[DFW] Last rally of 2009 -- November 21

[sccarally2]

The Mountain Creek Classic rally starts and ends at a new restaurant in Cedar Hill. A drive in the country follows, with some pretty scenery and interesting landmarks....all along with some serious rally competition.

This is the last chance to earn points in the Texas Region RoadRally Championship. The event is on Saturday, Nov. 21; registration opens at 9am.

The cost is $30 for those who preregister. You can do so at tinyurl.com/MCC09msr. If you haven't run with us this year, you will have to join our group on MotorsportsReg.com, then fill out the registration forms. You can pay them, pay via PayPal, or pay on rally day. Whichever way you pay, preregistration saves you $5.

For details, see the flyer at Texas Region of the Sports Car Club of America provides a chance to drive or participate in racing, road rallies, drivers schools, and autocrosses., and click on Rally. Then click on "Flyer" for the Mountain Creek Classic.

Classes are experience-based, so you are always running against people who have been rallying as long as you have. One of you entered our rally school earlier this year, then never came to a rally. Now would be a perfect time to use what you learned...and bring your friends. Come join the fun!

sccarally

[Topspin]

I was building engines for Gene Henderson and AMC, back in the early 80s, for the SCCA Pro Rally circuit. I was just wondering if that series is history, as I never see anything in our papers anymore about the POR or Snowdrift rallies? I know it was controversial back then, as all out performance stages were being run on closed public roads.

[sccarally2]

Originally Posted by Topspin

I was building engines for Gene Henderson and AMC, back in the early 80s, for the SCCA Pro Rally circuit. I was just wondering if that series is history, as I never see anything in our papers anymore about the POR or Snowdrift rallies? I know it was controversial back then, as all out performance stages were being run on closed public roads.

I was the rallymaster for the Big Bend Bash SCCA ProRally! Gene ran our event several times. Did you ever come with him? I drove against him a few times, too.

What happened to the ProRally Series is a long story. Come to the rally and I'll buy you a beverage and tell you about it. If you don't want to run, just come to the end, I think about 3pm, and ask for the rally committee chairman.

sccarally

[Topspin]

Man I'd love to hear the story, but it appears you're in TX and I'm up in MI. Actually I'm only about 10 miles from Gene's home and shop. No I never did get to the Big Bend race as he'd only ask if I would come to select events where protests might be involved. He was racing for AMC in the production class, at the time, and was having a fierce points battle with Peugout (sp.?) for the championship and it was getting nasty with tear down threats. He'd pay me to attend those events and bring my precision measuring equipment along, just in case. He did fly me out to the Carson City rally and put everyone up in a nice casino for the weekend, including meals and a little gambling money. That's one thing about Gene, if he was going to do it, it would be done right! Now his son Gary was a totally different story. He ran an open class Jeep Scrambler, with twice the hp of Gene's production car, and would finish 20 places behind Gene if he finished at all. Gene would typically finish 6th - 8th overall ahead of dozens of open class cars. He was a great driver, as you probably well know. If I remember right, he won the production title 2 of the 3 years he ran for AMC. I spent many a long night building or freshening an engine for him, but didn't really mind as he'd be at my door the minute it was completed with money in hand. By the following evening he'd call and say it's running and he'd have some test miles in already. It was pretty cool as the POR rally was always the first or second week in Nov., very close to our anniversary, and we'd head up to Houghton for the weekend and have a blast chasing the Rally cars around. Those were VERY neat events and I sure miss them! As I said, I'd love to hear about the demise of Pro Rally, if you're ever inclined to elaborate.