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The Wishbone Alley GazetteJune, 2002Rally News Beaver Cleaver National Course Rally by Mark Nolte Oregon Region of SCCA hosted two rallys over the May 18/19 weekend. The Saturday Course rally was laboriously put together by Monte Saager; Kevin Poirior did the Sunday Touring rally. The SCCA rules have evolved to be vastly different from what we see in the Northwest. A good place to start is to forget all about NW TSD rallying! The Course rally starts with variable MRD’s. Being raised on a long-standing list of Order of Precedence rules, my introduction to the SCCA version, called Main Road Determinants (MRD’s) conflicted with ingrained mental processes. On one leg, the MRD could put “R AT T” ahead of “Straight As Possible”, for instance. Then change back at the next checkpoint. Working with about 5 of these could keep one busy without the other instructions, such as Lettered Route Instructions (“Notes”) and Numbered Route Instructions. Then was the little nit-picky item that the Notes were called Lettered Route Instructions (LRI’s), and NRI’s were to be executed ahead of the LRI’s, a reverse of my long-standing preference for Notes over NRI’s. It quickly became apparent that my “habits’ were going to make things very difficult. I was going to pass on these rallys, since there were other things that really needed doing, but a Bay Area rallyist named Bill Jonesi became available, so I let the weeds take over the whole yard and teamed up with him. He turned out to be one of the group that carries his entire “kit” in soft luggage, flies into the host city, rents a car, sets it up, and very likely could win. Over the weekend, talk dwelt on rallying, so I can’t claim to know him very well (I suppose he has a life outside of this rally stuff, but don’t know anything about it!). He’s very, very good at this rally stuff. Perfesser Saager added his own angle to things by very carefully wording the Supplemental General Instructions to allow some twists not quite obvious to someone used to a different form of the sport. A “T” could be a road whose name begins with the letter T. “ITIS” and “OR” got precise definitions that left room for new execution. He also had some lovely terrain to work with- Oregon has large areas perfect for this, while Washington is confined by the mountains and Puget Sound. We sailed into the first Leg with me determined not to jerk poor Bill around by speeding the car up, then braking - be smooth! This didn’t work, since the proper technique is to get to an intersection and stop, looking over all the possibilities. Once Bill had looked at it, he commanded a flank speed to get back on time, after dropping 30 seconds examining the signs, MRDs, NRI’s and LRI’s that were in effect. Despite all this, we blew an NRI because it was within .10 miles of the previous NRI. The rules state that there will be at least .10 mile separation! Innocuous NRI’s became subject for as much discussion as time allowed- a “R ON GRADE” became a serious discussion of whether “ON” meant “ONTO”, the dictionary definition, or a definition accepted on a past rally. Part of the Perfesser’s bag of tricks was to play with our heads. The NRI “CAST 40 for 1/2 the distance to the next NRI, then CAST 30” was a fairly simple “figure the average of the two”, which we did, while working on a CSU (Change Speed Up) 5. In the midst of all this activity, the fact that we had a firm CAST to execute was ignored, and we CSU’d to the wrong speed at the right place. The Oregon signs presented rare chances to get us wayward. “SPRING HILL” became ‘SPRINGHILL”, a small change that we missed while checking the spelling on another sign that may have been good for a pause. Joined by other rallyists on a jolly off-course adventure, we took advantage of the SCCA “bought time” rule. We could take up to 19.5 minutes of time off our scores without penalty. The intent was to keep rallyists from speeding to make up off-course time; it gets used for all kinds of circumstances. When I ran Beaver Cleaver two years ago, I got “bit’ by the “all signs on right” rule, and recognized the same “trap” (at the same intersection) this time. We did it right. Of course, the signage is valid if the NRI says SOL (Sign On Left), or if the sign would be usable on the route you would have followed in the absence of the sign- so a sign on the left could be valid. I got bit on this later. Bill marked up the route instructions in 4 colors of highlighters. Since quoted signs versus objects are such a normal part of reading an instruction, no reason to emphasize the difference. So we encountered a sign saying Burkehalter road was ahead, and took the right turn. Unfortunately, we turned at the sign, not the object. Keeping with the “mess with your head” philosophy, this was within sight of a CP, with a pause. Ah Hah- the old “pause before the CP” trick! Nope, we turned into the CP, took the pause, and cut out a long loop of the correct route! Small wonder a max is only one minute. Our only solace was that just about everyone got bit. LRI #M said “GAIN 50 UNTIL CONTROL”, which worked sort of, since LRI’s are superceded by NRI’s. But it would repeat and repeat…for various reasons I can’t recall, this was legal and usable. Perfesser Saager also got into the finer points of when unpaved is valid- an LRI with that word isn’t valid unless an NRI is in effect using the word! Somewhere, buried in the National rules, is something called “Aristotle”. This has something to do with reusing an intersection for a second time. I never read the rulebook on this one, and Bill was now verbalizing his logic path at every intersection and sign. The lack of ‘teamwork” (I was just steering and doing whatever he said at this point…) hurt when two good heads would be vastly superior to one. An LRI gave us every reason to “Cross the highway”. And it looked very likely that there wouldn’t be too many other opportunities to cross the 4 lanes in the near future. Bill pointed out that we’d really have to turn left off the proper road to do the “cross”, and besides, “cross” wasn’t defined as the sort of thing you can use when the chance appeared! We ignored a perfectly good chance to get over the highway and blithely continued on. I had grave doubts, but sure enough, a “legal” crossing came up just beyond my confidence range (which was now genuinely befuddled), and Bill didn’t express anywhere’s near the joy I felt as we did it correctly. You see, the idea is apparently to get to the trap, stop, park, and figure it out. Sometimes the RM adds in pauses to cover you, or you are supposed to use up some of the Time Declaration time to get your zero. I managed to blow the second to the last leg, and get a 20. I resolved not to do it again. The last Leg was highlighted by a mind-blower. We came to the intersection with all kinds of rules to consider, and a critical sign that may or may not be usable. With about 2 minutes of pause time at stake. The road was blocked with about 5 cars – few on one shoulder, a few on the other, and one sort of in the middle. Bill yelled to stop, so I added to the confusion, with nowhere to park. He looked here and there, referring to the LRI’s, MRD’s, NRI’s and probably something else. I decided we had to turn right, but how much pause to take?….and where? Bill wanted to do it right, for the right reasons, and jumped out of the car to look it over. He regained his seat, we sped off, and blew the checkpoint – early. Much tension in the car, since I’d robbed Bill of his chance to outwit the RM-, which is more or less the whole point! A nice touch was the “Fudge and Ice Cream Stop” at the Saager’s. I thought it was normal for a Rallymaster’s home to be a complete disaster the weekend of a rally- piles of loose paper next to the printer, garbage waiting to be hauled, laundry piling up, and a kitchen “that’ll look a lot better after this is over”. Monte and Victoria’s place was very presentable. “Where’s the Trophy Room?” Without batting an eye, Victoria said they were in boxes- in the garage. The scores looked, well, fair. A one-minute max covers a lot of sins.
Barlow Trail Rally, by Ron Sorem © 2002 The Barlow Trail in Oregon History was known as a rough alternate way around Mt. Hood into the Willamette Valley, first attempted 157 years ago. More recently, in Rally History, the Barlow Trail is known for smooth roads, brisk speeds, and spectacular scenery. Barlow Trail National Tour Rally is Day Two of the Rose City Challenge, this year following The Beaver Cleaver National Course Rally, May 18 & 19, 2002. We took Sue’s “new” Impreza 2.5 RS to Oregon Region’s event in Wilsonville, Oregon. The Odo Check was titled “Circle the Wagons!” and led us to the “End of the Oregon Trail” museum in Oregon City. We found that a digital odometer in Stock class is frustrating. Knowing your error factor doesn’t help much, even with every route instruction mileaged, if you have to guess at the spot where “.1” clicks to “.2” on the readout. We had checked the speedo needle against the clock and found it fast, with actual 60mph reading just under 63, a little less than 5%. The odo clicked over about 1% long, so the factors on the “new” rally car were our biggest challenges. “Eastward Ho!” was the first TSD section and we did head east into the Clackamas Valley for a glimpse of Mt. Hood. The route was mileaged, and target times shown for every turn or referenced sign. Of course, none of the checkpoints were known. We had the clock clicking away in seconds, the RI’s were in hundredths, so we had to do the math to see how far off we were. The first control came in a 24mph residential section just after we had to explain to a local what “all these cars are doing”. (I made up a little too much, but not bad for Seat of the Pants). A little twisty climb, then 42mph, with some 20mph corners, then 36 and 52. A sunny spring day had the locals out in many areas and we took advantage of our first Time Allowance to account for slow traffic. Oregon speed limits are much more liberal than Washington, so CASTs took full advantage of 55mph limits where western Washington might only see 35mph zones. Through neighborhoods named Fischers Mill, Four Corners, and Viola (probably vi-o-la rather than vwah-lah, but the tricky little right then left was more tah-dah!!). The local traffic held us up a bit more and another TA was handed to the next control. The rally came to a rest break in Estacada and we were joined by an Old Ford Club tour, with the sports car folks admiring the Fords and Lincolns, and the Ford folk curious about the rally cars. After the break the next section was “Buckaroo”. We used up two more TAs due to congestion and thought we were doing OK into the lunch break at Molalla for the “Road Kill Café”. The odo was out by over half a mile again by the end of this 42-mile section. Silver Falls” started the rally due south from Molalla with three instructions in .3 miles then a 7 mile section to Scotts Mills, just enough distance to let paranoia set in about a mileage turn. Three passage controls seemingly on-time. Then, in rapid fire, a missed sign (a missing sign), some short distance to find a safe turnaround, another car on our minute looking for the same turnaround, the only rain storm, the urge to make up lost time, finding the errant road, calculating new odo readings and new times, “looking for gophers” on the gravel (which I liked a lot), preparing another TA, missing a somewhat hidden sign, recovery, recalc the odo, add another line to the TA and find ourselves on the same minute with the eventual winner, who had done all that stuff right. I should have added another half minute but by the time I thought it through we hit the control. The transit into Silverton brought a welcomed rest stop amidst a few quick instructions, mileage .20, .09, .06, .11, and .03, all with one of Silverton’s finest joining the rally car parade. The next section was aptly named the “Long and Winding Road”. We drove southeast toward Silver Falls State Park. The 78.84 mile TSD began with a vigorous in-car debate five minutes into the section about “straight”…, bearing left in a corner or bearing right off the route…, after I’d driven past the intersection and abruptly stopped. The next route instruction was 7 miles later. “Okay, can’t do 51 on gravel, so this must be the right way…” Calculate some interval times and try to get back on time before finding a checkpoint. I don’t think I was completely successful, as the 51 was tough enough on the pavement. We turn north then west toward Salem, then north again toward Newberg and Champoeg State Park. A tour through beautiful downtown Butteville and on to our last miscue: There were two Boones Ferry signs, the first unnecessary, the second correct. By now our miles were way out, but half a mile later the stop sign we were looking for was nowhere to be seen. A u-turn, a quick TA and we hit the control with another car. Whew! Lulled to sleep by the long and winding road, then shocked back to reality for the checkpoint. Most scores were posted by the time we arrived at the finish, and the last checkpoints added soon after. Getting off course a couple of times didn’t help us at all… But we had a great time. Congratulations to 1st Stock (SOP) Scott Huhn and Kristen Tabor with 74; 1st Limited Dave Jameson and Karl Broberg with 30; 1st Equipped and 1st Overall Bob Morseburg and Cheri Eddy with 22 for the day. PS: The comment about 55 on backroads holds true for California too. If you’re coming home to Oregon and Washington from Sears Point, try north on 121 through Napa, then east on 128 to the Interstate. It’s posted 55, with turnouts that traffic actually uses. I was gleefully running at 45 with two CHiPs bikes following behind, just enjoying the run too.
No Alibi 2002, byRon Sorem © 2002 Snoqualmie Pass, Saturday morning, bright sunshine, lots of sports cars, first day of June… No Alibi Rally, presented by Rainier Auto Sports Club. The snowbanks are still fairly tall around the parking area and the ski slope across the street has more snow than grass. Registration, Tech Inspection and breakfast in the Family Pancake Restaurant at the Summit Inn. The Subaru RX Rally Team has arrived without any running Subaru. I had quickly converted the Integra into a rally car, hooked up with another Subie driver, Max Vaysburd of Redmond, and hoped I wouldn’t take too much flack about the car of choice for this great summer-weather gravel rally. The Odo check took us east on I-90 to West Nelson Road and the Peoh Point TSD, named for the prominent rock outcrop and fire lookout just south of Cle Elum. We later learned that this TSD was a last minute substitution. It seems there was still too much snow on the gravel portion originally set up to take us south of Peoh Point and down Taneum Creek. So we ran past Elk Heights, along Thorp Prairie to Taneum Road and the Thorp Highway along the Yakima River to the first dirt. “Hayward Road” hasn’t seen a grader in quite some time. Wheel spin was common and for the eventual winner, a temporary loss of impulse when something jarred loose. A quick switch to the second probe and only minimal error. A transit down Dry Creek through Ellensburg and on to the Ryegrass Summit Rest Area. Get ready to rumble! CAST 70, anticipating the “I-90 Hillclimb”. We spotted the control crew at the viewpoint above the highway. They could have timed cars anywhere along a 3-mile span. With the 70mph hillclimb complete, the rest of the section was a sedate 70 to exit at the Martha Inn, George Washington. A transit through Quincy brought the rally to the beginning of serious gravel. Up the hill then down to a hard right at Baird Springs and the climb out of Lynch Coulee on Overen Road, the 3-mile roller coasters then through green wheat to a cute little right hand off camber, hopefully having slowed to the 30 before the corner. Then north into Sagebrush Flat and east down Sheep Canyon into the Soap Lake break. Out of Soap Lake to the Dry Coulee “brisk” section at 44 with a drop into the coulee, a long left hairpin, a glimpse of a control, then the acute left at speed for the photo-op. Now CAST 47 for the run through the alfalfa fields for 3 miles and a 3-mile climb out over the rim. A quiet 25 took us down the twisty little hill into Summer Falls State Park for lunch. Great fun and great views. After lunch the rally turned north toward Grand Coulee Dam, but then east, 4 miles paved, 4 miles gravel, all very quickly. Again on gravel the “Gibson Draw” TSD used the now well known straight at T distraction, crossed Wilson Creek and into Lincoln County, ending in a transit to the grain elevators in the middle of nowhere, complete with outhouse, a little extra time and welcomed shade. “Apache Pass” starts with a CAST 49 on the state highway to a blind but mileaged “keep right”, really a straight off the side of a left-hander at 49 onto gravel, in our case face to face with the rural mail carrier. Mail frozen in mid reach to the box as we flew onto the gravel and scrubbed off speed to the 35 shown, for a tenth, then turn right and back up to 44. This section passes right through a couple of farmyards, between houses and shop buildings. The rally cut speed to reduce dust, appease the homeowners and present a good PR side. A short, rapid transit brought us to a neat little 22-mile section named Telford Road with CASTs of 38, 44, and 48 with a couple of quiet zones mixed in. Seven Springs and Telford run through geology that is called Channeled Scablands, twisting in and out around rock formations left over from the last Ice Age. A brief rest stop separated back-to-back TSD sections and we continued north on Telford to Indian Creek and the easy climb back out to the top and a transit into Davenport and east to Spokane. Day One was 8 hours 18 minutes over 300-plus miles. The rally retired to the Ram Pub for dinner and rally lore of 30-odd years from Bob Chandler, sitting at 4th overall for the day. We found we were tied for 1st in Equipped class with Mike Daily and Steve Pfau. The challenge was on now. Day Two began westward with the Cheney to Texas-Ferry transit. The first TSD found us on freshly graded “marbles” with apparently no tracks besides the rallymaster. “Hole-in-the-Ground” ran through rolling wheat fields, a control at the top a gravel hill, down into Pine City and then to the namesake road. Hole in the Ground gets narrow and twisty just before dropping down into the canyon, crossing the bridge over Rock Creek, wave at the control, and begin the hillclimb out to the top again. The 1.1-mile canyon run was noted as congested and exposed, but more than one crew wished for a mileage caution at the first big exposure. Once on top of the world again we ran a rapid transit past one of last year’s experiences to the “Avoiding Dewey” TSD. Over wide smooth gravel until the drop into the narrow tunnel. The first anticipated control had been moved and the tunnel became a photo-op, but 44 out of the tunnel was interesting until we could crest the hill and see no more controls. Through Sprague and north to Mohler for the start of “Coal Coulee Backwards”. This TSD ran along Coal Creek to a control seen from a distance, lost behind a hill, seen again as you set up for a right across the bridge then left past the car. The dilemma was as to where the timing point came into this picture. A sign before the turn, entering or exiting the bridge, or the intersecting sideroad… I couldn’t carry 40 through the whole thing, so we would be early, on-time, or late depending on the mark. A quick highway transit then CAST 44 at “End Pavement” and CAST 48 at “Primitive Road”. Another rapid transit to “X” and more 44 and 48 gravel, the straight at T again, and back to Summer Falls for a break. We could see by the routebook that “Dry Coulee Backwards” would take us down the hillclimb from Day One. We had been losing mileage on all the downhills and spent a lot of time on the strategies for being on-time at the right places at 45 and 47mph. Lot of discussion to no avail, as I was pretty early at the bottom of the hill for a control we knew was somewhere nearby, then pretty late after the acute and hillclimb hairpin, fortunately without control. We revisit Soap Lake and Sheep Canyon to start “Baird Springs Backwards” TSD for gravel at 42, 46 and 49. A left, an acute right at 44 and another left uphill had us wishing for just a little more power, then generally down grade to the tunnel which we thought was an obvious spot for a control. We entered 23 early, came out 8 early, couldn’t find a control car in all the congestion and slowly proceeded to a cattle guard, recognizing it as a checkpoint entirely by accident, taking a 1 late. Whew! The transit to Rock Island was consumed again by planning. Rock Island Grade is used regularly and I had used it myself on a rally years ago, but I couldn’t remember every switchback and every mileage. It’s about 3 miles and gains about a thousand feet through I think six or eight hairpins. A lot of time at the bottom to watch earlier cars, sample various strategies and calculations as to the anticipated control at the top. We watched and timed a couple of cars, then just plain guessed (yes, guessed!) as to how early to leave, keeping in mind there was nothing to prevent a control in the middle of the hill. Dumb luck or precise calculations, the car was flat-out, or at least as fast as it would go, passing the control for the only crew to zero the hillclimb. At this point the temp gauge was approaching the red. I was still climbing over the crest, the speed went up to 42 then to 46. I wanted to ease out of it a bit to cool off but we could “feel” a control coming up. Running on-time and no longer climbing, the water temp came down, but as we pass the control the “check engine” light comes on. Five miles to the end of section. The engine lasted, but the distraction caused both of us to miss-read a turn, keeping right instead of left. Only the two cars backing and turning before us brought the realization. We recovered, hit the cattle guard on-time and no more controls. We then checked the engine, found nothing, and restarted with no light. The transit to the finish provides beautiful vistas overlooking Wenatchee and the snow capped Stuart Range. Another 7 hours 35 minutes, just under 300 miles. About 600 miles for two days running. ------------------------------------------------------------- We had been tied to start the day but I managed to collect two more points than Mike and Steve. We took 2nd Equipped 4th Overall (65 pts), behind Mike Daily and Steve Pfau 1st Equipped 3rd Overall (63 pts). Lee and Rod Sorenson from Sacramento finished 1st Unlimited 1st Overall (34 pts) in the Impreza 2.5 RS. Satch Carlson and Russ Kraushaar finished 2nd Unlimited 2nd Overall (41 pts) in the 1969 Saab Sonett II V4. Congratulations also to Vasco de Pinna and Kevin Mullins for 1st SOP (315 pts), and to Taylor Van Vleet and Holly Odegard for 1st Novice (378 pts, 12th o’all). This is a “must do” rally… Put it on your schedule for next year!
*More No Alibi (MN)- Terry Simons went to work with her computer/laser printer and churned out classy graphics. Poster-size signs, some cute bumper stickers, and “dash plaques” on magnetic material. Right down to the fine points: A bunch of sandwiches were obtained without the condiments that make them soggy after a day or two. Sure, the taste was bland, but the bread tasted like bread, and no food could match the flavor of the scenery. Steve Willey had the scores done before the rallyists arrived on Sunday- then updated them as the last of the CP crews straggled in. He massaged Excel to set up a fairly painless procedure. One of the finer points, something I’d heard of but never experienced, was wearing headphones while inputting the numbers- the darn thing “vocalized’ the numbers, so Steve got a verbal confirmation of what he typed in. Too bad for him- he’s “Scoremeister” from now on! Damage: 30 cars for 600 miles on challenging roads= Stuff happens. A freeze plug decided to stay in Central Washington, but conveniently within 90 miles of a shop that could replace it. A Sonett left muffler parts somewhere in the scablands, too. Steve Richards knows about deer, but a sneaky one decided to cross the road at the instant he was passing. Bambi pushed the left headlight into the battery, as well as crumpling the surrounding bodywork on the very new Outback Sport. The next day, the fender inner liner “fell” off. It made horrendous sounds up until it became a part of the landscape. Kirk spent the weekend waiting for a problem to crop up that he’d have to handle. He planned 34 checkpoints, but thought it would be luck to get them all. Nothing of any importance came up. Terry and Mark Simons were detailed to take pictures of the cars (later used for the trophies). They left that duty to tow a car to a service station then resumed picture duties. After many rallys of neglect and training, the workers somehow found their checkpoint locations and were waiting when Kirk meandered (Hah- he was flying) by. The heavily laden Outback of the Jones’ closed up Registration, and covered a lot of ground to set up the 1:30 PM lunch at the remote Summer Falls State Park. Then on to Spokane to greet the rallyists at 5:20. Mark and Mary Hillman did two CP’s on each day. ‘Twas dull except that Mark left his wallet in the bushes at his first CP, got stopped and let go by a policeman (for “looking fast”) on Saturday afternoon, then took the long way to the Finish to retrieve his wallet on Sunday. Carl and Ellen Graff retired to 20 acres, north of Deer Park. They met the rally at the Saturday Lunch Break, did two CP’s on Saturday and one on Sunday, then retreated back the serenity of their spread. Nice to chat with them- with all that acreage, Carl let’s the neighbor keep the grass down (cows are the preferred mowing method), while Ellen got herself a job with a 7 mile commute. Ken and Sue Lingbloom talked two fellow Chuckanut club (Bellingham) members into trying the long rally, then came down to make sure they had fun. Probably took notes so they’ll improve the Chuckanut rallys, as if that’s possible. Dave Smith introduced Steve Dazey to this rally stuff. Both are HAMs, so you can imagine the fun they had in the wide open spaces. In fact, enough of the workers had radios that useful information was passing back and forth whenever the crews weren’t in the bottoms of the many canyons. Roy Ward and Shari worked the first CP each day, then swept the course, which amounted to picking up scoresheets and meeting Eric Horst and Steve Willey (in Eric’s BMW) somehow. We’ll call it careful planning, but this resulted in Roy being just far enough behind the rally to allow time for the scoresheets to be done by time the Oldsmobile (or whatever it is…) arrived. Nolte and Sally DeVore had no excuses to get lost, having done course work on Evergreen State rallys in the late ‘80’s through the area. A CP scant yards before the lunch break found them crouching in the sagebrush as the rallyists passed, mostly on time. A Sunday CP didn’t offer anyplace to hide the car, so the rallyists had lots of time to contemplate the scenario of a 46 CAST with a sharp turn onto a bridge, and sharp left after- and no way to guess where the timing point was (it was the sign before the bridge). Being too far away to see the frantic efforts inside the cars, it was amusing to watch various attempts to be on time through the pea-gravel corners. The Rock Island Grade is an intimidating 3-mile climb. A 28 CAST was tough in 1986, but the road is much smoother now, and most cars got to the top on time, although wheezing. Arriving an hour early, the scenery (of most of Wenatchee) was hard to leave. Richard Crosier and Sharon Euster are also a pair of HAMs, with a lot of rally experience. Their technique for getting to CP location was shortcut just enough to regain the route, then follow it to their spot. No insult intended, but what a dull-looking bunch of “competition” cars. Most were the weekday grocery-getters with (perhaps) upgraded tires. Anyone who thought exotic preparation was required would get exhausted trying to find more than one skid pan, gas tank shield, or “off road’ tires. Except for the Saab’s, the parking lot looked more like a Safeway lot than a parc ferme’!
*Dryad Quest/Shitepoke (June 15-16) We'll gather for our Saturday Stage at 11:30, meeting at the Shelton Park and Ride. Sunday, we meet at 7:30AM. The Shelton Park and Ride is the "usual" place, just west of the "Shelton-Matlock" Exit off Highway 101. This looks to be as “generic” as things get. 7 RM’s, including someone at the Del Adams Spectator location. Of vastly more importance is making proper preparations for the Picnic between the two runs. Dave Folker has a gas-fired grill, so we just need to decide if everyone converges on one location, or we have two sites. With all that time, we need to decide who’s bringing appetizers and desert. Need more volunteers…. Club News May meeting, reported by Vince Plancich Treasurers report $2339.26 in the bank before any Raindrop bills have been paid. The Board voted to go along with the NWRC to increase our insurance coverage to 1 mil. This increase will cost RASC $150.00 more this year. (A 20% increase in cost for twice as much coverage.) OLD BUSINESS: Raindrop Rally: Everyone said Steve did a great job. We had 42 cars and scored 16 checkpoints. Scoring needs to be tweaked a little. (This is true of all our events) Friday Niter Rally: Kirk & Terry ran it in their new BMW and had fun. It was a ORCA event with a new Rally master. But it had the feel of a S. Roberts rally. 41 cars, a good turnout. NEW BUSINESS: No Alibi: Only minor tweaking left to be done. All under control. Pro Rally June 16th & 17th.. Mark needs workers. Alcan report: Jerry has a new promo CD out. 33 entry so far. Not all paid yet. (23 cars, 10 Bikes) Film crew on board. The event will get 30 to 60 min. on Speedvision. Malcolm Smith will be one of the Bike sponsors. Volvo will be the official car sponsor. Oregon Trail Rally report from Dave, John & Mark. Trivia * Mark Hillman finally retired the VW Fox. He worked out a $300 deal with the garbageman to make it go away. The replacement is a white Ford Ranger pickup, so plain it could be the only thing in a Wal-Mart parking lot and you’d miss it. The Hillmans expect to be grandparents this September. * The Alfa Checkpoint clocks are pretty expensive to operate. Stick a 9 volt battery in it to get it running and set, then remove the battery to shut it off. Of course, there’s no way to keep track of the battery life, although the units will run off the cigarette lighter plug when that’s available. The only way to be sure that the battery will have sufficient power when used away from the vehicle is to use fresh batteries for every rally. Mike Jones was giving semi-fresh batteries away at the end of No Alibi. He’ll be loading new ones for the next event. For Sale * ’94 AWD Voyager, loaded. $4600 call J. Hines (425) 823-6343 * 1957 Chev Belair. 350cu V8, th400 auto. Turquoise and Ivory 2dr post with 17" polished Torque Thrust wheels. New brakes, radiator, fuel pump/tank, carb, intake, headers, flowmaster custom exhaust, + many other misc. Interior and Exterior beautifully restored. No Disappointments. $18,500. Contact Pete Shelton 206 783-5681 or email at paaz@peoplepc.com NW Rallyists’ Calendar • Call the NWRC Hotline (206) 256-9627 for latest info on Puget Sound TSD events. * In Bellingham? Chuckanut is conducting classroom instruction on weeknights June 11 and September 10 at Faith Lutheran Church. $15. Class from 6 to 6:30, rally, then follow up at 8PM. June 8/9 Mt Trials, BC (stage)
Rainier Auto Sports Club will meet this coming Monday, June 10, at 7:30 PM. Billy McHales, 4065 Factoria Blvd. SE (425)746-1138 Its in the SE corner of Factoria Mall, at the edge of the parking lot. Best access is to get onto Coal Creek Parkway (south of I-90) then left at the Newport Way traffic signal. Left into the parking lots of the Mall, when you see it.. Monthly meetings are the second Monday of each month. Past Members, visitors, and spectators are welcomed.
Agenda: Happy tales of No Alibi, along with serious discussion of just what it takes to get 30 entrants. Eric will explain how he squeezed lawn chairs into the BMW (the best way to work a checkpoint). S. Richards may share the “body shop” experience with us. If the subject comes up, who cares if No Alibi made money- we all had a good time. Nolte will be signing up Club Rally workers. Probably yet more Alcan news.
2002 Board Members: President: Mike Jones (425) 823-8329; Vice-President: Jerry Hines (425) 823-6343; Secretary: Eric Horst (206)363-9752; Treasurer: Ed Millman (206)361-7389 Members at Large:, Kirk Simons- 425-806-1741, Steve Willey – (206) 324-5090
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. View back issues at http://www.rainierautosports.com/wag/default.htm Contributions and paid/unpaid ad eagerly received at 2108 NE 12Th. St., Renton, WA 98056 or e-mail: mnolte@qwest.net
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