originally posted to the WDCR Region Executive’s blog by Evanthe Salisbury. Click here to see the original post from 9/14/2010.

It is with a very heavy heart that I inform WDCR’s membership that Lifetime Region member Brian Holtz passed away on Monday, September 13, 2010, from pancreatic cancer.

Brian wore many hats within the SCCA’s organization. This is just a few of the ones I could think of…
Chairman of the SCCA Pro Racing Board
Area 2 Director (WDCR is part of Area 2)
Regional Executive – Philadelphia Region
National Chief Steward
Member of the Club Racing Board
He was also a Lifetime Philadelphia Region member as well as a member of the South Jersey Region.

And I know that I’m not even scratching the surface of all of the things that Brian has done/been for SCCA National, SCCA Pro Racing, the Northeast Division, and all of the people he touched in his lifetime.

Those who attended the Labor Day Double MARRS event had the opportunity to visit with Brian as he drove himself from his home in PA to visit with his friends in the DC Region.

He was a great leader, mentor and most of all, a friend. He will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace and his memory be eternal. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Ellen, his son, Joseph, and his entire family.

This year’s running of the Catoctin Monte rally will be held on Saturday, October 23rd. Again this year, we will have two options available for contestants: a day long National version and a half-day Regional rally. With both rallies, dinner for both contestants is included as part of the entry fee at the end of the rally (the Braddock Inn in Braddock Heights, MD).

The Catoctin Monte is a Monte Carlo style rally, which means contestants have the mileage and time they should arrive at each control throughout the day. In addition, mileages are given to every turn, which makes it an ideal event for beginners and experts alike!

The National Rally
The National rally has registration open at 8:00 AM at the Sleep Inn, 501 Silo Hill Parkway, Emmitsburg, MD 21727 (about 30 minutes north of Frederick off US 15). First car starts running the rally at 9:01 AM, and the overall event is just about 200 miles in length.

The Regional Rally
The Regional rally has registration at the lunch break for the day-long event, at the McDonalds at 854 Jefferson Pike, Knoxville, MD 21758 (Southwest of the roundabout intersection of Maryland 17 and 180, about 15 minutes southwest of Frederick off US 340). Registration opens around 12 noon and after a regional odometer check starting approximately at 1:00 PM, contestants will follow the same route as the National contestants.

All Contestants
All contestants will get to the Braddock Inn at approximately 5:00 PM, where scoring, awards and dinner will take place.

Historic Challenge Trophy
In addition, for those with historic cars, a challenge has been made by Steve McKelvie of Franklin, MA for a separate challenge trophy in both the full day and half day events. Teams that want to compete for this trophy must also abide by the following rules:
The car driven must be more than 25 years old (1985 or older).
No electronic digital displays anywhere within the car.
Mechanical odometers (Halda, Bellmog, stock non-electrical, etc) and electro-mechanical odometers (Brantz Retrotrip) are permitted.
All timepieces must be analog, including wristwatches. Battery powered clocks/watches are fine, but no digital display.
No electronic calculators of any kind, but rally slidewheels, rally tables, Alpena, and Curta calculators are permitted. Halda Speed Pilot machines are fine as well.
Adjustable analog electronic speedometers similar to the Great Race requirements are permitted but no electronic digital display during the rally after odometer calibration.

Please let the registration personnel know that you plan to run for the challenge trophy in addition to your regular SCCA class.

For More Information
There is an event flyer and registration form for both the National and Regional events located on the Washington, DC SCCA website (www.wdcr-scca.org). Click the RoadRally link on the left side of the page.

At the bottom of the page will be a link (Click Here!) for the rally. In addition, you can contact Steve Gaddy (nittany1995@gmail.com) or Chris Bean (c_bean@verizon.net) for more information. We would like to know you plan on coming prior to October 21st so that we can plan on enough materials for all contestants,

DON’T WANT TO DRIVE BUT PARTICIPATE AS A VOLUNTEER WORKER?

In addition, for people who aren’t interested in running The Catoctin Monte, we could really use some additional workers for it. You don’t need any experience.

We give you the clock to time cars as they enter the control, instruction on how to use them, directions for where to go to shortcut the course, and dinner at the conclusion of the event. For a Monte Carlo event, you can work alone and the more workers we can get to come out, the higher percentage of the controls we can man.

Given that this is a part of the US RoadRally Challenge, we would like to get as many people out to work as possible. It is a really great way to see how strong National level rallyists perform at the highest level of their sport.

If you have questions or are willing to help us out on October 23rd (either part of the day or all day), please contact Chris Bean (c_bean@verizon.net).

Click here to download the USRRC (US Road Rally Championship) Flyer and Entry Form.

Click here to download the Catoctin Monte Flyer and Entry form

Ron Skidmore, long time member of the Washington DC Region and Chief of Tech for the Region for many years, passed away Saturday. Funeral services will be held this Thursday, September 30. Info at the following link:

http://www.dellingerfuneralhome.com/ronald-lee-skidmore/

Ron was one of those rare members who worked almost every event to make the Region’s club racing program successful. He and his wife Joyce were always manning the Tech Shed for for every WDCR race; regional, national or 12 hour. Ron would tech cars from early in the morning until 10 or 11 PM. He seemed to be the first to arrive and last to leave, perhaps since he camped next to the Tech Shed!

We will all miss Ron and his contribution to the Washington DC Region.

Radial Tire of Silver Spring, Md., is sponsoring the final Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series race of the season.

“Radial Tire Presents the Toyo Tires MARRS Finale” will be held Oct. 9 and 10 at Summit Point Raceway, W.V.

For driver and worker registration, follow the links through the WDCR Web site, http://www.wdcr-scca.org/.

In addition, Radial Tire will offer two sets of tires at the annual WDCR awards banquet.

Visit the Radial Tire web site here

Visit the Toyo Tire’s web site here

Thanks to WDCR member Fil Sibley for sharing this tribute video about Sam Strano, one of the most successful autocrossers in the SCCA and a WDCR member.

See the full HD version here

Sam Strano – Solo driver from DIGIFIL on Vimeo.

by Danny Kao

Going to AI events at Waldorf is like going to VIR for a motorcycle race – because it is as close to “Country Club Autocross” as you can get.

The course, grid, and paddock are all in a cozy setting. The viewing area is always in the middle of the course. Sit down lunch is always served on the 3rd base side picnic area, and did I mention “NICE BIG CLEAN BATHROOMS”? No tipping over port-a-john is possible, which is very nice.

Lunch was hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken strips. The clubhouse manager obviously had us confused with baseball players; he kept on reminding us that the portions are limited and it’s not all you can eat. Does he know that us autocrossers are all like delicate flowers and we watch our weight to gain that little competitive advantage? The chocolate chip cookies were definitely the best, the only thing that’s missing is some vanilla ice cream.

As you can see there is absolutely zero autocross racing coverage so far; that is because at this event, not only I was not the fastest Asian (that went to Christopher Lin in his MR2), I wasn’t even the fastest Chinese in Gaithersburg. (that went to Edwin Liu) I will have a little talk with both of their parents to make sure the elder Asian gentleman is getting the proper respect from these young punks.

Race Coverage (Abbreviated – I still have to pack and load karts for the Nationals)

Eric Kriemelmeyer treated us with two opposite courses. Morning course was tighter with two patient corners, and the afternoon course was fast along with an exciting high speed left hander. Some folks where having a little problem going off course heading towards the stadium in the morning runs, but that was quickly resolved by adding the pointer cones during the afternoon runs.

The return of the “Bob” featured Mr. Housmann battle against Mr. Stephen Brown in Mr. Brown’s well known white XP Corvette. This was by far the most exciting battle, and Mr. Brown just edged Bob by 0.084 second. If Bob removed his left side headlight just like last time, he would probably win the race. The personal battle between Steve Kahre and Lance Heinrich also continued with Steve winning by the narrowest margin of 0.004 second. Unfortunately both efforts are not enough to oust the “Pat Griffith’s” Black Solstice driving by the evil twins of Eric and Pat. (Yes, it’s official. I am calling the Solstice “Pat’s car” from now on)

Mr. John Vitamvas declared himself the winner of STS until Pat Griffith kindly reminded him that he skipped the entire afternoon run and winning the morning portion does not constitute winning the event. I think Johnny V declared mission accomplished a little too early.

Brian Karwan continued his winning ways this month. I think Brian is undefeated during the month of August and we hope he is taking the winning streak into Lincoln. If he wins, he will sell me his Civic for $2500, so I heard. (ed. late news: Brian Karwan won the 2010 SCCA SMF National Championship in Lincoln, NE)

Kevin Brink is our double race winner this weekend. Kevin took the win in G-Stock, and also took the win in “racing with the Geezers” by arriving the buffet line first from the Geezer lunch table. Unfortunately his reward was the first cold hamburger patty. The real winner of the Geezer lunch table race was Mr. John Nicolaysen, Mr. Lee Owens and your truly – we consumed the most chocolate chip cookies at the table.

The battle of the sexes in BSP continues in AI and the female was triumphant over the male, so I guess Kevin Shivers is really a woman? (I hope Kevin has a good sense of humor because he is much bigger than me…)

Mr. Dave Mapes is always the generous type. He was rewarding the course workers’ hard work by dropping silver dollars along the course; but upon closer examination, it was some kind of brackets that holds his 66 Dodge Dart together. Oh well…

Ms. Alison Mondul drove her NC Miata to the Novice victory. Even though her husband Michael Gross insisted the Miata was his, but we all know who really wears the pants at the Team Grondul residence.

Conclusion

A big special thank you to Mr. John DaCrema for taking pictures for all of us. John was willing skip his runs just to take picture for the folks in his heat – he is totally awesome!

John’s photo album is here

Don’t missing the next and the final AI event of the year on October 17th at the Blue Crab Stadium again. I recommend a chocolate chip cookie eating contest; maybe then I will finally win something….