No Alibi 2007 - And The
Heat Goes On
Words by Jeff McMillen, Photos by Pete Buckley
Reprinted with permission from Somepants Media
On the first weekend of June, 28 teams braved 100 degree plus heat on the back roads of the inland empire to complete in No Alibi, the annual TSD touring rally put on by the Rainier Auto Sports Club. Featuring fantastic views, smooth roads, and an astonishing lack of flat tires (was it really only one?), by all accounts the 2007 version was a smashing success.
My co-driver (for this event) Pete Buckley and I headed out from Seattle Friday, June 1 at approximately 2:30pm. Our car was packed full with a tent, sleeping bags, a cooler, drinks, clothes, rally gear, and ambition. We shot through the cascades and made it to Wenatchee Confluence State Park (our Friday night accommodations) around 5:30pm. Quickly making camp, we headed out for the evening into the inviting environs of Wenatchee. After a stop at Target (for a Frisbee and a battery-operated lantern) and Albertsons (for food) we headed to the Red Robin where we met up with Marvin Crippen and Jessica Fleenor (getting things ready for scoring), Steve Willey and Kim Prater (checkpoint workers), and Greg Woodbridge and Bill Joy (participants, car 14). Dinner was consumed, drinks downed, stories shared, and we headed back to camp.
Across from our campsite, Steve Perret and Kathryn Hansen (car 8) had pitched their tent. We chatted briefly about the rally as the sun started to set but with twilight the mozzies came out in force. We should have picked up some bug repellent at Target earlier but luckily a neighbor camper had some to spare so we escaped with our lives (leaving approx. 1/2 pint each as a donation to the local wildlife).
Saturday morning dawned clear, bright, and far too early for us. Our commute from our campground at the state park to the rally start at the same park was forgivingly short so we came ready to work.
My first task of the day was the Novice orientation. We had six teams running novice with experience ranging from none to “worked a pro rally” and it was up to me to give them the information they would need to enjoy the weekend. I tried to outline the important aspects of participating in a TSD rally (1: stay on the road, 2: stay on the course, 3: stay on time) and worked hard to answer any questions they might have had. Once the novice talk was done, we gathered our lunch (thanks to Diana Horst and Paula Larsen for the delicious sandwiches) we hit the road.
Our first checkpoint was in the first regularity at approximately 3 miles in. We parked the car at the crest of a hill and I set up the timing station while Pete wandered down the road to find some photo opportunities. Shortly after we got into position, Eric in “his” Red Dodge Caliber came cruising by to make sure the course was ready. After a brief discussion, he headed down the road and cars one through 28 came zipping through, getting caught on camera by Pete and timed as they passed the marker by yours truly. Finishing up our work here, were needed at our next checkpoint 61 miles down the road. We quickly proceeded down the road and headed to our next spot.
At checkpoint 8b, in the fourth timed regularity, we hid behind a small hill on the left side of the road. As the sun was starting to warm the air into the upper 90s, we pulled out the sun umbrella I had packed and strapped it to the side of the car to provide shade. I sat in the driver’s seat while Pete sat to my left in a folding camp chair with the camera at the ready. We were well obscured from the oncoming view of the participants and only popped into their line of site a few feet before they passed us.
Next up was our third and final checkpoint of the day at 17a. This checkpoint put us forward another 120 miles, past Grand Coulee (where we stopped at the dam overlook), through the lunch break at the water’s edge (where we stopped and chatted with a few participants, our lovely lunch crew of Diana and Paula, and a park ranger who seemed to be overly concerned about the future), and onward to Strahl canyon.
We got to our checkpoint 30 minutes before the cars would pass by so we spent some time with the newly purchased Frisbee. Pete proved to be much better flinging the disc. I proved that I could, almost on command, make him wander through the woods to find my errant throw.
After the cars made their way by our checkpoint, we followed them through the end of the course, acting as the sweep car so Marvin and Jessica (who had been sweeping the course) could get to our dinner location and get things ready for a bunch of hungry rallyists.
Day one ended in Colville at Benny’s Colville Inn with a nice catered dinner at Park Place Family Dining and entertainment in a DVD of classic rallies that Dan Comden in Car 10 compiled for us. Despite having to be on the road at 8am the next morning, I managed to stay up way past my bedtime, spending the evening chatting with rally crews and participants, working through my share of the largest bottle of Knob Creek this side of the Rocky Mountains, and culminating with a leisurely soak in the hotel’s spa.
Day two of the 2007 No Alibi Rally started bright and shiny and car 0 was scheduled to make its way onto the road at 8:00am. Luckily, Rallymaster Eric Horst took pity on us and did not put our first checkpoint in the first regularity of the day which meant we did not have to get on the road until the leisurely time of 8:15am. The morning was spent waking up, falling asleep, cursing the sun, waking up again, showering, repacking the car, checking out, checking our clock with the rally clock, checking to make sure we were still awake, and then heading onto the road.
Checkpoint 26e turned out to be a fantastic location. The main road goes straight ahead and a side road shoots 90 degrees to the left. We parked the car about 1/4 mile over the crest of a hill on the side road and hiked back to the intersection where, armed with our folding camp chairs, we parked ourselves in the ditch just past the intersection, on the left. Oncoming cars are unable to see us until after they pass and then only if they are looking in their side mirror into the ditch at the side of the road. In addition, I had placed a small video camera at the intersection, in the shoulder of the road but facing back towards the oncoming traffic. I disguised the camera with some dirt and scrub brush and was able to get some good road level video of the cars as they drive past.
Leaving this checkpoint, we were faced with a 101 mile transit to the next checkpoint outside of Soap Lake.Our route took us past dry falls (where we stopped at the scenic lookout to take in an amazing view) and down past Grand Coulee to Soap lake. We stopped here for lunch at B&B’s Drive Inn, a throwback to the 50s with speaker boxes at the outside car slots and phones at the booth that connected you to the wait staff so you could place your order when you ar e ready without having to interact directly with the staff. I had a bacon burger and blackberry malt. Pete lunched on a barbeque pork sandwich and a peanut butter shake which may or may not have been too peanut buttery.
From Soap Lake we drove out to our next checkpoint, 34b, which turned out to have some problems. For starters, we were supposed to time to a blue barrel but the blue barrel is no longer at this location. In addition, there is no good location to hide the car. We head down a bit more to 34c which works much better. The timing location is a cattle guard and we were able to pull the car back behind a hill and even with the cattle guard, making timing a snap.
Although the hiding place was nice and sneaky, it afforded no view of the oncoming traffic which forced us to kill the engine, turn the AC in the car off, and roll down the windows so we can hear the cars approach. In 105 degree heat, this was not ideal but we were ready to sacrifice personal comfort for accurate timing. The view at 34c stretched out across a dry farm field that had been tilled over and now existed as a large expanse of dry dirt. Every once in a while a good sized dust devil would amble by, crossing the course, but aside from some close calls, none of the competitors drove through the maelstrom.
As this was our last checkpoint in the day, we once again picked up sweep duties. We follow the cars through the last two timed sections and end the day back in Wenatchee.
Congratulations to Car 1, Satch and Russ, for their first place finish. Congratulations also for Steve Richards and Gary Reid for first place equipped class, Harold Dittman and Susan Everett for first place SOP class, and Erik Lyden and Brian Stoliker for first place novice class. Complete scores are posted on the No Alibi site at www.rainierautosports.com/events/2007/noalibi/default.htm . Thanks to Eric Horst for a great rally and additional thanks to all the workers for making things go as smoothly as they did. See you next year.
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