The Wishbone Alley Gazette
June, 2001
Rally News
- The SCCA
Nationals Road rallys in Oregon, collectively known as the Rose City Challenge,
were successful. The Course rally (Beaver Cleaver) in Saturday had 13 cars; the
Touring rally on Sunday (Barlow Trail) had 17.
- No Alibi, by Kirk Simons
I'd like to thank all the
competitors for coming out to play. 26
teams!
I especially want to thank all of the workers who took part in the
event performing various functions: working checkpoints, scoring, registration
and those who helped set up the rally. It was quite the undertaking for our
small club.
The weather itself proved to
be typical Washington weather with rain off and on throughout the weekend and
much cooler than last year's heat wave. It was surprising to see wet snow at
the pass this late in the year, but it just goes to show that you can't count
on the weather.
The road surfaces of Eastern
Washington remained smooth from the prior year, with a couple recent graveled
sections.
The field of 26 cars was great, especially all of the Subies
coming out and the number of classic cars we had. Wow.
The Saturday lunch proved to be a bit soggy with the rain coming
down, but the beauty of the park and the falls made up for the wetness.
Dinner worked out really well on Saturday night, even though we
tried to get the Bayou to put us outside, but due to the weather, they decided
to keep us inside.
Thanks Satch, for the entertainment during dinner, you really
heated up the room with your stories. I would also like to congratulate Satch
and Russ on remaining the Top Dogs of No Alibi for the 2nd year in a row.
Rainier will be looking over the critiques from the rally to see
what we can improve on for next year. Rainier is looking forward to doing No
Alibi again next year. Hope to see you there and at future rallies.
- If you didn't do NO Alibi, here's some of what
you missed, by Mark Nolte
- Emerging from wet and misty Western
Washington into…less-wet Central Washington.
- Those
huge skies. Not a great description, but it fits.
- Satch donned his cream-colored three-piece
suit and shared some rally stories with us at dinner. He limited them to the
company in attendance, and managed to point out foibles.
- His
description of 1500 cc's of power had me wondering why he abuses himself so
much.
- Hearing Kirk (KD7NAD) botch his new call
sign, but communicating anyway.
- Rallyists muttering about mileage's, slick
surfaces, and some interesting instructions. Also a new way to do a pause.
-
Quietly waiting for the rally cars to arrive at the CP, and having quail
walk by the car, ignoring us.
- Trying a shortcut to a CP, and finding that
it is a long way from being paved. Nice on a dry day, might still be there if
it were just a bit muddier.
- Gary Reid looking very hard at the underside
of the MGB. Pinched fuel line? Then popping the distributor cap and having Bob
Chandler agree with him that the points were not only shut, but also not
opening!
- The car numbers are on the right side of the
cars. Some CP's are best worked from the left side of the road. So cars 15,17,
& 18 are dark blue Impreza RS's. They probably came by in correct order..
- Remember when most rallyists drove Datsun
510's? There were 10 Subaru's on the rally, and 6 Impreza RS's.
- You missed the stream crossing. No one
considered this a dull moment.
- Moses Coulee does a dramatic 200-foot plunge
to the Billingsley Ranch. Mr. Billingsley came up the hill to the CP to make
sure all was well. He says hardly a weekend goes by that some group doesn't
come through the area.
- I had a CP at the top of Monument Hill.
Besides the long view, We could watch the rain cloud approach, see us, and come
over to wet down the road. Sounds
unlikely, but clouds usually go around hills, and we could see blue sky on
either side of us!
- Shitepoke/
Dryad Quest (June 9/10)
The
RASC stage is back to our usual haunts- up the road from the Matlock Store. My
pre-drive was brief, even for a 7 mile stage. A new, twitchy road has been
found! It'll be much, much more
interesting than the "straightaway stuff" of last year.
While
details aren't known yet, Simpson has made "runoff" a condition of
road use-the rally can't fill the salmon streams with silt. It depends on the
weather.
The
HAM assignment list came along with a surprise- Chris Hale is one of the three
Stage Captains (along with Diane Duran and Mark Nolte).
Nolte
is organizing the picnic aspect.
Trivia
- Vince Plancich is back in
town. He finally did the "retiree thing" and took a long road trip-
9000 miles. Flat towed the Cherokee.
To unlock the steering, the key has to be in the Cherokee's
ignition, turned to the "unlock" position. Turn the key a little too far…drive a long, long ways…then wonder
how to recharge the battery. Oh yeah, the motorhome has battery power- 30 feet
ahead!
- Ken Lingbloom had surgery
on his hand, and will have to recoup at home for a few weeks.
- Three months after they
took possession of their home, Pete and Amy Shelton finally spent a night there
this week. Still a lot of little things
to do, but they moved out of Mom's house.
- Kirk and Terry Simons, as if they didn't have enough to do with
No Alibi, had 6 month old Tabatha move in.
Three year old Daniel joined them last Monday. They've been working on
this foster parent "deal" for months.
Roster
The latest "list" is attached. While the membership list would be about 11 names, the Club has
many close friends who deserve listing (so you don't call Nolte for their
numbers). For some reason, Rod Chelgren's old address showed up, and was whited
out.
For Sale
- Ed Millman got a '97 Taurus, wants to sell the '91 white Taurus
wagon. 150K mi. $2000 (206) 361-7389
- Mike Jones still has the collection of parts in his garage that
could make somebody a dandy Fire Arrow. Make an offer. (425) 823-8329
- '87 Audi 4000 Quattro needs
a home. It's gold, with 4 new tires and
140,000 miles. Runs great, got 27.5 mpg
on a recent trip. Has the usual Audi
gremlins (electrics and door latches), fair body & paint, and a pretty good
interior. Not perfect, but you won't
find a better one for $1500! (Or I can
fix it up and charge you more...). Call
Jerry at (206) 227-6343 or (425) 823-6343.
- Subaru Impreza Wheels and
tires: 15" rims don't fit over WRX brakes. Hakka H1 studs on 4 (gold) American Racing wheels. Only one season left on 3 tires, one nearly
new: $650
- Four 15" Legacy wheels. No tires $440 for all 4. mnolte@qwest.net
RASC Calendar
• Call the NWRC Hotline (206)
256-9627 for latest info on Puget Sound TSD events.
- 6/9-10 - Shitepoke/Dryad
Quest (ClubRally)
- 6/16/17 - Mt. Trails stage,
B.C.
- 6/23 -(SCCA Nat’l TSD) Cast In Stone,(Tour) Michigan
- 6/24 - Litter Clean-up (MP 99-101)
- 7/13 – Friday Niter by NWRC, Bellevue, WA
- July
21st "Into the Sunset" (Monte Carlo-style rally) Bellingham. Registration will open by 5:00
p.m., and FCO will be 6:00 p.m. at the Alaska Ferry Terminal in the historic
Fairhaven District of Bellingham.
- 8/4-5 - ORV Rally Sprints (ClubRally)
- 8/10 – Friday Niter by ORCA, Bellevue, WA
- 8/18, (SCCA Nat’l TSD)Dawn
To Dust, (Tour), Silverthorn, CO
- 8/18, (SCCA Nat’l TSD)
TBA, (tour) Silverthorn, CO
- 9/7-8 - Olympus Performance Rally weekend- 2Club rallys and Wild West National.
- 9/14- Friday Niter by RASC
- 9/15-16 – Pacific Forest stage, B.C.
- 10/6 – Nite on Bald Mountain (TSD) by ORCA
- 10/5-6 - Prescott Forest (PRORally)
- 10/12 – Friday Niter by ORCA, Bellevue, WA
- 10/27 – Ghoul’s Gambol (TSD)
- 10/28 - Litter Clean-up (MP 99-101)
- 11/ 3-4 – Totem TSD (B.C.)
Rainier Auto Sports Club will meet this coming Monday,
June 11, 2001, at 7:30 PM at CoCo's in Bellevue, (520 112th Ave.,
between the "NE 8" and "NE 4th" Exits of 405 on the west
side of the Hwy.) We have a meeting room set aside in the back. Monthly meetings
are the second Monday of each month. Past Members, visitors, and spectators are
welcomed.
2001 Board Members:
President: Kirk Simons- 425-806-1741; Vice-President: Gretchen Jones (425)
823-8329 Secretary: Pete Shelton- 206-365-4173; Treasurer: Ed Millman
(206)361-7389
Members at Large: Terry Simons (425)806-1741, Eric Horst (206)363-9752
The Wishbone Alley Gazette is published for the members and
friends of Rainier Auto Sports Club. Subscription price is $10 per year.
The editor is Mark Nolte, ph. 425-226-3155. Contributions and paid/unpaid ad
eagerly received at
2108 NE 12Th. St., Renton, WA 98056 or e-mail: mnolte@qwest.net
Rainier Auto Sports Club, P.O. Box 852, Kirkland, WA 98134
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