About Pit Talk Editor

A 25-year SCCA member, Melissa Introne is the current Pit Talk Editor. She has a multi-generational family history with ties to the club. Her late father-in-law, Robert Introne Jr., served as the Chairman of the club’s national Board of Directors; her husband, Steve Introne, has raced for over 25years across the country in Autocross and Road Racing, and is the reigning B-Spec National Championship. Her three children continue the tradition, holding T&S, F&C and Novice competition road racing licenses as well. She is National-level Flagging & Communication marshal, and has served as Crew Chief for her husband’s autocross, SRF3 and B-Spec racecars.

Registration Open: Summer Challenge Rally

2022 Summer Challenge Rally Registration is open for this year's Summer Challenge Road Rally. John Buffum is coordinating as the Rally Master. Event details and the registration forms are available at https://winterchallengerally.com/. From John: I just did a complete course check. I was struck by how different and more beautiful it was in the summer compared with Winter Challenge. To see the Vermont countryside in the daylight, with all the undergrowth and trees in bloom, was magnificent! Competitors from out of state will appreciate it; those of us living here already know it. This year we’re starting form Littleton, New Hampshire and ending just down the road at Team O’Neil’s Rally School. First car at 10 am; finish at 5 pm. A bit longer than normal – more bang for the buck :). Note: One new aspect – especially for Class S competitors that don’t do any actual computation. In the route instructions, at various points during the Regularities, I will show the correct time of arrival. So, without computing anything, you will be able to speed up or slow down as necessary to stay ‘on time’. I think this will add to the enjoyment for [...]

By |2022-07-13T10:35:15-04:00July 13th, 2022|Featured, Rally|
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Georgina Hendrix: February 22, 1933 ~ June 29, 2022

Written by Kathy Barnes and Donna Stevens Bryar National 1981 Georgina Hendrix, Omer Norton and Ted Goddard From Kathy: Georgina was a long time member of NER. Although her member record only shows membership since 1987, she was a member far longer than that. I first met her when I met SCCA - in the Timing and Scoring area at Thompson Speedway a half century ago. Georgina served on the Board of Directors a couple different times and was a great mentor to me when I was first involved. Her encouragement was essential to the path I have taken in the club. When I was Solo Chair, she helped the region get access to a lot at a community college in CT. I’ll never forget the snow storm we had at the first event. She ALWAYS had the fun and fast cars – even for her daily driver. In addition to their involvement in running the region, doing all things road racing and rallying – Georgina’s house was legendary for club gatherings. In addition to the Gloria Barbour Award (now Assistant RE Award), she was a recipient of a Gold Pass [...]

By |2022-07-07T22:11:59-04:00July 7th, 2022|Featured, Region News|
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International Visitors at Lime Rock Park Paddock Crawl

Written by Laurie Sheppard Family connections are found throughout SCCA and New England Region. You will often see siblings, cousins, grandparent-parent-child all working and competing together at various events. But even in a region where such relationships are commonplace, what happened at the Lime Rock Park Paddock Crawl Regional Race was unusual. Such family get-togethers generally don’t involve passports, visas, and international flights. This story actually begins a couple of decades ago and an ocean away, when Gerard Callaghan and his brother-in-law, Brian Kelly bought a Formula Vee to compete in Ireland’s Formula Vee Championship Series. Soon, Gerard bought a second car and the pair enjoyed racing together. Brian went on to win three championships in that first car. Fast forward and a continent later, Gerard and his family are living in the United States, and it was only natural that they found SCCA and NER’s Formula Vee racing community. Racing continues to be a family hobby and the FV paddock welcomed them. Gerard’s son, Gerard Owen Callaghan was the 2020 Rookie of the Year in the Northeast Formula Vee series and is the 2021 NEDIV and NERRC Champion in the class. Brian and his [...]

By |2022-07-06T17:21:13-04:00July 6th, 2022|Featured, Road Racing|
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RESULTS: NERRC #3 – LimeRock Paddock Crawl

It's a HOT one at Lime Rock Park The third NERRC event took place last weekend at LRP - and it was a scorcher. Following on the heels of the official first day of summer, our racers faced temps in the high 80's and into the 90's. With 199 entries, all seven run groups were fully subscribed and made for some great racing. Even with the heat, four drivers claimed new Track Records. Congratulations to Travis Washay in B-Spec, Jason Conzo in FE2, Zachary Kelly in T1 and Francis Selldorff in T3. As always, our annual Paddock Crawl party was enjoyed on Friday night following the racing activities. It was heard throughout the paddock that Lou Giallanella offered up a Spicy Thai Basil Chicken dish that was a huge hit! Photos by Kyle Norton - Kyle Norton Photography Coming in July Regional road racing pauses a beat during July as our only Northeast Majors event is scheduled for next weekend. We will gather at Thompson Speedway July 8-9. Registration is open, and those drivers looking to secure and finalize Runoffs qualifications will probably be making an appearance. NERRC Points The current NERRC points totals [...]

By |2022-06-30T11:25:51-04:00June 30th, 2022|Featured, Road Racing, Road Racing Results|
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2022 RAL – Auction Items Needed

RAL Info Page The History Donation Totals by Year Yearly Recaps Highlights 2022 RAL Auction Planning It's that time of year - time to start planning for the NER Annual RAL fundraising. One of the biggest money earners each year is the auction held at NHMS during the road racing Saturday night part. As we begin planning for this year's event, we are once again reaching out to the membership to supply the items that will be auctioned off to support the UMass Memorial Medical Center. Everything is welcome! Goods and services, gift cards, experiences, etc. Smaller items we can compile into larger baskets, so please don't think anything is "too small" to donate. It all goes towards helping the families battling childhood cancerns. Possible Donation Ideas include: Race car parts and materials: belts and harnesses, cleaning supplies, tools and tool sets, work gloves, tool boxes Restaurant gift cards: fast food restaurants, coffee shops (Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks), chain restaurants (Chili’s, Outback, Longhorn) Grocery store gift cards: Whole Foods, Stop ‘n Shop, ShopRite Kid Toys: Stuffed animals, Hot Wheels, bikes and scooters Clothing Items: Rain gear, jackets, hats and gloves [...]

By |2022-06-15T14:39:15-04:00June 15th, 2022|Featured, RAL|
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RallyFest Weekend at Team O’Neil

June 4-5 Weekend Event Come join the NER Rally program at Team O'Neil in New Hampshire next weekend for all things RallyFest! The weekend kicks off with a Rally School on Saturday, June 4, from 9am-3pm. Our NER Rally program will be manning a booth at the event to answer questions about our program and specific events. During the RallyFest day - attendees will be able to take runs on the rally course (either driving their own vehicle or riding along), view gun and rifle demos and training sessions, take a helicopter tour of the rally facility and birds eye view of the course, or participate in a "learn to drive a manual transmission" session. Following all the activities at RallyFest, everyone is welcome to head to downtown Littleton, NH for an after party. Here, there will be live music, food, beer and a Parc Expose car show of current and past rally cars! Then Sunday, June 5, our NER rally drivers take to the course with our June RallyFest RallySprint event. The racing action kicks off with the first stage leaving around 9am. Spectators are welcome and are advised to use the main entrance. Details and registration for [...]

By |2022-05-27T11:35:23-04:00May 27th, 2022|Featured, Rally|
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Bob Introne Memorial Race

NERRC Season Continues May 14-15 brought NER club racers the 2nd NERRC event of the season. Following the opener at Palmer, almost 140 entries came up to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The first NER event at NHMS was renamed this year in honor of Bob Introne, long-time member, director and steward, who passed away in October. Known as the region's "weatherman", Bob made sure we had sunny skies throughout the weekend. The final results from NERRC #2 have already been posted and are available. Registration is open for NERRC #3, at Lime Rock Park, scheduled for June 24-25. NERRC #2 - RESULTS Remembering Bob The Introne family was extremely grateful for the efforts the region, and in particular JB Swan, put together to honor Bob during the weekend. They allowed Bob's grandkids to throw the green flag and checker during the B-Spec race, where Bob's son, Steve, was a competitor. Bob's granddaughter, Izzy, put on her whites and headed out to Turn 11, spending Saturday on a corner waving flags. Since Bob came into SCCA as an F&C worker, we know he'd be proud to see the third generation of flaggers continuing in his family. [...]

By |2022-05-24T18:14:15-04:00May 24th, 2022|Featured, Road Racing|
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