September 2004 Rally Newsletter

!cenic Road Rallies LLC
Specializing in designing and conducting rural road rallies for the automobile enthusiast since 1979.
23632 Gutzwiller Road
Sunman, Indiana 47041
Phone 812-623-5727 or FAX 812-623-5727
The Rally Newsletter
September 2004
The summer rally schedule this year has been very busy for us with five rallies in three
months! What’s really amazing is that we have had rain free events for every rally this year.
Before we get into the details of each rally, we need to update everyone on the last three
rallies for the season. We have made some changes to each rally that will impact everyone
involved.
The Gubser Mill Classic Road Rally (See enclosed flyer.) on Saturday, September 11th,
will now have a chicken dinner after the rally. The three piece chicken dinner is $7.00 per
person and can be paid for the morning of the rally. We have also rented a banquet hall at
Kincaid Lake State Park (The finish point.) for everyones convenience. This chicken dinner is
optional.
The Haunted Tunnel Road Rally (See enclosed flyer.) on Friday, October 8th, will have a
Barbecue Rib dinner afterwards at the picnic shelter. The half slab dinner is $15.00 per person and you must preregister for this dinner by September 20th. This dinner is also optional
but should be darn good! You will not be able to pay for the dinner the day of the rally.
Also on the flyer is a note that says “to get to the haunted tunnel, you will be driving on
about ten miles of gravel roads”. Please disregard this note! Bev and I were out at the tunnel on August 22nd and have made arrangements with a local land owner to view the tunnel from his property at the east entrance. With this arrangement we can
now access the site by using all
paved roads. We have also made a
bailout clause in the rally, where you
can cut the rally short at 125 miles,
if you get tired, and head back to
the picnic shelter early, yet still get
to view the haunted tunnel. We also
recommend that if possible, you acquire county road maps for Brown,
Monroe & Lawrence Counties in Indiana. This will be a big help if you
happen to take the wrong turn.
Please remember that all times for
this rally are Eastern Daylight Saving
Time.
The Bridges & Brooks Road Rally (See enclosed flyer.) on Saturday, October 23rd will
also feature a chicken dinner at the end in Versailles State Park. This three piece chicken
dinner is $8.00 per person and you must register for the dinner by October 9th. This
dinner is also optional. Also don’t forget that we’ll have a Halloween costume contest at this
rally, so if you want to go in costume, we’ll be giving a prize to the best dressed team.
Please remember, that all times for this rally are Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Captain Meldahl’s Maze
Our Captain Meldahl’s Maze road rally held on June 19th will go down in the record
books as one of the most unusual tours we have ever held! We started out with only four
teams (Our smallest rally ever!) with three out of four vehicles entered being late model Ford
Mustangs and the odd man out was a 1969 Oldsmobile 442.
The first team out of the gate was Larry & Leta Roberson driving a beautiful 2002 Ford
Mustang GT. Larry & Leta managed to stay in front of the pack during most of the rally,
probably due to the excellent navigational skills of Leta. Along with every other team, they
found one of the more difficult scavenger hunt items, a Box turtle! A total of five Box turtles
and one Snapping turtle were found throughout the day.
Rick & Sherrie Stegemiller drove their restored gold & black 1969 Oldsmobile 442 to
capture third place for the day. The big block 400 made its presence known on the back
roads where they also found a box turtle.
Scott Snyder & Nancy Igel drove a slightly modified 2001 Ford Mustang GT to take second place. Scott was in need of a coat hanger to round out his scavenger hunt list and
was able to locate one at a local Wendy’s restaurant while ordering a double cheeseburger
with no bun! Something to do with the Adkins diet. Anyway, Scott got his food and a coat
hanger. Isn’t America great!
Congratulations to Rick & Kim
Kempke who drove a modified 2000
Ford Mustang GT to first place by
cleaning house on the scavenger hunt
list. As you all know, we like to put a
few scavenger hunt items on the list that
we are sure no one will find. It has
been seven years since we had a team
find all of the items! The two that no
other team could find but Rick & Kim
was a four leaf clover and a new box of
the old cube type flash bulbs used on
cameras thirty years ago! They found the
cubes in a store that had a Tresler
Comet sign out front! This is like something out of the twilight zone folks.
At the end of the day, we finished at Captain Meldahl Dam with a beautiful view of the
Ohio River, a herd of Box turtles and an assortment of scavenger hunt items with a story
for each. I think at the next rally we’ll ask for used cube type flash bulbs!
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
4th Place
Rick & Kim Kempke 2000 Ford Mustang GT
Scott Snyder & Nancy Igel 2001 Ford Mustang GT
Rick & Sherrie Stegemiller 1969 Oldsmobile 442
Larry & Leta Roberson 2002 Ford Mustang GT
The Ripley County Run
The Fourth of July weekend turned out to be pure sun and fun for our Ripley County
run! This route has always been one of our favorites for its beauty and relatively short
course of only 40 miles.
Steve & Cathy Honsaker drove a formidable 1994 Mustang convertible in their first rally
and appeared to be impressed with the competitiveness of some of the other participants.
Russ, Rachel and Sarah Coffey brought their 2000 Mustang convertible out to compete in
what almost turned out to be a Mustang road rally. Denny & Debbie Davis piloted their
beautiful 1992 Corvette through the tightly curved roads of Indiana. Denny & Debbie have
competed in the more serious Time, Speed, Distance road rallies in the past, but still had a
good time with our more casual type of rally. Jeremy & Janine Clipson drove a 1996 Mustang convertible but forgot to bring a lunch. By the time they got to Versailles, they were
starved, but through the generosity of other ralliest, everyone pitched in to feed the youngest
team of the day. I guess we all felt like parents again when we forced them to sit down
and eat! John & Wanda Clark drove a beautiful 1965 Chevrolet Nova wagon. John wore his
Chuck Taylor gym shoes with flames on the sides to give him that extra edge over the
competition. Mark Costello and Bob Bartolt drove a 1995 Mazda Miata to an eash 5th place,
but were unable to take their prize home (A large cooler.) because of lack of space. Maybe
next time Bob will drive his Studebaker which has more room for the prizes. Scott Snyder &
Nancy Igel drove their potent 2001 Mustang to fourth place. Scott was also wearing racing
shoes with flames on the side. Kevin & Margaret Clark drove a really sweet 1971 Chevrolet
Monte Carlo to third place. One of the questions about the course was “What is the name
of the popular American rock band that you see painted on a railroad trestle along South
Hogan Road?” The correct answer was “The Grateful Dead.” However, Kevin & Margaret
wrote down “Hippy Weiner.” Bev doesn’t let me out of the house very often, so could someone please tell me about this band Hippy Weiner?
First place was a tie
between
the
reining
champions, Rick & Kim
Kempke, driving a 2000
Mustang GT and Rick &
Sherrie
Stegemiller,
driving a rare 1964 Ford
Fairlane with a 289
HiPo. To brake the tie
we had Sarah Coffey
pick one of our eight tie
breaking envelopes. She
picked the “Oldest Car”
envelope
which
gave
Rick & Sherrie Stegemiller
first
place!
Congratulations Rick & Sherrie!
We ended the rally at a beautiful shaded picnic shelter in Versailles State Park. All of the
automobiles in the rally were photographed for the possibility of being on the commemorative
coffee mugs for the 2005 road rally series. So many sharp cars, so few coffee mugs.
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
4th Place
5th Place
6th Place
7th Place
8th Place
9th Place
10th Place
Rick & Sherrie Stegemiller 1964 Ford Fairlane
Rick & Kim Kempke 2000 Ford Mustang GT
Kevin & Margaret Clark 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Scott Snyder & Nancy Igel 2001 Ford Mustang GT
Mark Costello & Bob Bartolt 1995 Mazada Miata
John & Wanda Clark 1965 Chevrolet Nova Wagon
Jeremy & Janine Clipson 1996 Ford Mustang Convertible
Denny & Debbie Davis 1992 Chevrolet Corvette
Russ & Rachel Coffey 2000 Ford Mustang Convertible
Steve & Cathy Honsaker 1994 Ford Mustang Convertible
The Quail Ridge Run
The Cincinnati Rotary Club asked us several months ago if we could do a benefit road
rally for their club, which would end at the Quail Ridge Sportsman Club in Manchester, Indiana. We agreed, and just assumed that if participants were going to a club where you shoot
clay pigeons and go fishing, that these people would probably be driving heavy duty rigs like
4 wheel drive pickup trucks with eight foot beds, diesel engines, cab lights, gun racks and
such. We decided that the route would follow the first half of The Bonnell Breakdown four
wheel drive road rally from back in March, which consisted of all paved roads and the tunnel expedition. This route, so we thought, would be appropriate for vehicles of this caliber.
We were totally surprised when a 2002 Porsche Boxster and a 1983 Delorean showed up
for the rally on Saturday, July 17, 2004!
Even though the rally was designed for a rowdier bunch of vehicles, the classy Porsche
and Delorean proved to be just as road worthy on this route as any of the other contestants. In the end the 2002 Porsche Boxster driven by Jan & Owen Wrassman took fourth
place and completed the route in the shortest amount of time. Is this any surprise? Mike &
Kay Roth took third place in their 2000 Mercedes ML430. Their Mercedes had the highest
ground clearance of any vehicle entered and was probably the most comfortable ride. Marion
Allman & Jay Schuermann finished second in their rare 1983 gull wing Delorean. It’s not often that you see a Delorean and it was the first time that we have ever had one in a road
rally! First place was captured by Paule Steichen Asche, Julie Poyer, Susan Grosse and
Martin Wilhelm, driving a 2003 VW van. Their secret to success was stopping at Willdolf’s
store, where the owner was kind enough to help out with many of the scavenger hunt items.
The rally eventually ended at the
Quail Ridge Sportsman Club, where the
Cincinnati Rotary Club held a luncheon
and handed out trophy’s to the road
rally contestants and door prizes to
others who attended the event. Next
year we’ll have roads more conducive
to sports cars!
1st Place Paule Steichen Asche, Julie Poyer, Susan Grosse & Martin Wilhelm. 2003 VW Van
2nd Place Marion Allman & Jay Schuermann 1983 DeLorean
3rd Place Mike & Kay Roth 2000 Mercedes ML430
4th Place Jan & Owen Wrassman 2002 Porsche Boxster
The Bunker Hill Trail
The night before our rally on August 14th, we had record low temperatures, but by rally
time at noon the temperatures and the cars were hot! We have been running this route
since 1979 and have made many variations to the course over the years. So many in fact
that there are 216 different route combinations on this course! On Saturday we ran six different combinations just to keep everyone on their toes. At the half way point the cars began arriving in the small town of Riley, where the locals came out on their front porches to
see what was going on. This sleepy little town doesn’t get much traffic and the residents
were quite surprised when all of these really neat cars came through. By late afternoon everyone had made it to the finish line at Hueston Woods State Park for the picnic at the
Sugar Camp picnic grounds on the lake shore. What a beautiful site! All of these great
looking cars in the parking lot and sail boats on the water. It just doesn’t get any better
than this.
One of the most unusual cars in the rally was a 1937 Nash Lafayette Convertible driven
ny Blaine & Lydia Boutwell. Blaine & Lydia drive this street rod almost everywhere and received the long distance award for the day. Another neat automobile was the 1959 Triumph
TR-3 entered by Bill & Shirlee Morgan. Bill has had this beautiful Triumph since about 1965
and probably plans on keeping it for another 40 years. Peggy Crawford was the copilot for
JoAnn Ruehl who drove her 2003 Mini Cooper to third place. Peggy lives in South Carolina
and was visiting JoAnn that weekend. Peggy came into town a day early just to be in the
road rally and we hear she had a really great time! Steve Cassidy brought his friends along
for the ride in his 1994 Pontiac Sunbird. This group, as well as two other teams, found all
of the scavenger hunt items on the list which put them in fourth place. Fifth place was
taken by Warren & Abby Welch, driving a 2003 Subaru WRX. On the Speed channel I’ve
seen these Subaru’s race in the Rally Deutchland. I just hope Warren didn’t send his car
airborne over the hills like the big boys do in Germany.
The Fords have dominated the
series all summer and this rally was
no exception. Bill & Bobbi Ostermeyer took second place in their
slick 2003 Ford Thunderbird. First
place was nailed down by Scott
Snyder & Nancy Igel driving a 2001
Ford Mustang GT. This was Scott
and Nancy’s third rally this year and
I think they have it down to a science!
1st Place
Scott Snyder & Nancy Igel 2001 Ford Mustang GT
2nd Place
Bill & Bobbi Ostermeyer
2003 Ford Thunderbird
3rd Place
Joann Ruehl & Peggy Crawford
2003 Mini Cooper
4th Place
Steve Cassidy, David Atkinson, Rebecca Davidson & Amanda Phelps
Pontiac Sunbird Convertible
1994
5th Place
6th Place
7th Place
8th Place
9th Place
10th Place
11th Place
12th Place
13th Place
Warren & Abby Welch 2003 Subaru WRX
Anna Fillmore & John Inglis 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser
Rick & Kim Kempke 2000 Ford Mustang GT
AJ McKean & Rachel Mitchell 2002 Ford Mustang GT
Blaine & Lydia Boutwell 1937 Nash Laffayette Convertible
Tim & Tiffany Boutwell 1966 Rambler Convertible
Shannon Fagley & Karol Lane 2000 Ford Explorer
Bill & Shirlee Morgan 1959 Triumph TR-3
Ron, Kaity, Lindsey, Jake and Kyle Koch 1997 GMC 3500 Pickup Truck
Second Annual Rambler Road Rally
This rally for AMC and Rambler products had a few unexpected twists that gave each of
the teams more of a rally than they had bargained for. Five miles into the route, about six
fire trucks flew through our course with lights and sirens blaring. We never did see the fire
but it sure did add some excitement to the rally. Two miles further down the road, one of
the roads on our course had been shut down the day before and Satolli had to redirect the
traffic to get everyone back on course. This isn’t unusual for a rally to have road closures,
we have had three others so far this year, but we usually find out about them before the
day of the rally. Finally, near the end of the rally, someone had twisted a set of street signs
around which drove many people off course, except for the ones who were already lost.
This was physically the hottest road rally we have had in years. By 2:00 pm on Saturday,
August 28th, the temperature was 90 degrees with a dew point of 73%. Most of these old
Ramblers didn’t have air conditioning so the teams could be seen literally peeling themselves
out of their car seats at the pit stops. This wasn’t a pretty sight folks. Finally we all made it
to Caesar’s Creek State Park where Bev had a fan blowing cool air through the picnic
shelter.
Glenn & Marti Hunsucker drove a mint 1978 AMC Matador (With air conditioning.) to fifth
place. Glenn & Marti drove down from north of Indianapolis for this rally! Tom & Paula Bunsey drove a 1968 AMC Ambassador station wagon with only 56,000 miles to a fourth place
finish. Bill & Patti Johanan drove a beautiful 1965 Rambler Marlin to a cool third place finish.
Second place was taken by
Michael & Dorothy Turner in a
1968 AMC Javelin. One of the
scavenger hunt items for this
rally was “matches”. Mike had
a pack of matches he found at
a swap meet last year in
Cleveland, Ohio which had a
Javelin on the front cover! Very
rare and very neat. Congratulations on a first place win to
Joe & Debi Fougerousse! Joe
& Debi drove a beautiful 1968
AMC AMX down from Indianapolis to compete in this annual
road rally.
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
4th Place
5th Place
6th Place
7th Place
8th Place
9th Place
Joe & Debi Fougerousse 1968 AMC AMX
Michael & Dorothy Turner 1968 AMC Javelin
Bill & Patti Johanan 1965 Rambler Marlin
Tom & Paula Bunsey 1968 AMC Ambassador Station Wagon
Glenn & Marti Hunsucker 1978 AMC Matador
Casey & Christine McGowan 1978 AMC Concord Coupe/Hatchback
Monte & Pam Evans 1976 AMC Matador Coupe
Charles & Rosie Hughes 1965 Rambler Marlin
Kenneth & Shirley Thacker & Sandra Eardly 1965 Rambler Classic 770 Conv.
COFFEE MUGS FOR SALE
At each of our road rallies, each team receives a complimentary coffee mug commemorating their participation in the rally. We currently have a small surplus of coffee mugs in
stock from past road rallies. These high quality, custom made “Chislom Trail coffee mugs
have been produced specifically for Scenic Road Rallies with a production run of only 72
units per road rally. This is the first year we have offered these beautiful coffee mugs and
they may become a highly sought after collectors item as the road rally series progresses.
All mugs are $10.00 each plus $4.00 for shipping and handling. These mugs can also be
purchased at each rally.
DATE
3/27/04
4/24/04
5/22/04
6/19/04
7/3/04
8/14/04
ROAD RALLY
“THE BONNELL BREAKDOWN”
“CAESAR’S CHALLENGE”
“THE RABBIT HASH DASH”
“CAPTAIN MELDAHL’S MAZE”
“THE RIPLEY COUNTY RUN”
“THE BUNKER HILL TRAIL”
FEATURED VEHICLE
1988 Jeep Wrangler
1970 AMC Trans Am Javelin
1936 Nash & 1950 Nash
1958 Buick Roadmaster
1970 AMC AMX
1917 Nash Flatbed Truck