NERRC #5 – Racing Against Leukemia (RAL) Weekend

The fifth NERRC event was the annual RAL weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Approximately 170 cars attended as we move into the latter half of the 2021 season.

Racing was once again active and exciting throughout, with five new track records being set.

SRF3 – #187 Evan Slater – 1:10.042

GTX – #03  Maurizio Cerasoli – 1:14.685

B-Spec – #12 Steve Introne – 1:21.250

FX – #22 Keaton Van Thof – 1:06.846

FA – #15 Mark McDonough – 1:05.981

A couple sessions were forced to shut down early due to on track incidents, but for the most part, racing was clean. As of Aug 15, results were updated and Group 3, Race 1 (the FVs and things) were just corrected and the new versions posted to the official results.

RAL Fundraiser

For the road racing group, the traditional RAL raffle and auction took place Saturday night during the post-race party at the tech shed. The region is extremely grateful to everyone that generously donated items. See the full list of donors and donations at the bottom.

Nick Leverone took over the MC duties hosting the raffle and auction. Thank you Nick for keeping us engaged and moving everything along.

The evening had a Hawaiian luau theme, with delicious food including pulled pork and sausages with peppers and onions. Thank you to our board members for decorating, and Donna Steven’s assistance in selling raffle tickets and coordinating the auction items.

Another Driver Goes Bald

The highlight of the night was what has become the largest fundraiser in recent years – shaving a favorite driver’s head. It started in 2019 when we auctioned off the grey locks of Serge Lentz, generating over $5000 to see him bald. This year, Dave Patten was on the chopping block. To get clippers near his head, we needed $4000.

We quickly reached that number, so the stakes were raised. For $5000, we could also shave his mustache. That goal was met. Could we do more? For $6000 – the eyebrows would go to! DONE!

$6000 in donations led to shaving the head, the ‘stache, and the eyebrows.

Dave was an extremely good sport as the bids came in and we kept raising the challenge. All the money goes to the UMass Memorial Center. Thank you Dave for your generosity and willingness to provide lots of laughs along the way!

Closing out RAL 2021

The Rally group will hold the final RAL event with their GTA Road Rally at Palmer Motorsports park on Sept 11. After that, we’ll be able to announce the final totals for RAL fundraising this year. Given what came in from the Autocross team, as well as the donations from the road racing event, we should have another significant check to present to the hospital.

Donations can continue to be made online via the region donation website. Feel free to make a contribution of any size. Every dollar counts!