Son of Sno*Drift

Rally Review posted to Rally-L

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 19:28:41 -0500

From: Scott Harvey, Jr.

The Detroit Region of SCCA presented, what had been intended to be, a winter rally, on Jan 23rd, 1999. Had the rally been run two weeks earlier, or two days later, it would really have been a winter rally. As it was, it was more of a mud rally. Roads were wet and sloppy with only traces of ice.

The route took competitors westward out of Oakland County in to some of the hilly farm regions of Livingston, Shiawassee and Genesee Counties. Speeds had been set to be challenging for slippery conditions. With the lack of snow and ice on the roads; the speeds were, somewhat, more leisurely. The total length of the rally was 188.35 miles and all 22 controls were scored.

21 teams made the start from Alpine Valley Ski Area. Of this group; 8 ran in the Stock class and a full 9 teams competed as Novices. Only two teams, each, ran in Equipped and Limited. The route instructions included tulip diagrams, written descriptions and mileages at every instruction. This was expected to help reduce the number of off-course excursions and help the novices with course following. There were still some that managed to leave the course, but they did find their way back.

Only one team did not make it to the finish, as the navigator ate something that did not agree with him. Throw in the fact that their alternator was acting-up, and it was getting dark - it seemed to make sense to end early. At the finish, everyone I spoke with seemed to enjoy the rally - especially the guys running sweep. Even though they didn't have to pull anyone out, they made the best of it.

Second in Novice were Stefano and Emily Frascaroli in, I believe, their first rally. First in Novice were Aaron Credo and Rick Anton, with 617 points. Stock class winners, proving they are no longer novices (their first event since loosing their amateur status), were Bob Kay and Mike Bennett with only 305 points - beating some tough competition, I might add. Limited was won by Dave and Tom Benham, who maxed a leg (200) and still ended with 266. Second overall (and in E) were father and son, Dave and Daniel Harkcom. Young Daniel can't be more than 13 years old - this team is going to be running with the big dogs real soon! Overall winners were Gene Henderson and Rob Moran with only 34 points. I warned Rob about the many pauses in the rally, before hand. Looks like he found them all. Congratulations to all.

A busy work schedule (all week in North Carolina - with no access to a computer) made things very hectic the night before and morning of the rally for myself. Critique slips were completed and printed out at the last minute. A lot of help from Jim and Marianne Mickle, Tom Woodside and Pete Padden saved the day. Were it not for the help of these great veterans and the wonderful control crews we were able to count on - the rally came-off without any major problems. Thank you to all of you who helped.

We are looking forward to another good season of rallies here in the Detroit area and hope that those who joined us will return. We also hope that those who did not, make plans to do so in the future. Thank you to all of you who competed. I want to give special notice to Steve Phillips and Paul Gilbert, who travelled all the way from Terre Haute, Indiana. They then headed for home right after the rally. (They got home at 5:00 AM - - I must assume local time). They both sent me e-mail messages thanking me for putting on the rally and they indicated they came all that way just because they like the rallies we put-on in the Detroit area.

Chief cook and bottle neck - Scott Harvey, Jr
Team Harco Motorsports
"Win on Sunday, Sleep on Monday"

CAR TEAM                    CLS LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG LEG TOTAL  CAR CLS
 #  DRIVER/NAVIGATOR              1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22 SCORE   #
--- ----------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -----  --- ---
  1 Harkcom/Harkcom          E  
  2 Henderson/Moran          E  
  3 Scott/Kleckner           S  
  4 Kay/Bennett              S  
  5 Pruski/Bruhlke           N  
  6 Butts/Butts              N  
  7 Frascaroli/Frascaroli    N  
  8 Feit/Feit                N  
  9 Fekete/Shaffer           S  
 10 Argalas/Abbott           N  
 11 Worden/Robinette         S  
 12 Benham/Benham            L  
 13 Urban/Urban              S  
 14 Hotta/Woodward           N  
 15 Hoag/Holland             N  
 16 Achterhof/Essenburg      S  
 17 Phillips/Gilbert         L  
 18 Spieszny/Janczak         N  
 19 Riegel/Annis             S  
 20 Credo/Anton              N  
 21 Baumbach/Olson           S