This article is a reprint from Smuncher’s Attic, which was run previously. When sending it to us in October 2015, from his archives, Bruce Gezon wrote, “The 1969 Jersey 500 National Rally, a Northern New Jersey Region fixture during that era, was a bit different than any recently encountered Championship events. There are some interesting goings-on that I hope you find as entertaining as I do and did back when. Maybe Peter Schneider will bring back Championship rallying to the region once again.” This fall the SCCA Northern New Jersey and Southern New Jersey Region will hold a National Rally Weekend, with Rallymaster’s Jim Wakemen and Peter Schneider. Peter will be sharing news of the upcoming October 9-10, 2021 co-hosting weekend in our August 2021 edition of RReNews, which is in-part, a tribute back to rally days past. Note: This post is one of two on the NNJ history of the Jersey 500.
WAGNERS OF MARYLAND WIN CLOSELY CONTESTED JERSEY 5OO RALLY
T.C. Gordon (Doc) Wagner and his wife Rita Walker walked off with top honors on a superb Jersey 500 SCCA National Rally—but not before they had to fight off spirited competition from a half-dozen cars. At the end of the Saturday run of 21 checkpoints, Wagner was second at 42, with four other cars registering scores of 41, 41, 42, and 43. Now, that’s close!
Roger Bohl and Stu Nickerson (who put on that excellent Jersey 150 in 1968) combined their talents to create an unusually clean, straightforward, non-ambiguous, and often challenging event. The slgns and landmarks were obvious, the general instructions crystal clear—and yet by Sunday’s end, just about everyone had found their own unique way to eliminate themselves from the competition. The Wagners hung ln nicely for a tight 12 points on the second day for 54 total, just 9 more than the score predicted by the prechecker, Doug Potts.
Those who were looking for gimmicks, games, and traps, may have been disappointed by the event though we heard no complaints anywhere. One of the best lines of the weekend came when one contestant complained about getting a 5 early on a checkpoint and the fellow standing next to him quipped, “You must have missed the loop.”
Sunday’s run was a marked contrast to Saturday’s but only in format. Every instruction was accompanied by a mileage. Some numbered instructions carried only the mileage, but no instruction. The rules were: If a turn can be made at a mileage, then turn. If two turns are available at the mileage, turn left. If the mileage represents a checkpoint sign, go by the checkpoint. If none of the foregoing applied, reduce speed 6 miles per hour.
In any event, you were to execute the written instruction if there was one plus any of these automatics. For example, if the instruction read: 98.65 Pause .50 minutes and a left hand turn was at this mileage, you not only paused a half-minute but you took the left turn as well. It kept you thinking all the time since you were never really sure what you would have to do until you got to the mileage.
There were a few protests, most of them legitimate, and a couple of legs had to be discarded. One of the funnier protests involved a street name sign that bore the Lions Club emblem. The sign ended a free zone, but since the Generals said that all signs would be erected by a public authority, one car protested that the sign could not be used. The car scored a 15 on the checkpoint, which is strange since theoretically, they should still be traveling
to Oshkosh looking for the “right” sign. This was our first experience with the kind of nonsense that always seems to follow the first day’s run in a National event and it was the only sour note in an otherwise very enjoyable weekend.
Someone suggested that perhaps clubs ought to establish a point penalty rather than the usual $10 protest fee for
frivolous or bad faith protests. When you are at a National rally, your values seem to change. $10 is only a sawbuck but 100 points is the world!
55 cars turned out for this Northern NJ Region event, held on October 10-12.
Winners in Class A were:
- T.C. Gordon-Rita Wagner/Porsche 54pt
- Walt Eisenstark-Dick Klein/Shelby 69pt
- Randy Spitzer-Dave Beamer/MG 83 pt
- C.Pellizarri-R. Beckman/Mustang 85pt
- Dave Teter-Fran Teter/Mustang 101pt
- Ed Crockett-Mac Cornforth/Mustang 108pt
Winners in Class B were:
- Jack Chidester-Bruce Gezon/Mustang 214pt
- Bernd Albers-Ursel Albers/Datsun 273pt
- Bud Kerner-Norm DeCarteret/Datsun 483pt
- John Sammel-M. Cowgill/Volvo 1076pt
