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ROUTES TO CLICK In The July 2015 RReNews
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From the RReNews
Headquarters in the Arctic
Follow-up on last month's column first! I asked, "Do YOU actively witness?"
Thank you for understanding what I was suggesting - that we all need to share what rallying is, how to get involved, and that we, like the NIKE ads suggest, "Just Do It"!
One day after the RReNews June Edition was mailed, I received this email:
"Today I went to a Ford dealer in Decatur, to ask if they would mind if we brought 70-80 people to their showroom floor on Saturday, July 11th, for rally registration.
Of course they said yes, they always do.
On my way out an employee there asked if I was in SCCA. I had on the new SCCA T-shirt that has the SCCA on the front, instead of the back like they used to, so I refrained from saying, "Well, DUH!"
He said he was an SCCA racer, and asked what I was doing at the dealership. So I explained about the rally, starting and ending right there in his home town. 'Wow! That sounds like fun. I have some friends here that might come, too.'
Then he told me about the Porsche 911 that he just stuffed a Corvette LT1 engine into. Anyway, there is my witness for the month, and very timely, too, given your post!"
So I have to ask, did any of you have an experience witnessing about our beloved Road Rally to share? Drop me a line and let me know - click here for a direct link to my email.
Apologies to Make
Procrastinated? I take on too much for the hours in our summer days? Poor time management? Don't care? Well, I will say "NO" to three of those, and I'll let you can choose which one you want to hold me too!
I have just finished the July Edition of RReNews, and I'm late - dammit! Rich Bireta, I apologize to you for being tardy, as you met the deadline timely. Others ran late, one was given a holiday, we are missing a few regular submissions, and here is my official reason (not going to give excuses) for the delay - Mum and three Grand Nieces (6, 10, and 12) have been with us since June 23rd. Our home went from quiet to chaos in 60-seconds!
We had a great time from the Alaska Zoo, Imaginarium and Museum of History and Fine Art, two girlies and our Alaskan Grand Niece off to camp for four days, the Whale Jail, Wildlife Conservation Center and Reindeer Farm - we covered the aminals!, egg drop soup at 'ol Jewel Lake Pizza and Chinese, almost daily bike riding and time at the park - we took on the Coastal Trail with our bikes too ($80 delivered for three bikes to be used two weeks - great score!), knitting lessons (described as lame and boring before and described as relaxing and fun after) and we christened a new fire ring at the cabin with a blazing fire and ooey-gooey smores! And, last but not least, the
Rally Around and Paint the Town Road Rally as a part of the Bear Paw Festival - the 30th-Year we have had a rally with them!
And this last item is what led to our banner this month and my comments at the end of this months' My First Rally column. At the close of my route instructions I almost always thank my workers and their tasks taken on, and I thank the rallyists for supporting me and road rally in Alaska.
This year I added this line -
"And to my Mum, who has not rallied in many years, yet who is responsible for tonight's rally - thank you to you and Dad for dragging me to my first one forty-three years ago!!"
Here's hoping you enjoy this July Edition of RReNews, and that you will be inspired to send in your contribution to the Road Rally Community we are building. See the many topics below - one has to fit your involvement with Rally!
I have had the good fortune of receiving emails from Crittenden, Jurgenson and Heine - gents, thank you for supporting RReNews with your submissions this month. I believe it is good reading and perhaps new ideas for fellow Rallymasters and Road Rally competitors!
To those that choose to drop a note with your comments and kudos after reading the Road Rally eNews - thank you, it is the only pay we receive!
Safe travels all,
Cheryl Lynn
rrenews@comeroadrallywith.us
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SCCA Links
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| SCCA RoadRally Board Minutes
by Jeanne English,
RRB Secretary
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From
Chuck Hanson, Pointskeeper - Here are the 2015 standings for the Sports Car Club of America Course, GTA and Tour National Championships.
Competitors are asked to check their listings! There are a large number for whom I do not have home towns, and a lesser number for whom I do not have membership numbers. Please submit those directly to myself so that I can update the records.
Likewise, anybody who thinks that they should have points at an event listed as "No Results" is invited to take the responsibility of sending me a set of results so that they may be included.
Click
here to direct your questions to him or learn the means to send him your SCCA Road Rally event's standings.
Click below for the 2015 Standings:
SCCA National Tour Championship
SCCA National Course Championship
SCCA National GTA Championship
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Ask Your Question to the Road Rally Community!
Send your comments and replies to RReNews. Have an answer for this question or have a new question for the Road Rally Community? Click here to ask your question!
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Road Rally eNews in 2015
We have seen numerous columns these past two years, and as appropriate they
will appear
in upcoming editions.
Here are some of the columns:
- Out With the Old, In With the Review for reviews of rally software for mobile devices and computers - both for rally competition and organizer ease.
- Checkpoint Chat for the monthly communique with, and from, the Chairman of the SCCA RoadRally Board Rich Bireta.
- Photo of the Month is for captured moments from rally events - people, action (such that we have while competing and trying to shoot) or creative.
- Words from the Wheel because I am proud to be a member of SCCA, and I want to keep a line of communication for National Staff to my sport.
- Save the Date for Road Rally Announcements this truly is for all motorsport clubs to provide promotion of their events and entice rallyists to enter - giving advance notice for planning travel as needed.
- Questions & Queries this is not just for SCCA road rally questions. Ask fellow rallyists the how, why, and what!
- My First Rally because I enjoy learning how fellow rallyists got hooked. And who knows, perhaps we will learn something from the past to help us in revitalizing road rally programs now.
- Rally Event Standings 'cause I was told Rallyists like to see their name in print! Perhaps we can get that started again for 2015!?
- RRB Board Minutes & SCCA Championship Tour, Course, and GTA Standings
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My Very Very Very First Rally
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| by Alexis Marie Parker, Navigator
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Alexis Marie, on her very first rally, the Rally Around and Paint the Town Road Rally in Eagle River, Alaska, June 8th, 2015
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Nana to Alexis Rally morning -
Alexis to Aunt Cheryl before bed and later that morning -
RReNews -
Alexis Marie Parker (12) is my Grand Niece. Forty-three years ago, I was dragged (okay, it was "we're going to a rally and you are going too") as a youngster to my first rally in Alaska. It has never left me. It was the last night of their North to Alaska adventure, and as the oldest of the girls I put her in the car to run with Bill and my Mum. Kenedi Josephine (10) went with Car #5, Rebecca Bastien and Corey Munk, and I took Lynnsey Ann (6) to work checkpoints with Frank Roach and I.
The text messages above are with her Nana the morning of the event, and the end of the rally and the morning after with me. Last year it was a team from Galesville, Wisconsin and this time off 'ol Highway 51 in Central Wisconsin! I've told her there are rallies around Madison and maybe she'll get a chance to rally with Uncle Bill in Wisconsin sometime. Finished fourth in a field of eight and third in the Expert Class; I'm so very proud of her!!
I asked her to write her story, as after we returned from a cabin-run post rally she was still pumped three hours later and sent me the message at 12:34AM! I am working on getting a High School Championship started, which would culminate in the United States High School Road Rally Championship - are you in? I'm glad we could plant the seed in her little brain...rally will live on past all of us!! Cheryl Lynn
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Roads Scholar Road Rally Gets an "A"
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| by Jim Crittenden, SCCA Member, Rallyists, and Rallymaster
SCCA Milwaukee Region
hosted the
Roads Scholar Regional Course Rally
on
Sunday, June 7
th
in Madison, Wisconsin. This 110 mile, 4-hour trap rally had 7 legs, 6 of which contained one trap. 32 cars started the rally and all 32 cars finished. 75% of the contestants were running their first rally.
Our goal from the outset was to make this event a friendly, welcoming experience for everyone. We stationed a greeter at the entrance to registration to welcome each contestant and direct them to registration. Registration personnel were friendly and helpful. We asked contestants to line up and start at their official start time rather than self-start whenever they're ready. We stationed three people at the starting line to chat with people, answer questions, help them line up, and one of them (my 6 year old granddaughter) waved a green flag on each minute to start the rally cars. A greeter met each contestant at the finish and handed out the contestant evaluation forms.
There were several things that we believe helped all of the cars finish:
- We required pre-registration and emailed the General Instructions two weeks in advance
- We allowed contestants to email any questions to the Rallymaster who then responded with an email answer to all contestants
- We erected 20 "Off Course" emergency signs
- We held a 30 minute Rally School just prior to the start.
- The course was pre-checked by 10 people who ranged in experience from never having run a rally to three National level Rallyists.
The strong turnout was attributed primarily to letting more people know about the event. We estimate that over 1,000 people had heard about the rally. This was done using the following marketing tactics:
- Created a Facebook event page 6 months before the rally.
- Created color tri-fold flyers for the rally and displayed them at 9 car dealerships and import car repair shops around Madison, starting 5 months before the event.
- Contacted 8 local car clubs. Submitted an article to these clubs that described the rally and invited their members. Most of the clubs included this article in their newsletter.
- Procured sponsorship from the local MINI dealer. This created extra interest among the two local MINI clubs.
- Created an email list of over 150 names of people who have run a rally in Wisconsin in the past two years. Emailed the event flyer and a description of the rally to this list twice.
- Listed the event on the SCCA website and the SCCA Milwaukee website.
- Listed the rally on 6 online "Things to do in Madison" websites.
Two other items of note: The rally entry fee was listed as $15/person rather than $30/car since all movies, concerts, sporting events, etc. price their admission as
per person. The novice class was called NTS (New To the Sport) because who wants to be called a novice?
Scoring was done using an Excel spreadsheet created by Willis Weldon from Brandywine Motorsport Club in Wilmington, Delaware. Control crews were instructed to take photos of their control logs using a smartphone as soon as they closed and send those photos via text to the scoring team. The 2-person scoring team entered the arrival and restart times into the spreadsheet from these photos. Scores were posted on a flat screen TV 20 minutes after the last car arrived at the finish.
62 Contestant Evaluation Forms (CEF) were returned from the 64 people who competed. Contestants were asked to rate their feeling about the rally on a scale of 0 to 10:
- 0 was "hated it"
- 5 was "neutral"
- 10 was "loved it".
- The average contestant rating was 8.7.
Contestants were asked to rate the difficulty of the rally:
- 53 people said "just about right"
- 6 people said "too hard"
- 1 person said "too easy",
- 2 people did not answer this question.
There was concern at the outset about presenting a trap rally to so many new people, but the CEF data and other comments seemed to confirm the idea that it can be done in a way that people enjoy. The General Instructions and the Checkpoint Critique Slips were written with new people in mind. You can read the General Instructions, the Route Instructions, the Checkpoint Critique Slips, and the results for Roads Scholar 2015 in the PDF file by clicking here!
Sixty four people completed the course, which now makes them Roads Scholars.
Roads Scholar will return next year. We'll get the date to RReNews as soon as it is known!
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Ode to a Subaru - Rest in Peace Roberta Flake
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| by Dan Lyons, Checkpoint Worker and Former Rallyist
Rest in Peace
1996 Subaru Outback aka - Roberta Flake
VIN # 4S3BG6859T7370432
November 13, 1995 - April 20, 2015
Born in the Subaru Indiana automobile manufacture plant, Roberta was one of 100 vehicles created with a front to rear ski scene on both sides of the body and the word SABARU on the lower panel. We learned this fact one day when my wife and I were shopping at the local supermarket. In the parking lot was a woman circling Roberta. She told us that she was a designer for Subaru and had designed the ski scene on the side of the car.
It was the first vehicle of the production run and was designed with a special automatic transmission made for road rallying. Gene Henderson, factory rally driver for Subaru purchased this car to run in the 1996 AlCan 5000 as Subaru's factory entry.
The 1996 AlCan 5000 is a road rally held in the dead of winter, that starts in Seattle, Washington and goes 5000 miles North to Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska and ends up in Anchorage. Roberta not only did the 1996 AlCan, she did the 1997 AlCan too. She was on the Ice Roads before we ever heard about the Truckers.
We bought Roberta from Gene Henderson in 1998 after seeing her sitting in Gene's garage. Every owner names their car, Roberta is no exception. She got her name from the snow flakes that were added to the design just for the AlCan rally. Her full name was Roberta Flake....a nod to singer Roberta Flack.
She has been a faithful part of our family, always bringing us home no matter how sick she was, which wasn't often. For 19 years she lived in cold weather climate of Michigan. She succumbed to the snow and salt which we have a lot of here. She was still running when her left rear strut failed due to rust. She was replaced...I mean survived by her younger brother, Kermit, a green 2000 Subaru Outback VIN #4S3BH6651Y7620XX.
Viewing will be at Michigan Imported Cars, 350 S. Newburgh Road, Westland, Michigan, 9 to 5:30 M-F. We ask that in lieu of flowers that donations of coffee and donuts can be made to Lou Lippert and his great staff of mechanics at Convenience Auto Service, 2280 W. Liberty St. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103, without whom she would have passed on years ago.
RReNews - Mr Lyons had posted this out in Michigan and I got a copy. He graciously allowed us to reprint it. He wrote that he still works the Son of Snowdrift as a Checkpoint Worker with Mark Henderson, so of Gene Henderson. His past rally adventures include One Lap of America in 1986 and 1987, and was the first factory entry for Chrysler in 1996. Yes, he even had some work on the early Press on Regardless rallies back-in-the-day!
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Penelope Pitstop Question of the Month
In June, our question came from Mark Henderson, Detroit Region. He was asking how other Regions and Rally organizations help competitors find teams mates, as certainly others are without rally partners who would welcome the chance to rally again!
Thank you to those who choose to have a comment and send their replies. Didn't get yours sent in time? We'll still take it and pass it along next month.
The problem is not enough rallies, compounded by how difficult it is to
get started in TSD. Work towards a solution to both problems by putting
on a GTA rally every year. They are much less labor-intensive to create
and stage, and it is much easier to convince a potential rallyist to try
the sport once, given the ease in getting started in GTA: no car prep, no
equipment to buy, no math to learn, no apps to download....just show up
and compete.
Then, at the awards ceremony for the GTA, tell them all
about TSD, how much fun it is, what a challenge, either as a driver or
navigator. Odds are, each year one or two people will take the
challenge, and say, but with whom do I run? You know the answer to that
question.
From
Bill Demming:
Great RR eNews edition, Cheryl! I do like the article by Dave Head on the Jinxy Car. Had a few of those jinxed cars myself! The dilemna with not having a partner afects us too, since in Alaska, lots of our members are out of town on jobs. We have to put together teams with those that show up. And, amazingly, these teams usually do well, too! I wonder why?
How about you? Please click
here to send your questions to
Penelope Pitstop
with your rally questions and answers to others' questions!
We'll print the comments received in the August edition of
RReNews
!
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How Many National Championship Points Per Weekend? June 27, 2015 The next Road Rally Board meeting is in a few weeks (July 13) and this meeting is the deadline for rule change proposals to be effective for the 2016 competition year. Following the meeting, the proposed rule changes will be released for public comment on the new Road Rally Forums at scca.com. Deadline for comments is September 1. I anticipate two conflicting changes being proposed. They deal with the number of championship points that a given Region may offer in a given period of time. Let's review the basics. A National event is worth a maximum of 20 Championship points. Some Regions are offering double National weekends, for a maximum of 40 points per weekend. Regional events are worth 10 points and several Regions offer rally weekends worth a total of 20 points per weekend. Only one organizing committee (in Arizona) offered two consecutive Regional weekends with two events per day for a total of 80 points for the two weekends. The question is: should this practice continue to be sanctioned as points-counting events for the SCCA National Road Rally Championship? These weekends were constructed with a goal of offering the maximum possible potential points with the aim of drawing competitors interested in pursuing the National Championships. They drew a total of 4 cars per event. No local entries participated. The most cogent argument for restricting the number of points available per day or per weekend is that the large number of points available pretty much requires that anyone who wants to pursue a National Championship must attend these weekends. Competitors not attending are placed at a significant disadvantage. The original intent of counting Regional events toward the National Championship was to reward Regional competitors and to increase interest and participation in the National Championship, not to enable points-collecting orgies in a select few geographies. The arguments against any such restrictions include the opinion that it is not necessary to go to Arizona to compete for the Championship as there are many points available in other parts of the country. Attending a cluster of events in Arizona is less expensive than traveling to multiple other cities and this makes the sport less expensive. Rather than trying to even the playing field, the rules should encourage this type of event clustering and perhaps even remove all limits on points per day and points per weekend. There has been a lively discussion of these issues on the SCCARoadRally Yahoo group. A small but vocal group has expressed their opinions there. Here is your chance to make your opinion known anonymously. You may click here to send me an email expressing your opinion on this question. A simple vote to restrict points per day or per weekend or to not restrict points per day or per weekend is all that is necessary. Perhaps we should limit the Regional points per weekend to 20 or 40. Perhaps we should restrict the number of points that a competitor may earn to one event per day. You may include your rationale for your opinion of course, but brevity is appreciated. As always, I appreciate any comment and feedback you may have on this or other matters. Rich Bireta RRB Chairman |
Words from the Wheel 
by Deena Rowland
SCCA Member Services
RReNews here...
We gave her a summer vacation from writing!
Deena, thank you for your continued support of the SCCA Road Rally Community and our efforts here at RReNews!
PS: Your next deadline is July 31st.
Should you have a question about sanctioning or audit payments, she is busy working and you can reach her at 800-770-2055 ext 331. Do keep in mind, depending on your timezone, that she departs at 3:30PM. You can also reach her via email!
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Rally "Food for Thought"
I received the following email from the SCCA St Louis Region and I asked their permission to reprint it in
RReNews. No, it is not awe-inspiring, razzle-dazzle, earth-shaking news, yet often as organizers and rallymasters we are so engrossed in what we are doing - we forget to tell those we want to come Rally what we are doing!
I thought this was well-written reminder to all of us
behind the scenes
to always remember that there are those on the other side of the curtain awaiting our next show! With so many demands for our attention, it is good to remind people you care about them coming to your next event and they'll make sure you are on their busy calendars too.
From: editorialsolutions@sbcglobal.net Subject: SCCA St. Louis Region Early-Summer RoadRally Update Date: June 30, 2015 at 9:04:53 AM AKDT To: editorialsolutions@sbcglobal.net
Good afternoon, dear friends and colleagues. First, thank you for participating in, or expressing an interest in, Tulips & Other Spring Flowers and Mini-Maifest, the first two road rallies of our 2015 St. Louis Region, SCCA, RoadRally? calendar. As we have at present no additional regional events on our calendar until November, this is simply a hello to remind you that we're keeping you in mind, and that we'll keep you informed about upcoming events.
While we have no regional rallies scheduled until this fall, we will be hosting our 2015 SCCA double-national weekend July 31-Aug. 2 (see the attached event announcement for more information). As you might suspect, our national weekend is composed of traditional TSD (time-speed-distance) events. For teams participating in the weekend, Rallymaster Ron Ferris has organized the rallies so that teams may choose to run the events either as a Course (traditional trap) or Touring event (no traps, just straightforward road-rallying). If you're interested in more information about the events, please let me know. And finally, as a reminder, here's the date for our next regional road rally: The Great Pumpkin Challenge Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015 Start: TBD Destination: TBD The rally will have a Thanksgiving theme (naturally). While the starting location hasn't been selected, plan on registration beginning at noon, an official start time of 1 p.m., and a duration of about three hours.
That's all for now. Let us know if you have any questions. And thanks again for your interest in our rally program. Sincerely yours, Jim Heine For the St. Louis Region Sports Car Club of America
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Road Rally - Save the Date Notices!
SCCA St Louis Region -
Trust Me (Course and Tour)
Scenic Byways (Course and Tour)
Gateway Double National RoadRally Weekend
Rallymaster Ron Ferris has designed each rally so that it may be run as a Course event or a Touring (Tour) event. You will select which version you wish to run. Ron's third edition of Trust Me and his second edition of Scenic Byways will incorporate the rural roads and country lanes of Macoupin, Madison, and Bond counties in southwestern Illinois, just across the river from the Gateway Arch. On both days we will employ open controls as well as occasional DIYC controls. Mostly, assigned average speeds will be moderate.
Better yet - click here and download their most excellent event flyer!
Rallymaster: Ron Ferris
Milwaukee Region Rally Group -
Kettle Moraine Fall Color Tour
Saturday, Oct 24, Delafield, WI
This 5-hour Tour style event emphasizes the spectacular fall color scenery of the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine Forest. Much of the course in run in transit zones so you can drive at your own pace and enjoy the roads and scenery.
Rallymaster: Fred Rosevear
The Blacke - NOTE THE NEW DATE
Saturday Nov 7, Black River Falls, WI
The final event of our rallye season, this rally will feature 180 miles of spirited driving through the country roads to the southwest of Black River Falls. The rally doesn't start until mid-afternoon Saturday and finishes around 9PM, so the majority of the event takes place after the sun goes down. This is our only night-time rally and it offers a different type of driving experience that is not to be missed.
The Arrowhead Lodge in Black River Falls will be the starting and ending point for this event. Although some people drive home after the rally, many contestants prefer to stay overnight and make it more of a weekend. The Lodge offers a discounted room rate for rally contestants.
Rallymaster: Jim Jurgenson
We would like to cordially invite you to each of these fine rally events. Each rally is carefully designed to be enjoyable to all contestants, ranging from experienced rallyists to people who are new to the sport.
I'd also encourage you to "join" two Facebook pages: WIRE-Wisconsin Illinois Rallye Enthusiasts and Twin City Rally Club. These are two good pages that will keep you up to date on events in our area.
If you have any questions about these events or about our club, please email or call me. We look forward to seeing you.
Find New Roads,
Milwaukee Region Rallye Guye
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All,
RReNews will post information about your events too! This community is to serve all Road Rally events in North America. Yet it does require that you send in the information! Send in your pre-event or post-event write-ups via this
link.
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