Region News

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Sharon A. Burke, we remember...

Sharon A. Burke (nee Schwertfeger) of Califon, NJ passed away suddenly, at St. Clair's Dover General Hospital, on February 26, 2011, at the age of 47.  

Sharon is greatly loved and missed by many, especially by her son Kenneth and husband Jeff.

Sharon was born in Summit, NJ and lived in Gillette and New Providence before moving to Califon 16 years ago. She was a graduate of New Providence HS and Robert Walsh Business School. Sharon also graduated with honors from The College of St. Elizabeth, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She was currently enrolled at Norwich University studying for her MBA.  Sharon was most recently employed with Clinsys Inc. in Bedminster , NJ , as a Clinical Data Manager.

Sharon was a member of the Sports Car Club of America for 25 years, where she served on the Board of Directors for the Northern NJ Region. She has been a nationally licensed technical inspector and holds a regional license in emergency services. She was named the North East SCCA Worker of the Year in 1996. She was also a champion auto-crosser where she won dozens of races with her 1984 Camaro, including 3 invitation only events.

She enjoyed volunteering at Tabby's Place, a cat shelter in Hunterdon County . Sharon helped with Habitat for Humanity projects, and then transferred those skills to help build the pavilion at Memorial Park in Lebanon Twp. She was past president of the Lebanon Twp. PTA and was a founding member of the Lebanon Twp. Educational Foundation. Sharon participated in many Avon Breast Cancer walks with her team of friends.

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On April 11, NNJR-SCCA will be hosting a tour of the highlands, the event will start at High Marques in Morristown and end at the boardwalk in Sparta for a great social distancing interaction. The event is being conducted in association with the NJ Highland Coalition.

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Jason Evangelista

The Board of Trustees are please to announce by unanimous consent that Jason Evangelista has been selected to receive the Vinny Blancuzzi Award for dedicated service to the Region.

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NJ Helmet and Belt Requirements at 2021 Events

New Jersey MOTOR VEHICLE RACETRACK REGULATIONS Chapter 62

This note contains important information for events requiring helmets in New Jersey during the 2021 season, as dictated by the New Jersey State Police.

The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety governs motorsport events in the state through its Chapter 62 Motor Vehicle Racetrack Regulations. These supersede, by law, requirements specified in our SCCA General Competition Rules.

SA 2010 / SAH 2010 / M 2010 helmets will NOT be allowed for use at events in New Jersey during the 2021 season.

While the SCCA GCR states that SA 2010/ SAH 2010 helmets are allowed until 12/31/21, for events in NJ such as our racing and track day events at NJMP we are NOT allowed to accept Snell 2010 helmets. Only closed face SA 2015 and 2020 helmets with a face shield can be used. For autocross events, open or closed face SA or M 2015 or 2020 can be used.

In addition, please be reminded of the New Jersey State Police rule regarding belts which was put in place earlier: NJ 62-3.7.c.1 specifies that seatbelts certified under SFI 16.1 or 16.5 expire on 31 December of the second year after the date of manufacture; all other provisions of GCR 9.3.19 apply.

There can be no exceptions granted to either the helmet or belt rules by SCCA or track personnel. Please understand that these personnel are required by law to ensure compliance with the state laws set forth in Chapter 62 Motor Vehicle Racetrack Regulations, and that they are subject to random inspections by the State Police to ensure the regulations are being enforced.

We felt it important to get you this information as soon as we were made aware, so that you have time in advance of our 2021 events to ensure your helmet and belts meet the NJ-specific requirements.

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Congratulations to NNJR!

We are please to announce that NNJR-SCCA was awarded the 2020 Regional RoadRally Achievement Award at the SCCA National Convention yesterday. The Region was selected based on a 200% YTY growth in event participation, which accounted for 20% of the total roadrally entries for the national roadrally program. This was accomplished in spite of covid19 restrictions, by pivoting to outdoor registration and expansion of the region's rally program to inlcude social distance 'non-competitive "trek" style events. We would like to thank everyone in the region's rally program and all the participates that attended the events that help make this award possible.

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2021 Virtual National Convention registration is open and free!

It may look different, but it’s never been easier (or more cost effective!) to attend the SCCA National Convention.

This year, Convention sessions will be held over the course of a month, beginning January 23 and continuing with sessions through February 19. Better yet, it’s at no cost to SCCA members, and sessions can be picked and chosen by which are most valuable for each attendee.

The Convention kicks off in, well, a conventional way. SCCA President Mike Cobb will give a kick-off message, setting the tone and goals for both the Convention and the Club itself in 2021. From there, each of the programs – from Road Rally to Road Racing and every parking lot and open field in between – will break out into program direction and overview, followed later in the week by open Q&A sessions. At 7 p.m. CT that evening, the band will come back together for the SCCA Honors and Hall of Fame Awards presentation.

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(updated January 18, 2021)

Please refer to current COVID-19 Protocols

These rules supplement the SCCA National Solo Rules. They will take precedence over optional sections of the National rules where conflicts exist. Mandatory sections of the National rules, as defined in Section 1 of the 2019 SCCA Solo Rulebook, will be enforced.

• Click here for all the 2021 Supplemental Rules
• Click here for sound control policy/procedures.
• Click here for PAX/RTP indexes

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COVID-19 Event Guidelines

Safety Guidelines During Events

Notice to Participants: In light of the current COVID-19 situation, every attempt will be made to minimize the risks of exposure to the virus. New processes and procedures are being developed and will be put into place for events going forward.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to assess the risk to you, both on-track and off, and to make the decision on whether or not to participate. If you are feeling unwell or are experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath please stay home. If you have been in contact with someone who has been experiencing these symptoms in the last two weeks, please stay home.

While on site please take the health and safety of your fellow participants, volunteers and staff into consideration and practice social distancing, wear a mask, and wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer frequently.

Click here for all the Current Covid-19 Protocols

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SCCA President's Update and Road Racing Awards

SCCA President and CEO Mike Cobb delivered his end-of-year president's update before Eric Prill, Vice President and COO, and Deanna Flanagan, Director of Road Racing, presented SCCA Road Racing's annual awards.

SCCA President's Update and Road Racing Awards

The entire program is now available on demand below or on SCCA YouTube channel.

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Obituary of David M Panas

David Marlyn Panas
(April 30, 1939 - January 20, 2020)

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. He was predeceased by his parents and brother, Michael W. Panas of Wallkill, NY.
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.

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Obituary for David H. Poverman

David Poverman
(Monday, May 1st, 1933 – Tuesday, December 15th, 2020)

David H. Poverman, Sea Girt, passed away peacefully at home on the morning of December 15, 2020. Born in Boston Massachusetts on May 1, 1933, he was a graduate of Suffield Academy and Babson College, attended the NYU Graduate School of Mathematics, and was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. From 1957 to 1972 David worked in operations research and computer systems planning for American Oil Company, Ford Motor Company, Mack Trucks and Thomas J. Lipton, and was on the adjunct faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Ocean County College. In 1972 he became the owner Marine Motor Sales and Service in Pt. Pleasant Beach, which he proudly ran until his retirement in 1986.

From an early age “Big Dave” had a passion for anything automotive, especially if it went fast. A lifetime member of the Northern New Jersey*  region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), he raced a 1958 Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato (see right) from 1959 – 1962. He and his wife Rosemarie loved living “the sports car life,” and were often found at New York City sports car hotspots like Sardi’s and the La Chanteclair Restaurant where their picture was proudly displayed behind the bar with other famous drivers of the day. After his racing days were over he put his energies into teaching classes on sailing and marine engines for the Coast Guard Auxiliary, helping his wife build her own business, traveling, and raising a loving family. 

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By Nick Babin

2020 will go down as certainly the strangest auto-x season in NNJR history, but also as one of the most hotly contested. Despite a very late start due to the pandemic, the NNJR crew managed to put on a full 8 event season. Could James Tatad make it three in a row?

With the season beginning June 28, it was already hot and that was really the theme of the summer months. Ken Houseal came flying out of the gate taking his first of 3 pax wins in the opening event. Tatad and Evan Schikel, along with Houseal co-driver Jon Caserta, also proved to be strong and consistent through the first few events.

Dan Stainbeck took the first of his two pax wins in the second event in July, but ended up missing enough events to end up not a factor in the season points. Ken Houseal missed the second event, which took a crucial drop away from him. Would this prove a factor later on?

Houseal continued a string of strong finishes as the season continued, taking another 2 pax wins along with a second place through events 5-7, seeming to have locked up the championship headed into the final event. The fates had other plans though.

They say that consistency is the key to championships, and despite his strong finishes Houseal missed a pair of events early in the season which ate up his 2 drops. This left the door open in the final event, which was forecast to have rain in the afternoon.

This indeed came to pass, with rain coming in the afternoon when the ST group was running. This decimated the pax positions of the later run group and left both Tatad and Houseal with poor pax placement since the early group got dry runs. Houseal, however, did not have a drop to give, which ended up handing Tatad his amazing third straight NNJR Driver of the Year.

JAMES TATAD – 2020 NNJR-SCCA DRIVER OF THE YEAR

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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

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 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

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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.

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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

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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.