The Wishbone Alley Gazette
September, 1998 Rainier Auto Sports Club
-----------------Rally News
• The Road Not Taken (August 8) The Twisty Roads Group in Oregon got an SCCA
"Touring Rally" sanction for their splendid tour this year. I had misgivings
about trying "new" rules, but it was a wonderful event.
For starters, there was two-minute spacing. OK, it’s a gravel rally, and
I won’t be running into dust problems- good. But it got better- the RI’s came
with a thick bundle of "Time Declaration" forms; slips of paper with "fill in
the blank" request for adjusting scores. Just fill it out, and hand it to the
CP crew upon arrival. The request was for odd minutes, and since we were
running on even minutes, we wouldn’t be on another rallyists’ minute. Neat.
The format had us run through the TSD section, and when we encountered
a CP, we’d add a 2-minute pause into our leg time, pass paperwork back and
forth, and speed off. It was hectic to decide whether to hand over a "Time
Dec" form at every CP.
I pooh-poohed the system until navigator Ed Storer made a rare error and
put the wrong "out time" into the Timewise rally computer. We watched the 2
cars ahead of us start the first TSD section, then realized the error.
No way was I going to make up that amount of time on the 27 mph roads
this rally is famous for. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a penalty for
using the "Time Decs", but Ed reread the Generals as I did a "hero drive", and
convinced me to take the Time Dec and drive the rally like we knew what we
were doing and hadn’t screwed up.
It worked. "No Fault" time decs have a place, and this was one of them. If
it were one of my touring rallys, a team in this position would have dramatic
scores as they went past the CP’s- 3 minutes down at the 1st CP, 2 minutes
down at the next, and 45 seconds down at the next. Maybe "on time" 10 miles
into the section, after passing three cars. Not safe, and certainly exposing
everyone on the road to some form of danger.
The workers have a hard time, though. The tour takes a long, long time. A lot
of paperwork passing back and forth. Bob Wakehouse and the rest of TRNT
organizers executed the rally like professionals. We finished one section two
minutes ahead of schedule- one crew didn’t make their CP. No biggy.
As for route, this reviewer enjoyed the tight little roads. It was a full
moon night, so there wasn’t scenery. They may have run the same three roads
all night, for all the difference it made.
While Ed did a splendid job of keeping me on course, he must have missed
"all" of a pause, and we got a one minute error at one CP. I was tired and
eager to get to the finish, resulting in arrival at the last CP waaaay early.
Had fun, no trophy.
The teams that did worse than us were DNFs. Roy Lima’s Subaru caught a tree,
but looked drivable back to Victoria. Bob Morseburg rented a new Malibu, and
had to give it up when he ran out of tires. Brian and Tom Palidar had a
radiator hose break, got it repaired, and rejoined the tour after the halfway
break.
Ben Bradley/Russ Kraushaar won with all of 39 pts, followed by Greg & Nora
Hightower at 53. The Hightowers were running a laptop, not a "hardwired" rally
computer! - Mark Nolte
• Saturday Niter (August 15)- The rallymaster thought he could knock off a
little rally in a coupla’ days. Not that easy. No such thing as a "small
rally".
The Route Instruction’s were written as a long, continuous "run" for the
checkouts. When the RI’s were written to turn right and head into the CP, the
fact that the next RI on the final RI’s occurred before rallyists entered the
CP didn’t get caught. Oops! They entered the CP at the wrong speed.
This made the RI at the outcone (a speed limit sign) hard to do, since it was
already executed!
Now add in a real twister- the rallymaster did a last minute renumbering of
the RI’s -But didn’t update the handouts given to the rallyists at the
checkpoints!!
Then throw in a technical snafu: "AT STOP CAST 33". STOP is defined as a
meeting of rally roads, there would have to be more than one valid road. Since
the dead end road to the right didn’t exist for rally purposes, this wasn’t
the STOP the rallyists were looking for. The error was obvious as the
rallyists went up a 33 mph road, still doing 22! But it could be a trap! So
they did it!
Fortunately, the rally was only 98 minutes long, and there were only 12
entrants. The horror didn’t last too long, nor was it widespread.
Trying to put a good face on a bad scene, the rallymaster handed out trophies
according to some arbitrary criteria- folks from furthest away got trophies,
and all the Novices went home with a trophy, even if it said "First Equipped."
Recycling old dash plaques worked pretty well- take a master sheet to the
copy store and have them make up a color "overhead display" transparency, then
carefully cut and paste onto some old ES1000 plaques. Trophies were somewhat
more difficult, but four households have cleared out some storage space!
Since the scores aren’t valid, they won’t be printed.
"I apologize for putting on a bad rally." –Mark Nolte, Rallymaster
• Alcan 5000
Six rally teams started the famous rally on August 29. They all had a great
time, discovering the glory of the open road and fabulous scenery. The "inside
passage" ferry trip lived up to its reputation.
The sponsor’s products got some good exposure, too. "Ston gard" put clear
plastic (glued on) on all the headlights- and no one had a broken light. One
car didn’t have protection on the driving lights, and suffered. Ron Stewart,
the sales manager, says that the material is available for such custom
applications. (They’re in Bellevue at (425) 646-0670).
Everyone got a GPS from Magellan to use during the rally, including a little
contest with the winner getting to keep their’s. GPS units get better every
year, and these were easy to use. One bit of trivia learned is that the black-
and-white ones are easier to see in dim light than the color units.
Workers: the Breazeales didn’t have enough confidence in their post-moose car
to pay the entry fee, and worked the event. Pete and Joan Schneider took a
break from moving into their new house to fly out, rent a Legacy. Jim and
Suzanne Elder, of Jackson Hole, WY., ran as sweep in a Ford pickup. Wayne
Moddison rode with Jerry.
After serious engine problems, the Saab had to wait a day for new fuel
injectors. The Subaru SUS drove into a cloud of dust from a passing car, and
didn’t turn when the road did. It dropped 50 ft off the road. The team members
were sore, but didn’t need to stay at the hospital.
Final 1998 results: Jasper, Alberta
Vehicle / Team / Score
BMW 325ix / Kammer / Adams / 72
Chevy Blazer / Jones/ Deno / 81
Jeep Cherokee / Boyce / Dolan / 649
Subaru Impreza RS / Cramer/Gowdy / 1001
Saab 900 /Johnson/Gregory/Johansen / 1198
Subaru SUS/ Lowry/Johnson/FitzGerald /DNF
• The Evergreen State 1000 has a good course, designed for the enthusiast.
The TSD sections are on gravel roads, and the gorgeous pavement is transits.
Won’t use the bad ones. Saturday will finish earlier than advertised, about
5pm, after cutting out the road that ate a tire! Selecting roads far ahead of
the rally is somewhat dicey- a new cattleguard grew within a week, and large
pipes next to a critical bridge indicate some construction activity in the
future.
Start is in East Wenatchee on Saturday morning, Sept. 19. The rally will
finish Sunday at Abby’s Pizza in E. Wenatchee at 2:20 PM. With some crews
coming from Portland, this should get them home at a reasonable hour.
Thanks to recruiting efforts by Roy Ward, we have the services of four crews
from east of the mountains- Sal & Judy Spagnole, Randy McCully, Paul & Peggy
Appel, and Jimmy and Jennifer from Omak. Richard Crosier and Steve Richards
will also be working checkpoints.
The entry list always looks good two weeks before the rally, but it looks
like fourteen teams will compete.
---------------------Trivia
• Jim & Cristy Breazeale started their "new life" by driving to Alaska. Just
past a "moose crossing" sign, their Audi ran into one. The moose lost with a
broken pelvis. The Audi lost most of its lights, and the left corner was
smashed into the wheel well. It was mostly smashed plastic, but Jim rented
some time on a body jig and got it straight. The guys at the body shop ended
up not charging him, and even dug up a headlight for the left side.
Then the car developed a shimmy, so they stopped by an alignment shop. Once 30
lbs. of mud was pulled out of the wheels, the alignment was only off a wee
bit.
They have made an offer on an RV park in Kenai.
Latest rumor has them visiting relatives in Wyoming, then driving back to
Alaska
• Pete Shelton realized a dream and bought a gold ’83 Audi Quattro Coupe.
That’s the classic Audi that started the 4WD rally craze.
Remember the Chevelle Pete’s been trying to sell? A drunk hammered it in
front of his house, pushing it into his Subaru that was parked alongside. The
Chevelle is a writeoff. Can’t notice the damage to the Sube.
• Carey Wright, of North Bend, bought Bonnie Hertz’s (ex- Ray Damitio) Dodge
Colt.
•John Nagel has a new e-mail address: NARALLY99@msn.com
• Walt Peterson (Canadian) died in an accident, running the "Shield of
Africa". No other news of the event.
--------------------------Club News
• The RASC Board has a vacancy with the departure of the Breazeales.
• Joel Wright, our keeper of the RASC Web page, got the ES1000 Generals into
"internet format", and added them to the growing Site. In the future, we may
be able to do all rally communication by way of the Internet. Even
transferring money!
-------------------------For Sale
• For Sale: Mazda 12A header, plus RX3 parts.
Also: ’79 RX7, 13B (205hp), close ratio (competition) 5 sp, 4.6 posi. (Tim
Paterson’s running gear in a newer chassis.)
Also an interesting collection of tires. Pete Shelton (206)365-4173
• Omni PRO-Rally car, ready to race. The deal includes a spare shell, and
more parts. (New priorities encouraged sale). Kirk Simons 425-806-1741
• ’69 Firebird, rolling and runs. A good winter project car to make it
"cherry" Kirk Simons 425-806-1741.
• DISH™ antenna & receiver. Won't get "Speedvision", replaced it with a DSS
system. $15 Mark Nolte 425-226-3155
• Nomex racing suit, XLG, 1 layer, Blk/wht/red- $75 each. Proban Racing suit
(XXL), 1 layer, Red- $40. Bonnie, (503)692-1314 or e-mail:
rainbonnet@worldnet.att.net
• ’68 Volvo 144, factory rally springs, odo, lights, needs cage, have spares.
babied for 200,000+ miles. Cheap, Rod Chelgren 206-523-9330
---------------------Wanted
• Setting up a rally car: need "rally" seats, big lights, and a rally
computer. Brian Langford 360-671-6103 (Bellingham)
------------------ 1998 RASC Calendar
• Call the NWRC Hotline at (425)277-4351) for latest info on Puget Sound TSD
events.
• For most B.C. events, see Dennis' Wendes' Web page at:
http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/dwende
-->NOTE the date correction for Totem
Sept 12-13 POR- Mich.
Sept 19-20 Evergreen State 1000
Start: Cedars Inn, East Wenatchee, overnight: Cedars Inn in Okanogan. Should
finish about 2:30 in Wenatchee. $120 RM-Mark Nolte: (425)226-3155, Registrar:
Gretchen Jones: (425) 823-8329
Oct 2-4 Prescott Forest PRO-Rally (AZ)
Oct 3 "Night on Bald Mountain" touring TSD by ORCA. Sunset 'til midnite or
so. Greg Hightower, RM, 425-226-4936. Mostly gravel
Oct 24-25 "Totem Rally" (TSD) , BC
Oct 31/Nov 1 Dryad Quest/Sou'Easter Div-PRO-Rally, Olympia
November 14- Armageddon by Chuckanut, (Camano Island?)
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The Wishbone Alley Gazette is published monthly for members and friends of
Rainier Auto Sports Club. A subscription is $10/year. (Available via the
Internet for nothing, and since there are seldom pictures or diagrams, a
pretty good deal for everyone)
Editor, Publisher, Office Manager, Subscription Supervisor, production
manager: Mark Nolte (425)226-3155 or e-mail : rallymastr@aol.com.
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