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Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund

Freedom Major

SCCA - Northern New Jersey Region - Club Racing

Sanctions 23-xx-xxxxx and 23-x-xxxxx

Friday, May 19 — Sunday, May 20, 2023

Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

NNJR is returning once again to racing at Pocono Raceway in 2023. We were not able to have the event in 2022 due to scheduling conflicts. This year we have a clear track to resume racing at Pocono.

The course which will be used for the 2023 Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund Freedom Major races is the Combined North-South Road Course. This configuration has become the preferred course for SCCA racers. It consists of the road sections of the North and South courses, NASCAR Turn 2 and sections of the Long Pond straight and the Pit straight. This course is completely separate from the East Course which permits a concurrent event to be run during the races.

This year's event is Round 4 of the Northeast Conference Majors Series. It will feature an SCCA Test Day on Friday, qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday followed warmups and Race 2 on Sunday. These races will count for Northeast Conference championship as well as Runoffs qualification. NNJR will join the Northeastern Pennsylvania Region to conduct an autocross on Saturday and a track sprint on Sunday using the East Course.

Registration is scheduled to open on MotorsportReg the week of April 1st.

 On Saturday, the Northeast Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey Regions will conduct an autocross on the East Course during the day. On Sunday, these two regions will conduct a track sprint on the East Course. See www.AutoX4U.com for additional information.

Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund Freedom Major

The Northern New Jersey Region welcomes you to the Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund Freedom Major, the fourth scheduled round of the Northeast Conference SCCA US Majors Tour. The event will be held on 19-20 May 2023 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond PA. The event includes qualifying sessions and races on Saturday and warm-up sessions and races on Sunday. Friday will be an optional test day. The Saturday races are x laps or y minutes (whichever occurs first). The Sunday races are xx laps or yy minutes (whichever occurs first).

TBD - On Saturday, the Northeast Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey Regions will conduct an autocross on the East Course during the day. On Sunday, these two regions will conduct a track sprint on the East Course.

Joe and Linda

Our event this weekend is named to recognize two SCCA members who were lost on 9/11. Linda Gronlund and Joe DeLuca were two very active SCCA members who were flying to San Francisco aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that morning. Linda was a twenty year member who was then Flag Marshal for NNJR. Joe, also a twenty year member, was the creator of “The Adventures of Raymond the Cat.” Joe had been a rally driver, solo competitor and racer. He had held various regional positions. Their flight was among the four planes hijacked by the terrorists that morning, but was the only one which did not achieve its intended target. When the passengers and crew attempted to retake control of the aircraft from the hijack terrorists, it was flown into the ground in rural Shanksville, PA.

Memorials have been established at all three locations where hijacked aircraft were crashed on 9/11. The beautiful memorials in lower Manhattan and at the Pentagon are fully funded and construction is complete in NY and VA. The Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA honors our friends who were passengers on the doomed flight on that most fateful day.