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The Wishbone Alley Gazette
March, 1998 Rainier Auto Sports Club
Rally News----------------------------------------------------------------
• The ORCA rally school is this Saturday, March 7, from 1>4pm. Cost $9. Its
part of the Lynnwood Parks and Recreation program, and will be held at the
Lynnwood Recreational Center. Call to preregister: 425-771-4030.
(If "S AT T", "TURN L WHEN NEEDED" and "L AT 'RIGHT TURN ONLY' " don't
make you chuckle, than you may need this class. -Ed.)
• Doo Wop I&II: The first stage rally weekend of the year was well attended
with abt 25 entrants and barely enough workers. Four or 5 teams DNF'd, some
with serious car damage. The Jackalope sheared some rear axle bolts on
Saturday, just up the road from the Tennis' Saab rollover/endo.
The usual glitches kept it interesting. Closing a main line road is ticklish,
and Ron Barker assured me that we HAD TO let civilian traffic through even
though Pace had "closed" the course. Thanks to radios, we learned that a
pickup truck that went up the road didn't exit. After a prudent wait, I went
up a ways to find the fellas hitting golf balls over the cliff! Pretty good
range.
For your trivia file: Little girls can exit a "locked" car without unlocking
it. Put two 6 year olds inside a car during the stage while their daddys'
timing cars, and eventually the electric door locks will get tripped. Guess
where the keys were?
We watched an absolutely green crew try to figure out how to enter the
control, then learn the finer points of leaving after we got them straightened
out. Same situation at finish- they even stopped at the flying finish sign.
(Hand signals don't quite convey the importance of getting out of the way of
the next car!)
•Lost Patrol: A splendid long-distance event with a minimum of hassle and
grumbling. It would have been nice with more than 9 cars. Subaru's backing
allowed some good parties. Everyone finished. 74 scored controls.
• DooWop III & IV are March 15/16...and Vince Plancich is in charge of RASC's
stage. It's what has been known as the "Capitol Freeway Stage", starting at
Rock Candy Mountain, and finishing near the Porter Campground (did I say this
was happening in Capitol Forest? It is). Saturday has a total of 3 roads, run
twice.
RASC only has a Saturday stage. Sunday has a stage scheduled in the Montesano
watershed, then the famous Oakville><Brooklyn stage. We are welcome to help.
Vince (425-742-3558) needs workers, but only has one Road Guard position.
•Raindrop (April 26) will go far to find new roads. The format will be the
same: start at 11AM, trophies at 4PM. No lunch stop. Not enough pottie stops.
All pavement.
The plan is to start/finish in Olympia. Roads around Elma have been measured.
Mark Nolte is rallymaster, need someone to do trophies, Registration, and some
CP crews.
•98 Alcan 5000 Rally. Confirmed entries are at 11 so far, including 7 first-
time teams (Hey, you old-timers, it's time to speak up before we give your
spot away!). An entry list will be circulated this week among those
registered to date, and an entrant e-mail discussion group was formed last
summer. Recent news includes:
PRESS: Alcan media coordinator Jim Elder has confirmed an Alcan story for
OPEN ROAD magazine (ROAD & TRACK's quarterly). If we have Jeep or Dodge
entries, Jim will also do a story on their effort for
<www.dodgeadventurer.com> or <www.jeepdestinations.com>. For more information
on Jim, see the bio at <http://www.jeepdestinations.com/JJ/JJAuthor.html >
ITINERARY: This is the semi-final schedule, subject primarily to
confirmation of our group ferry space. A number of options have been
discussed, and consensus has been that a north- bound inside passage ferry
trip is preferred. We have chosen to do the Alaska ferry from Prince Rupert
to Skagway for the first time this year, and this sailing also stops briefly
at Ketchikan, Wragnell, Petersburg, and Juneau. A printed Alcan newsletter is
nearly complete and will include additional information and announcements.
FRI Aug 28 Registration & reception: Kirkland, WA
SAT Aug 29 Start:8:30am;Overnight: Quesnel, B.C.
SUN Aug 30 Quesnel->Overnight:Smithers, B.C.
MON Aug 31 Smithers-> Dinner: Prince Rupert, BC
Board Alaska ferry 9pm ferry M/V Mantanuska
TUE Sept 1 INSIDE PASSAGE; M/V Mantanuska
WED Sept 2 Depart from ferry: 6am
Breakfast & shopping: Skagway, Alaska, Lunch:Whitehorse, Yukon ->Dawson City,
Yukon
THU Sept 3 Optional activities day (Arctic circle r/t, jet boat, goldfield
tour, etc) Overnight: Dawson City, Yukon
FRI Sept 4 Dawson City> Watson Lake, Yukon
SAT Sept 5 Watson Lake>Dawson Creek, BC
SUN Sept 6 Dawson Creek> Finish: Jasper, Alberta; Banquet & awards
(Jerry Hines,3/4/98)
Black Hole Racing report---------------------------------------------
February passed in a blur. We started out planning for just one rally, the
Thunderbird, and ended up running not only the T-Bird, but also the course
survey for the Lost Patrol (Jim and Satch left from T-Bird) and the Rally of
the Lost Patrol as well. And in between there, I went out and spent Doo Wop I
in service with the crew and family of the team who bought our Jackalope, the
world famous Rally Lite Rabbit. Also during that week I had to order two new
tires to replace the one destroyed when we hit a rock on Day 2 of the T-Bird,
and get a spare (imagine that!), get them mounted, and get the light bar
finished and the rock-damaged lower control arm and ball joint replaced and
the car aligned again. Oh, and pick up the bathrobes for the rally and count,
bag, recount and re-package them for travel. As well as try to show up on time
at work every day and put in a full day. Whew!
We just got back last night and I have about 2-3 days to sort through it all
and write something. So, here goes:
This year's Thunderbird rally was sponsored by Nokian Tires, Slick 50, Quick
Lift Forklifts, and Wilkeson Automobilia. The grand prize was a set of Hakkas
lusted after by many. 37 teams, the most since 1973, contested this unusually
warm rally. The roads weren't as icy as last year, but the warm sun made
anything frozen melt ever so slightly, adding moments of sheer terror to a
brisk winter rally. The Canadians did manage to find a really great luge run
that we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Of the local teams, Reid/Richards were done on Day 1, the MG succumbing to
tire problems. The Tabors brought 4 cars, including the ex-Nolte Mazda 323,
which encountered (literally) a snowmobile parked in the middle of the road.
They all finished the rally, though.
Day 1 ended with Fouse/Wende 1st, Hill/Bishop 2nd, us 3rd, and our Team
Atlantic partners Webb/Kisela 4th. Jim went boulder-dashing on Day 2 with
damage noted above. The 9 minutes it took to change the tire dropped us from
3rd to 20th. On Day 2, 1st and 2nd swapped places, and our teammates moved
from 4th to 3rd.
Jim and Satch left in the Bad Dog for a Lost Patrol course survey right
after T-Bird ended on Sunday night, as Gary and John (in the rented Grand Am),
Teresa Davenport (in the her vintage Saab Sonnet), and I (in the damaged Audi)
headed south toward the States.
I've already told you about the next week, so I'll spare you. Jim got home
Saturday night after I got back from the PRO-Rally. The Rabbit threw off a
rear wheel when all 4 bolts sheared at once. They fixed it overnight and came
back to claim points and hardware in Doo Wop II. Quite a full weekend for
their first rally!
Gary and Glenda Webb flew in Monday and dropped off the rental Jeep for Jim
to prepare, then Wednesday, Jim picked up some extra radios from Peter Linde
while Satch, Dennis Gunn, and Kevin Poirer worked on Dennis' newly acquired
Audi 4000, trying to wire in the radio, lights, and computer before leaving
for Quesnel.
Subaru sponsored the Rally of the Lost Patrol this year. They wanted another
shot at winning the cup and bragging rights to go with it. Everyone on the
rally got an embroidered Turkish robe, workers included. The workers also got
warm LP hats with ear flaps. There were etched glasses for everyone, and the
2nd & 3rd place prizes in each class were etched mugs. First prize in each
class was an etched crystal iceberg sculpture with a clock in it. Really quite
pretty.
The opening reception was Thursday evening at the Tower Inn in Quesnel with 9
teams starting the rally on Friday morning. I'll have to admit I went into the
rally rather cocky. It had gone so well on the Thunderbird just 2 weeks before
that I expected it to be fairly easy in the right seat. Wrong! What worked 2
weeks ago wasn't doing it this time. We started with 8 points at the first
checkpoint and it just got worse throughout the section. I tried changing the
factor a few times, but every change that should have brought my miles into
line with the rallymaster's only changed it a little bit. What's going on
here? Meanwhile, Kevin, learning how to use the Timewise 797A in competition
(an older, non-beeping model) failed to notice that it was in split and
collected a lot of points on Section 1 as well. Oh well, it's a long rally,
right? Anything can happen.
Leading the rally seemed to be the kiss of death for a while. Webb/Maplebeck
led on Day 3, but only through lunch. After lunch their probe went south,
handing the lead to Miller/Grimshaw who then lost the fuel pump in Steve
Norman's Red Dog on the Dempster Highway the next day, a transit day.
Besides the usual stop at Laird Hot Springs where we modeled our bathrobes,
every team except the factory-backed Subarus (who preferred to spend the day
shopping) drove the ice highway 120 miles from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk before
turning south back toward Dawson. It was a lo-ong day. The El Dorado Hotel
kept the dining room open for us, and the good folks at the Klondike River
Lodge (Also known as Dempster Corner) knew we were coming back that day and
stayed open for us. When sweep finally brought in the ailing BMW, their
mechanic got right on it. They called Mr. Norman, who called his technician
and ordered the parts express delivery. Weasels wouldn't eat their bones, but
their rally was over.
The brain trust went to work on our factor problem and figured out that the
only probe working on our car is in a bad location for this particular model
of car. That explains why our measurements on the Nor'Wester course survey
were so different from everyone elses'. Anyway, Winston LaJambe (brother of a
co-worker of mine) opened up his shop so we could work on the car inside. Jack
Christiansen gave us a new probe just for good measure and we got the old one
working again, then knocked one magnet off the badly located probe just for
good measure and figured we were done. Wrong! The old probe worked fine for
one and a half sections, then quit, and no amount of mojo could make it work
again. We just decided to go with what we had, and fix it all proper when we
got home. It wasn't like we had a chance to win this or anything. However, we
did put together the longest string of zeros in the rally (5 in a row!).
Gunn/Porier wore out the clutch in the Audi and skipped the last section,
meeting us at the hotel at the end of the rally to collect 3rd in class 2.
Both SOP entrants had some kind of computer set-up. Jensen/Kisela's melted
down on the 2nd half of the rally. Gregg Hightower, in the other SOP car,
battled back from an inner ear problem to take 4th O/A.
The factory-backed Subaru's made a 1-2 sweep, with Coughnour/Lester beating
out teammates Henderson/Kraushaar by 8 points.
---C. Breazeale
Club News------------------------------------------
• The membership campaign is taking off! I don't think we have their money
yet, but 3 or 4 bodies are slowly being drawn into the elite membership of
RASC.
• Dues are due. $17 single, $20 family. Pay the treasurer or mail in the
money.
Trivia
• Gordon Cady is back in Seattle. Probably just until it warms up in Illinois.
Wanted / For Sale--------------------------------------------
•1990 Pontiac Sunbird, a/t,a/c, 87K mi. $2850 obo, Pete Shelton, (206)365-4173
•Mazda 12A header, plus RX3 parts. Must make room for RX7 parts (you know how
this works....) Pete Shelton (206)365-4173
• "Satch Carlson Memorial" Zeron 700, (B-box), make offer. Roy Ward,
425-869-3836
* '68 Sprite. One project too many. Big Healey needs attention. $3000, Ed
Millman 206-361-7389
•Any leads on where to buy red tinting for light bulbs? It used to be rather
expensive, but now it can't be found. I called nearly every supply house with
no luck.- Mark Nolte, 425-226-3155
•Have a '96 Grand Cherokee Laredo for sale here at $20,000, and a '96 Limited
for $22,500 - both have about 25,000 miles and[ lots of warranty left- Jerry
Hines, 425-823-6343 or e-mail
1998 RASC Calender-----------------------------------------------------------
Call the NWRC Hotline at (425)277-4351) for latest info on Puget Sound TSD
events..
Saturday niters are the second Saturday of each month, Start is at the
Eastgate Park and Ride.
Mar 7 ORCA Rally School, Lynnwood
Mar 14 SATNiter by ORCA
Mar 14 DooWop III (60% national PRO-Rally)
Mar 15 Doo Wop IV(60% national PRO- Rally)
Mar 29 Flapdoodle (car rally and poker run) by Chuckanut. $13 before March
15, 15th after, with $2 NWRC discount. Reg: 11am, Meeting 11:30am, FCO
12:01pm. Rallymasters: Jim and Brenda Hawley. Call (360)384-3342 (eves) for
info. Start: Sunset Square, exit 256, east end of parking lot.
Apr 17-19 Wild West Nat'l PRO-Rally, Olympia, WA (Friday? , yep!)
Apr 26 Raindrop TSD (RASC)
May 8 Rim of the World PRO-Rally
May 30 Oregon Trail, Div PRO-Rally
June 5-7 Susquehannock PRO-Rally
June 13 Edge of the Rock stage rally, Duncan, BC
Jun 20 Summer Solstice TSD by ORCA
June 20 Reno Div-PRO
June 27-28 Summer Rally, Vanc. Island
July 11-12 Pemberton TSD, B.C.
Jul 18 Mountains to the East (Ore)(Levear)
Aug 1-2 ORV Rallysprints, Elma
Aug 1-2 Maine Forest PRO
Aug 8-9 Road Not Taken, OR
Aug 15 SatNiter by RASC
Aug 15 Rally at PIR (ORE)?
Aug 28-30 Ojibwe PRO-Rally
Aug29-Sept 5 Alcan 5000 Rally
by Jerry Hines
Sept 12-13 POR- Mich.
Sept 19-20 Evergreen State 1000 TSD
Oct 2-4 Prescott Forest PRO-Rally (AZ)
Oct 3 Nite on Bald Mtn (ORCA)
Oct 17-18 Totem Rally (TSD) , BC
Oct 23-25 Lake Superior PRO-Rally (MI)
Oct 30 Ghoul's Gambol (ORE, Saager)
Nov 7-8 Midnite Rally,Vanc. Isl
Nov 14-15 Pacific Forest Div-PRO
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