February: It was announced that NRSCCA was, again, going to host the MiDiv Solo Divisionals on August 11-12, 1990
June: MirrorKhana XVI. We had about 27 Nebraska members that attended the event in Salina.
We added to the annual DMVR/NRSCCA Challenge, a personal wager by the RE that whichever Region lost, the RE got soaked, either in a "dunk tank", with water balloons, or a 5 gallon bucket of ice water. At the Des Moines/Nebraska Challenge, Anita Poss (who initiated the wager) paid the price. Ron Sharp got the honors of drowning the Nebraska Region RE for losing the Challenge, but Bob Woodhouse avenged the Region by helping Ron cool off. Yes, NRSCCA lost the "Challenge" ... but both RE's got wet. (Thus began the traditional soaking of the losing RE.)
August: We had 227 entrants at the MiDiv Solo Divisionals and over 50 of the drivers were from Nebraska.
November: By November, the Exhaust Notes staff had 11 people. We think this must have been a new record.
January: The Annual NRSCCA was held at Anthony's Restaurant. We had an IceKhana on January 17th.
May: We put on a Mini-Solo II for Ford Motor Company in Norfolk, Nebraska. We had celebrities: Lynn St. James, the mayor, local radio personalities, and Father Tom. A priest in a solo car? Yes, a local priest joined in the fun.
June: Nebraska won the Des Moines/Nebraska Challenge. Anita Poss, with the help of Craig Hamler, cooled off DMVR's RE, Greg Scharnberg.
July: Nebraska received a "Challenge" from Salina Region for a July Rally/Solo in Salina. (There were no details about the Salina Challenge in the Exhaust Notes.)
Mark and Donna Ross put on the "Big Deal" poker rally; John Bly and Dick Gross competed in the Canadian Blackjack Divisional Rally in Oklahoma and finished 4th in Class B; Jan and Candy Gerber worked the Ruan Grand Prix in Des Moines. Also at the Ruan Grand Prix race were Patc Henry, as SCCA Director of Club Racing, and Mitch and Molly Anderson as spectators.
August: NRSCCA had 7 trophy winners at the MiDiv Solo II Championships.
September: Another Mac's Midnight Madness put on by John Bly and Dick Gross. This was the 25th running of this Rally. (The number of actual Mac's Midnight Madness events was a mystery most of the time, so if the numbers aren't consecutive, don't worry about it.)
The Region held a Mini Grand Prix of Omaha for the Arthritis Foundation. Jan Gerber organized the event and, with much help from the Region, it was a great event.
November: We were in need of Solo sites for the 1992 year. The lost sites we'd using for years were being used for other things. Times change.
February: Rally season started with a "Quantum Leap" rally. Jan Gerber wrote a series called Regional Rally Review, in his article there was this: "Rumor has it that a challenge was made to a certain Blair car dealer from a certain Corvette driving R.E." Bob Woodhouse and Anita Poss were team captains for the entrants of the Quantum Leap rally. The captain of the winning team got to "deliver" a pie to the losing team's captain. Anita won and Bob ate pie.
March: We had two National trophy winners, Candy Mertz and Jan Gerber. They won 3rd place in Class C in the National Course Rally Championship.
At the March monthly meeting we had a large attendance for Jerry Doctor's excellent slide show. Some of the slides dated back 20 years.
April: We broke an attendance record with 105 cars at the first Solo of the year.
Candy and Jan (Gerber) went to LaCrosse, Wisconsin to run the Yucatan Safari Divisional Rally where they finished 3rd out of 6 cars in class C.
May: On the cover of this month's newsletter is a photo of Jerry Doctor talking his blindfolded daughter, April, through a pop can slalom.
June: 17 NRSCCA folks attended MirrorKhana XVIII and came back with 6 wins, 1 second and 4 thirds.
Paul Brown squeaked to victory at Heartland Park in the new A Sedan Class.
September: NRSCCA supported the Arthritis Foundation's Mini Grand Prix in Omaha.
Jerry Doctor wrote our statistics to date. We had 12 National race drivers, 1 vintage racer, 5 Regional drivers, nine members held worker licenses, and Patc Henry held a Chief Steward's license. Who says we're not a "racing region"?
December: The 1992 Annual Awards Banquet was announced for January 16, 1993 at Farmer Browns.
February: The annual banquet has come and gone. Jerry Doctor was RE, again. Jan Gerber, as regional points keeper, once again tried to explain the points system to the members. (Pointskeepers have been doing this for decades!)
April: We had a new site at Offutt Air Force Base. The first event had a few bugs, but they were ironed but by the second event held there in May.
August: The Arthritis Foundation again scheduled a Mini Grand Prix in Omaha.
Divisional Results: We hosted the MiDiv Solo Championships in August. And yes, it rained.
Fall: Patc Henry was made the new SCCA Operational Manager of Club Racing.
December: The Annual banquet was scheduled for January 15, 1994 at Angies Restaurant.
January: Neon was paying contingency money: for the National Run-offs $5,000; for the National Solos $1,500; and for the Pro-Solos $3,500.
February: On February 12, George Gunther died of a heart attack while deep sea fishing off the Texas coast. He had been a member of SCCA since April 1956.
June: A dozen NRSCCA members went to Salina to MirrorKhana XX. They all finished well. Takahisa (Tako) Aono (Nebraska member) gave the event master a scare on their first run. The "dead-heat" finish was Rocky's first in 20 years.
On June 26th, we held the NRSCCA/DMVR Challenge at Offutt AFB. In a very close contest Des Moines won: 5.63 to 5.21.
August: The 4th annual Omaha Mini Grand Prix was held. This event was sanctioned by SCCA, Inc. and was being done nationwide. The Omaha event was a great success.
September: It was reported that in September of 1994 we had 14 National, Divisional, and Regional license holders in club racing for workers in the Nebraska Region. Also it was reported that A Sedan will become a National class in 1995.
October: John Bly and Dick Gross ran the Witches Ryde Rally (Wichita Region event) and finished first in class and first overall.
January: The Annual Awards Banquet was held at the Best Western Regency and Mark Beacom was the first member to win the George Gunther Memorial Regional Competition Driver Trophy.
Old(!) NRSCCA Members: January marked the 25th Anniversary in the SCCA of NRSCCA's Competition Director, Jack Beck. Two other members will also celebrate their silver anniversary this year. They are Jerry Doctor (in April) and Patt Buell (in October).
Jerry Miller (an NRSCCA member living in New Mexico) will complete his 27th year. Patc Henry who works for SCCA's Club Racing Department, has been a member for over 30 years. She joined in September 1964. Jim Liska, Lincoln, will have 33 years in the club this May. But these are all newcomers compared to Leonard Janke. Leonard drove in the Can-Am during the 1960s with drivers like Mark Donahue and Jim Hall. He joined Nebraska Region in August 1956.
April: We held an "Adopt-a-Cone" campaign to fund the new pylon purchase. For $5 you adopted a cone and you could put a name on the cone. By July we had sold $165 worth of cones.
May: Omaha Mini Grand Prix announced. Last year's event raised over $100,000 to support research for the 263,000 people in our area with arthritis. The 1995 race route will go around the Central Park Mall downtown. This will be the 5th annual and will be held August 6th.
Katherine ("Katie") Ross was born on the May 3rd to Mark and Donna Ross.
June: The annual NRSCCA/DMVR Challenge was held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Also in June was the MirrorKhana XXI in Salina. Of the 11 Nebraska people attending, 10 trophied.
On June 12th Eric Jensen was born to Greg and Denise.
August: There was a Solo at Offutt. The timer broke and refused to heal. We timed the cars with stop watches. (Just like the old days.)
17 Nebraska Region members went to the Solo Divisionals and 4 trophied.
September: We held the 8th annual "Make-a-Wish" Solo. It was the most successful one to date. There were 89 drivers and we raised $1,025 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
November: In Memorium: Robert J. Wilson lost his battle with cancer on November 1st. R. J. was a long time supporter of Nebraska Region. He was survived by his wife Maxine, son Frank, daughter Ellen (Wilson) Zitzlsperger, and granddaughter April (Doctor) Walter.
December: This issue announced that Patc Henry was the interim Manager of SCCA Enterprises. Patc was previously involved in the development of the Sports Renault program in the mid 1980's. She then spent several years working in the Pro Racing department. Patc has been the Club Racing Operations Manager since January 1993. She will continue to serve in that position while serving as interim manager of the SCCA Enterprises. Also announced, Frank Safranek was appointed to the American Sedan Ad Hoc Committee.
January: Bye, Bye Hallet? A comment about Hallet Motor Racing Circuit parting ways with SCCA. Patc Henry, SCCA Club Racing Manager and a member of NRSCCA stated, "Hallet officials have not informed the national office of any work being done to bring the track into compliance with SCCA safety regulations." A recent inspection of the track uncovered numerous hazards.
Patt Buell and April Doctor started a new series called T.H.E. Column. And Mark Beacom wrote a great story called "Racing: The Reason, the First School."
February: Hallet Update: the track will be re-inspected by SCCA in early March.
March and April: In March there was a rally with 11 cars, and in April there was a Solo that had over 80 entrants and a second one that had 65 entrants in the rain.
May: We now have over 240 members.
June: NRSCCA has a Public Service Announcement appearing on ABC, CBS, NBC and Cox Cable. We also had a 4 minute promo tape for sale.
July: Patc Henry, SCCA Director of Club Racing and a member of NRSCCA since 1964, played Chief Steward at the Woodhouse Ford Solo II.
August: NRSCCA held the 6th Annual Arthritis Foundation Mini Grand Prix on the streets of Omaha. (This is an SCCA sanctioned event held nationwide.)
Nebraska had 14 members run the MiDiv Solo ll Championship. In the Solotime series we had eight NRSCCA members qualify and four trophied.
October: An article by April Doctor called: "Being Sixteen."
Never let a friend autocross your car! Don Knop borrowed John LaRandeau's Camaro Z-28. The result? John got a second place finish . . . right behind Don.
We held the Nebraska/Des Moines Valley Region Challenge in Omaha. DMVR won with a score of 7.182 to Nebraska's 4.315. Ouch! Chris Safranek, R.E. was at the Runnoffs in Mid Ohio and avoided getting soaked!
December: NRSCCA lost one of its most loyal members, John Bly. He was a member for over 25 years, an avid solo driver and a top rallier. He had been seriously ill for some time. We will miss him.
January: The NRSCCA Annual Awards Banquet was held at Castle Barrett on January 25, 1997.
The BoG added a "Pro Pax" class to its Solo competition in 1997. This class would allow the Region's better Solo drivers to compete against each other despite the difference in their cars.February: It was announced that Solo season would begin March 9 with an autocross at Aksarben Infield. And looking at the schedule it looks like 1997 will be a very busy year with 18 events.
April: Patt Buell and Chris Safranek put on their 2nd Annual "The" Solo II. (Of course, it rained - on Patt's half of the event.)
On April 26-27 it was cold but sunny - Nebraskan's took 6 trophies at Mirror Khana XXIII.
July: Nebraska/DMVR Challenge. Chris Safrank, the R.E. did not go so the assistant R.E., Patt Buell, went in her place. Nebraska lost - Patt got soaked. But it was 100 degrees, the ice water melted and Patt thought it was a great way to cool off.
August: Jerry Doctor wrote that Nick Craw, CEO of SCCA, would draw a salary of $1.1 million over the next three years. About a 56% increase. (He's never going to write to Jerry now.)
October: Chris and Frank Safranek, Jan and Candy Gerber, and Tim White again worked the national Runnoffs at Mid Ohio.
At the end of October, Frank Safranek and Time White put on the 4th Annual American Sedan Rally. There were several fall rallies, averaging about 7 to 9 cars per event.
December: Congratulations! The following members celebrated 15 to 35 years of continuous service with the SCCA in 1997.
35 Years - Jim Liska - 5/62
25 Years - Geoff French - 2/72
20 Years - John LaRandeau - 6/77
20 Years - Rick Nordgarten - 11/77
15 Years - Gary Quast - 2/82
15 Years - Michael Bibinoff - 3/82
15 Years - Kevin Gilbert - 12/82
January: We had a great turnout for the 1997 Annual Award banquet. For 1998 we picked up a new autocross site at Bluffs Run in Council Bluffs. Monthly meetings will be replaced by a meeting and pre-registration party the night before each event. It will be a social meeting with food and drink for the whole family.
February: Prices went up! SCCA single memberships went up $5 and Family memberships $10. Comp licenses also went up $5.
March: The first Rally and Autocross of the season were held with good participation. Mac's Midnight Madness Rally will be held in September. The Solo program attracted many entrants throughout the summer at Offutt, Iowa Western, Bluffs Run and Aksarben.
We held two charity events; one for the Ollie Webb Center in September and one for Make-a-Wish in October. At the Make-a-Wish solo we had Jim Synder run his 1958 Edsel station wagon. See . . . we do have classes for everything.
August: The MiDiv Solo Championships were held at Forbes Field, Kansas.
September: The National Solo Championships were held. This was April Doctor's first year to cover the event and write articles for Sports Car. Also Congratulations to NRSCCA's Jeff Simunaci, who was 10th in points in SCCA's GTA Pro Racing series. Jeff was one of two MiDiv drivers to compete in the Coca Cola Shoot Out held with the August NASCAR Craftsman Truck race. Paul Brown was injured during the World Challenge race at Watkins Glen and Mike Wold-Steele was injured at a National race at Heartland Park.
October: We lost the NRSCCA/DMVR Challenge and, yes, Chris Safranek (RE) got soaked. We lost 5.091 to 5.333.
November: The year ended on a sad note. After a long illness, Joseph Lechner died on November 17, 1998. He had been active in the Omaha Mustang Club and a member of the SCCA since May 1993.
January: NRSCCA Awards banquet for 1998 was held January 30, 1999 at the UNO Alumni Center. There were over 100 folks there. Jerry Doctor had a computer slide show with pictures of the 1998 events. Bill Pemberton showed up in an outrageous wig. Bob Woodhouse commented that Bill was the entertainment for Woodhouse Ford & Chrysler.
February: We had a full events calendar planned for the year and everything was falling into place. We had several Solos schedule at Aksarben and Offutt and one at Iowa Western.
March: Don Knop was injured in a serious bicycle accident.
April: NRSCCA held the Annual Solo II Biathlon April 1st. The concept was taken from the Winter Olympics Biathlon where cross country skiers top at selected locations for target shooting. In a Solo II Biathlon the drivers were required to stop after each slalom and shoot the cones in the slalom. At this point you are probably thinking "Is this for real?" No, of course not - "April Fool" - but the story got a lot of attention. There were even photos of the event (staged, of course).
May: Six of our members went to Heartland Park for the PCDE. They were Marco Rossetti, Eric Fisher, Jan Gerber, Ralf Lindow, Tim Heaton and Steve Gulizia. Patc Henry (NRCCA member), SCCA's Director of Club Racing underwent back surgery April 26. She sent a note to Mark Ross and the region thanking them for the flowers and well wishes. She plans to go back to work soon. "Don't want them to get use to me being gone for too long."
We had 9 more Solos and 4 rallys through the rest of the year. The last rally was put on by Jerry Doctor and Frank Safranek. It was a "Three Week Rally." The concept: You are given the instructions and you can run the course as many times as you want in a three week time period. Of course, the rallymasters could tell if you ran the right course, as there was a question sheet. Leave it to Mr. Doctor, the teacher, to have a questions sheet. It was graded for your final score.
