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The Wishbone Alley Gazette
October, 1997 Rainier Auto Sports Club
***Rally News
. Panama-Alaska Redux - Cristy Breazeale
Some of you may already know that part of the reason we met the rally in Las
Vegas and then changed our vacation plans to follow them was to ingratiate
ourselves to the organizers: show them we were experienced competitors,
workers and organizers and that they needed us to work the Shield of Africa
Rally next year. Because we certainly couldn't afford to enter it, and get a
car down there and pay airfare..-as well as gas and everything else.
Well, we recenty got a package from J. Malcolm Wilson including the
promised t-shirts with a form letter and a blanket apology for exploitaton,
slights, omissions, abuses, etc. This letter also indicated that he is no
longer associated with Trans World Events (the aforementioned organizers);
which pretty much sinks any chances we might have had to go to Africa,
however slim they were to begin with. Ah well, we took our best shot.
While on the subject of the P-A Rally, it has been brought to my
attention that I failed to mention an ex-RASC member who was in the rally,
Satch Carlson, of Anchorage AK, was navigating in the 24OZ of Walt Peterson,
which broke In Mexico.
Clay Regazzoni, ex-Formula I champion, was also entered in a Mercedes
sedan, but to my knowledge hasn't complained about not being mentioned in my
original story.
. The Nor'Wester went smoothly and everyone had a good time. We all knew
that Idaho had fabulous roads; Roy Ward found a wonderful combination to
bypass the rather simple route of the 1967 version. The Saturday course
followed the 1967 route as faithfully as the highway dept. would allow. Jack
Deno would be proud.
Results are attached. The worst score of each day is deleted, as is
Jerry's "method". He also had a one minute maximum for each CP. Bob and
young Mike Chandler managed to hole the gas tank in the ancient 240Z, then
found a new, badly required water pump by what must be the grace of God. The
only DNF resulted from a "newbee" navigator trying to read and ride for the
first time.
From Roy: Thanks again to all those hardy souls who came out to
compete, and to the workers: Jim and Cristy Breazeale, Joel Wright, Mark
Nolte, Colleen "the cook" & Lucas Hines, and those two INSANE men from North
of the border, Glyn and Bart, who were a true Godsend and wonderful to work
with. Oh, yeah, there IS Jerry Hines, the Rally Chairman, without whom this
rally would never have happened. Perhaps one day, when Mark Nolte is again
weary of putting on The Evergreen State 1000, and there is a gap in the
schedule, we will do this again.
-Roy S. Ward, Rallymaster
. The RASC Saturday Niter had enough problems to only score the first of
the four legs. The rallyists were cheerful, but cracked some cruel jokes.
Sometimes things just don't work out....
. Attrition wiped out a third of the Totem Rally field. We can define
"attrition" with: Teresa misjudged a corner and put Satch's BMW off the road,
while Satch watched from the right seat. The Martin Wilson/John Robson
Porsche went home on Sunday morning when the engine made scary sounds. A
local pickup truck crunched the door of the Nissan pickup. A rock punched a
hole in the Talon's radiator, just enough to send them to the finish early.
The nice family unit in their Toyota minivan finished, but about 30 minutes
late. After all, this was a "sporting event", and they just weren't up to it.
Enjoyed the "tour", though.
With a rallymaster and 2 CP cars, it wasn't well supported at the
organization end, but the rally was well done. The Okanogan Valley is lovely
anytime, and the roads didn't avoid such scenery. One section did a 14 km
hillclimb up to "fire lookout level", then ran back down, both ways as a TSD.
The 20 minute wait at the top allowed time for views as the crews pulled
their warm coats out in the brisk wind.
Ben Bradley/Russ Kraushaar/Maxda 323 made it to one more CP on time
than Fouse/Wende/Subaru, so they won handily. Brian Palidar was learning the
Timewise, Nolte had a new car, so our 3rd was a more luck than skill.
Nite on Bald Mountain featured mud and fog and rain- nothing like the
wonderful, balmy days of the summertime route layout. One "leg" got chopped
off when no one was willing to chance fording a water crossing that had
turned into a raging torrent. Of the ten attendees, none were Unl or Equipped
-class cars. So Daily/Palidar won the rally from the SOP class. It was a
respectable 29 pts., too.
Gary Reid took the Powerful Blue MGB to mid-Canada for the Shell 4000 Retro
Rally. He and Steve Richards won the thing!
. First report says that the Henry Joy Mitsubishi went over a 200 foot cliff
on Prescott Stages, and Sam Bryan got the team to the hospital, where thay
got a checkup and left!. Sam and Rob finished third; the 9th stage was
cancelled.
. The Miata club has something else going on this weekend, so won't put on
the Saturday Niter. This was announced too late for the NWRC to cobble
together a replacement.
. RASC has the Tour de Forest Divisional PRO-Rally on Saturday, November 8,
and the SCCA rallygroup is organizing Dryad Quest on Sunday. Both rallys will
start in the Shelton area; the Saturday event a little north, and the Dryad
Quest out in Simpson Timber lands east of town. Between a new manager at
Simpson and the usual forest service red tape, both rallys haven't got road
permits yet.
BUT- it'll be a wonderful weekend in the woods, with FCO at 11AM both
days. Workers will probably meet at 8AM in Shelton, then make their way to
the 3 roads each day. Terry Simons (425-806-1741) and Gretchen Jones
(425-823-8329) are lining up workers (Jay Kingsley has already volunteered).
The phones will start ringing as things gel out.
***Club News
October features miserable weather punctuated with wonderful days, and the
prelude to the RASC elections. The two have similarities.
We also are entering the 1998 scheduling season. Nolte is thinking
about running the last of the unused roads north of Omak for ES1000 in
mid-September. Scheduling a Raindrop depends on the PRO-Rally schedule (more
on that at the club meeting). The Saturday Niter in September was a bit much
to squeeze into a busy month- our NWRC rep. will have to make sure that
doesn't happen again.
Trivia
*Terry Simons had no choice but to hit the guardrail in her Camaro during a
commuting "incident". Three weeks and $3000+ later, it is fixed. The original
estimate rose as the body shop found more and more damage, including a
steering arm.
*The local source for the "Littlelite" brand of map lights is Westlake
Electronis, just south of Mercer Street on Westlake in Seattle. Their price
on the 12" QI-bulbed gooseneck with dimmer is $28.20, as a ready-to-install
kit. Same as the King County cop cars use.
* Nolte's Impreza RS had an exposed sump- ahead of the front tires but below
the bodywork. A prime ingredient for disaster. Cadillac Plastics in south
Tukwila not only had the proper high density polypropelene plastic, but
nearly the correct size for a sump guard.
*Jim Breazeale beat a Mercer Island traffic ticket by measuring the section
with his Timewise.
* Ed Millman finished his vintage races over the Sept. 20-21 weekend. Vince
Plancich decided to stay in town, but went "wrenching" for Ed and the Vintage
Group.
****For Sale
*Engine: 1989 Charger 2.5 Turbo with auto trans. Cost $850 (in a moment of
delirium) asking $500 $350 Or....? Roy Ward (206)869-3836
*'88 Toyota All-Trac, 114K, loaded (leather, Turbo), new clutch. Pete and
Amy Shelton, 206-365-4173
*89 Mazda 323 GTX, 134K, never raced or autocrossed. Loaded with A/C,
sunroof, fancy factory seats, rear washer, split back seat. Real spare, no
space saver. Includes studded Ultragips on mags, comes with 7 fresh F32
Goodyears. TSD stuff all moved to new car. $4200, Mark Nolte 425-226-3155,
(Fax 425-226-1469)
*Calender
NWRC Hotline: (206) 277-4351
NO Saturday Niter in October
There are various Halloween-oriented rallys in BC and Oregon.
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1997 Nor'Wester Results
Total Chief Joseph Hwy 14 Kidder Lenore Col Worst
Total Place 1 2 3 4 1 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 1
1 Subaru Impreza/ R. Dale Kraushaar 136 2 4 4 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 6 6 152 4
UNL Francesca Carozza
2 Datsun 24OZ/ Bob Chandler 218 18 51 60 60 200 200 60 1007
Vintage Mike Chandler
3 Audi Quattro /Steve Richards 35 3 5 0 4 0 0 2 3 2 2 2 3 0 5 58 1 EQ
Gary Reid
4 Subaru Legacy /John Fouse 28 1 8 0 2 0 0 1 1 3 1 3 2 2 8 44 2 UNL
Dennis Wende
5 VW Jetta/Mike Workman 74 5 50 2 2 2 0 1 0 1 2 3 1 3 50 96 3 EQ Mike
Daily
6 BMW 32Six / Satch Carlson 20 0 5 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 2 2 2 1 5 33 1 UNL
Russ Kraushaar
7 Ranger PU /Don Gibson 47 3 44 4 1 2 1 0 3 2 3 5 1 2 44 74 2 EQ
Richard Fuhrman
8 Subaru Legacy/ Vasco DePinna 307 6 60 60 60 1 3 14 4 1 6 8 6 20 60 496 1
SOP Brian Palidar
9 Saab 900 Verne Poirier 355 4 60 60 60 1 8 I4 6 2 18 27 15 4 60 574 2
SOP Kevin Poirier
10 Subaru Legacy Daviud Jensen 74 1 14 60 60 3 0 0 3 3 2 2 1 1 60 164 3
UNL John Kisela
11 Quattro Coupe Peter Linde - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DNF
Connie Diacou
12 Honda Civic Mark Tabor 696 32 60 1 31 6 1 3 21 12 10 32 1 12 60 858 3
SOP Kristen Tabor
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