event WrapUp — Gadget Gal Strikes Again
I get it. We are not all geeks who have smart-devices be they phone, tablet, or laptop. Although, if you do, MSR allows you to easily handle morning registration check-in on your device vs. reams of paper and notices scribbled in the margins! You can even add entrants, check them in, accept payments, and more. We have had rallyists arrive event day who use their phones to register, and it automatically updates as it is web-based. For some of you, this may sound like too much "modern gizmo crap," yet the times are changing, and we may need to adapt to survive. Hey, I still like paper, and I confess to printing a copy of the e-List and a copy of entrants for event mornings.
 
Greg Lester , SCCA NEOhio Region , is the best example of this: sending a thank you for coming to his event with a copy of the standings and maybe a map of the route, all done within 24-hours of his rally. MSR can help with these tasks, as you already have every email. You can send out an email-blast directly to those who entered the event vs. building this in your email program. They give you a bounce report so you can clean up improper addresses should it be necessary too. 
 
As a Rallymaster, I can easily set up my next event
Many of us have boilerplate information about our events. We may have a new starting or ending location, sponsor information perhaps, or event-specific details to amend, yet for the most part, the classes, entry fees, requirements for tech, and the bulk of the description stay the same.
 
MSR has just released its new form builder, and it places all of the data in one convenient form to amend. You simply clone an event and go in to make the appropriate name, details, and date changes. And with the ability to have a few rally templates available to start from, it becomes even easier to get started with MSR.
 
You have the ability to set-up events and have them show on the MSR calendar, yet have a later opening date set for registrations. This is helpful as it gets the word out to motorsport enthusiasts vs. waiting until you have that last detail that is keeping you from opening registration.
 
In closing, I want you to know that I am not a paid spokesman for MSR.
I have used MSR for thirteen years, and it has not let me down once. There are many enhancements from when I first started, and I expect many more in the coming years. I do want to give a shout-out for the MSR Team who are there to offer guidance as you set-up your account or get bogged down setting up your events.
 
You have all of these benefits above, without having to build and maintain such a versatile registration system yourself. I hope you can see why I started by saying you MUST use MotorsportReg!
Friday Night Run of the Month
From the Armchair Rally Archives of Gary Starr
For those of you not familiar with an Armchair Rally , they came into being back in the heyday of road rally. They were often called a Friday Night Run (aka Map Rally) , since it was intended as a desktop (paper) practice run to understand the concepts (and traps) of the rally's Generals for the Course Road Rally the contestant would be running the next day.

Often, they were included with the Generals. They were the perfect tool to let teams prepare for the event, and I believe they still are a great way to show rallyists new to the sport the thinking needed to complete a course rally successfully or even just what a course rally is. And I am sure some of you will enjoy seeing them resurface these many years later. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to add to my collection and we can share yours through RReNews too!

Armchair Rallies are a self-contained rally: map, route instructions, the appropriate parts of the Generals' rules needed to execute the instructions (and traps) correctly, and the answers were included too. Easier rallies were one-page, yet there were harder ones that went for multiple pages. All these Armchair rallies were scanned in (some from 45 years ago) from my original paper generals, so some are a little faded. I have also added handwritten notes on some or circled important Generals sentences, which will be needed.

Of course, since they all are from my old sets of Generals as I ran the events, the harder ones will also have many things I circled or highlighted that I needed to run the real event. In most cases, however, I tried to put obvious arrows pointing to the areas in the Generals you'll need to do the Armchair Rally.

For this first edition of RReNews , I have included my simplest and easiest Armchair Rally. As months go by, they will gradually get harder (and even use some different concepts) until the end when I will list the hardest IMHO Armchair Rally of all – The 1978 Heart of Dixie (which was the last HOD) which no one does correctly without making errors. I have 15 Armchair Rallies in all from all over the country.

For newcomers to course rally, here is a very mini-tutorial on Course (aka Trap) Rally, which these Armchair Rallies are: Course rallies are for people who may want more challenge than to stay on time as you do in a Tour rally. You must figure out where and sometimes when to do route instructions using rules stated in the event Generals. And you must still stay on time while doing this! Someone once said a trap rally is like playing chess while traveling on a skateboard. Now it isn't that hard, but the analogy is there.

Here is the typical scenario: The event always has a course-following priority list to tell you how to follow the course. Usually, there is also a Main Road determinant list, which defines the main road at intersections. In the absence of a route instruction, you follow the main road. Where a route instruction can be executed at an intersection on the same road as the defined main road, you follow the main road and defer the route instruction until later. That is called a trap, meaning you may have executed the route instruction when you should have just followed the main road.

The Rallymaster will either (a) loop the off-course cars into the control way earlier or later than the on-course cars (a different route), or (b) have either the on-course or off-course cars execute a pause or use different Casts, thus producing a timing difference between the two. Either way, contestants don't enter the control at the correct time and get penalty points. Therefore people say they "fell for the trap." [Note on these Armchair Rallies there is no looping.]
Gary Starr, circa 1981, was featured in Contact, the Control Data employee magazine. The RReNews Clan thought it was a great photo, as it clearly sets the era of the Armchair Rally! We hope some of you will take on the challenge to build some new ones!
I have always enjoyed teaching those new to our sport the concepts of road rallying both Course and Tour. Perhaps you have seen my Tips for Novice TSD Rallyists in earlier editions of RReNews ? I am hoping to do the same teaching with these Armchair Rallies in each edition too. I would love to see more people try Course rallying. But it often is too hard to understand for people who have never done it, so they get frustrated and never return.

And Rallymasters don't help. Too often making the traps too hard. These Armchair Rallies are an excellent tool to introduce the concepts and show how to do them without even getting in your car. And believe me, the traps in these Friday Night Runs mimicked the actual traps on the real events. After doing many of these and partnering with someone who knows a little about course rally, you will be ready to compete.

For our first rally, I offer Beginner’s Friday Night Run . I don't remember where this rally came from (as I do most others), yet I think it was probably in the 1970s. You can certainly do this from your screen, yet I encourage you to print it out and head to the "START" line. Depart out on Route Instruction #1 and enjoy the adventure! The Critique slip is at the bottom should you happen to get disoriented.
SCCA Rally Archives Have a Home - Come Visit!
by Jenny Ambrose, Head Archivist
This box of rally event documentation was processed as part of the SCCA archives project at the International Motor Racing Research Center. (International Motor Racing Research Center / Jenny Ambrose, photographer)
SCCA Archives Technicians Rick Hughey and Joe Cali pose with materials in the SCCA archives that were organized, rehoused and inventoried as part of the processing project. (International Motor Racing Research Center / Jenny Ambrose, photographer)
This clever hand-drawn cover for the 1957 Rip Van Winkle Rally route instructions incorporates Washington Irving’s famous sleeping story character, for who the rally was named, as the route workers. (Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center)



The ProRally tag line "real cars on real roads going real fast" captures the excitement and long-term appeal of the series to Sports Car Club of America members. It echoes through historical documentation of the series, appearing on brochures, advertisements, and posters in the rally collection in SCCA archives accompanied by illustrations of rally cars racing through trees, airborne, in a cloud of dust, or splashing through streams and mud. Records of journeys careening over rough terrain and difficult road courses live on, safely stored in the former pattern shop of a crane manufacturing company in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York.
 
In 2017, the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, New York, launched the first phase of processing two tractor-trailer loads of papers, publications, and photographs documenting the history of the SCCA that were delivered to the Center's nearby off-site storage facility. With funding provided by the SCCA Foundation , the Center is making the archives accessible to SCCA members and the broader racing community.
 
The grassroots efforts of Cheryl Babbe have greatly assisted this through her " Rallying to Preserve the Historic SCCA Rally Archives " campaign, which raised funds to preserve and process rally materials in the archive and brought awareness to the IMRRC's efforts. As Rallymaster, through her 2017 United States Road Rally Challenge (USRRC), the project's coffers grew by almost $3,800.
 
Among the many treasures contained in the tractor-trailers that made the trip to Watkins Glen are 60 cubic feet of documents and artifacts related to over fifty years of rallying. Throughout 2018, SCCA Archives Technicians Rick Hughey and Joe Cali focused their attention on the rally collections, one of the largest and most significant parts of the archives, transforming scattered heaps of boxes and piles of paper into a useable, well-organized resource. The technicians spent their days sorting through rally papers, arranging event documentation chronologically, reboxing and foldering rally materials in archival-quality housings, and creating a detailed inventory of the rally events contained in the archives.

Former SCCA Archivist Harry Handley actively built the national archives throughout his more than 30-year service as the SCCA's full-time volunteer Archivist. The strength of the Club and road rally materials are thanks to his efforts. Handley, a recipient of the Club's prestigious Woolfe Barnato Trophy in 1989, was a Rallyist. He served as Rally Director and Director of Solo Events in the late '60s and early '70s, and later became a Steward. Rally materials were near and dear to his heart.
Rally materials document all kinds of rallying and include entry lists, results, instructions, and route maps covering rally events over fifty years, from 1954 to 2004. Rally license applications, rally programs, rule books, administrative correspondence, and minutes of the Rally Board also make up a significant part of the rally archives. Like the Club Racing, results in the archive, the rally documentation covers events throughout the United States. Harry Handley also collected materials from international rallies sanctioned by other groups and some rally periodicals. As they unpacked boxes, the archives technicians uncovered early photographs, rally car identification signs, bumper stickers, decals, and even some rally license plates. (See article in SportsCar from August 2018 for more information)
 
This portion of the archives also contains a remarkable cache of dash plaques, covering approximately 1000 motoring events. (See SportsCar article May 2018) Organized in four shoeboxes labeled "event momentos," the plaques are filed in Harry Handley's original envelopes labeled with the date, event, sponsor, and often the donor. The dash plaques complement other materials related to single race events, represented in different parts of the collection, and by different genres. A single rally event may be documented by a dash plaque, photograph, race program, official results, and a descriptive account published in SportsCar or one of the regional publications.
 
The diverse interests of the rally community are mirrored in the archives. It documents the evolution of Club events for those interested in classical road rallies, gymkhanas, and time trials, as well as the eventual development of the ProRally program in 1973 out of vigorous performance rallies like the Press on Regardless . Early rallyists who favored tests of navigation, mathematical calculations, puzzles, and tricky route instructions, as well as those who preferred contests of speed and performance on the open road, found a place in the SCCA.
 
Some of the most beautiful photographs, and among my personal favorites, in the SCCA archives depict early hill climbs and road rallies.
The SCCA's rally archives are open and accessible to all rallyists, Club members, car owners, journalists, and serious researchers by requests made through our very active research services program or on-site at the International Motor Racing Research Center. The SCCA Foundation and the Center are truly grateful for the enthusiasm and support of the rally community to save their own history. Donations to provide funding to preserve, process, and provide access to the Club and rally archives may be made to the SCCA Foundation or the International Motor Racing Research Center.
The SCCA archive contains remarkable photographs of rallies held in the 1950s. This image depicts Mary Burns driving her 1949 MGTC in the Witch Hunt on Heller Ranch Rally in 1953. (Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center)
Researcher Randy Graves works on a project on road rallying using programs, race results, and route maps and instructions in the Sports Car Club of America Archive. ( International Motor Racing Research Center / Jenny Ambrose, photographer )
Official rally results for over 1300 events held between 1954 and 1997 were arranged and inventoried by SCCA archives technicians Joe Cali and Rick Hughey last year. The results for the Royal Rat’s Revenge in 1976 accompanied by the route instructions illustrated with the charming rally logo are representative of this portion of the rally collection. ( Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center )
RReNews Note — The Rallying to Preserve the Historic SCCA Rally Archives, was organized by a member of our Clan. She wanted us to add these names with the $3,726.14 monies noted above, as it was through their support and donations this work at the IMRRC was accomplished: Kevin Bohall • Kathy Carlisle • Kimberly J Ciccone • Burger Bill aka William Demming • Gail Engblom • Greg and Theresa Grajew • Kenneth Veryle Morton • Kerrin Smesrud-Lynn • Mike Thompson Molly & John Arranz • Clarice Babbe • Cheryl Babbe • Sarah Baskurt • Rich Bireta • Tetlow Christie, LLC • Arnie Coleman • James Friedman • Jeremy Garchow • Jeff Jacobs • Andy Klamser • Alexander "Sasha" Lanz • Wally and Shannon Tetlow • Harriet & Ken Wollenberg • RPM Alaska to the USRRC 2017, and three annonymous donors under the "Been Lost in Road Rally a Long Time" category, yet we know who they are!

In our March edition, you can read about her continuing efforts with the 2020 Rallying to Preserve the Historic SCCA Rally Archives campaign. We hope you will choose to join along! Be a part of our dedicated donation through the SCCA Foundation to take care of our rallying history. Join us as we bring awareness to those holding treasures in their personal archives that Road Rally Archives — be they SCCA, a Marque clubs or the many independent clubs across America — have a Home at the IMRRC in Watkins Glen, NY! #rallyarchiveshaveahome
This dash plaque for the 1968 Flaming Fall Rally, organized by the Kansas City Region, is one of over 1000 in the SCCA archives documenting rallies from all over the United States. (Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center)
Driver John Buffum and his navigator Tom Grimshaw race through a cloud of dust in their Audi Sport Quattro S2 to win the 1986 SCCA Ojibwe Forest Pro Rally. (Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center / Trackside Photo Inc., photographer)
The rally collections in the SCCA archive include rulebooks and handbooks like this first edition of the “Rules for Organizers” of events in the Pro Rally Championship issued in 1976. (Sports Car Club of America Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Center)
Kammer Comments on Rally Archives at the IMRRC
We all have favorite online rally sites: they could be websites, Facebook pages, or private message boards. They could for TSD or ProRally-style rallying. Walt Kammer grabbed my attention, with his words below, from an RRB (the Rallyist Brunch Bunch) post. On the RRB email, now maintained by Mark Henderson , the son of legendary rallyist Gene Henderson , Walt wrote a response as to the disposal of some "rally items.,"
I wrote Walt and teased him that he had promised to write pieces for Road Rally eNews from his treasure trove of stories, and this could be the first! He shares my sentiment about the International Motor Racing Research Center as a repository for future generations. He gave us his permission...
In his words —
You should consider a donation of one each to the IMRRC in Watkins Glen. They are attempting to assemble a collection of rally-related memorabilia for their collections. All of the SCCA Archives which Harry Handley gathered over the years are there and cataloged by their archivists. They are running a top-shelf well-funded operation (unlike the disaster in Toronto for the failed Canadian Motorsport History Museum, which lost much of the collection and venue).
 
Recently there was an all-day seminar held which dealt with the history of stage rallies in the USA. Many noteworthy presenters were on the panel, and Ralph Beckman's and Gail McGuire's presentations were especially excellent. The seminar was to be hosted by J.Robert Henderson. Due to illness, he was unable to travel north from Florida, so his old friend Phil Henderson (not related) took over the Master of Ceremonies duties for the day. Tim O'Neil brought a Sube rally car, which was displayed in the main IMRRC hall along with my 1967 Alpine-Renault A110 historic rally car.
 
They managed to have an excellent display of old rally items in the display exhibit cases; I supplied my photos of the day to Randy, who placed them on one of his albums. The entire operation is world-class with a dedicated staff of employees and volunteers.
 
Much of my old stuff will end up there rather than in a dumpster upon my demise. Others should consider that too. Things ratholed away in private closets do NOT promote the sport. End of my soapbox, but I am impressed with what they are trying to do there and the excellent facilities they have for their well-funded efforts!
This was the "lineup" for the seminar I mentioned, excellent stuff. Cheryl has it set up for you to just click the picture below.
Here is a link to the Facebook page , scan down for pix of activities.... the "J.Robert" seminar was the FIRST rally-related activity in their monthly presentations on Saturdays. Attendance was high, so I imagine it will not be the last rally exposure sessions at the IMRRC. If you are interested, scroll down (to about 2 May 2019 posts) and see the shoehorn fit of getting my Berlinette in the mandoors!

Food for thought as we all approach the point of saying "what will happen to my rally stuff...," I know for my case. Perhaps Randy Graves will chime in to confirm or comment on my personal conclusions about the facilities and tools at the IMRRC!
Yours in the Sport,
Walt
2019 Dreyfus Rally by Peter Schneider
For those of you who may not know, Rene Dreyfus was a world-famous race car driver. He drove Maserati ,  Ferrari ,  Delahaye , and  Bugatti  cars against some of the greatest drivers of the time. Dreyfus won 36 races across  Europe including Monaco, Florence, Rheims, Belgium, Cork, Dieppe, Pau, and at Tripoli in North Africa, becoming a French national hero.

After the Second World War, he became an American citizen and opened a French restaurant, Le Chanteclair . This spot soon became the semi-official New York meeting place for the world’s automobile racing community, the spirit of fraternity overtaking the rivalries of the past. It continues today as the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society. The MASCDCS had its first meeting on March 12, 1957; it still meets once a month at Sardi’s, a famous New York restaurant. Dreyfus was also a member of the Northern New Jersey Region of the Porsche Club of America . Back in the ’60s he donated a perpetual award for an annual Road Rally. 
 
For the 2019 event, 58 teams came out to Enjoy The Ride in Sussex County along new roads, with the rally ending at the historic Walpack Inn located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Established 70 years ago, the Inn is still home to Jimmy Heigis , our host at the restaurant, whose parents founded it in 1949. Back in ‘the day’ they served lobster with french fries and coleslaw for just $1.25. Several NNJR-PCA members shared their stories of the first time they visited the Inn over 40 years ago.

The teams competing on the event traveled 68.68 miles and had to find the correct answers to 25 questions, some of them tricky or hard to see. First Overall went to Chesapeake Region members Bob Gutjahr and Ellen Beck , who got all the questions correct and were only a quarter of a mile off the official mileage. The Dreyfus Cup was awarded to Duncan Findlay and Britt Findlay , who were the highest placing NNJR-PCA members driving a Porsche. Britt and Duncan also got all the questions correct and placed 2nd Overall by only 3.05 hundreds of a mile behind Bob & Ellen. A virtual tie for 1st place. 3rd Overall went to Dana Beaton and Michelle Rolliman with one incorrect question and only 8.34 hundreds of a mile off the official mileage.

Best placing Novice team went to Greg Pierce and Donna Pierce , who placed 4th Overall, answering all the questions correctly and were a little under four-tenths of a mile off the official mileage.

The route itself traveled west of Morristown into Sussex County utilizing the back roads of Allamuchy, Green, Fredon, Wantage, and Frankford Township before ending at the Walpack Inn. 

To expand your knowledge of local history, Allamuchy Township (Route 80, Exit 19) comes from the  Native American  word “Allamachetey”, meaning “place within the hills.” Over a third of the township was once the hunting estate of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant , a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant , Dutch Governor of New York. Rutherfurd bought most of the farms at the turn of the twentieth century, increasing his ancestral estate, called Tranquility Farms, to 5,000 acres. He established Deer Park, a 1,000-acre private game preserve on Allamuchy Mountain, introduced the English pheasant to America, and reintroduced deer to his preserve. Fencing surrounded the entire area, sections of which can still be found today. Tranquility Farms is still there today and has excellent homemade ice cream and a farm stand that sells corn and other fruits “in season."

Twelve teams did very well on the rally. Three teams found all the correct answers to the questions, and nine teams missed one question. One of the more straightforward questions on the event was Question #18 - IF YOU WANT TO HUNT ONLY IN THE EVENING, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JOIN THIS CLUB? The answer was on a very easy to see sign that read “PM HUNTING CLUB”.

The hardest to find answer was Question #2 - ORD#41-1 SAYS YOU CAN’T DO THIS? The correct answer was “NO DUMPING ALLOWED”, this was found on a sign parallel to the road and was immediately following an easy to see sign that contained the answer to question #1. While teams were busy writing down the answer to Question #1, they drove past the answer to question #2. 48 or 83% of the teams missed question #2.

The question that made everyone smile the most was question #23. PARTY ON GARTH! EXCELLENT! GARTH, WHAT COLOR ARE THE WINE BOTTLES? GOOD CALL. The answer to this question was found in the front yard of ‘Wayne’s World’ located on Card Road in Wantage. The owner of ‘Wayne’s World’ is Wayne Card , a local outside artist, who is a self-proclaimed dumpster diver.

Along with dozens of entertaining (i.e., strange) outdoor art was a collection of over a hundred BLUE WINE BOTTLES displayed on Bottle Trees, right along the side of the road. Surprisingly five teams missed the correct answer to this question. Kudos to Eric Sjogren and Pat Sjogren for finding this oddity and sharing it with the individuals on the rally.

We want to thank the Event Chairperson John Vogt , Rallymasters Eric Sjogren and Pat Sjogren for writing the event and finding all the great roads and Joanne and Peter Schneider for helping with registration, scoring, and checking out the route. In total, between these three groups, the rally route was driven over a dozen times to make sure all was ready for the Sunday event. NNJR-PCA’s next rally will be in May 2020. Hope to see you there.

RReNews notes – For those of you not familiar with the MASCDCS, check out their website here, which is where we found that vintage logo. Dreyfus also wrote My Two Lives: Race Driver to Restauranteur, which is available on Amazon.
Winter Rally Season is Upon Us! It's Time to Rally!
Winter Challenge Rally
February 22nd
VT: SCCA New England Region
From Rallymaster John Buffum —
The roads in Vermont are great! I can’t guarantee snow, but they are twisty and great to drive.

The towns sand their roads quite well – when they are not sanded, they are really slippery!

Those who have done Winter Challenge will know that my rallies always have some ‘thinking’ legs; I believe that a rally should be more than a ‘follow the leader’ tour through the woods. The first section in WC has a couple of these legs; but you won’t get lost – the route is fail-safe. The second and third sections are very straightforward – just brisk in places. To help mitigate the ‘tricky’ legs costing too much time, there is a 50 point max penalty on the legs and competitors may drop their worst score in each section.

You can find more information about the event here , as well as a Sample Routebook, Practice Rally, and Registration information!
Minnesota Winter Rallye
February 29th - NEW DATE
MN: Twin Cities Rally Club
From Rallymaster Tim Winker —
Drive the back roads of Northeastern Minnesota. This year's MWR uses roads west and north of Duluth in Carlton and St. Louis Counties. The course goes approximately from Scanlon to Cotton and back. The total distance will be about 130 miles.

Starts and ends at  The Rendezvous in S canlon, MN, ends mid-afternoon. This is not the route I had originally intended, but for some odd reason it was the direction I headed. About halfway through I realized it was a rally that Randy Jokela would have put on as the Sno*Fall. Randy passed away in 2019, so this has become " The Randy Jokela Memorial Sno*Fall Rally ".

The Minnesota Winter Rallye Facebook Event page or Twin City Rally Club page may contain more up to the minute info, yet registration information is available here , on Motorsportsreg.

This rally will use the MiRally GPS control system. The MiRally system is very similar to the timing used on the Historic Monte Carlo rally. Contestants need to download and sign up for the FREE MiRally Crono app at the appropriate place for your smart phone. This is MANDATORY if you wish to be scored. We have added a TOURING category for those who do not wish to be scored, but are just following the rally course.
South Jersey Region SCCA 2020 Schedule
The Region will be holding three Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallies this year. All three rallies will be SCCA Divisional Tour Rallies . The instructions will be easy to follow. Contestants will need to have a smartphone (or tablet) and have the Competitor - Richta GPS Checkpoints App downloaded before Registration; it is a free download and available for both Apple and Android.

Vehicles will be timed at numerous checkpoint locations on the course by use of the Rallymaster - Richta GPS Checkpoints App. Teams will be scored on how close they arrive at their perfect calculated official time at the checkpoints.

The start and finish of the rallies are at Carolina Blue Restaurant, 592 Lambs Rd, Pitman NJ 08071. Sign in from 9:30 am to 10:15 am. Awards will be presented to the Driver and Navigator, who get the best total score for the day in several categories.

Signing up before the day of the rally is highly advisable and very important. There is a limit of 30 cars entered for each event, and the Rallymaster needs to have ample Route Instructions printed for each Team.
Spring Fling Road Rally
Sunday, May 17th

Summer Sizzler Road Rally
Sunday, July 19th

Fall Foliage Tour Road Rally
Sunday, October 25th

For more information:
Jim Wakemen Sr.• 609-634-0485, [email protected] 
Great Lakes Division Rally Rally Updates
Photo by Jason Pokines, who provided our header photo this month. Jason and friends were on their first road rally, and said "they got out to throw some snowballs while waiting."
Ohio Winter Rally
Unlike in years past, on the 2020 Ohio Winter Rally , run February 1st, 2020, no competitors:
  • sent a Jeep into low-Earth orbit,
  • parked a car on the roof while rushing to regain position after a late departure from the meal halt,
  • entered a stage rally prepared car shod with gravel rubber, and boasted about their imminent victory, only to run out of traction partway up the first icy hill - while those that had the good sense to mount tires with the Hakkapeliitta trademark molded into the sidewalls waved as they drove by,
  • turned onto an unplowed railroad right-of-way that closely parallels the rally route,
  • found an old transmission embedded in a snowbank - with their oil pan,
  • encountered the frozen carcass of a very large pig blocking the road,
  • came within millimeters of doing substantial body damage to a very expensive SUV borrowed from the manufacturer's press pool,
  • dropped their right wheels into a ditch hidden under the snow, only to have the next two teams follow then into the same ditch.
    
In short, 2020 was possibly the least memorable Ohio Winter Rally ever. No bashing through knee-high snowdrifts. No endless ribbons of wet ice. Good visibility. Boring, right?

Even without Nature’s wrath, and with minimal driving challenge, it was a good event. Twenty-five teams, whose experience ranged from past National Champions to first-timers, entered. Twenty-four teams started. Twenty-four finished. It was most heartening to see the large turnout of enthusiastic Novice teams. Most seemed to enjoy their nocturnal jaunt through northeast Ohio’s Lake Erie "snowbelt." We look forward to seeing them at future rallies!

The rally started and finished at the Redhawk Grille in Painesville. The 165 mile, sort-of-clockwise route visited many familiar haunts: roads with names like Cascade, Harpersfield, Mill Creek, Doyle, Kirk, Warner Hollow, Sweet West, Nurse, Swine Creek, Hayes.

This was the first time that NEOhio Region has used the Richta automated timing system instead of manned controls. The Richta system uses cell phone GPS functionality to automatically record when teams arrive at each checkpoint. Developed by past SCCA Road Rally Board Chairman Rich Bireta , it is quickly gaining acceptance around the country.

The Ohio Winter Rally has enjoyed a long history of support from the local amateur radio community – a tradition started by former Rallymaster Tom Kimball , KA8BZB. This year, Pat Karl , N8ONI, and his associates set up a temporary radio “net” covering the entire course. “Hams” also performed course-opening and sweep duties. 

A summary of results can be found elsewhere in this issue of RReNews.

Jeff Arendas , OWR Chairman
Greg Lester & Ken Swarm , Rallymasters

You can find the standings here . Should you have the ability to open .xls-files, you can get leg scores here !
RReNews — From the Rallymaster, here is the route of the rally with checkpoint locations. I know that I need to learn how to do this, as it would be helpful to crews and post-event answers! Click here for the link!
GREAT LAKES Division
2020 Championship Standings
With many active Regions in their Division, the standings show the results of the hard work by Rallymasters, Organizers, Pre-Check, Road Rally Safety Stewards, Checkpoint Workers, Timing and the support of families whose road rally enthusiasts are away from home hours too!

From Greg Lester , click here for the 2020 Standings! The Road Rally eNews clan extends our thanks to Greg for keeping us in the loop about their events, and we hope we are able to better serve them in 2020!
Detroit Region Son of Sno*Drift Leg-by-Leg Scores, and Summary Scores by clicking Team Widebush splashing through the course!
Ken Wiedbusch’s rally ‘Vette on his Son of Sno* Award, presented for dedication to the Detroit Region Road Rally program.
Son of Son*Drift Road Rally
from the Detroit Region Website

The weather service had issued winter storm warnings, promising godawful conditions with rain, freezing rain and snow. What sort of fools would deliberately set out to spend the day driving around on back roads in such circumstances? Ummmm, rallyists, that’s who.

And so it was that 24 teams showed up this past Saturday morning, January 11, in spite of the elements, to take on the challenges of Scott Harvey Jr.’s Son of Sno*Drift XXII TSD Rally . Just two teams that registered declined to show up and share in the fun. As it turns out, they need not have worried. Unlike the 2011 running that saw six or more inches of snow fall during the event, or the Great Skating Rink Adventure that was the 2014 edition, this year’s Son of Sno*Drift was just a wet sloppy mess. The threatened freezing rain never materialized in the rally area while running. It did, however, rain during almost the entire duration of the rally – sometimes pouring down buckets, sometimes just a light steady rain, sometimes drizzle or mist. Amazingly, given all the moisture, the roads held up fairly well, although there were a couple of unintended water crossings just to provide a little entertainment for the erstwhile rally teams.

Following the Detroit Region’s first successful experience with the Richta Checkpoints virtual checkpoint app on November 23, 2019, Pavement Ends Rally , Rallymaster Harvey opted to use Richta Checkpoints for Son of Sno*Drift XXII. This was another successful deployment of this new TSD rally technology, with this new method of leg timing well received by both competitors and Rallymaster alike.

Rallymasters love the app because it saves them the grief of recruiting control teams, managing equipment and all the associated documentation to get crews placed and working.

Competitors like the app because they get immediate score feedback on their timing performance as they encounter the virtual checkpoints (this is a huge hit for novices) and because they can see immediate scoring and standings at the section breaks. This is a change in TSD rallying that will surely persist into the future.

In addition to these well liked features of the app there are two more that make a strong case for utilizing it. First, Rallymasters can now locate checkpoints anywhere, as they no longer need to be concerned with the complications posed by physically locating control crews. Second, rallies can be run with virtually as many checkpoints as Rallymasters want, since they are no longer constrained by the recruitment and logistics management of control crews. Son of Sno*Drift XXII featured 72 checkpoints. Ultimately 68 checkpoints were scored, as 4 legs were discarded due to configuration issues.

Equipped Class saw six teams contending for the win. Robert Kay and Michael Bennett , who have recently started rallying again after an extended absence from the field, put in a strong performance to win the rally, scoring just 34 points for the 68 scored controls for an average of just 0.5 seconds error per control. John Fishbeck and Laurie Dawson gave Kay and Bennett a run for their money and kept them honest, with a score of 38 for Second in Class and Second Overall. Jeff and Nic Boris , driving over from Grand Rapids to compete, took Third with 53.
Limited Class had four entries, with the always formidable team of Dan Harkcom and Greg Lester nailing the class win and Fourth Overall with a score of 75.2, defeating region regulars Adam Spieszny and Piotr Roszczenko , who finished with 87.4 – a pretty fair contest.

Stock Class saw just 2 entries, as many teams formerly running in stock have moved into Limited in order to use the available integrated mileaging rally apps. Regular region rallyist Tristan Koivisto has come to claim Stock Class as his own over the past few seasons, and he continued his winning ways with navigator Sarah Tellas , scoring 155.6 for First in class. Koivisto and Tellas defeated Detroit Region stalwart and 2020 SCCA Tour National Champion Rob Moran , navigating for John Kytasty , for the class win.

Son of Sno*Drift regularly draws a strong Novice field, and this year’s running was no exception, with ten teams competing in the class. Honors went to Mario Velarde and Francisco Romero who turned in an outstanding performance of 140.5, not only good enough for the class win, but also good for Seventh Overall. Velarde and Romero even pulled off the unusual occurrence of the winning Novice Class score beating the winning stock class score. Well done! The team of Raven Rotsaert and Chris Zimmerman took Second in Novice with an excellent score of 194.1, with Ian Everett and Jake Seeger turning in a respectable 317.5 for Third in Novice.

As a part of the Son of Sno*Drift awards Rallymaster Harvey likes to present the Son of Sno* Award to someone who has made significant contribution to the Region’s rally program. This year he honored Ken Wiedbusch for Ken’s dedicated work over the years in maintaining the control and timing equipment for the region’s rallies. Ken has tirelessly maintained the timing hoses and switches, clocks, cabling and signage which are used for open controls, and brings all that gear to every rally. While the rapid rise of the Richta Checkpoints app for controls may largely eliminate the need for all that control gear in the future, Ken’s contributions in this have been enormous. Furthermore he has provided this same commitment of service for equipment used for autocross and rallycross as well. This is a well-deserved recoginition – thanks Ken!

Scott especially crafted Ken’s Son of Sno* award, featuring a bright yellow C2 Corvette, closely resembling the car that Wiedbusch helped build and competed in stage rallies during the mid-70s, rallies such as the Marquette 1000, 20 Stages and Sunriser 400.

As always, huge thanks to Rallymasters Scott Harvey and Jennifer Glass for the enormous effort they put in to putting on Son of Sno*Drift so Detroit Region rallyists can go out and play with cars on south central Michgan’s back roads!
"There's an App for That" –
Richta GPS Checkpoints February 2020
by Rich Bireta

It's been a busy and productive winter so far at Richta Rally HQ in Kansas. Here's the latest:

Website – We launched our new website to support the Richta Rally Products and related Apps. The address is  www.richtarally.com . We purposely kept the site "lean and clean" with a focus on the GPS Checkpoint System . There are links on the homepage to both Apple iTunes and Google Play Store for App downloads. We wanted to ease the job of Rallymasters at the start of the rally; entrants can be pointed to the website to download the appropriate App.

SCCA National Convention – My presentation on Richta GPS Checkpoint at the Convention was well attended and well-reviewed. The charts from the presentation can be accessed here .

Twitter Feed – The Twitter handle @richta_rally will be used to announce new releases and features. You can also use Twitter to contact me.

YouTube Video – Steve Gaddy was kind enough to record a video of a section of the Spring Scamper Rally in Madison, Wisconsin, last April.  You can access the 6-minute video here or click on the video below. It shows the rally team going through a restart point and eight timing points.  

2019 Usage – Final totals for the use of the GPS Timing and Scoring system are: 16 events with a total of 869 checkpoints, entered by 204 cars. They generated a total of 12,830 timeslips.

2020 Usage – 26 Road Rallys are currently on my list for 2020, and seven of them will have been run by the end of February. I am projecting a total of 30 to 50 events for the year.

Next release – Next month I'll detail the new features and functions of the Rallymaster, Competitor, and Scoreboard Apps, which are scheduled to be released March 1.

I am open to improving the usability and function of the apps. If you have a suggestion, please click here and send me an email!

Regards, 
Rich Bireta
Steve Gaddy on the Spring Scamper with Richta GPS Checkpoints App
Lester Inducted into NEOhio Hall of Fame
The NEOhio Region SCCA Hall of Fame was started in 2014. Its mission is to recognize longtime NEOhio members through Induction into our Hall of Fame. They bring honor to the Region and through their contributions to the greater good of SCCA through their volunteer work or their accomplishments on the national or professional level.

This year's Inductee, Greg Lester, has more than met all of the criteria. NEOhio Region has a rich history in Road Rally dating back to the early days of our club in the 1950s. He has been a NEOhio member since July of 1984. He's been a successful co-driver in many Divisional, National, and Pro-Rally events. Most notably, he was the winning co-driver with Ken Knight in the 1992 Alcan 5000. He has been successful in Michigan's Press-on- Regardless Rally and the Moonlight Monte Rally held by the Detroit Region, SCCA. He has been involved in STPR, Susquehannock Trails Performance Rally in Pennsylvania. 

For the past 25 years, Greg Lester and Ken Swarm shared Rallymaster duties for the Ohio Winter Rally, with 2016 being the 50th anniversary. Being a Rallymaster is a very thankless job with numerous days, wear and tear on your car, and a lot of gas spent to lay out the route. Greg has been the Rallymaster for the Johnny Appleseed Rally for numerous years (decades). Entrants have been known to drive hundreds of miles just to attend this event because of Greg's reputation to put on a quality event. 

His most recent win was at Pavement Ends in November in the Limited class with Dave Harcom. That win capped off a near-perfect season (one second place finish) to lock up the Great Lakes Divisional Championship. 

When Greg isn't competing, he's frequently working to support or put on a Rally. He's run Course Open for many Pro Rallys, including Sunriser (Southern Ohio Forest Rally) and Susquehanna Trails. He's supported numerous charity rallies, like the Akron Museum of Art event, and he has helped countless other clubs like the Porsche Club with their Rally Program. He has helped Bill Stewart with numerous Misery Bay Region rallies, pre-checking and/or working controls. A quote on Steve McKelvie's blog sums it very nicely. "He (Greg) has done just about everything in rallying and is always competitive in any rally he is in." 

His most significant contribution to the NEOhio Region, above and beyond the honor he has brought us as a competitor, is that he's been our Rally Chairperson (or supported that role) since 1997, taking the leadership role in keeping our Rally program alive and active. He's also been the Rally Chair for many, many events over that time. 

Greg is always happy to help new competitors get introduced to the sport, and as one progresses into the Limited and Equipped Classes, he is still helpful with car and equipment set up. I know this from first-hand experience as he helped me move into Limited with the Alfa Box that I had no idea how to set up.

However, Greg's contribution to the Rally program isn't his only involvement in SCCA. He's helped in Timing & Scoring at various races through the years. He's also crewed for endurance teams in the Escort and Firehawk series, and he helped my team with our endurance efforts at Nelson Ledges. In fact, one year after we had run out of front control arms (failures as a function of a design flaw) — Greg literally single-handedly carried our fiberglass bodywork across the finish line to give the team the spiritual lift needed after such a frustrating race.

That's pretty typical of Greg's tremendous personality and sense of humor. So, for those of you who think this list of accomplishments must fill all of his time, you'll be interested to know that Greg also has a day job running a business that restores, services and tunes pipe organs. Who knew?

For everything Greg has done, and for being a great all-around member of the NEOhio Region, I'm pleased to introduce the latest Inductee to the NEOhio Hall of Fame, Greg Lester!

Bob McDonald, NEOhio Regional Executive
On Saturday, February 15, 2020, Greg Lester was Inducted into the NEOhio Hall of Fame , which is sponsored by Polestar Motor Racing.

Upcoming Road Rally Events for YOU!
CSCC 2020 Road Rally School and Rally

Road Rally w/ Cascade Sports Car Club - Road Rally on Saturday, February 15, 2020 at North Plains Senior Center, North Plains, Oregon - Gear up for the 2020 rally season with Cascade's road rally school and rally. Learn to play the game that...

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www.motorsportreg.com
NEOkla 2020 -Remembering Garry Deaton Road Rally

Road Rally w/ SCCA - Northeast Oklahoma on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, Tulsa, OK - Are you ready to launch your 2020 gearhead season? Are you ready to rally? Are you on a budget and want to avoid paying an entry fee?

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www.motorsportreg.com
BMC Road Rally I - The Shamrock Showdown

Road Rally w/ Brandywine Motorsport Club on Saturday, March 14, 2020 at New Castle Conservation District, Newark, DE - BMC Rally I - The Shamrock Showdown Start Location: New Castle Conservation District, Newark, Delaware, 19702 - intersection of ...

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www.motorsportreg.com
Post Your Upcoming Rally Dates and Invites HERE?
You bet ! We welcome you to Come Join Us! RReNews is not an SCCA Publication, yet produced in association with the Sports Car Club of America by road rally enthusiasts.

Our goal is share news about our beloved sport of Road Rally across North America — be they sanctioned by the SCCA , PCA , BMW , Furrin Group , Cascade Sports Car Club , or any of the many local marque clubs or as community events! Please checkout our growing list of Road Rally events across North America !

Please send us news of your upcoming event dates and promotional materials to share, so as to make fellow road rally enthusiasts aware of your events . And post event — send your write-ups and photos to share news of the adventure! You can send information to Cheryl Lynn by clicking here !
Driftless Challenge National Rally

Road Rally w/ SCCA - Land O' Lakes Region - Road Rally on Saturday, March 21, 2020 at Baldwin WI, Baldwin, WI - 2020 Driftless Challenge National Rally NEWS We have added the Prolog Divisional Tour on Friday the 20th. The rally will start Friday...

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www.motorsportreg.com
TSD Rally School

Road Rally w/ SCCA - Detroit Region on Saturday, March 21, 2020 at Captain Joe's Grill and Chill, Whitmore Lake, MI - Detroit Region SCCA presents the 2020 Road Rally School Saturday, March 21, 2019, 8:30 AM - 4 PM, registration at 8:30 AM sharp! ...

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www.motorsportreg.com
Smuncher's Attic by Bruce Gezon
SCCA Misery Bay Region Loves Company in the '60's!
Many of you know that Bruce Gezon has been active in our sport of road rally for quite sometime and that he holds some wonderful archives in his collections. He has won many National Championships (can you find him in the photos below "without" reading the descriptions?), and he continues to be active in competiton across SCCA Course, Tour and GTA National Championships, as well as Rallymaster of local events in PA.

Along with this submission, Bruce wrote: This would be very appropriate for inclusion along with the Memorial to Les Walter . The letter from Cousin Sadie is from the first Divisional Rally put on by the fairly new Misery Bay Region. Sixty-four cars entered. Les Walter finished Third in Class A and Overall, driving his Corvair with Ed Frankesh , Navigator.
All of us here at the home office enjoy the history of Smuncher's Attic , as well as studying the photos — habits, styles of dress and haircuts! We hope you do too!

I am always in awe when we are reminded that Ford had a Road Rally Team of Mustangs. Bruce even commented in his email to us that "not many photos of the Ford Rally Team Mach I even exist."

Bob Contich Volkswagen was the sponsor for the the Misery Bay Region rally.
News Has Reached Our Shore...
Lester R Walter • 1934-2020
Les Walter passed away February 2, 2020. Friends and family gathered for a gravesite ceremony at the Glenwood Cemetery in Wheeling, WV on February 9th. 

He was born August 17th, 1934, and grew up in Elm Grove, WV. He graduated from Triadelphia High School in 1952, and went on to the University of Cincinnati, graduating in 1957 as a Mechanical Engineer.

He joined the Northern Ohio Valley Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in January of 1960. He became Regional Executive (RE) for several terms when it was basically a rally club. Not long after, working for Koppers Co, in Pittsburgh, he joined the SCCA Steel Cities Region . There he became Treasurer, which caused some to object to his possible conflict of interest while serving on both Region Boards. He later served as RE of the Steel Cities Region for two terms, one of which lead to them being recognized as the Best SCCA Medium Region (of over 100 Regions).

In the early 1960s, he raced an Austin Healey 3000, in addition to running many rallies, some as a Rallymaster. Later, as the Steel Cities rally program shrunk, he joined the Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Car Club , which is still an active rally club. Later yet, he joined the Western Pennsylvania Corvair Club , ultimately buying a nicely restored 1969 500 Coupe.

This tribute was written by Don C Baker , who wrote this post-script, “Les and I have been buddies through most of this. I, and many, will truly miss Lester R Walter.”
David Panas passed away on January 20, 2020. Dave was a member of the SCCA Northern New Jersey Region since 1963 and was recognized as a leader in SCCA. 
Dave Panas 1939 • 2020

From his obituary: David M. Panas, 80, of Oakland, NJ, passed away January 20, 2020. He was born in Peekskill, NY, on April 30, 1939, the son of Walter and Ula (Henery) Panas, raised in Shrub Oak, NY, and lived in Oakland for 58 years.

David leaves behind his loving wife of 58 years and life-long friend since 4th grade, Ileana Lenore (Bartholomew) Panas, his daughters and their husbands – Susan and Galen Clark of Prospect, KY, Sharon and Jorge Mascaró of West Milford, NJ, and his grandchildren, Matthew and Helen Clark, and Jorge and Antonio Mascaró.

David was a graduate of Lakeland High School, Mohegan Lake, NY. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, NY, in 1959 with a BS in Civil Engineering. Upon graduation David began a career in engineering with Public Service Electric and Gas of NJ. He was a design engineer working in the Northern Division.  
He enjoyed a successful career at PSE&G, with over 43 years of service as an engineer in the Gas Division, starting in July 1959. Dave retired as a Senior Engineer in June 2003 after having worked in the Pompton, Clifton, Hackensack and Newark offices. He would often proudly point out places in NJ where his work was reflected.

The purchase of his first sports car, a 1960 Triumph TR3, began Dave’s lifelong passion for sports cars and all things auto racing. He was a member of the Jersey Sports Car Club in the 1960’s, participating in field trials and rallies. In 1964, he was instrumental in developing the JSCC Monte Carlo All Night Rally . Dave earned many Best Time of Day trophies in his TR3 and TR4. Later, a chance drive in a Formula Vee resulted in a change from solo driving to road racing.

Dave joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1963 and became a life member fifty years later, in 2013. Over the years, as an active member of the Northern New Jersey Region (NNJR), he served in many capacities - rally car driver, race driver, grid, flagger, tech, competition chair, Regional Executive, operating steward, chief steward, and National Chief Steward. David will be remembered for his passion for auto racing. He was well-known and respected in the SCCA racing community and was a tireless supporter of both SCCA Club and Pro Racing. 

In addition to his commitment to auto racing, during the late 70’s and early 80’s, Dave enjoyed bobsledding at Lake Placid, NY. Licensed to pilot a 2-man sled from the top of the mile run, Dave spent many winter weekends at the Olympic bobsled venue, pursuing speed on the ice.

Ice racing with friends in an old banged-up Fiat, brought Dave to frozen lakes in upstate New York and Pennsylvania for days of winter competition. Besides his quest of speed, Dave was an avid NY Giants football fan and was a season ticket holder for 30 years. He also followed the NJ Devils hockey team and held season tickets for many years.  

Handy at home, Dave enjoyed tackling home projects, tending his lawn, and even building rock walls. He enjoyed music and played the saxophone from elementary school through college. His interest in photography resulted in thousands of slides of car racing.

The memorial for Dave will be held on Saturday March 14, at 1pm at Ponds Reformed Church, 341 Ramapo Valley Rd, Oakland, NJ 07426.
From RReNews – Dave and Lenore were supporters of mine from day one. I don't know at which Convention we first met, yet each year we had our "reunion." I know many SCCA members across America from competitions, my service to SCCA, and training. I missed the Panas' at Las Vegas this year, yet learned of Dave's passing on Monday. This is the second year in a row that sad news arrived during the Convention; last year was Steve McKelvie.

I was always greeted with, "Hi, Kid! How's it going up North!" There was always a reminder that I should reach out to him if there were anything he could do to help me with SCCA. I regret that my family's travels never made it to the East Coast, to visit their home and the extended "welcome anytime" offer.

From members of my family, legends from the silver screens I have grown up with, and members of my motorsports "framily" — my life shall be dramatically altered in these next ten years. I am grateful for the opportunites and support of my family for me to travel. It has allowed me to many life long friends along the way.

Now, if I could only get time travel to work — wouldn't it be great to go back in time and run a rally with 189 cars! The camaraderie, the cars, the adventure...CL
Bruce Gezon, our Smuncher's Attic sent this along with news of Dave Panas' passing —
The 1969 Jersey 500 National Rally , a Northern New Jersey Region fixture during that era, was a bit different than any recently encountered championship events. There are some interesting goings-on that I hope you find as entertaining as I do and did back when. 

The entry list brings back many additional names from the past and present: Mel Leeds , Gerry Greitzer , Mark & Brooke Miner , John & Connie Burns , Jack & Renee O’Leary , John Buffum , Jim & Sue Sinclair , Frank Didot , Moishe Mark . 

Those of you who run the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre will certainly recognize a couple of folks. Maybe Northern New Jersey Region can once again offer a championship rally just like the good ole’ days.

Here is a article on the Jersey 500, which had 55 cars entered, ran October 10-12th!
Wise words from Dave Panas
From his December 2013 Column on the Northern New Jersey Website...

Seeing that the Region has the Teddy Bear Rally upcoming, I thought I’d let you know about the time when NNJR actually participated in the National Rally scene. 

For several years before and after 1963 NNJR conducted the  Jersey 500 Rally . The ’63 event was run over three days and did account for around 500 miles of rallying. The first car was flagged off at 2 PM on Friday, July 12. 44 cars started. The Friday course accounted for about 150 of the 500 mile event and had a total of 10 checkpoints. Participants included Hank Mann , the National Rally Board Chairman, and Stew Blodgett , the official SCCA Observer. This stellar duo took Friday’s 2 nd  place behind a couple from Springfield, Virginia.

The Saturday route of approximately 250 miles jumbled the Friday’s scores with several highly placed Friday teams suffering major checkpoint penalties. The Virginia couple still led and our erstwhile Nat’l Rally Board runners dropped to the bottom of the top ten.

The Saturday route took the contestants to northwest Jersey for a buffet lunch at the Newtonian Inn in Newton. Supposedly the meatballs were a hit, as was the lemonade stop in mid afternoon. The afternoon run took the cars along the country roads of Sussex and Warren counties. A comment from the time said that “the roads there are fast, lightly traveled and offer unequaled conditions for rallying in the ‘prompt’ manner.”

The final 100 miles were run on Sunday morning. The Rallymaster designed a regularity run with loops. The three days runs were appropriately titled “Straights, Curves, and Circles”. Apparently that was enough to trip up enough folks that the results were scrambled again!

Part of the enjoyment of the event was the FREE gas and oil provided by Gulf! Two of their representatives were on hand to lend whatever assistance they could and had more fun than some of the contestants. One even rode in the sweep car. AND, they also provided lighter fluid, household oil (sewing machine oil) and sewing kits for distribution. [I hope that didn’t affect their local gas prices.]

Representing the NNJR were the novice class winners, Dave and Mary Latto . First Novice and Seventh overall. For being the closest of all predicting the final score, the winner, Jo Murray , was presented with a Heuer watch, compliments of that company. 

It should be noted that the Course Marshall for the event was Roger Bohl , a name that became familiar in National rallying circles for years to come, as were the second place overall winners, Dennis and Sally Anne Koelmel . It should be noted that the Koelmels drove for the Renault factory rally team in 1962, and in ‘63 are part of the Chrysler rally team.

As an aside, in approximately this same time period the Jersey Sport Car Club also ran rallies and started the Jersey Monte Carlo Rally. I was part of the team of four that put on this rally for nine years. It was simply a one-speed (thirty mph) drive of about 10 hours driving duration with two hours of rest stops built in. All you had to do was follow the orange line marked on an Esso (before it became Exxon) map of NJ. Of course it was conducted on the most moonless Saturday night we could find in February. At its peak it attracted 189 cars – believe it or not. 

I only mention this because many years later when I was working as a Steward at our Mother’s Day double Regional race at Pocono, there was a knock on the trailer door that we were using for race Control, and someone asked for me. Turns out it was Dennis Koelmel saying “hi” after all those years and commenting on what a wonderful rally the Monte was. 

Connections, connections…..
A Question for Penelope Pitstop! What is your Answer?
Update: Thank you to those that replied. We understand the SCCA RRB is working on this as well, and we must delay our post to you. We regret we don't have the reply for this edition.

We have read that the Sports Car Club of America is eager and interested in co-sanctioning Road Rally events with local car clubs, and we are trying to learn what arrangements the two clubs share! We are hoping we can reach quite a few of you to learn the best means to do this.

Does our club need to be a 501C documented club? We have learned that we need SCCA Members to serve as Rallymaster and Road Rally Safety Steward, and we can wrangle that requirement.

Do you share the entry fees? And then the non-SCCA club is responsible for trophies and promotion? Does the SCCA Region retain all the entry fees and pay all expenses for promotion and trophies? We understand there would be co-branding and, of course, we would be fine with that.

Before we contact a local region, we are hoping to learn how other clubs are working together across America. Road Rally eNews suggested we ask the question in their rag, as it would give them another article for an upcoming piece, so here we are!

From RReNews — It has been quite sometime since we have had a Penelope Pitstop question. Can you help us out with how your club works with an SCCA Region? Or perhaps your Region works with a local car club? Send your reply and we'll post up the various suggestions in February! Click here and send your reply today!
2020 SCCA RoadRally Championships
The SCCA RoadRally competition season is based on a calendar year – January to December. As promised, RReNews publishes the standings for the SCCA National Road Rally Championships from Bruce Gezon , Points Keeper.

We want to thank Bruce for being faithful to RReNews and for providing the Standings so timely each month!

For 2020, we have the 2019 Course Standings. These will remain until the first Course Rally of 2020. The Manufacturer Championship may be viewed here .
2020 SCCA Course Championship
2020 SCCA Tour Championship
2020 SCCA GTA Championship
SCCA Matters — Words from the Wheel RoadRally Convention News, 2020 Insurance Updates, Rally Planning Calendar, RRB Minutes, SCCA Natl News
Words from the Wheel • News from the RoadRally Department
A reminder that SCCA Waivers must be printed in black and red (which is easily handled by requesting the current form from your Region or the National Office prior to your events), and they must have the proper header information filled-in before participants sign them.

Rallymasters and Organizers may download the latest Sanction and Audit forms for their 2020 events from the SCCA website. Much time has been put in to updating the pdf-forms so that they are fillable-forms for easy electronic submission and processing at the National Office. Please be aware of the minimum sanctioning lead times to avoid filing penalties or perhaps even a date shift of your event.

We have received notice of the new 2020 Insurance information and Sanctioning Fees from SCCA National. You may download them below for the Participant Accident Coverage, Program Event Fees, and General Liability Summary for your upcoming events.
Participant Accident Coverage
Program Event Fees
General Liability Summary
SCCA National Convention – Las Vegas • January 16-18th, 2020
Road Rallyists Score Major Awards

The annual SCCA Convention was held in Las Vegas January 18-20, 2020 and there were numerous awards presented that are of interest to the RoadRally community.

Detroit rally legend Scott Harvey was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame. Scott’s storied rally career began in the 1950s and he has been extremely successful as both a rally competitor and an organizer.  Here’s a link to further information.

The  SCCA Member of Excellence Award  was presented to  Rich Bireta  of the Kansas Region and Kansas City Regions for his innovative contribution of creating the Richta GPS Checkpoint app timing system. Selected by SCCA’s Board of Directors, this award is presented to the volunteer who shows the greatest commitment to SCCA activities. The recipient can be involved in Solo, Rally and/or Road Racing. This person personifies the SCCA volunteer who gives of his/her time and effort to help organize, work in a specialty or any volunteer role necessary to a motorsports event. This award provides a $5000 travel voucher to attend any motorsport event in the world.

The  Robert V. Ridges Memorial Award  was presented to  Bruce Fisher  of the Detroit Region for his long service in support of Road Rallies, especially for his 20 years of serving as Rallymaster for the Press On Regardless Rally .

The  Regional RoadRally Achievement Award  was presented to  New England Region  for their successful and diverse Road Rally season that included John Buffum’s Winter Challenge Rally , Gary Hamilton’s three day Great American Mountain Rally Revival , Jon Lamkin’s Hurdle National GTA , and numerous other rallies. Scott Beliveau accepted the award.

The  Divisional RoadRally Achievement Award  was presented to Central Division for their pioneering efforts to introduce GPS checkpoint timing systems. Jason Frank , Milwaukee Region’s Regional Executive, accepted the award.

The Best New Regional RoadRally Program Award was presented to Susquehanna Region . Kristen Poole accepted the award.

The  W. David Teter Award for Best National Tour Rally of the Year went to  Land O’Lakes Region’s MOWOG Winter Rally . MOWOG was the first National rally to use GPS checkpoint timing. Kate Westberg – Chair, Clarence Westberg – Rallymaster.

The  Arthur J. Gervais Award for Best National Course Rally of the Year went to  Milwaukee Region’s Roads Scholar Rally . Jim Crittenden – Chair and Rallymaster.
Congratulations to all the award winners, and thanks to all of the folks at SCCA for for hosting a very successful convention.
Rich Bireta, the SCCA Member of Excellence 2019, with his award. After the Welcome Reception closed, celebrating with some of his road rally family. Click the photo above to view a video of SCCA President Mike Cobb making the presentation. Congratulations to all of the award members above for the recognition of their efforts.
National Events Committee from Michael Thompson, Co-Chair

So, what's the National Events Committee been up to other than waiting for winter to end and the 2020 National RoadRally Championship season to begin?
 
Well, here goes. Jim Wakemen has completed a list of sanction exceptions that you will need if you intend to use a GPS-based timing system (MiRally or Richta GPS Checkpoints) on a National or Divisional event. It is currently in draft form, yet if you would like a copy of the list, contact Jim by email by clicking here .
 
Do any of you remember, as an organizer of a National or Divisional rally, the 2lb "packet" of paper you used to receive from the SCCA? With the onset of paper reduction and electronic forms, the need for that "packet" has long since disappeared. As well it should.
 
One of the good things the "packet" did was to offer a single repository for any rally-related form known to mankind that an organizer could want. And, as we all know, we demand lots of them. Those forms are still there, available for downloading and printing. But how do you find them? They reside in varying locations, depending on which form you need. I'm not going to delve into where to look here. For the time being, you are on your own.
 
What I can tell you is that Jim Heine and I (so far it's been mainly Jim) are working on a project to gather links to these forms and put them into an EOP (Electronic Organizer Packet) where a single click will give organizers access to all of those forms. And, as you well know, RoadRally has a form for everything. I can’t say when, or if, this will come to fruition. But, we’re working on it.

That’s AZICIT on February 12, 2020
Mike Thompson , Co-Chair
Road Rally Planning Calendar from Jeanne English
Straight from the West Coast, we have the most current Road Rally Planning Calendar produced by English and is built with formally sanctioned SCCA RoadRally events, calendared events and even a few in the "maybe" category! Click here to download your copy.

Contact information for English can be found on the calendar.
SCCA RoadRally Board Minutes
Logo Road Rally
From the Home Office in Jewel Lake...
Just a short note this month, as we had the lead-in piece which is not a space we usually snitch to write our words. We hope that you have gotten this far! As we wrote at the start — this was a full issue of road rally news, views and how-tos!

Thank you for your time.
Here is to a Healthy New Year for All of Us!
Safe travels,
Cheryl Lynn and the RReNews Clan
#comeroadrally #wefoundtheroads
From our Facebook Page —
We posted up that we would send a tee shirt to the first post on the Road Rally Enews Facebook page with the correct name of the road rally at which this photo was taken!

That was posted January 21st, yet no correct answer yet. Anyone here have the answer? The first correct answer (by the date of emails) will be sent a vintage rally shirt!

RReNews
Are you navigating around RReNews okay? We don't want to presume that all of you know that a red/green links ( send your event listing to us ) mean "click" to open a document, website, or email. Did you give the event listing link a click?

A reminder to all that while we have produced RReNews in association with the Sports Car Club of America since 2013, our effort is to provide a community for all Road Rally on North America — independent car clubs, community events, and marque clubs — which SCCA has supported as it brings awareness to the sport for all.

To those of you receiving this edition as your first Road Rally eNews , welcome to our motorsports family! We are a collaborative effort. Should you be a Rallymaster, please send in your information months out (as soon as you have the details 'n date), send photos 'n standings 'n post-event write-ups! Rallyists write your experiences, write of a method or style of rallying, contribute to our There is an App for That, My First Road Rally (as competitor or Rallymaster). Join us and be a part of this road rally community!

Rumor is we may have a new column in 2020, which may be called Starr Maps ? Stay tuned.
Where's Waldo? Or his equally adventurous sibling, who was our on a road rally?
As a Rallymaster, it is always a pleasant surprise to find an event decal — in print or out on the road. We were delighted to see that the Triumph TR6, owned by Checkpoint Worker David Bathke , made it to the 2020 calendar of the BSCA calendar — makes us smile to see the Mayday Mayday Road Rally name alive!

Anyone else have an "I Spy" of an old rally decal or bumper sticker? Send it in for an upcoming edition. I mean, what are the chances there is a photo of the United States Road Rally Challenge on a Surburban in Baja?!? Right?
‌
It's Here, so Let's Use It!
We encouraged all of you to start using the #comeroadrally hashtag in your posts about rallying. One reader wrote to ask what that meant and how it could help! It is a means to easily find information on the internet for common causes. Perhaps you have attended a seminar, wedding, or motorsport event where they have asked you to use a hashtag in your posts? Hashtag is # for those unfamiliar. So should you enter #comeroadrally into your browser, you may find a similar page such as this where you can find articles, images and more about road rally (and a few oddities beyond)!

Does it REALLY Matter?
We wondered too, so we pulled the hashtag to see what was there! Trust us when we say we did some searches before selecting #comeroadrally years back, learning not all links for road rally took roads we wanted to travel, ha!

By simply putting in #comeroadrally in our search window on our web browser, we found a page in Twitter, Instagram, links for www.comeroadrallywith.us, and google had these images which have links for road rally too:
Road Rally eNews, produced in association with the Sports Car Club of America, since 2013