Top finishing Miata and 181 of a possible 200 points on a course designed by the incredibly devious Sasha Lanz ain’t bad for only our third rally! But I’m getting ahead of myself . . . Since my trusty navigator, Tom Routt and I had been in the trophies in our first event, we were put in the General Class. (If you had never done a rally, you were in the First Time class. Been there, didn’t get a trophy, you were a Novice. Won a bunch or designed a rally made you a Master.)

Due to a last minute change in plans for Richard Miller, it was decided that ours’ would be the sweep car, and I was also asked to help with tech. No big deal. We arrived on time and checked in with Betty Lanz (Sasha’s supervisor). I started teching the other entrants’ cars and meeting some very interesting people with some really cool cars.

• Only Miata in the field was the first thing I noticed.
• Several notable Solo competitors was the second thing I noticed.
• A lot of couples and people my age in the Novice class was the third thing I noticed.

There was an XKE, a TR6, and a Volvo 1800S from my day, and there was a Z4, a Mustang with tilt up doors, and a host of Scoobies and such from the modern era. Everything from a Montero to a Mini S was entered. Only one Miata was entered.

First car was out, on time, at 9:30 and our time out was officially 9:58. Pretty good for 28 cars at one minute intervals! Tom was completely familiar with the General Instructions for the rally before the starter handed us the Course Book. There were four sections and each had different rules about what to do if there was no specific instruction, what color signs to read or ignore, etc. In the General Instructions, Part X said in part:

Did I mention Sasha’s devious ways? Section 1 had us looping around in a warehouse district. Twenty-six of twenty-eight cars went the wrong way at the same point in that section. That was anticipated by Rallymaster Lanz, and the directions took you to the same point either way. The sneaky part was that either way there were logical answers to the two questions asked but only one set was correct!

Sections 2 and 3 were more straightforward. Major streets and highways were the norm. Eight steps into section 2, we were supposed to be 1 hour into the event. We were 26 minutes behind. Section 3 began with the 2 hour point; we were only 14 minutes behind. We were given a 30 minute penalty-free “time allowance”, so we weren’t too worried.

In section 4, we were on country roads, but there was an unforeseen situation. The MS150 bicycle ride for charity was arriving at TMS about the same time we were, and they were coming down 156 for the last 15 miles like we were!!! I’ve worked communications and sweep vehicle in bicycle events before. The riders are generally careful and very aware of the dangers of riding on shoulderless roads shared with cars and trucks. The “Official Vehicles” don’t always see the danger; they are important. I’m straddling the double yellow stripe on a very long hill, passing bikes, and looking for holes in case we meet a car coming the other way. All of a sudden a “Official SUV” with yellow flashing lights on top passes me with his left wheels off the pavement and he stayed there all the way over the hill! We hit Justin, and missed 3 questions because the bicycles were so thick we couldn’t see the buildings on the right shoulder. We looped back and had all the answers on our third pass. Turning left from 156 onto Petty was not allowed due to the bicycle path set up by law officers. We were the only Miata to do a U-turn and turn right. We finished with about 5 minutes of the allowance to spare.

Of the names you are likely to recognize, our own Ruth and Ray Josey won the Master class. As I mentioned, we took third in General. Novice found Stuart and Helen Lumpkin in second and Tommy Saunders and Rhonda Davidson in fifth. The only casualty of the day was the CRX of Kyle Kuharski and Larry Hall; they destroyed the oil pan just before the event entering the driveway at Subaru of Dallas. The folks at Subaru of Dallas supplied enough kitty litter to soak up all the oil the CRX had and never said a word. The CRX was at the Solo event the next day!

As with the rally, there has been a repeating question all through this article. The question is why was there only one Miata in the Rally to the Race 2006? I like to think of the answer in terms of a popular MME icon – the cathead. I’ve come up with an acronym for the possible answers: M-E-O-W

M y wife and I aren’t getting along well enough to do that right now
E verything was happening on the same day
O nly get to play one day a week
W hy didn’t somebody tell me about it?

One of the many unexpected sights to be seen along a rally route

A Nostalgic Gimmick (Type III) Road Rally

Sunday, June 4^th, 2006

[following the 2006 SportsCar Reunion on Saturday the 3^rd]

General Info:

Tom Reese 972 841-8535 (cell) tomreese46@yahoo.com

On-line Registration at:

http://dlbracing.com/clubs/texasscca/rally.aspx?EventID=2148

On-line registration questions:

Sasha or Betty Lanz 972 235-4305 alanz1@juno.com 

• On-site registration and check-in opens at 12:30 p.m.
• First Car Out is 2:01 p.m. – three hours to complete