The first Kansas Winter Rally was held March 22, 2014. The event was originally scheduled for March 1, but the winter storm warning that was to go into effect in the middle of the rally forced
us to reschedule.
The Sports Car Club of America is the premier grass roots motor sports organization in the world. Events like the Kansas Rally Weekend can not occur without a significant volunteer effort on the part of many people. I mentioned these folks after the events, but a “Thank You” bears repeating to:
- Derrick Carpenter for serving as safety stewards and for working checkpoints;
- Albert Weaver for working checkpoints;
- Doug Patterson for providing some great photos of the events.
Rally School
The day started early at 9:00 AM with a rally school. Following an introductory lecture on road rallies 11 teams set off on a 20 mile warm up rally to apply what they heard in the classroom.
Kansas Winter Rally
After a question and answer session back at the starting location, 12 cars set out on the 100 mile Kansas Winter Rally. The contestants started with a drive down 6th Street in Lawrence, where a fast food lunch was available. Following lunch the cars restarted at Coon Point, site of a campground on the Oregon Trail.
From Coon Point, the route went north through Lecompton and Perry, Kansas, up Ferguson Road to checkpoint 1 at the Civil War battle site near Hickory Point. Leg 1 went through Winchester and Easton to checkpoint 2 at the Limit turnout. Following a rest break in McLouth the route went south to checkpoint 3 on Stillwell Road and checkpoint 4 back at the Grant Township Community Center.
Contestants then gathered at the original Johnny’s Tavern in north Lawrence for dinner and to await the announcement of the winners.
BAM! you jump back 3 minutes and arrive at the checkpoint right on time!”
Winners
Kansas Winter Rally Scores
| Pos | Crew | Car | Region | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lori Goetsch / Marty Courtois | Red Mini | Kansas | E | 9 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 2 | Theresa Thao / Bee Thao | SilverRX-8 | Oklahoma | E | 6 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 30 |
| 3 | Candy Gerber / Jan Gerber | Silver Mazdaspeed 4 | Nebraska | E | 11 | 4 | 62 | 13 | 90 |
| 9 | Mark Macoubrie / Judy Macroubrie | White Acura TL | KC | N | 11 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 27 |
| 11 | Georgia Finks / Frank Finks | Red Nissan 370 Z | KC | N | 9 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 28 |
| 10 | Joe Parsons / Chris Paugh | White Subaru WRX | KC | N | 17 | 1 | 31 | 58 | 107 |
| 5 | Peter Monshizadeh / Lindsay Pruitt | Black LS 400 | Guest | N | 8 | 4 | 146 | 5 | 163 |
| 12 | James Cahill / Doug Patterson | Silver Ford Focus | KC | N | 8 | 16 | 135 | 11 | 170 |
| 4 | Frank Biondo / Ben Basgall | Pearl Explorer | Guest | N | 57 | 23 | 120 | 0 | 200 |
| 7 | Ryan Webb / Liz Webb | Grey BMW X-1 | Guest | N | 132 | 72 | 177 | 12 | 393 |
| 6 | Britton Hill / Austin Prauser | Blue Mini Clubman | Guest | N | 11 | 123 | 238 | 31 | 403 |
| 8 | David Tung / Arcely Tung | Silver Subaru XV | KC | N | 300 | 15 | 109 | 25 | 449 |
Thorns and Roses
It’s a tradition in the Boy Scouts following an adventure to review the areas that have gone well (roses) as well as some items that could be improved for the future (thorns). Here is my list for the 2013 Rally Weekend.
Roses:
- The turnout. 12 cars for a first time event is very good.
- Scoring: We had the provisional scores done by the time we got to Johnny’s. Using car zero times as out time lowered the workload on the checkpoint crews and speeded scoring.
- No one got (too) lost, everyone found the finish and there were smiles all around.
Thorns:
- There were two mistakes in the instructions. “West” should have been “East” after the rest break, and NRI 59 should have been part of the NRI 58.
- We could have used another checkpoint worker to help Albert.
Thanks to all the competitors who came out and the workers who made the events possible. I hope to see you at another event in 2014. Next event: Kansas Rally Weekend, November 8 and
9. Saturday’s event will be “East to Weston”, from Lawrence to Weston with a strict limit of 20 cars starting (space is limited at the Weston Brew Pub). Sunday will be the “Kansas River Run” rally over good quality unpaved roads, starting and ending in Lawrence. For those looking for another event near KC, on October 11 and 12 there will be two National Tour rallies in St. Louis. (Save-the-Date cards were distributed at the start). These events will be longer (150+ miles each ), have about 20 checkpoints per day. Beginners are welcome.
~Rich Bireta