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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