OKLAHOMA 1000

[gregaryus]

In case you haven't guessed, there will not be a running of the OKLAHOMA 1000 in 2009.   I have started some of the course work.   Preliminary control locations have been established and a route that runs as few miles in the immediate Tulsa area as possible has been planned.  I decided this so as to avoid as much road construction as possible.  The question is to make it a multi-day event or not.  A single (non-stop?) event does not seem feasible as I would like to get a bit of sleep.  The alternatives are two 15 hour days   OR   three 8 to 10 hour days.  As an organizer, I would prefer the three day event.   It may mean taking one vacation day or using a Sunday/Monday holiday weekend.

I have also decided to use written instructions for the majority of the instructions.  I will use tulip instructions to clarify the rally route where complex intersections or situations are encountered.

Illness in my immediate family and other circumstances have prevented me from tackling the OKLAHOMA 1000 up to this point.

Robin and I have at least three gimmck rally events on the "back-burner".   If you know of any club or organization that would like a gimmick rally, you know who to contact.

[mad mike]

Thanks again Garry!  Beside the encyclopedia term 'life-long affliction' is a picture of you and Robin holding a checkpoint sign!

[gregaryus]

     Actually, I think it should be the term addiction.   Just ask Art Horn how many times he and I have went out just to drive some roads that I haven't been on.

     Ask him about his take on the following:
          Flat-tracking wet clay down by Redbird in the Corvette at about 50 or so.
          Running your Oly East out of Stillwater in the B-210.
          Running our first practice together after he moved back to Tulsa from Alabama in the blue Escort.   The part
               when he counted down hundredths and I didn't break for the hairpin right until the final hundredth.
          Launching the RX-7 entering a cattleguard at 50.   He wanted to turn around and do it again!!!
          Going to the Kansas, Oklahoma, area to run down some gravel roads after dark, a week after a sixteen inch snowfall
               had hit the area.

     Ask Jason and Tonya Peacock about the Bluestem Lake low-water dam.

     Hey, Mike!!!     What are some of YOUR favorite rally moments???

[rotaryracer]

Too bad there is not enough interest in Rally events. As as auto enthusiast, I'm interested in most things that go vroom. I compete in the SOLO events @ stroud and occasionally attend HST @ Hallett. No kids to worry about, so I have time to fill. I'll keep poping in to this forum with hopes of more Rally events soon. Happy Holidays!!!!

[Bullitt2954]

Rally SOUNDS cool - but because there aren't any that are "real close" to us - Jeanie and I have yet to attend one (other than a "gimmick" Rally OMR put on for Halloween).

I've got an AWD DSM that is in pieces, and I always say to myself - "Self" I says, "That car sure would be like teh hotness if you put it back-together and took it Rally'n". And myself would usually answer - "Yep" myself would say "but 'zackly WHEREFOR you gonna go Rally'n at?"

And then I'm usually distracted by a squirrel or some bright, shiny obje.....  Hey! What's THAT over THERE?.................

[gregaryus]

I LOVE to put them on OR enter in them.   If I could get at 6 - 10 entrants every time, I would put several events on with or without a sanctioning body.   Most folks want paved events and thats OK.  If a few want a gravel event or a mixture, I can do one or two a year, too.   I prefer no-trap TSD events.   Gimmicks events are fun, too.   The main thing is to keep it SIMPLE.   No one "enjoys" getting lost.

[rotaryracer]

I heard that Z-nose likes getting lost. We, the core of our team, can toss 2 or 3 entries into the collective hat. Team entries are a tax write-off for the team. More the merrier.

[gregaryus]

Getting "lost" for a short period of time can add a bit of zing to the experience and can be something to chat about after the event.   It ceases to be "fun" when it becomes a common occurence OR attempts to rejoin or even "find" the proper route seem fruitless.   These are the experiences that keep folks from coming back.   I'm sure that I, as the rallymaster, may not explain "what's going on" during the event as fully as some may need.   Folks are sometimes hesitant to ask a question or even know what to ask.   I had professors that harped on the fact that if you have a question, most likely, several others have the same question in their head.   So, PLEASE ASK!!!

The thing that keeps me in rallying is that it is not like any other automotive motorsport.   You don't get to see the course until you are on it and in competition.   In most forms of racing there is practice, so, you get to figure out the proper line through each corner.   Lap after lap turn, one is turn one.   It's a bit more challenging in Solo, but you get to see the course in advance.   Those of us with a bit of experience can USUALLY figure things out.   It's the running blind aspect of rallying that hooked me.   There's just something about the "unknown" that tests ALL of your senses.

[mad mike]

I set up a rally in Stillwater decades ago and convinced a O'Colly reporter to ride along with a newbie team to chronicle their exploits but none of the three of them noticed the 'No more than five miles between route confirming instructions' and didn't figure out they were lost until they cleared the Kasas state line ...

So many stories - too many keystrokes ...   

[gregaryus]

Was that the one where Art and I ran the B-210 and the Shinn brothers chugged to the finish with a frozen carb in their Baja Bug??

[mad mike]

Was that the one where Art and I ran the B-210 and the Shinn brothers chugged to the finish with a frozen carb in their Baja Bug??

Honestly, except for the NORML Rally, the highlights I remember from the many rallys I set up in Stillwater are just that and I couldn't begin to tell you which one was which.  But now that you mention it, I do remember the Shinn Bros ...   

[Shinny]

Honestly, except for the NORML Rally, the highlights I remember from the many rallys I set up in Stillwater are just that and I couldn't begin to tell you which one was which.  But now that you mention it, I do remember the Shinn Bros ...   

Wait... thats my last name... My dad and his brother used to work on their buddy Pat's bmw they took to rallies, but he never mentioned driving. Rick and Monty?

[Shinny]

Asked my dad. He wasn't at Stillwater Monty and Pat were. He ran some other ones in his crx. Told me a story about driving through Ossage(if thats spelled right) county. You guys had marked the low water crossings on the instructions. So everytime they came up to one he would slow down, but after the 3rd or 4th there hadn't been any water so towards the end of the stage he didn't slow down for the next one and there was about two feet of water. The car scooped up the water and covered the windshield so he couldn't see. It also shorted the electrical systems, so they had to finish with no headlights and the navigator using a bic lighter to read the instructions.  And i'm not allowed to do any outlaw rallies

[mad mike]

Wait... thats my last name... My dad and his brother used to work on their buddy Pat's bmw they took to rallies, but he never mentioned driving. Rick and Monty?

I can't keep my own daughters' names straight so don't ask me if Rick & Monty were the ones ... 

The NORML Rally, however, was an exercise for a recreation class at OSU back in the late 70s, not an Outlaw Series event. The class was tasked with staging a competitive event that was open to the public and benefited a non-profit organization.  They chose to do a gimmick style rally (that I set up for them) to fulfill the first part of the requirements and then agreed to make the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Law the non-profit recipient of the proceeds.  We ended up with 75 entries, most of which were smoking weed throughout so I wound up high as a kite breathing as windows opened to hand me score cards at the final checkpoint. 

[Shinny]

Ah the good old days  If that was the rally the baja bug was in then Monty and Pat were there. The story I mentioned happend at an Outlaw series rally when my dad drove.