Region News

2020-12-06 - TeddyBearRally

For the past 30 years, NNJR-SCCA has been hosting this annual event. Over $25,000 in toys have been donated to the United States Marine Corp Reserve toy drive since the 1st Teddy Bear Rally in 1990. Per the Sports Car Club of America National Office, NNJR-SCCA's Toys for Tots road rally is the longest continually run charity event conducted by the SCCA.

 

This year's event will be a sixty mile/three hour Novice orientated course rally. It will utilizes written instructions and photo clues to determine the trophy winners.

 

This is not a timed event, your score will be determine by your ability to follow the course correctly and identify the scenes depicted in the photo clues.

 

No hard to see or tricky questions to answer.

 

 

COVID-19 Precautions

Social Distance must be practiced at all times.

Route Instruction will be emailed in advance, so you can print them at home.

Masks must be worn while outside of your car.

Registration will be conducted outside, the Dealership will be open in order to use their facilities and collect the toys

For those that do not wish to stay for the awards, awards will be mailed.

 

The entry fee is a new stuffed animal or unwrapped toy of $35.00 value or greater. While stuffed animals will be accepted in 2020, unwrapped toys are preferred.

 

 

On-Line Registration Link

 

Starting at:   Route 46 Subaru

364 Route 46

Hackettstown (Budd Lake), NJ 07840

 

Sunday December 6, 2020

Registration: 10:30 AM

First Car Off: 12:01 PM

 

 

Toys for Tots

2020-10-02 - Petersen “Pebble Beach” Virtual Concours

 Petersen “Pebble Beach” Virtual Concours 2020: Psychedelic, But Not a Hallucination

Since 1988 the 2^nd weekend in August almost invariably finds me spaced out on the Monterey Peninsula in California for the Pebble Beach classic car weekend. Warning, once you start this habit, you too may be hooked. Alas, this year the fear of a pandemic resulted in the cancellation of all the enthusiast events: the Monterey Historic Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca; the Concorso Italiano, the Legends of the Autobahn, the Quail Gathering; and last but not least the legendary Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance, which attracts the finest classic cars from around the world. As the word got out I started to experience withdrawal symptoms: insomnia, loss of appetite, generalized apathy.

Fortunately, the Petersen Automobile Museum leadership came to the rescue. They had a splendid idea, why not hold a virtual Monterey Car Week with videos of great cars submitted for online versions of the wonderful events which have had me coming back to Pebble for more than 30 years. Topping off the new schedule was the Petersen’s “Pebble Beach” Virtual Concours, judged by an international panel of experts and motoring celebrities. I could get my classic car fix, after all.

The Petersen Virtual Concours concluded on Sunday night, August 16^th, after some 100 classic car contestant videos were aired online, over a period of six hours. Yes I sat it out, riveted to my computer screen, for the whole time. It was quite an experience. The competition was intense in nine classes and included, inter alia, prewar Packard, Horsch, Peugeot; coach built Alfa Romeos, Delahayes, Ferraris and Maserati’s. Twenty-seven trophies were awarded. Only one Mercedes-Benz automobile came away with silverware this year. You can imagine my delight when I inform you that the starship which was rewarded with distinction at this international event was a 1965 Finback 190Dc. My fingers are trembling on the keyboard as I announce that it is an un-restored white Diesel with a history of one family ownership from new and it resides in a barn in Hopewell, New Jersey!

I had always dreamt that the Mercedes which my father purchased new when I was a sophomore in high school would someday be recognized in the Pebble Beach context. Who could have imagined that the corona virus debacle and the monstrous lockdown would result in my car participating in the Petersen “Pebble Beach” Virtual Concours and taking home a trophy? My beloved old steed was announced the 2^nd place winner in the “special significance” class, behind the class winning 1910 Thomas Flyer. Best of show went to a 1937 Horch Sport Cabriolet. Within 72 hours, a solid crystal trophy arrived at my place, delivered by FedEx. What a trip!

If you are up to watching six hours of splendid motorcar madness follow this link:

https://www.petersen.org/petersen-car-week

If you want to see one jubilant compression ignition aficionado and the object of his affection, just drive on over to Falkenhorst Farm in Hopewell, New Jersey.

John Kuhn Bleimaier

September 21, 2020

2020-10-02 - “Second Hand Roads”

Northern New Jersey Region
“Second Hand Roads”
By Peter Schneider& Dave Panas

On September 13th, NNJR hosted a Novice-orientated Time-Speed-Distance Rally utilizing the Richta App GPS Scoring System.

Second Hand Roads, the title of the event, harkens back to an event by the rallies Co-Host Raritan Valley Sports Car Club, who has sanctioned both Q&A Gimmick/GTA and Time-Speed-Distance events since the 60s. RVSCC was also the driving force behind NNJR's Pine Barren Express TSD rally, which ran for ten years in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. PBX was a brisk event that lasted way into the night and utilized tulip instructions and the State Forest System's sand trails.

Second Hand Roads in the old day got its name based on the fact it would recycle old trophies and commonly used rally roads.The Region brought the event back to life in 2018 and plans on conducting the event for many years to come.

While most people think of NNJR as a Region that presents Gimmick/GTA rallies and as host of the annual USMC Toys for Tots Charity event, most people are unaware the Region has a long history in road rally, which goes back to the 50s. By the way, the Toys for Tots Teddy Bear Rally, which has run for 30 years, is the longest-running charity event sanctioned by SCCA.

I thought I’d let you know about the time when NNJR actually participated in the National Rally scene—

Back in 2013, Dave Panas wrote, "For several years before and after 1963, NNJR conducted theJersey 500 National Rally. The ’63 event was run over three days and did account for 500 miles of rallying. The first car was flagged off at 2 PM on Friday, July 12th. 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 2ndplace behind a couple from Springfield, Va.

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 midafternoon. 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 day 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! (these were the days of corporate sponsorship) 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 were part of the Chrysler rally team.

As an aside, in approximately this same time period, the Jersey Sports Car Club also ran rallies and started theJersey Monte CarloRally. Dave Panas 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, in the snow and the scale of the map was 5.2 miles per inch. At its peak it attracted 189 cars "believe it or not.”

Back in 1990, NNJR presented two Nationals. The tour event was One Lap of New Jersey/Roads of Home. When the National Course Championship Series was on the verge of extinction, unless a fifth National event could be added to the calendar, NNJR stepped up to the plate by placing the New Jersey Monte Map Rally on the schedule. I was the Rallymaster/RallyChair for both events.With proper planning, the New Jersey Monte Course Rally will return in 2021, in conjunction with an event hosted by Jim Wakemen of South Jersey SCCA.

Our Second Hand Roads in 2020 was a straight forward tour event with mileage to every instruction and speeds at or below the posted limits. New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation and is known for the Garden State Parkway (What Exit?) and the New Jersey Turnpike. Those that know the area understand that once you get away from the Industrial region (think The Sopranos) that stretches diagonally from New York City to Philadelphia — the state is very rural. As a matter of fact, there are more racehorses in New Jersey than Kentucky.

The route started in Hackettstown, NJ, 50 miles due east of Manhattan. After a 30-minute Odometer Leg that finished in Allamuchy Township, the township's name comes from the Native American word "Allamachetey," meaning "place within the hills," the timed portion of the event began.

The rally was broken up into three sections, totaling 23 timed checkpoints and six restarts.

In the first section, contestants were told the location and exact time to pass the checkpoints. The exact mileage at the controls was provided in the second section, but not the time to arrive. And the third section all checkpoints were "hidden" so they could get a real feel of TSDing, by trying to stay "on time - all the time."

Each checkpoint was timed to the 1/10th of a second. Local volunteers were on hand at the Start, end of the Odometer Leg, and during two breaks, to address any questions that the participants had that might help them during the rest of the event.

Unlike South Jersey, which is on the Coastal Plain and as flat as a pancake, the northwestern portion of the state, known as the Highlands, has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard. It's not the Canadian Rockies, but it provides elevation changes that permit several "hill climbs," allowing several strategically placed checkpoints. There were no "got you" locations, but you had to be on your toes to get a good score.

Since the event was designed to attract newcomers to the sport, the entire 30 car field ran in a modified Seat of Pants class, which allowed GPS odometers, but no calculating apps or rally computers. The Route Instructions were emailed out two days in advance of the rally for social distancing at the Start. This also allowed teams to practice their math and compare their calculations to the Official Key Times. Over 70% of the instructions had Key Times provided, and the Route Instructions had a separate column so the Navigators could write in their arrival time at each Route Instruction. Speed Changes, Pauses, and Key Times (HH:MM:HH) each had their own column, and in addition to Overall Mileage from the last restart, every instruction had a Delta Mileage.

To entice new entrants to the sport of TSD Rallying, the entry fee was $10.00 per car (a $25.00 discount from the usual $35.00 fee). Veterans and Active Duty Military were free. Anyone who went on the Regions' August "Barnstorming Rally," which had 100% of the entry fee donated to AAUW, also received a free entry to Second Hand Roads. As an added incentive, the first ten "first timers" to register received a copy of Clint Goss's "Road Rally Hand Book" included with their entry fee — a $24.95 value. The NNJR Board fully supports the Region’s RoadRally Program, and runs the program as a member service and recruiting effort.

Class Awards were based on the level of TSD/Rally Experience in four classes: Expert, Intermediate, Novice, and First Timer. Special awards were presented for best-placingfinishes: Best BMW CCA, Best Subaru, Best SCCA Member, Best PCA Member,Best Family, Best Husband & Wife/Partners, and the Dead Last But Finished team.

To promote the event, we utilized both the Northern New Jersey and New York Region email lists, which reached over 5,500 enthusiasts. We also did an extensive Facebook advertising campaign and a local radio program interview with Bill Von Suskil on WVLT 92.1FM from Vineland, NJ. Jim Wakemen, Rich Bireta, and I were interviewed on The Racing Line and discussed many topics about RoadRally, including details aboutNNJR's Second Hand Roads Rallyand the Richta App. You can download and listen to the entire hour program here:Link

Two Lessons-Learned came out of putting on our first event with the Richta App:

1) Place the Start Location GPS location closer to the Registration Table. While making sure the Richta Contestant App was up and running and was receiving a signal, I had to walk a hundred plus feet to get a "ping." By moving the location closer, I could save time and shoe leather.
2) While ralliests are familiar with Key Times in hundreds of a minute, people new to the sport are not, so add a column with Key Times in Seconds.

The Region would like to thank Lynn and Brian Beckmann for working Registration, Bob Shore for his RoadRally Safety Steward check of the route, and Mike Szorentini for assisting with mini one-on-one Novice training sessions. As well, Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D'Souza, who ran the event three times while fine turning his own App that they use running the Unequipped Class on National events, this aided them to their Class win at the 2020 Press on Regardless. Thanks to Joanne Schneider for spending many hours on the route and helping with all the prep-work and rally day event activities.

And lastly, a big shout out to Rich and Dave Bireta for developing the RichtaApps and all those that tested/used the App before my event making sure it worked perfectly for Second Hand Roads. The newly implemented Rallymaster version 1.25, which allowed for TA overrides by the Rallymaster to help the Novice Teams who did not understand Time Allowance process, worked flawlessly.

2020-10-01 - DeLuca Story 1977

DELUCA STORY-1977

By Ed Sain -South Jersey SCCA

A long, long time ago, Joe DeLuca and I were rally partners (in college and beyond). We competed at various times as I remember with the Jeep (rolled and Joe later ended up in the hospital with a cracked sternum), turbocharged red Mercury Capri (no dents), green Fiat (ditch in Connecticut-another story) and Dodge Colt (lots of stuff). I recently came across the NNJR-SCCA website and the tribute to Joe and his cartoons.

(click to enlarge)

It brought back some memories and I thought I would share my 1977 DeLuca cartoon and the story behind it. I believe the cartoon was published in the GRASS (Greater Rockaway Auto Sport Society) newsletter although I am not positive.

In any event, the story….

Joe and I had entered the Silver Anniversary edition of the MG1000- a four-day event that included Canada (travel restrictions were non-existant back then in 1977). Joe showed up at my parent’s house in West Orange (I was living in Bristol, PA at the time) with the race ready Dodge Colt—Joe having installed some roll bars and a fuel cell in the trunk since he used to take the car to Lime Rock. He also told me the emergency brake system had some issues and did not work as we discussed the forthcoming car safety inspection at the event. Joe had four spare tires in the back seat making our ability to put luggage in the car problematic. I finally convinced Joe that two spare tires would be enough and we would have room for the luggage. We did have a CB radio in the car as well.

Not sure how, but Joe got the Colt through the safety inspection without a functional emergency brake.

I recall it being the second (or third) day of the event when things started to get interesting. We were running a little late on the back roads in Ontario when we picked up an OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) due to the volume of rally traffic in the area. The OPP car followed us for a while and eventually dropped back due to the dust being raised on the dirt road (remember this is a hot August afternoon). Once we lost the OPP car, Joe picked up the pace as we were now running even later. Lo and behold, we take a left-hand curve and there is a farmer with a pitchfork standing in the middle of the road—so Joe takes the car off the road on my side, we bang up against a fence, bounce out into the road behind the farmer and press on! A mile down the road, the right rear goes flat and we go into tire change mode (we had actually practiced changing a tire quickly). As we have the car jacked up, the OPP car pulls in behind us. Joe tells the officer “It’s just a flat and we are OK”. The officer then asks us whether we know anything about a car damaging the farmer’s fence. Fortunately, Joe’s car was a little banged up and rusty so it was not obvious we were the culprits. We denied any knowledge of the fence as we changed the tire and the officer was distracted by the next couple of rally cars blasting by us—and he went after those cars.

We go a couple of more miles and the right front tire goes flat. No problem—we brought two spares and use the second one. Now I am glad we brought two spares!!

Later that afternoon, Joe tells me the brakes are getting spongy and we need a better count downs to the turns. He starts using the gearbox to downshift to slow the Colt down so we can make the necessary turns. Fortunately, we only had to do this for about an hour before finishing the timed section. During the transit route to the hotel, Joe tells me the brakes are completely gone. We get on the CB and tell the surrounding rally cars about our brake problem and to give us some extra roomas we headed to the Holiday Inn in Kingston, Ontario.

We got into the traffic congestion of downtown Kingston and, believe it or not, we jumped out of the car a couple of times and leaned against the car doors to stop at traffic lights. Unfortunately, we got caught in a situation where we were going relatively fast and got caught in a situation requiring a fast stop—which we were unable to do. In true Joe fashion, he drove up onto the sidewalk to avoid the cars ahead of us and we drove along the sidewalk (and just like in the movies—the pedestrians stepped aside) and eventually come back to into the street.
We make it to the Holiday Inn parking and evaluate the car. We have a bent axle and a broken brake line on the right rear (guess the fence hurt more than we originally thought). We go to work on fixing the car—with a fellow rallyist taking Joe out to a junk yard for the replacement axle part, fix the broken brake line, bleed the brakes and all fixed up. We took some heat from the Holiday Inn management for taking up extra car spaces and working on the car overnight.

In the morning, we are all set and are almost ready to go. I tell Joe, based on yesterday’s events, we are not leaving town without at least one functional spare tire. We go over to a gas station, explain our situation, and the mechanic drops what he is doing and fixes one of the tires. We are now running late and have to haul ass through the transit zone to make it the TSD re-start on time. Good thing it was long enough for us to catch up.

Later that day, we are traveling on a one lane dirt road and come across a tracked excavator coming toward us. With no other choice, we pull way off the road to allow the excavator to get by and get back on the road. A short time later (in another transit zone), another tire goes flat—so we use our last good spare again to continue the event.

We never did get the 1000 cup for being within a minute during the four-day event—but what an adventure. Joe got me home and picked up the two spare tires left behind and I went home to tell my wife about the MG1000 story!!

The cartoon was Joe’s comments on how we handled the sidewalk excursion in Kingston.

I did visit the Flight 93 Memorial this past summer and got pretty emotional about it remembering Joe from the old days.

ed

2020-09-27 - NNJR on the radio!

2020-11-01 - NJ Highlands Car Trek

  
NJ Highlands Car Trek

GTA Social Rally

Sunday - November 1, 2020

Flyer

A sixty-five mile/three hour Novice orientated Tour/Trek of northwestern New Jersey, in association with the Highland Coalition. The route will feature the Morris Canal, a historic waterway dating back over 190 years, which eased the transportation of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to northern New Jersey's growing iron industry and other developing industries adopting steam power in New Jersey and the New York City area. The event will feature historic locations and the scenic roads of rural New Jersey the ‘Garden State’. No unpaved roads. There is a low entry fee of only $10.00 per person, two person per vehicle minim. All proceeds will be donated to the Highland Coalition.

2020-09 - 2021 Board of Trustee Elections

2020-09-13 - Second Hand Roads Rally

 

Results

 

 Final Leg Scores

Results 1      Results 2

Map

 

 

 

2020-08-22 - Barnstorming Navigational Rally

Barnstorming Navigational Flyer

Click on image to enlarge.

2020-08-15 - COVID-19 Guidelines

Northern New Jersey Region SCCA COVID-19 Operations Plan and Policies

2018-Solo Nationals

Over the past few weeks you might have overheard people talking about or seen an endless number of social media posts about the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals and wondered what it is all about.  To put it simply, and accordingly to Donour Sizemore, it is “THE autocross” in which cone avoiders from near and far converge on Lincoln AirPark in Nebraska to compete at the year-end Championships.  It is truly an impressive event that overshadows any of our local events at MetLife Stadium with its 1375 entries and four days of competition.

It is a little murky when it comes to counting how many NNJR members participated in this year’s event, so let’s just say there were a lot of familiar faces from Lot E.

All competitors were met with challenging conditions no matter which days they competed.  They were either affected by torrential downpours or changing conditions.  For a few unlucky ones, they even had to deal with car problems and an off-site accident that totally hampered their first Nationals experience.  I even witnessed a car self-disassemble while it was being trailered to Nebraska.  It was that wild!

Onto the good news, this was the year of many “firsts” for NNJR.  We had 11 first-time Nationals competitors (out of 23 officially registered under NNJR), 5 first-time trophy winners, and 2 first-time National Champions.

We would like to congratulate the following individuals on their achievements in the 2018 Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals:

2018 National Champions

Evan Schickel - D Street Prepared

This was Evan’s fourth trip to compete at Solo Nationals.  From 2015 to 2017, he competed in B Street and Super Street R driving Corvettes and finished in the trophies all three times.  This year, he picked up a ride in a 2002 BMW 330Ci that had just won the class in 2017.  Evan adapted to the car quickly, with only two events in the car, and was able to drop 1.4 seconds on his last run on Day 2 to clinch the title, beating the car’s owner in the process.  

Evan Schickel 2018 Solo Nationals West Winning Run

James Vincent Tatad - Street Touring Xtreme

This was James’s third trip to Lincoln.  His first trip to Nationals in 2016 was a last-minute decision, registering as a walk-up and hopping into an unfamiliar car.  In 2017, he finished at the 9th trophy spot, narrowly missing the win by only 0.9 seconds.  This year on Day 2, James took advantage of the tighter East Course to make up time, beating the second place RX-8 by 0.193 seconds.  Congratulations to the Tatad family, who have been by James’s side at every major event, most notably his father and crew chief Jose.  

James winning run

Trophy Winners

Austin Don (F Street 7^th Place)

Austin was on fire in 2018.  Having won both the NJ ProSolo and the Finger Lakes Champ Tour, he was on track to do some damage in his E92 M3 against the pony cars of F Street.  His 7^th Place finish is quite the accomplishment for his first Nationals appearance in a deep class.

Talha Sadhik (Street Touring Ultra 3^rd Place)

Talha bought a bunch of parts off another Evo X and built his daily driver in a short period of time at the beginning of the season.  He took the class FTD on Day 2 and sling-shotted himself up from 8th Place to the podium.  A very impressive performance indeed.

Gary Tsui (Super Street 4^th Place)

Gary piloted his GTR through torrential rains to a 2^nd Place position on Day 1 against a field of Porsches and a lone McLaren.  The drier conditions on Day 2 gave the advantage to the Porsches, but his 4^th Place finish less than 0.6 seconds behind the leader is quite the accomplishment.

Elias Roman (G Street 3^rd Place)

Elias made a last minute class change puts himself in a somewhat familiar car in G Street (the class of hot hatches). He led the class after Day 1 and was able to finish in the last podium spot.

Rich Wayne (E Street 15^th Place)

Rich was forced to find a ride in a hurry due to car issue.  Thanks to the generosity of fellow autocrossers, he found a seat in a Miata and finished 15th out of 60 drivers in a car that he has never driven before.

We do not wish to offend other regions by claiming the following trophy winners as NNJR members, but they have been attending our events long enough that NNJR has adopted them (or they have adopted NNJR).  Regardless of their region of record, we want to extend our recognition to the following people for their performances:

G.J. Dixon - SS 2nd

Amy Dilks - FP 2nd

Rich DiMarco - STS 8th

Elisabeth Flannagan - HSL 3rd

Ken Houseal - STS 10th

Joshua Lipman - SSR 7th

Jake Namer - SSM 6th

Randy Petschauer - SSP 6th

Pat Salerno - SS 5th

Eric Simmons - STX 7th

Daniel Stainback - SM 3rd

Tamra Hunt - DSP 2nd

Andrew Krystinik - DSP 5th

Samuel Krauss - STH National Champion

Regardless of the results, we hope everyone had a great time and commend you for making the trip to represent NNJR or your region.  If you did not attend this year, we hope to see you in 2019.

2018-05-NeDiv Council News

NeDiv Council News…………………….

Greetings from NeDiv. I’m Chris Mosley, the newly elected Chairman of the NeDiv Council. You may be wondering what is NeDiv? It stands for the Northeast Division of the SCCA. It is made up of the now, twenty two regions that range from Mahoning Valley region (on the Ohio border) to New England region (up to and including Maine) to the Washington DC region (and parts of Northern Virginia).  These are overseen by the NeDiv Council. The NeDiv Council Board for 2018 is Chaired by myself, Chris Mosley, our Treasurer, Kathy Barnes, Secretary Alan Kintz and Council members Jim Bucci and Bill Stewart.

So, what’s happening in the Northeast Division? This coming weekend is race weekend number two of the NeDiv Divisional Race Series at Palmer. I am also Chairman of the Divisional race program. It is an eight event race series aimed at giving the regional racers a meaningful Championship. The series also provides an alternative path to the SCCA Runoffs. There are events at seven of the best tracks the Northeast has to offer. Rules and the schedule for the series can be found on the NeDiv web site.

BREAKING NEWS…..It was just announced this week that the Susquehanna Region will host the 2018 Mini Con. It will be held in February of 2019 in the Hershey Pennsylvania area. Details will be announced as they become available.

If you have any questions or would like to contact a member of the Council, go to the NeDiv web site and you will find our contact information.

Chris Mosley, Council Chairman. Email – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2018-04-BoD Report

BoD Report, Program Boards April 2018 - By Bob Dowie

You haven’t heard from me for a while so I thought while we all waited patiently for spring I would talk some about how the Club functions at the national level to manage the programs. Many think the BoD makes the decisions but that isn’t really how it works. We’ll look at how they work and communicate with the membership.

When it comes to running the programs like road racing, solo, rally and rally cross those responsibilities lie with committees that are charged with making the decisions necessary to assure a safe, fair and desirable activity. Each of these committees have at least two liaisons from the BoD that listen in on the committees conference call to better understand what the membership asking for and to get a feel for how the programs are serving the membership. For this discussion I’ll focus on the Club Racing and Solo Events Board as they receive the lions share of member input and I’m most familiar with them. The other boards certainly appreciate input and if you would like to share your thoughts and opinions with the program leadership please send it in.

Each of the program boards have ad hoc committees that are responsible for their particular category, in some cases there are sub committees that take on the responsibility for a particular class. When a letter is submitted on SCCA.com to either the Club Racing or Solo Events board it goes to the appropriate committee first where they will discuss the issue and collect any incoming opinions on the subject and make what they feel is the best recommendation to the program committee. These recommendations could be in the form of a Tech Bulletin; this is a change that’s effective on the first of the month that the Fastrack is dated if no other effective date is included. These changes will generally include a specification change for one vehicle usually weight, air restrictor or tire size change hopefully making the car a better fit in the class.

Read more: 2018-04-BoD Report

Women On Track Leadership Team

Hello from Philadelphia Region's division of the national Women On Track Program. If you haven’t heard, Women On Track is a grassroots initiative spreading throughout the SCCA, started in 2018. We are trying to attract more women to motor sports at all levels, encourage camaraderie across 

 the disciplines of the SCCA within our regions, and do fun things outside of racing cars!

Philly Region Women On Track would like to partner with the Women On Track division in NNJR, or, if there has not been one established, invite women currently involved in NNJR SCCA to join our Region's Women on Track events. We plan to attend motor sports events throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region, and would love to be able to have women from NNJR join us.

I would like to keep you apprised of future events, so please feel free to join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/phillywot/, or feel free to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and you will be added to our email list.

I have included the link to our first event below; please feel free to share it with anyone interested. I know this first event is a bit far for most NNJR members, but we have plans for numerous events this year, some at NJMP.

https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/women-on-track-meet-greet-bertuccis-montgomeryville-scca-philadelphia-507147

We look forward to seeing NNJR members this season!

Rachel Leach

Women On Track Leadership Team member

2018 - Road Rally Announcement

Northern New Jersey Region – SCCA
January 2018 - Road Rally Announcement

During 2018 the Northern New Jersey Region is planning on conducting at least five events, including a rally to reintroduce Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallying to the area.

Since we have revitalized our program in 2016, we have limited our events to Question/Answer and mileage based navigational rallies.

Bob Shore is designing a simple straight forward TSD event to be conducted during last half of April or early May. This event will be scored on how well you can stay 'on-time'. We will have at least four timed controls. You just have to follow the route instructions and maintain the average speed listed in the instructions. The speeds will all be at or below the posted speed limits.

We will time you as you pass the controls. We will start off by telling you the location and exact time to pass the 1st two checkpoint. At the next control we will tell you the exact mileage to the control, but not the time to arrive, and fourth checkpoint will be 'hidden' along the route so you can get a real feel of TSDing, by trying to stay 'on time all the time'.

Each checkpoint will be timed to the 1/100th of a minute and there will be a short break between each 'Leg' and at the halfway point of the rally. At the half way point, we can address any questions you might have from running the 1st half of the event, to help you on the second half of the event.

We will keep you posted as the date and details of the event get finalized.

For anyone that is interested Vera Shanov and Clint Goss are sell copies of the "Road Rally Handbook" on Ebay for $19.95 plus $5.00 shipping. Clint Goss is the author and was very active in rallying in the northeast when he wrote this book back in 1993. The book was endorsed by John Buffum, Kerry Voll and Gene Henderson. This is not a book of rally tables, but a true 'how to' book on TSD rallying. I have owned this book for several years, and this is the first time I have seen it up for sale by the author at this price. I just got four of them for the SCCA Convention and they arrived in 'new' condition still in shrink wrap from the publisher. They are on sale 'new' on Amazon for $113.75. So buy direct from Clint & Vera for less on Ebay (link). - Peter Schneider

2017 Nor’Wester TSD RoadRally video is available on YouTube (link). A three day 600 mile gravel rally conduced in western Washington State and NNJR-SCCA was there!! 

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or whichever December greeting is appropriate to you!

2018-12-NNJR Region Party!

We will be presenting the awards to our exceptional specialty volunteers for the fine effort they put in during 2017 in addition to our Solo trophies for the winners of their respective classes.

We will have 2 sims!!!! We will also have another driving sim rig from Crimson Simulation and instead of a stand-alone setup there will be two for some head-to-head action for those who are up for it.

Please, come on by at 2PM to watch the finish of the 24 Hours of Daytona, food will be ready by 3PM and our presentation occurring a bit later. Free food, drinks, and conversation to be had by all comers!

Come out and join your fellow NNJR members and guests to throw off the chill of winter. Great food and drink provided. Intriguing conversation. Thrilling race, rally and solo adventures.

Racing simulators will be available to challenge your fellow competitor to see who is faster.

Free!!! --- Fun Events for Adults and Children

Region Party for Volunteers and Solo Awards.

Thanks for a great 2017.

Date: Sunday January 28, 2018

Time: 2-6pm

Location: Packanack Lake Clubhouse
52 Lake Drive West
Packanack Lake
Wayne, NJ 07470

Hot and Cold Buffet
Desserts
Soda, Water, Beer and Wine
(If anyone needs a GF meal, please contact Linda Santangelo-Mosley)

Free!!! --- Fun Events for Adults and Children

• 2017 Solo Awards
• 2017 Volunteer Appreciation
• 2017 William G Giltzow Award will be presented
• Racing Simulator
• and more.....

Good friends, good food, good time!

Flight 93 Memorial

The flight path leads to the visitors center

Joe and Linda were in first class, among the terrorists.

 What the passengers did.

our friends on the wall of photos of the passengers.

View from the visitors center to the crash site, with a boulder now indicating the exact spot.  The marble wall with names is to the right side of the flight path.

Another view of the flight path.

 The marble wall with Joe’s name.

The marble wall with Linda’s name.

Looking back to the visitors center.

Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund

September 11, 2001

Our region mourns the loss of two of our most active members in the tragic terrorist actions on September 11th. Linda Gronlund and Joseph DeLuca were traveling to San Francisco on United Airlines flight 93 when it was hijacked and subsequently crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all on board.

Linda was our region's Flag Marshal. She had joined the Sports Car Club of America in June of 1980 while living in Sag Harbor, New York. She quickly became active in SCCA activities at the Bridgehampton Road Race Circuit near her hometown and at other tracks all over the northeast. Linda earned a law degree and worked for several automotive companies over the years. She was on a business trip to the west coast for her employer, BMW North America, when she was killed. Linda and Joe planned to travel and sightsee in northern California after Linda's business purpose had been accomplished.

Joe DeLuca joined our club in January, 1980. He was most recently our region's Board Secretary. Previously, and at various times over the years, Joe had been a Trustee, Assistant Regional Executive, Regional Executive, and newsletter editor. Initially a rallyist, Joe later was also an active participant in Solo II and road racing. He enjoyed driving his Morgan and was the current president of the local Morgan club in New Jersey. Joe was the creator of "The Adventures of Raymond the Cat," a monthly cartoon feature in the Northern New Jersey Region's newsletter, "Pole Position." The cartoon is syndicated in many regional publications across the nation. Joe's cartooning was a spotlighted article in the July 2001 issue of SCCA's national publication, "SportsCar." Joe was on vacation from Pfizer Corporation where he was a systems analyst.

Active members in SCCA know what these two wonderful individuals knew: SCCA membership brings a friendship, a camaraderie, which borders on being family. The Northern New Jersey Region has lost two very special members of our family. The entire SCCA organization feels this loss.

Solo Results

Check AutoX4U for all the latest NNJR Solo News.

2017 Class PAX Standings

NNJR-SCCA Results 10-7-17 

NNJR-SCCA Results 8-19-17 

NNJR-SCCA Results 7-23-17 

NNJR SCCA/NNJR PCA – Results 6-4-2017 

SCCA Tire Rack NNJR Pro Solo Results 5-21-2017 

NNJR SCCA Results 4-30-2017 

Read more: Solo Results