RASC Snowflake

Rainier Auto Sports Club  

The Wishbone Alley Gazette

February, 2003                         

Club Meeting

Cafe Veloce is expecting us, it's now the regular meeting place until a place with a private room can be found.

Of course, you may pay your dues. In fact, Mr. Ed is willing to exchange some RASC stuff for the membership money. He says he has both generations of the sticker sheets.

$15-singles, $17-family; same as the last 5 years.

Rally News

* The first Friday Niter of the year is a NWRC  (read- John and Derris Humphrey are Rallymasters) event. RASC will have to trot out workers for a CP.  Besides Valentine's Day (!), a vast number of RASC's active members will be in Canada.

*  Thunderbird Rally over Feb 15-16 weekend. 54 entries, so far. Perennial winners Fouse/Wende decided to graciously bow out and give other teams a chance for a trophy. (Mr. Fouse also has a "work" conflict)

* Doo Wop I&II are happening at Hoquiam the same weekend. The log sorting yards at Hoquiam will provide a site unhampered by vagaries of the woods. (Rumors of spectacular spectating.)

* March 1-2, Doo Wops III&IV. Saturday is up the Olympic Peninsula near Quinault.

Sunday starts with the Montesano watershed roads, then Brooklyn, to finish at the Oakville Grange.

The rallyists run Brooklyn, then pass the Brooklyn Tavern to get to the Smith Creek stage. RASC has been handed this 7-miles up, then 7-miles back stage.

Nolte's current plan is to meet at Oakville at 9AM, drive through the Brooklyn Stage to Smith Creek at 11AM, and be ready to run at 1:30. Call Nolte at 425-652-3578. Need 7 road marshals.

If the US is at war, we'll be displaying yellow ribbons.

* After Millen and Lovell were witnessed speeding through the Service Area at Wild West, it was assumed that the guys would be penalized, maybe excluded from the rally.

Well, it got really sticky. Since the rally was also run under FIA rules, there wasn't a clear-cut penalty defined. Then there was the subjective complaint that the cars were speeding- without any specific, objective measurement of just what the speed was.

Then there were apparently specific methods for dealing with this- that weren't followed by the Stewards.  (It was declared to be running under FIA, not SCCA rules, in answer to a pre-event inquiry)

So it ended up with a letter to the teams.

It's worth mentioning that its possible to borrow 3 (or more) radar guns for future NW rallys.

* In the beginning, there were just a few enthusiast clubs. The racers split off from the "street legal" group, then the "cone crushers" would split from the rallyists. Then the remaining groups would divide (Hence, RASC).

Torque Steerers evolved this way for 2003.  A few rallyists left:

"Puget Sound Rally Club was officially launched on January 17th of 2003.

"They wanted to focus on rallying as a group whose common bond is not getting lost..so why not form a new rally club. Their primary goal is "not get lost"....truly not a bad idea when you are on a rally. "

*NWRC Novice Championship (From Tom Palidar)

Hard to believe that the NWRC Novice Championship is over. Congratulations to the following individuals & teams for staying with it and winning trophies for their efforts:

Rhodri /Morien Thomas: 1st Team, Driver, & Navigator;  Scott Miller/Karl Coleman;  2nd Team, Driver, & Navigator;  Keith Brown /Karina Miller: 3rd Team, Driver, & Navigator;  Jack Heppes/Rem Remington: 4th Team; Taylor Van Vleet/Holly Odegard:        4th Driver & Navigator

And in recognition that they clearly have the necessary skills to compete in a higher class: All the winners have been "graduated" to SOP for 2003.

In addition, since the combined 10 event "Novice rule" was waived during 2002, the following individuals will be bumped to SOP for this coming year since they have successfully competed in 6 or more events in 2002: Watt/Watt, Stewart/Stewart, Thorkildsen/Thorkildsen, Sheikh/Morrow, and Colletti/Collins

The 2003 NWRC Novice Championship:

Once again we will be waiving the 10-event rule for those eligible Novices.  Simply put, if you have competed in 5 or less NWRC Novice Championship events during the 2002 year, you are eligible to return for the 2003 series. 

For the 2003 NWRC Novice Championship season, awarded trophies will be based upon the same point system as 2002.

NWRC SOP Championship.   Yup, that‚' right, due to popular demand, NWRC will be offering yet another opportunity for you to add to your favorite trophy spot on your living room wall!

The same points assignments will be assessed for event placement as in the Novice Championship & will therefore result in trophies going down to the top three winners in Driver & Navigator categories.

Finally, I want to thank all 68 different Novice teams that had joined us over the 2002 season & all of us in NWRC look forward to the upcoming 2003 season.

(edited liberally from an announcement by Tom Palidar, NWRC Novice Championship Administrator)

Club News

* Revealed and shared at the January 13, 2003 meeting:

* Bank balance: $2054.23

* NWRC Rep for 2003 is Kirk Simons

* NWRC is seeking checkout and workers for February (Valentines Day) Friday Niter.  Let Kirk know.

* NWRC is working on a Guide For Rallymasters.  No firm info on what the resulting form will be.

* Raindrop- Steve is thinking somewhere to the north this year.

* No Alibi- Kirk passed around the preliminary budget. No additional route surveying since late last year. Plan is to run Wenatchee to Wenatchee to Wenatchee. Working on hotels., and a preliminary flyer for distribution at Thunderbird.

* Alcan- Considering new sites for Alcan start. Winter: 12 entries so far. Summer:  2 entries so far.

* New HAM: Jim Hogan KD7TTV

* NW Alfa Club track day March 2nd.  Beginners' drivers school.  Autocross, skid pad, and oval.  Call Vince for more info.

* NW Alfa Club advanced high-speed drivers March 5th.  Call Vince for more info.

RASC announces 2003 Officers:

Steve Willey, President

Jerry Hines, Vice President

Ed Millman, Treasurer

Eric Horst, Secretary

Mark Nolte, At Large (Newsletter Editor)

Mike Jones, At Large

These positions were awarded after the December member vote, which selected the Board, then the Board decided who was going to do what.

 At that same Board meeting, Jerry Hines moved that the Club pay Eric Horst $200 for RainierAutoSports.com web hosting for the year 2003.  The motion was seconded and approved. Mark Nolte belatedly urged that Eric provide an invoice for the service provided prior to disbursement of funds.  Eric said he would do so.

* Club Property: Besides the Sticker sheets, over the years RASC has accumulated some jacket (baseball cap?) patches. To be used also as Trophies, a run of "NOR'WESTER" belt buckles were purchased.

Over a long May weekend in 1967, 6 reflectorized checkpoint signs were assembled, and 3 (5?) Route Control signs were also made- although when trappy rallys were  put on, an additional 3 signs were temporized.

For the Pro-Rallys, RASC bought rolls and rolls of bannerguard, and the quickest way to make sure we had enough route-marking stakes was to purchase yet more- we have about 240 now. For arrows, Jerry Hines got hold of some bounce-back (reflectorized) tape, which went onto dayglo-colored pasteboard. The rain and normal wear has reduced that inventory to about 20. Nolte has a stake pounder, and there is supposed to be another in the world. 4 staplers were in a nice box at one time. Again, all spread across the nation (or Puget Sound. Nolte also has about 40 old-style PRO-Rally control signs. They have a nice, white backside that may have a future- sometime.

RASC now owns some (battery sapping) Alfa Clocks.

If you have any of these items, please contact the club Secretary, so we at least know they exist.

Trivia

*For a good story, ask Jarvis about spinning his his car on a New Mexico highway. At 80 mph.

* Steve Willey bought a Timewise 798. In case you didn't know, this is the "latest, and greatest" of the Timewise TSD Rally computers. It does a lot of really neat stuff….

* John Nagel had serious surgery in mid-January. The sad news is that his diabetes claimed a foot.

FOR SALE / Wanted:

* Lucas' 1994 Ford Explorer XLT is for sale.  It's a 4WD 4-door with brand new automatic trans & brakes, looks & runs great.  Factory alloy wheels, tow package, tinted glass   $4400, J. Hines 425-823-6343.

* VERY actively looking for a clean, low mileage, 1999 - 2001 Impreza 2.5 RS. The 'ol P/U is going to pasture - SOON! I favor the Sedona Red. Mike Jones 425-823-8329 or CODRVR@aol.com

* I wish somebody would take the 79 Fire Arrow "carport queen" off my hands.  Includes rebuilt 2.6L engine with Zero hours.  No reasonable offer refused. Ed Storer, 206-282-3145; edstorer@attbi.com

* TSD rally-ready 1983 Audi Turbo Quattro Coupe.  Mars red.  170K miles.  Lots of goodies.  $8,500. e-mail Peter Linde at pjnconn@yahoo.com

RASC Calendar---------------------------

• Call the NWRC Hotline (206) 256-9627 for latest info on Puget Sound TSD events. NWRC Friday Niters start at the Eastgate (Bellevue) Park and Ride. Reg opens at 6:45, FCO 7:31.

TSD Rallys

  • Feb 14 Friday Niter (NW Auto Sports)
  • Feb 15-16 Thunderbird, Merritt, B.C.
  • Mar. 8 Rally School (ORCA), Bellevue
  • Mar. 14 Friday Niter (ORCA)
  • Mar. 21   Friday Niter (Cascade, Portland)
  • Mar. 30 Flapdoodle Express (Chuckanut) Bellingham
  • Apr. 11 Friday Nighter (Torque Steerers)
  • Apr. 18 Friday Niter (Cascade, Portland)
  • April 27-Raindrop , RASC
  • Apr. 26-27- Heart of Darkness, Hope, B.C.
  • May 9-Friday Nighter (ORCA)
  • May 16- Friday Nighter (Cascade/Portland)
  • May 31-June 1 - No Alibi, RASC (eastern Washington)
  • June 13-Friday Nighter (ORCA)
  • June 20-Friday Nighter (Cascade/Portland)
  • June 28-29 - Coast to Coast, Vancouver Isl., B.C.
  • July 11 - Friday Nighter (NWRC)
  • July 18 - Friday Nighter (Cascade/Portland)
  • July 19-20 Gold Digger,                                                           Pemberton, B.C.
  • July 20 - Mountains to the Sea, Cascade SCC, Portland
  • Aug 8 - Friday Nighter (ORCA)
  • August 9-10 - The Road Not Taken (SCCA Nat'l) Grand Ronde, OR.
  • Aug 15 - Friday Nighter  (Cascade/Portland)
  • Sept 12 - Friday Nighter (RASC)
  • Sept. 19 - Friday Niter (Cascade/Portland)
  • Oct. 4 - Night on Bald Mountain (ORCA)
  • Oct 10 - Friday Nighter (Torque Steerers)
  • Oct. 17-18 - SCCA National TSD championship, Portland, OR
  • Oct 25-26 - Midnite Rally, Victoria, B.C.
  • Nov. 1 - Armageddon, Chuckanut, Bellingham
  • Nov. 15-16 - Totem, Cache Creek, B.C.

NW Stage Rally activity:

  • March 1- Doo Wop I, Hoquiam, WA
  • March 2- Doo Wop II, Montesano, WA
  • April 12 Reno I, Reno, NV
  • April 13- Reno II, Reno, NV
  • June 7- Dryad Quest, Shelton, WA
  • June 8- Shitepoke, Shelton, WA
  • June 13-14 - Pacific Forest Rally (stage), Merritt, B.C.
  • July 12- Oregon Trail, Hillsboro, OR
  • July 13- Trail's End. Hillsboro, OR
  • Aug 2  ORV Rallysprint I, McCleary, WA
  • Aug 3- ORV Rallysprint II, McCleary, WA
  • Sept 6- Sou'Wester, Olympia, WA
  • Sept 7- Simpson Stages, Shelton, WA
  • Sept. 26-27  Mountain Trials (stage), Merritt, B.C.
  • Oct 11- Mt. Hood, Hood River, OR

SCCA National PRORally

  • Jan 24-25 - Sno*Drift, Atlanta, Mich.
  • May 2-3 - Rim of the World, Palmdale, Calif.
  • Jun 7 -  Susquehannock Trail Wellsboro, Penn.
  • Jun 26-27 - Pikes Peak Int'l Hillclimb
  • Colorado Springs, Colo.
  • Jul 12-13 - Oregon Trail, Hillsboro, Ore.
  • Aug 1-2 - Maine Forest Rally, Rumford, Maine
  • Aug. 22-23 - Ojibwe Forests, Bemidji, Minn.
  • Sep 6-7 - Wild West, Olympia, WA
  • Oct. 17-18 - Lake Superior, Houghton, Mich.

And then, there's (Sanctioned by USAC):

  • March 12-15, International Cherokee Trails Rally, based in Chattanooga, Tenn.
  • Dec. 12-13? - Ramada Express, Nevada

SOVREN races (attn: Vince, Ed, & Mark)

  • April 18-19             Defrost Kickoff , Pacific Raceways
  • May 10-11             Spring Sprints, Pacific Raceways
  • July 4-5-6               Pacific Northwest Historics, Pacific Raceways
  • July 11-13              Portland  Historic Races, Portland International Raceway
  • Aug 9-10                SCCA Regional-SOVREN Bremerton
  • Aug 30-Sept 1       Portland Race with All British Field Meet Portland International Raceway
  • Sept 20- 21             Fall Finale, Pacific Raceways
  • Sept 27-28              Maryhill Loops Hill Climb, Goldendale, Washington

 

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