Rally Report – Firecracker Rally 2014

Date: Saturday, July 5, 2014
Rallymaster: Mike Blackwelder
Cold run: Russ Bedford
Workers: Cheryel Blackwelder

Saturday July fifth was the Firecracker rally. It has been known as several different names but the situation has been the same. We run half the rally in the late morning and take a leisurely lunch and then finish the rest of the rally. A few years ago we ran the rally to Clinton, IL and stopped at Ted’s Garage. In April of 2013 a fire started in a neighboring shed and spread to Ted’s destroying the building. The owner reported he would not rebuild. One of his chefs talked him into the use of the name and re-opened the restaurant in a different building and location. Ted’s re-opened last October on the same street a few blocks east of the original spot with most of the same menu and some Mexican dishes added.

On Saturday we met at the County Market store on Glenn Park Drive at nine o’clock for registration. We had five cars for the rally with our club president Tom finally able to run for the first time. At ten oh one the first car left to start the odometer comparison section. Shortly before I left to put up the ODO sign. I put the sign up approximately ten fifty eight. At eleven oh six I received a call from Tom that the ODO sign could not be found. I gave him a description of the marks for the spot. Apparently someone stole the sign during that eight minute window. This makes the second sign we have lost to individuals unknown.

Legs one and two had our three Nav teams running some respectable scores. Both the one car Sop team and the one car Novice team made wrong turns and scored maximum points for the legs. I was able to contact both of them and get them back on course. I made leg three a drive by checkpoint so they could get to the restaurant. This time both the Novice and Sop teams stayed on course and had good scores. The Sop team accomplished this with a delay slip to score eleven points. The number one Nav team were delayed by a slow vehicle but with their delay slip they scored a zero. The other two Nav teams crossed the checkpoint with zeros of their own. This is the first time I have seen three Nav teams score zeros on the same leg.

We spent over an hour taking our time for lunch and left Ted’s just before two o’clock. The next three legs went without anyone getting lost. Leg four was thrown unfortunately because I had made a typo on the outslip. I caused one Nav car to interpret it as a special instruction and drove at the wrong cast. My mistake for that.

The Sop car came in late on the last leg but made up for it with a delay slip to keep his points in the double digits. This last leg was also a drive by which gave me time to calculate the results before I met them at Monical’s. Everyone had a good time with good weather and traffic conditions.

Many thanks to my wife Cheryel for helping to lay out the rally and mileage it. (three times) Thanks to Russ Bedford for cold running it the weekend before.

The next rally is July 26 and will be put on by Jerry White. Details on the club website. www.ccsportscarclub.org