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Memories of Linda ... Joe and Linda Remembered

By Bryan Deane

Man it is hard to believe that tragic day was 20 years ago.  Linda and I as most know were a couple before she and Joe started dating. Linda was a dynamo simply put a force of nature.

One thing I will always remember is how fiercely she would approach her duties as a flag marshal, flag chief or friend. Case in point, we were at Lime Rock for a Regional that I was the Flag Chief for and she was working a station.  The event was a late July race and I remember on the morning of the race as we were (actually Linda) were driving up from Greenwood Lake talking about station assignments and personnel because I was still playing with who I was assigning where.  I had said that I was putting her in Race Control with me for the day and was looking at who I was going to assign to the rest of the stations.  At which point she said she absolutely wanted to be on a station and there was no arguing the point.  So, I relented and assigned her to a station.

As is typical for late July the day was extremely hot and at lunch I was asking her if she was doing ok and if she wanted to come off station to be in Race Control, which resulted in a very terse “Bite Me!” from her. Well, I made a mental note to keep track of her on the down low by asking her station partners when they were on Comms and at one point one of the guys thought maybe it was time to get her some relief.  Well, Linda heard this and grabbed the head set then proceed to tell me I had better send the “army” if I was pulling her off station. Of course, I had already dispatched track rescue and told her she was coming in and that it was the end of the discussion.  Linda came in grudgingly, of course, and was taken to medical for a checkup.

At the end of the session, I went to check on her and was greeted with another “Bite ME! I was fine” when she saw me. Well, she eventually made her way up to Race Control and proceeded to sit in the back of the room to continue cooling off. At one point as the GT1, GT2 and AS cars were rolling down pit lane to go out for their session I turned around to find Linda stretched out on the floor sleeping! At which point I motioned to Walt Huber to take a look and his comment was “good call” getting her off station but you’re going to catch hell on the way home you realize that right? Yeah, I know.

As we were leaving at the end of the day I asked if she was ok and without argument, or asking, she handed me the car keys and said you drive. Not 5 minutes later as we’re driving through Sharon I look over and she’s sound asleep….again. Ninety minutes later, back in Greenwood Lake and I finally had to wake her to let her know we were home. So, much for catching hell….

I miss both tremendously, as a side note Joe was trying to help track down my dad’s old 52 Morgan Flat Rad that I wanted to see if could be acquired.

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Do you remember where you were 9/11/01?

By Frank (Chip) McKinley

On Sept. 9, 2001, my friends, Joe Deluca, Linda Gronlund and I, attended a MOG (Morgan Owners Gathering) in Sturbridge, MA at the former ‘Alice’s Restaurant & Inn’. Two days later they boarded Flight 93 bound for CA. as Linda had a business conference and she & Joe planned to visit the Napa Valley wine country for a short vacation. They never made it their plane crashing in Shanksville, PA.

Joe & I had been friends for over 20 years, both members of the ¾ Morgan Group and SCCA NNJR. He was also a client and we shared various other interests. I was attending an insurance training conference at the Hanover Marriott Sept. 11 until news of the planes crashing into the Towers was announced. Some say the world changed forever that day.

Granted, we’ve had other tragedies since, yet this was the big one. Fact is we’re amid others right now: political turmoil, recovery from hurricane Ida and the Wuhan-Corona-Delta-Mu virus. But in retrospect, Joe was lucky as he had laid out a thoughtful plan ‘in anticipation of his death’ well in advance though only in his 40’s.

Nobody wants to create this plan though in the absence of knowing when it will happen, we must for the benefit of our family. Joe’s policies, beneficiary statements and even intentions for his Morgan were all spelled out in writing. Can you say the same? How about other family members or friends?

If not, please contact me for assistance.

PS- This a personal Sept. 11, 2001 message and has nothing to do with my employer.

Frank (Chip) McKinley

119 Cedar St.

East Hanover, NJ 07936

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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New Jersey Monte - National Course RoadRally 

October 10 – New Jersey Monte - National Course RoadRally – This is a 160+ mile Time-Speed-Distance Map Rally and the second event of the New Jersey National Weekend held in conjunction with South Jersey Region. The event will start in Clinton, NJ and end in Long Valley, NJ at 4pm. The route will be based on the ‘historic’ New Jersey ‘Esso/Exxon’ map (yes - paper maps were a thing). All Timing Controls will be listed on the map with an associated Car Zero ‘Key Time’ and Official Mileage. All you have to do is stay on-course by following the route highlighted on the map and get to each of the Timed Controls ‘on time’. The event will be held in honor of NNJR member Dave Panas who was one of the original organizers of the NJ Monte back in the early '60s.

Registration

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North by Northwest - National Tour RoadRally

A National Series RoadRally or Regional RoadRally (at a reduced Rate)

October 9 – North by Northwest - National Tour RoadRally – This is an all-day 180+ mile straight forward Time-Speed-Distance Rally. Hosted by South Jersey Region as the first event of a New Jersey National Weekend in conjunction with the NJ Monte hosted by NNJR on October 10th. The route will start near Atlantic City and travel North by Northwest to end in Clinton, NJ. The route will have over 100 timed locations and will include some sand trails in the NJ Pine Barrens.

Registration

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Highland Fall Trek

New to the Schedule!

A simple low pressure / non-competitive easy to follow social rally/trek to visit some of the hidden wonders of western New Jersey. Held in conjunction with the Highland Coalition featuring some get historic bridge in the region.  -  Beguiling Bridges

Entry

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David K. Miller

May 16, 1938 - Aug 20, 2021 (Age 83)

David K. Miller, 83, of Sea Girt, New Jersey, passed away peacefully, with his wife and loving family by his side on August 20. Dave lived an adventurous and fun-filled life. Born on May 16, 1938, to George H. Miller and Ann R. Twyman, in Newark, NJ, he grew up in West Orange with his older brother, George, and sister, Joan. After graduating Carteret High School in West Orange, he attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The summer of 1960 brought the most significant change to Dave’s life when he met the love of his life, Diane Veronica Wille, in Belmar.  They celebrated their 60thwedding anniversary this past June.   Together they moved to Washington for Dave to fulfill his enlistment in the United States Army.  He was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, where they gave birth to their first child before moving back to their home state, where they added two more children to their family in West Caldwell, and lived for 47 years.  Dave and Diane started their own business, DKM CO Inc., in 1976, and successfully grew their business with an honest, hard-work ethic that served them until they sold the company decades later, when they retired to Sea Girt.  Along the way, Dave led his family by example, attending church faithfully, coaching his sons’ teams, playing dress up with his daughter, and cultivating deep friendships, while always working hard.  He was a family man, who was humble, honest and loyal. He loved adventure which meant incorporating many activities and hobbies along the way. Spending time body surfing in the ocean or fishing for the “big one” were two of his favorites. He was a successful racecar driver, participating in the S.C.C.A. where his wife was his crew chief. He raced cars on frozen lakes in upstate NY for years with his sons. The family camped and traveled with friends and family, going down the shore, to Florida and many exotic destinations. They had tents, campers and RV’s. The family has lost track of the number of cars, boats, fishing poles and screw drivers that Dave had over the years. To his grandchildren, Dave was a world class comedian, often cracking them up without saying a word, and he was the best puppy grandpa to all his grand-pups.    

Dave is pre-deceased by his parents, his brother, George, his sister Joan and his eldest grandson, Jonathan Miller, however Dave’s legacy continues with his beloved wife, Diane, his son Kirk Miller (Amy), son, Dr. Kevin Miller (Janet), daughter, Kathleen Fazio (Ted Borowicki). He has 10 additional grandchildren, Dr. Chelsea Apanovitch (Austin), Dr. Courtney (Andrew) Wall, Rachelle Borowicki, Melissa Borowicki, Matilda Fazio, Michael J. Fazio, Jr, Marina Fazio, David K. Miller III, Anthony Miller, and Genevieve Miller and one great, grandson, Nathan Apanovitch and his many beloved nieces and nephews. 

The family invites you to join them at the wake on Thursday, August 26 at Colonial Funeral Home (Route 88 in Brick) between the hours of 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. The funeral mass is Friday, August 27 at St. Denis Roman Catholic Church at 90 Union Ave. Manasquan, at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter, East Hanover, New Jersey, The Oley Foundation or a charity of your choice.            

Dave and Diane Miller ~ Our hearts are broken.

Obituary

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Robby Foley Explains “Very Last Minute” Team Project 1 Drive

NNJR's very own Robby Foley explaining his “very last minute” drive with Team Project 1 after initially being on the 24 Hours of Le Mans entry list with fellow GTE-Am entrant JMW Motorsport. Good racer from a great NNJR family!

Article Link ~ Wiki 

Good luck Robby!

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August 22 – Back to School

Mileage based navigational road rally. This event will be an introduction to mileage based course rallying. 100 penalty points will be ‘awarded’ for each mile that you go off-course. The Rallymaster is designing the route for individuals new to this type of event and will provide helpers to keep you on-course and ‘instruct’ you on possible upcoming self-correcting route following tricks that you might see later in the event or on the December 5th ‘Teddy Bear’ Toys for Tots rally.

This event is open to the general public and requires only a car or light SUV/truck, pen/pencil and clipboard.

Starting Location: McDonalds - 72 Reaville Ave. Flemington, NJ

Ending Location: Tavern 519 - 650 County Route 519, Frenchtown, NJ

Onsite Registration opens at 10:00AM, first car off at 11:01AM

Awards:
1 and 2 Expert
1 and 2 Intermediate
1,2 and 3 Novice
plus
1 and 2 Place 'First Timer'
Best Family, Best Husband & Wife/Partner, Best SCCA
Dead Last But Finished

Classes are based on your rally expertise
Rally Limited to 60 Cars

Special Introduction to rally session
will be conducted prior to the event

Flyer

CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

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Skip Barber Racing School

to

Open Go-Kart Facility

at

American Dream Mall

BY NICHOLAS RIZZI JULY 21, 2021 3:13 PM

A 40,000-square-foot, indoor go-kart facility is opening at American Dream mall.

Read more...

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RoadRally Beginners Guide to TSD

Zoom Get-Together - July 15, 2021 7pm Central

Continuing the new series of Quarterly Zoom Get-Togethers, the RoadRally Board announces that the next session will take place on 7/15/21 from 7:00-9:00 PM CDT, and will include these two topics:

• Wendy Harrison will present a “Beginners Guide to TSD RoadRally”. This session is aimed at first-timers and will cover the essential things they need to know to select, participate in, and enjoy a Time Speed Distance rally.

• SCCA staff members who are participating in a TSD RoadRally for their first time at Roads Scamper in Middleton, WI on 6/6/21 will share their experiences as newcomers to this type of rally event.

Your the zoom link for the event on July 15, 2021

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Welcome to Summer 2021!!!!

What motorsports do you have planned for 2021?

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2021 Second Hand Roads

By Peter Schneider

Results and Photos

On May 23rd SCCA-NNJR presented this year’s version of ‘Second Hand Roads’ a 65 mile Time-Speed-Distance RoadRally which utilized Richta Smartphone GPS checkpoint timing/scoring application.

‘Second Hand Roads’ is an event which was originally conducted by Raritan Valley Sport Car Club (RVSCC), which is club that operated in Central New Jersey since the early 60s. ‘Back in the Day’ there was over a dozen rally club conducting events in the area, hosting both TSD, Gimmick rallies and the all night New Jersey Monte TSD Map rally, which was always run in the dead of winter on a moonless night. How things have changed. These clubs included, Triumph Sports Car Club, Greater Rockaway Sports Car Club (Grass), Mustang Club of North Jersey (later rebranded as Motorsports Club of North Jersey), MG Car Club, Corvette Club and in the ’70 the Z-Club.

The idea behind ‘Second Hard Roads’ hosted by RVSCC was to provide the club an excuse to recycle leftover trophies from prior events and use an old set of rally instructions for the route layout, refreshed for current road conditions and signage.

Working with that theme, over four years ago, SCCA-NNJR and RVSCC got together to resurrect the event. The first couple of years scoring was done by closed staffed Timing Controls, a set of two teams worked two controls each which allowed a total of four timed locations along a 65 mile route. The events had a short break at a County Park, to give contestants a chance to socialize and provide the control teams time to move from their first control location to their second location, in order to leap-frog the rally teams. Enough time was needed between control locations, to allow for the control crews to time all 30+ cars at their first location, close up their control, drive to their second location and setup before the first rally car arrived, hence the need for the short break at the County Park.

Since ‘Second Hand Roads’ is advertised as a Novice or Beginners event, the route instructions are designed to be easy to follow with mileage to every turn and a lot of Official Times in the Route Instructions to keep everyone on-time. Official Times, also known as ‘Key Times’ or ‘Car Zero Times’ (CZT) are the mathematical/calculated time for Car Zero to pass a specific location. Since cars start the rally ‘one minute’ apart from each restart location, all a contestants needs to do, is add their car number to the ‘Key Time’ to get their individual perfect time at that location. In fact the Route Instructions even have a special column to the right of the Instructions to write-in the contestant’s individual time at each instruction.

The rally was divided into three sections. The first section, provided the exact mileage and ‘Key Time’ to each Timing Control, the second section provided the mileage to each Timing Control but not the ‘Key Time’ and the third section hid the Timing Controls along the route, so the ralliest needed to ‘stay on time, all the time’ to get a good score at those locations.

The past two years ‘Second Hand Roads’ switched from staffed Timing Controls to the Richta Smartphone GPS checkpoint timing/scoring application which allows for dozens of Timing Locations on a 65 mile route. The Richta App utilizes GPS technology via two apps, a Rallymaster app and a Contestants app. The Rallymaster app is used for the placement of control locations using Longitude and Latitude provided by the Global Position System. The Rallymaster then after calculating the perfect arrival time at that location (‘Key Time’) enters the ‘Leg Time’ into the Rallymaster app and after validating the data of all the Timed Controls and Start/Restart location in the app, the timing portion of the event is ready to go.

Contestants utilize a second app ‘Richta-Competitor’, which is available as a free download for either Apple or Android Smartphones and using their car number provided by the event organizer loads the event on their devise. The ‘Richta-Competitor’ downloads a ‘hidden’ file to the contestant’s phone that includes the Longitude and Latitude and Official Time of each location tagged in the Rallymaster App, and as the Contestant drives by the location, utilizing the written route instructions, the ‘Richta- Contestant’ app pings the phone and provide instant feedback of their score at that location and a running total for the event. Other features of the app, include the fact that the Rallymaster can track each car’s location along the route and the ‘Richta Cloud’ keep track of everyone’s leg scores, for easy download at the end of the event. The Rallymaster no longer has to worry about staffing Control Locations, providing instructions to the Control Worker to get from Timing Control to Timing Control, which were in a sense several mini-rallies, or have to be concerned about doing the ‘math’ at the end of the event to see who gets the trophies.

The 2021 rally route started at Subaru 46 in Hackettstown, had an 11 miles odometer leg ending in Allamuchy, NJ, (the township's name comes from the Native American word "Allamachetey", meaning "place within the hills") utilizing some of the same roads as the 2020 event but in a different configuration. We drove the entire length of ‘Shades of Death’ Road, up Jenny Jump Mountain and then used the narrow twisty roads on the west side of Jenny Jump State Park before heading into Johnsonbugh (Johnsonburg originated as an important stagecoach stop. An east-west route carried mail from Dover, New Jersey to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and a north-south route carried mail from Albany, New York to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both routes crossed at right angles at this location, and a post office and tavern were built. The tavern became an important meeting place, and elections and caucuses were held there) before a 30 minute break for Ice Cream in Blairstown, NJ at the world famous Blairstown Diner.

Blairstown, NJ is not only home of the Blairstown Academy which was founded in 1848, a $65,000+ per year Boarding school for grades 9 – 12, which even has its own 18 hole golf course, it was also featured in the original version of Friday the 13th, which introduced Kevin Bacon to the movie going public and also Jason Voorhees (https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/2017/08/friday_the_13th_tour_in_nj.html) who terrorized the ill-fated camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake which was filmed in Hardwick, New Jersey. The setting for Camp Crystal Lake was Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco which is the private property owned by the Northern New Jersey Boys Scout Council, and is only open to the public on official tour dates. (https://crystallaketours.com/)

After visiting downtown Blairstown, the route doubled back north on Route 94 to the Paulinskill River Valley which features great narrow twisty paved roads with elevation changes not seen in other parts of the state, to end at Mattar’s Bistro in Allamuchy less than 7 miles from the start at Subaru 46. The 28 teams participating in the event utilized the restaurants outdoor patio pace for a social distance gathering for a late lunch and awards.

The Region would like to thank Pat and Eric Sjogren for conducting the initial pre-check of the rally route, Satish Gopalkrishnan and SaveraD’Souze for confirming the TSD Calculations and being the Official SCCA Safety Stewards and assisting at the start and end of the Odometer Leg as Novice advisors and Joanne Schneider for Registration, countless pre-checks of the route and helping at the finish, her only reward was several lunches at the old fashioned dinner in Blairstown.

SCCA-NNJR next event will be a navigational mileage based rally on August 22 – ‘Back to School’.

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Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund

Freedom Major

SCCA - Northern New Jersey Region - Club Racing

Saturday, May 29, 2021
Group 1	Race 1	SRF3
2nd - Chris Pluta	1st - Peter Phillips	3rd - Brian Sullivan
Group 2	Race 1	FV
2nd - Jeff Filipkowski	1st - Alex Scaler	3rd - Dean Curtis
Group 2	Race 1	FF
2nd - Thomas E. Schwietz	1st - Steve Oseth	3rd - Joe Parsons
Group 2	Race 1	F5
2nd - Richard LoDuca	1st - F. Russell Strate Jr.
Group 3	Race 1	FC
2nd - Eric Presbrey	1st - Glenn Cordova	3rd -Alex Tollefsen
Group 3	Race 1	FE2
2nd - Sam Harrington	1st - Keith McDonald	3rd - Lee Rackley
Group 3	Race 1	FX
2nd - Josh Reinard	1st - Vaughn Glace
Group 4	Race 1	STL
2nd - Darrel Stein	1st - Richard Astacio	3rd - Hugh McHaffie
Group 4	Race 1	T2
2nd - Michael Lavigne	1st - Kurt Rezzetano	3rd - David Sanders
Group 4	Race 1	T3
2nd - Jared Lendrum	1st - Marshall Mast
Group 4	Race 1	T4
2nd - Jason Benagh	1st - Nick Leverone	3rd -Ken Lendrum
Group 5	Race 1	EP
2nd - Charles Vaccaro	1st - Aaron Johnson	3rd - Coyote
Group 5	Race 1	FP
2nd - Mark McAllister	1st - Charlie Campbell	3rd - Tom Burdge
Group 5	Race 1	GTL
	1st - James Gregorius
Group 5	Race 1	HP
2nd - Francis Selldorff	1st - Edward Werry	3rd - Shawn Fohs
Group 6	Race 1	AS
2nd - Kelly Lubash	1st - James Jost	3rd - Jerry Post
Group 6	Race 1	GT1
2nd - Jeannette Udwary	1st - Tony Stefanon
Group 6	Race 1	GT2
	1st - Andrew Aquilante
Group 6	Race 1	T1
2nd - Kurt Rezzetano	1st - Brian Kleeman	3rd -David Sanders
Group 7	Race 1	B-Spec
2nd - David Rosenblum	1st - Steve Introne	3rd - Ryan Moran
Group 7	Race 1	SM
2nd - Matthew Morin	1st - Nick Leverone	3rd - Richard Astacio

Sunday, May 30, 2021
Group 1	Race 2	SRF3
2nd - Brian Sullivan	1st - Peter Phillips	3rd - j Mark Wendling
Group 2	Race 2	FV
2nd - Jonathon Weisheit	1st - Alex Scaler	3rd - Roger Siebenaler
Group 2	Race 2	FF
2nd - Thomas E Schwietz	1st - Joe Parsons	3rd - Steve Oseth
Group 2	Race 2	F5
No photo
	1st - F Russell Strate Jr.
Group 3	Race 2	FC
2nd - Glenn Cordova	1st - Charles Shaffer	3rd - Douglas Rocco
Group 3	Race 2	FE2
2nd - Sam Harrington	1st - Lee Rackley	3rd - Keith McDonald
Group 3	Race 2	FX
2nd - Keaton Van Thof	1st - Vaughn Glace	3rd - John Mirro
Group 4	Race 2	STL
2nd - Hugh McHaffie	1st - Richard Astacio	3rd - Greg Amy
Group 4	Race 2	T2
2nd - Brian LaCroix	1st - Kurt Rezzatano	3rd - David Sanders
Group 4	Race 2	T3
2nd - Jared Lendrum	1st - Marshall Mast
Group 4	Race 2	T4
2nd - Ken Lendrum	1st - Nick Leverone	3rd - Jason Benagh
Group 5	Race 2	EP
2nd - Charles Vaccaro	1st - Aaron Johnson
Group 5	Race 2	FP
2nd - Mark McAllister	1st - Charlie Campbell	3rd - Travis Abbott
Group 5	Race 2	GTL
No photo
	1st - James Gregorius
Group 5	Race 2	HP
2nd - David Oliveira	1st - Edward Werry	3rd - Francis Selldorff
Group 6	Race 2	AS
2nd - Jerry Post	1st - Kelly Lubash	3rd -James Jost
Group 6	Race 2	GT2
	1st - Andrew Aquilante
Group 6	Race 2	T1
2nd - Brian Kleeman	1st - Kurt Rezzetano	3rd - David Sanders
Group 7	Race 2	B-Spec
2nd - JB Swan	1st -  Steve Introne	3rd -  Ryan Moran
Group 7	Race 2	SM
2nd - Richard Astacio	1st - Nick Leverone	3rd - Matthew Morin

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Second Hand Roads Rally

For something completely different!
Northern New Jersey Region - TSD RoadRally
May 23, 2021

Click on the images to enlarge

On Site Registration 10:00AM - 11:00AM
Online Registration is Open Now!

Event Flyer

Great twisty back country roads of northwestern New Jersey

Special Social Distance Entry Fee of only $25.00 per car
(Payable day of the event)

Online Registration is open now - Link

Awards for 1st Overall & Awards in three classes
(Expert, Intermediate, & Novice)
Classes are based on your rally expertise

Plus Special Awards

The event is a straight forward Time-Speed-Distance rally that can be driven in 3 hours, including a 20 minute break in Blairstown. You will be scored on how well you can stay 'on-time'. No tricky instructions or dirt roads.

A great introduction to the sport of Car Road Rallying

We will have over 20 timed checkpoints. You just have to follow the route instructions and maintain the average speeds listed in the instructions. The speeds will all be at or below the posted speed limits.

Richta's GPS / Smartphone Timing will be utilized

Competitor - Richta GPS Checkpoints App downloaded before Registration; it is a free download and available for both Apple and Android.

The first five "1st Timers" to register for the event will receive a free copy of the "Road Rally Hand Book" included with their entry fee a $24.95 value.

You will be timed as you pass the Checkpoints. We will start off by telling you the location and exact time to pass the 1st set of checkpoints. In the next section we will tell you the exact mileage to the controls, but not the time to arrive, and the 3rd section all checkpoints will be 'hidden' 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 1/10th of a second and there will be a short break between each 'Section'. During the 1st break, event volunteers will be there to address any questions you might have to help you on the rest of the rally.

Starting location:

Route 46 Subaru in Hackettstown, NJ.

364 US-46, Hackettstown, NJ 07840

Registration 10:00AM - First Car Off 11:01AM

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Vinny Blancuzzi - We remember....

Vinny Blancuzzi died on April 21st at Saint Clare's Hospital in Dover.  He was 36.

Vinny joined the SCCA in October of 1991.  He was a member of the Berkeley Heights Rescue Squad and was already a big fan of automobile racing.  His interest in auto racing had been sparked by his father at an early age.  Years later, when he came to Lime Rock as a young man, he must have liked what he saw because he quickly became one of us and was embraced by our SCCA family.

In short order Vinny earned his Flagging and Communications license as well as his Emergency Services license.  Regardless of the region conducting the event, it was a virtual certainty that Vinny would be there working a corner or doing his thing at the track's medical station.

Vinny was a quiet guy.  He was quiet about himself.  Vinny was very quiet about himself.  He was always most interested in the person with whom he was speaking.  Vinny was more interested in you.  Remembering back, it seems that whenever you greeted Vinny, his typical response was, "Hey! How're you doing?" or "Hey! What's happening?"

He never said, "Can you do this for me?"  More often it was, "Can you help me with this?"  Or, hearing that something needed doing, he would simply go and do it.  He wouldn't look to be thanked.  Often, not knowing that Vinny had already taken care of things, when you went to do a task, you discovered that it had already been done.

But as serious as working corners is, Vinny also had time for a lighter side.  A water balloon fight at a gathering of SCCA folks or the silliness of squirting Redi-Whip all over in the cab of the Region's van well, each of these was possible with Vinny.  He loved to have fun.

He was awarded the honor of NESCCA Worker of the Year in 2002 affirmation of the high regard which the Flagging & Communications community as well as the entire SCCA NorthEast Division held for his abilities and his dedication.

In 2004, when he became ill, he was examined at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the city.  He had to endure over a month of daily radiation treatments at Sloan-Kettering.  Showing their love for him, his friends rose to the occasion and made themselves available to drive him to Manhattan and back to Berkeley Heights each day.

He not only loved the SCCA and the sport, but he also found his love in the SCCA.  Robin & Vinny.  Vinny & Robin.  If you saw one, then you also saw the other.  They attended our Region's meetings together.  At our Annual Dinner or at the Region's Worker Party each January, they were there together.  On the first Friday of the month labeling the newsletter at Robin's Vinny was always there.

Vinny loved kids.  And kids loved Vinny.  Jessica and Rachel and Kenneth all loved him.  All the tykes in our SCCA family loved Vinny because he would take the time to play and kid around with them.

Vinny is survived by his folks Diane and Vincent Sr., by his love Robin, by his two brothers Jeffrey and Stephen, and by his SCCA family of friends.

"Yo!"

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Introduction to TSD Rallying

by

Fox Wilmar Productions/RASC

You might find this interesting, our friends at Fox Wilmar Productions (David Fox) in association with Rainier Auto Sports Club (The club that conducted the ALCAN5000 and several 2-3 days events in the Pacific Northwest) produced an 'Introduction to TSD rallying' video.

As you may know David Fox provided the video clips used in SCCA's newly released RoadRally Safety Steward Training Course. He must have liked the clips we selected for our training course, because you will see them used in this video.

Click her for video

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The Alex Cilli Spirit of Dedication Award

2019 - Jeff Yatsko

By Tony “Mario” Crea

Alex Cilli was a quiet, but very special individual. He drove an Autodynamics Formula Vee that was built during a time when all men had “Dad Bods”, so I fit in it just fine, thanks for asking! What made Alex special was that he always remembered the details of what people told him during conversations in the paddock... You got married? He’d ask how married life was treating you each time he saw you, even if it was just two times a year. You got a new job? He’d ask how things were going and if you got the corner office yet. If you answered, “No”, Alex would ask, “Well, why not?”

Indeed, Alex was akin to the former 60 Minutes presenter, Charles Kuralt, who endeared himself to many around the nation simply because he listened. Furthermore, Alex always made sure to personally thank the core staff at the end of each and every event because he knew that quality events don’t just happen because someone showed up with some cones and a timing system. One of the many ways Alex would show his appreciation was during cleanup, a time of the day when competitors typically scatter like cockroaches in sunlight. By virtue of owning that Formula Vee, Alex had a trailer; so, he’d drive around the lot, picking up the stacks of cones workers would make at the end of timed runs. This now commonplace practice was a huge help to the region when we started growing our events into what they are today.

A lot of people miss Alex, I know I still do. As a matter of fact, I began using number 158 since his passing so that I could still incorporate the number 8, which I used from the beginning, and the number 15, which was Alex’s number.

Now, this reminiscence has a purpose and it can be summarized in just three words...
“Not a problem!”

If you’ve never heard these words spoken at an NNJR autocross, then you’ve probably never attended an NNJR autocross! While we all know that no autocross would be possible without everyone helping at some point during the course of the day, it takes a special, albeit moronic, group of individuals willing to be core workers each season. Within the NNJR’s core group, however, there exists an individual whose can-do attitude is a reassuring beacon of reliability that the event will go off without a hitch. Here are some examples:

Carburetor in the generator is gummed up? Not a problem!
Pit bike has a flat tire? Not a problem!
PA system has a nasty reverberation? Not a problem!
Gout’s acting up? Not a problem!
And this all takes place by 7:30 am!

In case you haven’t guessed by now, Jeff Yatsko is about to be presented with a special award that embodies his tireless dedication to our autocross program each year. Whether it be off-season maintenance and improvements to the truck, arranging for our competition license to be completed and registered with the State Police, or picking up cases of water for corner workers - along with lots of other things in-between - Jeff is the guy we typically turn to.

The region owes a huge debt of gratitude to Jeff and I know that, wherever he may be, Alex would agree wholeheartedly. So, without further ado, Jeff Yatsko, come accept...
The Alex Cilli Spirit of Dedication Award!