Doc's recap of the 2021 Rally North America

[Doc1647545523]

Last month I returned from The Great Lakes Rally, the Rally North America event which was originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic. Originally scheduled to be partly in Canada, this year's events were limited to Wisconsin and Michigan because of the border closure. This year I was the only team from CR competing and I drove it alone.

 

Rally North America was started in 2009 by a dozen or so rally fans who were unable to attend a national rally. Among that original group was CR member Scott Speilman. In the twelve years since its founding, Rally North America has grown to an organization staging three large annual events and has to date raised over a million dollars for selected charities. Scott is recognized as the co-founder of the Rally and continues as co-director, along with Tony Interieri.

 

This year's charity was Race to Erase MS, an organization funding research for curing MS. The 70 teams in the Rally raised over 220k total and CR helped me raise nearly 7k myself.

 

The rally is a time-limited, checkpoint-based road rally along the lines of a scavenger hunt. It requires teamwork, strategy, navigation, driving experience and internet skills (plus a lot of luck) to successfully complete. CR teams have a strong tradition of podium finishes ever since we began competing in 2010.

 

Cars are required to wear livery identifying their team number, Rally, and the major Rally sponsors. As usual, the field this year was diverse.

(Some of the following photos are mine and some are used by permission from Jade Photography)

 

Here's a rare R34:

 

Good representation by Mustangs

 

Corvettes

 

My buddy Bill "track rat" and his Vette, which has seen its share of racing

 

Mazarati, Alfa, Audi, Porsche

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Doc1647545523]

Although the rally officially kicked off with a charity auction and drivers' meeting, the evening before driving began,

 

We met at a local quarter mile dragstrip as everyone arrived in the area and made a few runs.

 

It was an 86 degree afternoon, but the ol' Benzo (car #1) managed to get out of its own way without any drama.

 

Each day we lined up 80 teams in the downtowns of Eau Claire, Marquette, and Sault Saint Marie, meeting the town folk who turned out and talking with the media.

 

Each day the teams receive a route card with clues to where we are to go. We spent the next three days trying to find checkpoints all over Wisconsin, the UP, and central Michigan.

 

It seemed as though obscure lighthouses (the Great Lakes has a bunch)

 

and these weird Hodag monsters

 

were popular to use as checkpoints. But there were also some pretty interesting stops including the Saginaw Museum, originally a post office built in 1898:

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Doc1647545523]

Fayette Historic State Park which houses a ghost town which had in the late 1800's had iron smelting operations. The blast furnaces and kilns are partially intact

 

and the major town structures are restored, with period interiors on display

 

the old harbor is open for use

 

We had to locate Michigan's largest natural freshwater spring (the light spot in the water is a very deep spring source)

 

It had a very slow moving passenger ferry to give visitors a look into the depths

 

We visited Holland Michigan to find the largest Dutch windmill in the U.S.

 

and our teams were allowed to tour the village driving our cars on the walking path

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Doc1647545523]

At Gingerman we had both paced laps and hot laps. My track rat buddy Bill is an instructor at numeous tracks on the east coast and briefs our drivers about what we should expect

 

It's challenging enough for the hot cars (Teams 711, 811, and 911)

 

 

but could accomodate even the slower drivers amongst us with paced laps

 

The PRI Road Tour was kind enough to cover our afternoon there:

 

Their article (with good photos): https://www.performanceracing.com/roadtour/2021-rally-north-america?fbclid=IwAR3xWIeVKg7MQhGQBNLj8Usy_w6pUQ6CWaKJ8DoapQS_I3936VtWN8ZL0KU

 

The planners on the trip strive to keep us off interstates and on picturesque and challenging roads. They did not disappoint on this rally. Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Penisula of Michigan have remote, beautiful areas

 

and the cities we overnighted in had vibrant restaurants and music venues (and good bars, too).

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Doc1647545523]

By far the high point, for me, however, was getting to meet one of my heroes in the automotive world. The backstory: we were supposed to stop by the Lingenfelter Collection in Brighton, Michigan to get a sneak peak at Ken Lingenfelter's personal cars. The facility isn't open to the public but is used to host charity events. A buddy and I were running together that day and we decided to skip a checkpoint because he needed to make some minor repairs to his car. As it ended up, we were about 30 minutes early to the warehouse where the collection is housed. We waited in a parking lot by ourselves when out of the building comes a very unassuming man, perhaps security we thought?

 

I recognized him as Ken Lingenfelter. I couldn't believe he was there himself for our visit. We apologized for being early, and he couldn't have been more cordial or welcoming. He thanked us for our fundraising and then insisted on giving us a personal tour of his cars before the group arrived! He talked about his childhood, told stories of hanging out with Leno (whom he was hosting that evening) and Calloway, and couldn't have been a friendlier man.

 

He apologized that he didn't have all of his cars there -- a Ford GT and a Veyron were on loan currently, but he still had a few hundred cars from his collection in the warehouse!

 

Just a few:

 

 

A Zimmer

 

 

A Caballista

 

He especially likes factory prototype cars and has a row of one-off '53 and '54 Vettes

 

A 1984 Bitter next to an Opel GT

 

He has rows of exotics that are 1 of 1, 1 of 3, special editions that the factory supplied him for personal use.

 

 

If you're interested in some of his cars and their histories, here's a recent video he did. It's heavy on historic Vettes and GM muscle cars:

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Doc1647545523]

Sorry, but thread fatigue is starting to set in. I'm remembering now why I didn't post recaps of the 2018 and 2019 rally events.

 

There are many other great moments from this and other rallies to share. I encourage you to ask any of the CR rally teams about Rally North America's rallies and Drive Events. IIRC there are 16 of us who have participated over the last decade.

 

My deepest gratitude to the CR members and sponsors who contributed to the charity this year: Rick (Richard Cranium), Jeremy, Randy (Otis Nice), the whole crew at Wheel Medic, Marc (Angry BMW), Jim Rose (clone), Derek the barbeque master, Mojoe (forever my rally hero), Jordon of JET Auto Group, Brent 1976, Austin and the owners of Lucore Automotive, and to those of you who gave anonymously.

 

The event will be televised in a 6-part series by MAV TV this fall but will also be available through streaming. I will post a link when it becomes available.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Doc

[Patrick]

I know it's still in the process of being posted, but I always enjoy reading your recaps. Thanks in advance!

[Mitch]

Thanks for taking the time to post this Doc. Love reading your tales from the rally.

[Otis Nice]

Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing, Doc.

[zeitgeist57]

Agreed with the others, Doc - thanks for sharing in such a professional manner!

 

Though I grew up in Cleveland and felt like I knew a bit about the Great Lakes, I have a new-found appreciation for Michigan from friends who vacation/camp along the amazing coasts. Your pics are amazing and show the rich and well-preserved history of those areas.

 

As I get older, I appreciate these destinations and hope I can get out there...need a fun car first! Thanks again for keeping CR in the loop on your Rally adventures.

[clone]

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for taking the time to share all the pictures and descriptions. I will be looking for the TV coverage when it comes out.

[Doc1647545523]

:fuuuu: OMG, Clay. Your post jogged my memory. You were one of the first to donate to this campaign and your gift one of the largest. Yet.... I failed to thank you in either rally thread.

 

My apologies, my friend. Deep and sincere thanks for your donation to the cause. :thumbup:

[Otis Nice]

Don't worry, Doc. Clay doesn't really matter.

 

...but for real, he does. Just don't tell him I said that.

[RyM3rC]

Best post I've seen on CR in awhile. Thanks for posting those excellent memories, looks like you guys had a great time!

[AngryBMW]

This is awesome, Doc! Thank you for all that you do and for sharing it with the community!

-Marc

[zeitgeist57]

:fuuuu: OMG, Clay. Your post jogged my memory. You were one of the first to donate to this campaign and your gift one of the largest. Yet.... I failed to thank you in either rally thread.

 

My apologies, my friend. Deep and sincere thanks for your donation to the cause. :thumbup:

 

You're fine, Doc! Thanks for the kudos regardless.

 

I appreciate your passion in supporting and participating in these Rallies, and reporting back to us! Thank YOU!

[Mojoe]

As always, great recap, Doc.

 

If it's not too much trouble, can you explain how they are issuing the check point info and challenges now? A big reason I stopped being interested in this was that teams would have tribes of friends and family back home solving all the destination clues for them. It took away from the driver and passenger solving things on the go. That's what I enjoyed about it.

[Doc1647545523]

No trouble at all, Joe.

 

The organizers pretty much don't disclose in advance how the rally days will go and they mix it up a bit. But generally, it is a combination of "solve the puzzle and find the checkpoint" along with many "bonus items" which are locale-specific scavenger hunt items. They might make one day checkpoints only and the next day they might give loads of scavenger hunt items. The bonus points might involve a hike, or a climb, eating a local speciality food, or even getting into ice-cold lake water and snapping a pic.

 

I hear what you're saying about photographing the route card, texting it to a lifeline helper sitting at home, and having the checkpoints solved remotely, but there's nearly no way to defeat that. It is similar to groups of teams driving together and sharing their solutions. But the bonus items equalize that somewhat and require more observation skills and interactions with locals.

 

The majority of veteran teams do it for fun only these days. Many people stay at the checkpoints, look around, take photos, maybe even take the tour before driving on. Some teams also plan side trips to sites in the area they want to see. It's a minority of the teams who are in-it-to-win-it on any given day, although the rookies are always running balls out.

 

There are a few teams with kids along, and a number with senior citizens, and everything somehow gets sorted out so that people have fun. There's probably more racing on the tracks now than there is racing between checkpoints, although it has become more of the rally you make it, if that makes sense.

 

There are also Drives Events, which are much more planned out, do not require fundraising, and stay at upscale hotels. Everything is pre-paid except for lunches. The next one of those is just a month away: https://rallynorthamerica.com/drives-5/

and will involve a dragstrip, 3 30-minute sessions at mid-Ohio, sessions at NCM Motorsports Park, lots of good backroads, and driving most of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Although the website says sold out, there is one spot that came open over the weekend, so contact Scott if you're interested.

[Otis Nice]

No trouble at all, Joe.

 

The organizers pretty much don't disclose in advance how the rally days will go and they mix it up a bit. But generally, it is a combination of "solve the puzzle and find the checkpoint" along with many "bonus items" which are locale-specific scavenger hunt items. They might make one day checkpoints only and the next day they might give loads of scavenger hunt items. The bonus points might involve a hike, or a climb, eating a local speciality food, or even getting into ice-cold lake water and snapping a pic.

 

I hear what you're saying about photographing the route card, texting it to a lifeline helper sitting at home, and having the checkpoints solved remotely, but there's nearly no way to defeat that. It is similar to groups of teams driving together and sharing their solutions. But the bonus items equalize that somewhat and require more observation skills and interactions with locals.

 

The majority of veteran teams do it for fun only these days. Many people stay at the checkpoints, look around, take photos, maybe even take the tour before driving on. Some teams also plan side trips to sites in the area they want to see. It's a minority of the teams who are in-it-to-win-it on any given day, although the rookies are always running balls out.

 

There are a few teams with kids along, and a number with senior citizens, and everything somehow gets sorted out so that people have fun. There's probably more racing on the tracks now than there is racing between checkpoints, although it has become more of the rally you make it, if that makes sense.

 

There are also Drives Events, which are much more planned out, do not require fundraising, and stay at upscale hotels. Everything is pre-paid except for lunches. The next one of those is just a month away: https://rallynorthamerica.com/drives-5/

and will involve a dragstrip, 3 30-minute sessions at mid-Ohio, sessions at NCM Motorsports Park, lots of good backroads, and driving most of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Although the website says sold out, there is one spot that came open over the weekend, so contact Scott if you're interested.

 

That all sounds like a good time to me. The last paragraph/next drive sounds awesome.

[Mojoe]

Great summery and explanation, Doc. Thank you.

 

Fishing and hunting have absorbed most of my interest and willingness to invest time into. I really did enjoy the two rallies I did with RNA.