Kristen Shaw, from thedrive.com
For the second annual Wrench Rally this year, the challenge was laid down: buy a car for less than $1750, get it to the starting line in Houston, and collect points on a road trip to Las Vegas. When you’re finished, you have the option to donate it to a single parent who needs wheels. For 2021, 11 teams of four people each registered for the trip, and of those, six will be donated at the end.
Houston-based rally enthusiast Richard Tomlin is the ringmaster of this rolling circus that spans about 1800 miles. He’s co-piloting the pace car, a 2004 Chevy Corvette Z06 with 209,000 miles on it, which he says still makes “shouty noises,” and he’s exuberant about this rally.
“We can buy a junk car, spent three days on it, and at the end have a decent car for parents to use to take the kids where they need to go,” Tomlin says over the roar of the road.
Last year, Tomlin gave the teams carte blanche to buy any car they wanted as long as it was under $1500. What he learned was that several teams bought cheap two-door cars, which aren’t as useful for single parents to get themselves and their children to school and other activities. For 2021, each team must have four people, so they’re trending toward four-door vehicles. For example, Karah Behrend, a Rebelle Rally participant two years ago and an Air Force veteran, is driving the rally in a Chevrolet Sonic purchased for $400. It had been totaled, so it got a new fender and paint job and it was deemed ready to roll.
Part scavenger hunt, part epic road trip, the Wrench Rally is peppered with points of interest along the way and teams earn credit by taking photos with at least two team members in them at the site. Some interesting items on the list are “take a picture with an alien” and “take a picture with roadkill”. I am sparing you all from the sight of one team posed next to a dead and bloody skunk on the road. You’re welcome. Read More…
