Run for your life! It's the first-ever issue of *the ROPE & JACK* online. Enjoy! -- Andrew Mace, editor
A visit to the P-lot, an EMSC-hosted event, produced an equally poor third in class. A videotape made by Don Harris showed what appeared to be a serious suspension malady. After talking to Jeff of Spraker Engineering, a spring change was made to the Mustang. A trip to Edinburgh proved the wisdom of the advice -- first place, now that's more like the desired result.
Next came a trip to Boston for the Yokohama National Tour. Friday began with a solo drivers school, my instructor for this none other than Mark Daddio. Anyone wishing to do their best at autocrossing should make it a point to attend one of these. Saturday was day one of competition and I placed fifth in a nine-car class with hope of moving up at least one more position. The car was working excellently and things looked great for day two. Sunday was not my favorite day of this event; rain so heavy that you could not see the pylons, followed by a ground fog, resulted in a string of off-course runs to trash the day. I will do better next year.
Back to the regional series at Cobleskill with another third in class, then off to Lime Rock for more seat time in the Formula Ford. The next series event was canceled but we were off to Batavia for the Finger Lakes Grand Prix. Two days of autocross in the rain and we brought back a great first place trophy for the second year in a row.
The next week it was off to Watkins Glen and a day of running laps in the new to me Formula Dodge, followed by an official practice day and then my first two days of racing. I finished both of my races and improved over my starting position in each, thanks to those who made wrong choices and crashed out. I missed the Crossgates event while at the Glen, but now it's off to the Drop Zone where a second in class was all that could be accomplished.
The following weekend consisted of three events in two days at Edinburgh and three first place trophies on the mantle Sunday night. I have decided that I really like the place. Next is the P-lot but while Allison and crew struggle wetly I'm vacationing in Montauk, planning to spend several days at Bridgehampton in the formula car. No seat for me as they are short of cars and after watching the carnage of the first two lapping days I decide sitting on the beach to be much easier on the credit card.
Fall has begun already and it's the final event in the Mo-Hud series at Brodie. Before the end of the day someone suggests the course designer should be required to run the course in a large Lincoln Town Car. That's right, not one clean run the entire day for yours truly. The season finale leaves the matter of the points series in doubt, but we aren't done yet; there is one more event in Fishkill that we can squeeze in. So the last Sunday in October finds the Mustang running one last time, second to Don Harris again!
The Mustang sits quietly in the garage now, the leaves and the temperature are both dropping fast, and it's time to start planning for the 1996 motorsports season. Next up is our annual banquet [see information elsewhere in R&J -- Ed.]. Hope to see you soon. -- AKB, President, EMSC
This is not entirely a bad thing; at recent meetings, we'd discussed whether Empire needed a year off from Driver School in order to focus on our "core" events of Autocross and Rally anyway. I have to check with track management at Lime Rock on this, but other clubs have taken "time off" from the track without losing ground on their track dates.
In any event, a decision will have to be made soon; Arn has scheduled a board meeting for the third weekend in January at Holmes & Watson so we can discuss this. Also to be discussed at this meeting are autocross plans for 1996, in anticipation of the Joint Scheduling Meeting in February. -- Rich Welty
Insurance is an issue; we will need to decide if we want to approach Mo-Hud for sanction and run under SCCA insurance, or try something else. I think we could work something out with the Alfa Owners Club if we needed do. This is worth talking about at an upcoming meeting, as is the question of whether or not we want to run a limited rally series, combining our two rallies with the one Mo-Hud event.
In other news, I've been appointed to the job of Northeast Division Road Rally Steward for the SCCA. This transition has inspired me to really put some time into rallying again, something I haven't really been doing lately.
Hopefully, as the months progress, we'll start making something out of a Capital District rally program. -- Rich Welty
Currently, I have but two goals: (1) to prove one and for all that lifetime membership in EMSC does not necessarily mean self-imposed exile from any and all club functions; (2) get in an autocross or two this year in the newly revitalized S&M/Hardly Boys Racing Team RaceSpit (along with fellow Hardly Boy and life EMSC member Rik Schlierer); and [ok, three goals] (3) get The Rope & Jack out on some sort of schedule.
The URL of the Empire Motor Sports Club home page on the World Wide Web, in case those of you with Web access haven't found us yet, is: http://www.emi.com/~rwelty/emsc/. For those of you whose access to the Internet is limited to e-mail, check out the instructions for joining the EMSC electronic mailing list. Some of what appears in the print version of The Rope & Jack has appeared in various messages to the list; in turn, the text of this issue is posted to the list as well as being distributed to all members in paper format. Thanks to Rich Welty and Bob Bownes for making this Internet presence possible.
Finally, please note the Annual Banquet information following. -- Andy Mace
Spa Brauhaus
East High Street
Ballston Spa
cocktails @ 6:00 p.m.
dinner @ 7:00 p.m.
We will be ordering off the menu as our party probably won't be large enough to arrange for a banquet menu. Entrees are between $14 and $20.
RSVP to Allison Welty -- 518-237-6307 or awelty@emi.com by January 22.
Directions: from Albany/Latham/Troy, go North on Route 9, through Clifton Park and Malta. East High Street is at the traffic light where The Elms Restaurant and the south end of the road to Saratoga Lake are on the right; turn left here. Cross the Northway. Straight at the 4-way stop. Right (may be considered redundant), then left into parking lot.
From Schenectady/Scotia, go North on Route 50. In the south end of Ballston Spa, right at traffic light onto East High Street. After about a mile, right into parking lot of the Spa Brauhaus.
Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month (except August and December) at 8:00 p.m. at:
Holmes & Watson, Ltd., 450 Broadway, Troy, NY 12180
(Ask the bartender where the car club is when you come in).
All are welcome and encouraged to attend!
Membership in EMSC is $10.00 for the first year and $15 per year thereafter for individuals. Family memberships are $20.00 per year, and student memberships are $10.00 per year. Send a check made out to EMSC along with your name, mailing address (and e-mail address if you have one), telephone number, cars owned and automotive interests to the attention of:
Treasurer -- EMSC, POB 1503, Troy, NY 12181-1053
The Rope & Jack is the official publication of EMSC. Deadline for all submissions is the 25th day of the month preceding publication (i.e., February 25 for the March issue). Text via e-mail or on diskette in some MS-DOS format (WordPerfect or ASCII text preferred; check with editor for other formats) is ideal, but typed or very neatly handwrit- ten manuscript is acceptable. Articles, photographs, artwork, etc., are all welcomed most appreciatively but CANNOT be returned without a SASE. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit or reject material submitted for publication. Copyrighted materials may be used only with WRITTEN consent of the copyright holder. Unless otherwise noted, all statements are the opinion of the author and do not reflect EMSC policy. Please address all correspondence to The Rope & Jack to:
Andrew Mace, 7341 NY 66, East Nassau NY 12062
Vice President: Bob Bownes
237-8611
bownes@emi.com
Secretary: Mike Jones
664-9206
jonesm2@rpi.edu
Treasurer: Jenny Kraus
372-9458
Autocross Director: Allison Welty
237-6307
awelty@emi.com
Rallye Director: Richard Welty
237-6307
rwelty@emi.com
Historians: Keith & Ruth Witter
456-4382
R&J Editor: Andrew Mace
766-5413
amace@unix2.nysed.gov
Publisher: P. Lane Bond, Inc.