Steve Willey accepted Rallymaster duties for the 2004 Raindrop (TSD) with barely a whimper. This will be his third effort, and he decided to find new roads.

The April 18th tour ventures north of Bremerton and explores the roads near the Hood Canal and northeast Olympic Peninsula. In all the years, a RASC event hasn’t ever been there. For that matter, very few tours have ever been up there, mostly marque events.

The preview/checkout went well. According to Kirk Simons, the checkout crews found little to fault or change, just clean up a few instructions. Steve always wants to add a little “something” to spread out the scores.

The State makes $5 from the entry fee, making it possible to visit the frequent parks in the area. So the $30 entry fee is a bargain.

Depending on whether you drive or take the appropriate cross-Sound ferry, it takes about 1-1/2 hours to get to the Silverdale start. Registration will be manned once again by Gretchen Jones, but online registration has proven to speed things up. She’ll open shop at 9:45, with a Novice “workshop” at 10, and the Driver’s meeting at 10:30. FCO is 11:01.

Since it Finishes in Poulsbo, the folks with the Mukilteo or Bainbridge Island ferry schedule will be able to decide which way to get to Seattle area.- MN

Raindrop website

 

DOO WOP – Ray and Janice Daimio have organized the Doo Wop rallys each year since the mid-80’s. I don’t know the exact arrangement, but the NorthWest Region of SCCA (NWR-SCCA) orchestrates the event on rally day, and the Damitio’s do the legwork up to that point.

If spectators are going to congregate, portable toilets must be arranged. Say what you will about peeing in the woods, but its part of getting permissions. Apparently the toilets weren’t in the right place this year, so that stage may not be available in the future.

Despite best efforts, some local folks don’t quite understand that roads are closed. While rally workers would be challenged to explain this to upset drivers, Ray arranges for a Sheriff’s Deputy to be on site to explain things, convincingly.

RASC was awarded the Smith Creek Stage again this year. During preparation over the weeks, it was obvious that the road was really slick, with 4-inch deep mud making up the fast section “surface”. I don’t know exactly how it was conveyed, but by rally day, heavy crushed rock made most of the road safe.

The new Rules for Spectators implied that no one could be along the stage roads; they’d only be allowed in designated Spectator areas. The Road Marshals would be lonely on Smith Creek. It didn’t turn out that way as the Marshal’s found themselves surrounded by locals who’d literally camped out to watch the spectacle of rally cars speeding past. The key phrase is “more than 50 feet from a hot area is OK”. Hence Ray even stopped to chat with an encampment full of local fans.

Ron Sorem got Steve Brown to join him at one end of the Stage. Steve had just returned from the Winter Alcan and still had some energy left. So did Jim Hogan, although Jim was still somewhat on an Alcan “mentality”:  “should be putting some miles on the car today”.

Kirk Simons brought the new motor home out. Terry and the kids stayed inside, so it was amusing to hear the antics from outside: the sounds of large items being dropped and subdued screams. I guess that’s what kids do.

Steve Richards was promised a quiet interlude in the woods, where he could listen to soft music and read poetry while protecting a side road from civilian intrusion. He ended up next to a crowd of campers. Marvin Crippen got the quiet spot.

Nolte tried some new starting clocks: two analog “atomic” clocks on tripods, one on each side of the rally cars. This allowed the Starter to be well clear of the flying debris when the rally cars dropped the clutch. The system seemed to work well.

Being a muddy weekend, the car numbers were quickly completely obscured such that the RM’s couldn’t make out which cars had passed or were out of sequence. Whether it would be worth the trouble to post someone at the start (or ATC) to clean off the numbers is debatable, since the mud would probably cover the number within a mile or two, anyway.

Being the last stage of the day, the county cop was allowed to precede Sweep on the “hot stage’. The guy finally gets a chance to drive the road as he’s always wanted to! But when he encountered a rally car off the road, he stopped and tugged the car out, then drove through at his usual pace.

The dearth of RASC members was offset by an influx of Chuckanut Sports Car Club members. The Perret/Hansen Honda being a non-entity for the moment, they and their crew appeared and did worker duty.

 

No Alibi: Perhaps a few weeks ahead of schedule, the roads for No Alibi have been chosen. The mid-June weekend overnights at Clarkston, and accommodations are being lined up.

As successor to the old Nor’Wester and Evergreen State 1000, the route revisits the great gravel roads in southeast Washington, and some new ones have been found. Kirk even explored some routes in the motor home, on his way home from visiting relatives.

Not to say that the roads are tame, but far from “tire busters”. Sadly, his route choices are limited now that the roads crossing the Snake River dams are closed.

Worker recruiting will commence at the April club meeting.

Summer Alcan is (Wednesday) August 18 through (Thursday), August 26, Kirkland to Whistler, B.C. The $2800 price is about right for a real tour.

Following the success of the motorcycle entrants in 2002, still more are coming in 2004.

For 4-wheeled entries, Rallymaster Hine’s definition of “Vintage” is apparently loose- he considers the first running of the Alcan in 1984 to be “old” enough. Even then, he’s not looking at the production date, just the appearance such that if the car “looks” 1984-ish, it’s OK.

* The wretches in the Circulation Dept. asked the WAG Editorial Dept. to poll readers and determine if all those paper copies of the WAG need to be laboriously printed, folded, stamped and labeled. While the response won’t save any forests, the Circulation Dept. is delighted that so many readers have transitioned toward a paperless environment.

Trivia

• Spring cleaning: Suffering from the smell of too many fast-food meals, I tried spraying Febreze on the fabric surfaces of my car. It worked, without simply covering up the stale onion smell. I used the household item, but there’s a bottle out there somewhere made for auto’s. -Nolte

• Its never a bad time to shake your fire extinguisher. The powder settles and may not “spray” as well as it could if it clumps up in the bottom. One of those spring projects, like changing smoke detector batteries.- Nolte

• Studded snow tires will be legal for at least one more year. Legislature was petitioned by WSDOT to ban studs entirely, but nothing was done, so they will be legal. –Roy Ward

• Daimler-Chrysler seems to have had a fire sale on Dodge Intrepid Police Specials. Not only did Kirk and I get sparkled by one in southeastern Washington when looking for No Alibi roads, but the City of Bothell has a brand-spanking new one in dark blue. The City of Monroe has at least two, as well. So one more grille signature to memorize when looking in your rear view mirror, or parked along the highway. –Roy Ward

FOR SALE / Wanted

• Future Classic: TSD rally-ready 1983 Audi Turbo Quattro Coupe.  Mars red.  170K miles.  Lots of goodies, well maintained by owner (retired mechanic) $ 7,500.00). E-mail Peter Linde at pjnconn@yahoo.com.

• “Just came across a set of die-cut vinyl letters "MOPARSUSHI".  2-1/2 inches high, white. Free.” Ed Storer edstorer@comcast.net ,  206-282-3145

• 2 ea. IPF 7" driving lamps with covers, $100.00 for the pair.

• Also: cable chains for smaller tires (185x13?) free to good home; second set available for the other home. Roy Ward 425-485-6225 roy.ward@verizon.net

• Free !! Brother HL1240 Laser Printer, black and white only. Works, needs cartridge. Parallel or USB port connection. Good condition. Roy Ward 425-485-6225, roy.ward@verizon.net 

 

RASC Calendar

• April 22-24- Oregon Trail ProRally, Hillsboro, OR  

• June 5- Dryad Quest, Shelton, WA

• June 6- Shitepoke, Shelton, WA

• July 24-25- Rally Café, Bremerton, WA

• July 31- ORV Sprint 1, McCleary, WA 

• Aug 1- ORV Sprint 2, McCleary, WA 

• Sept 11- Sou'Wester, Olympia, WA

• Sept 12- Simpson Stages, Shelton, WA 

• Rallying in B.C.

• May 01- Heart of Darkness 

• June 04/06- Coast to Coast

• July 24/25- Gold Digger      

• Oct 30- Midnight

• Nov 13/14- Totem

Local TSD

• 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

• April 9- Friday Nighter          NWRC/ORCA

• April 18- Raindrop, RASC   Kirkland,

•  May 14- Friday Nighter, NWRC/PSRC

• May 15- Jack's Rally, ORCA. Bellevue, WA

• June 11- Friday Nighter, NWRC/TS

• June 19-20- No Alibi, RASC, TSD gravel Ellensburg-Clarkston-Ellensburg

• July 9  Friday Nighter            NWRC

• Aug. 13- Friday Nighter, NWRC/ORCA

• Sept. 10- Friday Nighter. NWRC

• Oct. 2- Night on Bald Mountain, ORCA

• Oct. 8- Friday Nighter           NWRC/RASC

• Nov 6- Armageddon XXIII,CSCC, Bellingham,

Rainier Auto Sports Club will meet this coming Monday,  April 12 at 7:30 PM at Café Veloce at the Totem Lake shopping center. Best way I can think of to get there is north on I-405, take the "NE 124th" exit, then keep right under NE 124th and straight at the signal. This puts you on Totem Lake Blvd, not whatever the frontage road is next to I-405. Then right first poss, with the Café on your right at that point.

 Monthly meetings are the second Monday of each month. Past Members, visitors, and spectators are welcomed.

Agenda: Raindrop plans. Kirk and Roy can tell some stories about exploring roads in SE Washington. Jerry may have yet more stories about Alcan, and further define what his Vintage class is all about for this summer.

 

2004 Board Members:

President: Steve Willey – (206)417-8517; Vice-President:;   Marvin Crippen –(206)365-5915; Secretary: Eric Horst  (206)363-9752;  Treasurer: Ed Millman (206)361-7389

Members at Large:, Mike Jones- (425)823-8329, Jerry Hines (425) 823-6343

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)652-3578. 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@blarg.net