Southwest Louisiana Region is primarily an autocross Region with some of its members traveling to participate in road racing, all events mostly in good weather conditions. However, December through February are devoid of competition each year, so restless members lobby for anything, with a warm Road Rally the desired time filler.
After much self-questioning, I reluctantly agreed to renew my Rally Safety Stewards License and Chair the February 13th Covid 22 Rally. After running the 80-mile route 4.5 times, I was “rallied out” but had a plan. Note: The .5 time was for getting lost and the reason for a bailout envelope. Our complete rally instructions required five areas of mental exercise. They were: counting crossed bridges (12), counting crossed railroad tracks (17), route mileage accuracy (80 miles), route time accuracy (120 minutes), plus we added 40 fill-in-the-blanks (in order of occurring on the route as opposed to random). No one complained of boredom or filed for divorce on Monday.
Additionally, mileage overage and time loss recovery blanks were available to help/hurt Navigators who had to live with the Driver’s poor decisions (or was it the other way around).
Cliff and Pam Parsons, and Cullen and Rossana Baker.Photos courtesy of the SOWELA Region!
Eleven teams filed onto the roadway every 3 minutes in search of gold. All contestants found gold, which is a hot pot of chicken and sausage gumbo with potato salad in Louisiana. The rally party was held at club member Rich Smith‘s shop, where eating off the floor is acceptable (because it’s spotless) and Corvette’s live. The team of Keith and Tina Wicker finished First, Cliff and Pam Parsons Second, and Cullen and Rossana Baker finished Third. Many thanks to all of the contestants!
No team had to use the bailout envelope, so it can be said that a good time was had by all.
