RASC - Wishbone Alley Gazette

Rainier Auto Sports Club

The Wishbone Alley Gazette April, 1997 Rainier Auto Sports Club

Rally news

Raindrop happens on Sunday, April 27. Jim and Cristy have picked out some roads in Pierce County that we haven't been to for a while. This is the best chance all year to get your friend(s) on a rally- its all-paved and scenic. This seems to be the only Sunday-afternoon rally scheduled for the whole year, not counting non-TSD club get togethers. Gretchen is Registrar. Mike Jones is doing the trophies and ordered dash plaques from Rallye Productions. Checkout is next Sunday. Should be a nice day.

Doo Wop 3&4 : Weather dominated the weekend-and we all survived it! The Saturday rally had fresh, wet, white glop on the roads, with the threat of more. The start was a familiar location, lovely on a nice day. On this Saturday, we found that the "pass" was funnel for all the wind blowing through the area. It was sooo bad that one worker started feeling "uncomfortable" and was hustled into a car to warm up. The horizontal sleet challenged the entire crew, headed by Mike Jones. The "flagger station" had Tom & Brian Palidar, an example of a father leading his son into the turmoil. Vasco DePinna and Mike Daily were braving the wind, waiting for a) the CP signs to blow away or b) the "stop control" cars to blow over. Exposed as they were, Nispel suggested that they should have parked a warm car on the road across the ravine, and "hacked" the finishers from there. Good point: the Finish timers don't HAVE to be at the actual finish line. We got lucky with enough HAMs to cover the progress of the rallyists through the stage. Ed Millman wanted some "quality time" with 4-year-old Nick, and parked mid-way in the stage. Because of the weather, the little fella didn't get to commune with nature, but did learn a vital lesson about "peeing into the wind". Rod Johnson brought his eldest, Andrew, and ended up blocking a motorcycle trail. They assessed the trail as a "temporary stream bed", and no motorcycles showed up. Gordon Cady reappeared from the Illinois "sun belt" in time to man another side road. While he had darn little to do, there is something to be said for having an "old-timer" HAM available for advice to us novices. The highlight (?)) of the venture was a BBQ hosted by the Stage Captain. Between runs, the briquettes generated enough heat to cook some burgers. Since the location was a campground, we even had picnic tables(read: soaked). Darrin & Eric Hansen are new to rallysport, but they knew how to get the beans warm! We were blessed with the expertise of Ken and Sue Lingbloom, who came all the way from Bellingham. Besides being experienced rally workers, Ken tells a good joke. I am beginning to suspect he gets his best "stuff" from Sue, who is too much of a lady to tell the "best" jokes herself. Sunday: Much nicer weather, and we were working our old digs, Cedar Creek Stage. RASC folk have manned this stage for decades, mostly under Vice Plancich's "Black Sheep Marshals" name. Since the forestry people have decided to block access to the dam, the stage takes a "dead end' aspect as of 1997. This road has a spectator location, named "Holmes Corner"(in honor of the off-road racer who put his powerful Pick-up off so far that even helpers barely got it unstuck). It didn't disappoint the hardcore who braved the weather. The rallyists were well behaved at the dead- end stage, and it all went very well.

Despite signs in 3 languages posted in the woods, a pickup full of "brush pickers" appeared in the midst of Saturday's stage. They were somewhat intimidated, didn't speak English. We scrambled Kevin Needham in the sweep Jeep into the stage to find them, and he escorted them back to the start. He said his Hispanic wasn't very good, but they understood "Sheriff". The stage was scored.

Wild West National PRO-Rally: The "circus" is coming to town, er, Olympia. Besides bringing the top teams, it'll be a chance to see how well our local heroes stack up against the nation's best (although you'll have to go to the finish to see and compare the posted scores, stage by stage). If you're working the rally, there are some things to know. Since its combined with Divisional events, there are a lot of "chiefs" floating around. Tom Grimshaw finally got out of the business, replaced as National Steward by John MacArthur, who you may have know from chairing the STPR. (And not to be confused with Bill McArthur, who is our Chief of Scoring). The National Safety guy is Greg Lund, with Rich Olmstead doing the Divisional level job (Rich cruises in a sharp blue-on-white mini-Blazer nowadays). Besides John Nispel and Ron Barker, these guys have authority to close down a stage. (Which is important...) Gretchen has called all the workers, and it looks like we can squeak by. We'll meet at 8AM at the Shleton Park and Rides ( Shelton-Matlock exit off Hwy 101) on Saturday. Yes, there is rallying on Friday night, but all I know is to meet the other workers at Tatlor Town at 3PM. A drive-through of this years variation of Taylor Hill road (its called "A's & 8's") revealed a collection of "gotcha's" and "whoopees". And one diabolical triple caution!

RASC got stuck with the September Saturday Nighter. The rallymaster job can be yours...just don't show up for a meeting!

The Nor'Wester seems to revive the old schedule as well as the route: Saturday through Monday. Workers should call Jerry to confirm, and then their personal calender keeper to arrange the Monday off.

Club News Nothing forces changes like printing a roster: Kirk and Terry Simons are moving to Bothell this weekend.

Trivia

Three of my Mazda 323 "mags" were unusable- bent by hitting curbs or something. Rather than send them off for "truing", I found a fellow named Morrie, doing business as "Wheelmaster"(Tacoma) and "Alloy Wheel Repair Co", 206-927-0271, who works out of a well-equipped home shop on Auburns' west hill. (1 1/2 miles from Peter Linde's house) He busted 4 tires off, then checked 6 wheels. One would have needed $95 of work, so its now a hose hanger outside my garage. Another tested OK, and the other 4 were repaired- the bill was $265. He wanted cash- no checks or plastic. He's "on the road" in the afternoon, with commercial accounts, but reachable in the morning. This isn't an endorsement, but I see a lot of bent mags lying around, and they can be fixed for half the price of a new one.- Nolte

Last month this space published a request to barrow a trailer. Ed Millman happily volunteered his. Now Vince just has to figure out the wiring.

Jim Breazeale parted ways with Red Hook Brewery; on good terms, it was time for a career change. He now works at Ballard Way Body Shop. The place is, get this, a former Red Hook Brewery!

Happy Birthday, Roy. You'll never see 45 again.

Subaru will be importing a 2.5ltr Impreza, the closest relative to their WRC winner the public might see.

Service hero: Needing a checkpoint clock for to double ended stage, I sent Gene Henderson (Competition LTD) an E-Mail ordering an Alfa clock like Vince's. Gene couldn't produce one on short order but sent a Timewise 610 by UPS Red. It arrived and worked wonderfully! (Haven't received the Alfa, yet.)

Russ Kraushaar, aka "Squidboy", has relocated to Battleground, WA.

For Sale

Arrow parts, take 'em all $1500, Mike Jones 206-823-8329 (AND if you get Bob Chandler's stash of parts for another $500, you could have one tough FireArrow!) (206)823-8329 (Hurry! Sale/givaway pending!)