Eight cars braved the summer heat to participate in the rally. Planning for an event this time of year is not easy with vacations and other events going on. I never know how many cars to expect. But, I was prepared. We had enough instructions and food to accommodate 18 cars. Karen was a huge help in preparing the wonderful food, although John Li jumped in when he arrived to help with chef duties at the grill.
John Coleman helped me with the cold-run, but could not find a substitute for his radio show and with some of my potential checkpoint workers on vacation or otherwise engaged, I decided to go with just one checkpoint crew, and make extensive use of do-it-yourself legs. I recruited my brother Ken and his daughter Julie to assist me at the controls. Ken used to rally, but that has been at least 40 years ago. Ken is the owner of the beautiful 1958 Porsche that is going through rehab in my garage and it was on display after the event.
The rally was meant to be a very straightforward but interesting event due to the winding roads near some of our rivers in Champaign and Douglas counties. Since the rally was only about 92 miles long, no rest stop was planned during the event, although ice cold water was available at checkpoint 5. One of the roads used was what I have called “The lost rally road.” I discovered this little used road several years ago, and used it on “The Lost Rally Road” rally. It is an interesting stretch of about a mile in length that is like driving through a green tunnel. The first time I used it, I had to stop and remove fallen trees from the road. Everyone agreed that the roads were interesting and surprisingly winding for central Illinois.
John Li was forced to retire from the event midway, due to tire problems. Several cars did get lost, but were able to regain the course and finish the rally. Plenty of food and drinks were enjoyed by the participants, and several wives showed up to share in the picnic. (We will be eating leftovers for a few days.)
Jerry White brought his neighbor and new club member, Brian Ford along to navigate for him, and they took home the second place trophy in the SOP class. First in SOP was Mike Blackwelder and another new navigator, Tony Benson, who is Mike’s brother-in-law. It was reassuring for the eventual class winners, Marianne and Bob DeMeritt coming in to the controls with zeros or ones, and with a total for the 7 legs of only 7 points! I must have done something right.
RESULTS LEG SCORES
| Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Total |
NAVIGATIONAL CLASS
| Bob DeMeritt-Marianne DeMeritt | Subaru | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
SEAT OF PANTS CLASS
| Mike Blackwelder-Tony Benson | Ford | 1 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 50 | 81 |
| Jerry White-Brian Ford | Plymouth | 2 | 5 | 38 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 54 | 131 |
| Brian Grable-Sandy Grable | Ford | 41 | 16 | 74 | 4 | 80 | 2 | 11 | 228 |
| Emanuel Martin-Ashley Crum | Chevy | 26 | 43 | 49 | 33 | 34 | 55 | 20 | 260 |
| Barry Rowe-Jim Hamilton | Corvette | 2 | 30 | 37 | 200 | 30 | 2 | 199 | 502 |
| John Li-Stephen Zimmerman | Miata | 42 | 75 | 16 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 923 |
Rallymaster: Bob Townsend Cold run: John Coleman Workers: Karen, Ken, & Julie Townsend