The MGs of Baltimore hosted their thirty-fourth annual Get the Dust Off Road Rally on May 7, 2023. Thirty-seven teams registered via Eventbrite; however, six did not start. Although run as a Monte-Carlo event for many years, to attract more entrants competing in “historic” sports cars, the “Dust Off” is now set up as a GTA (Game/Tour/Adventure) run with two classes – Historic (up to 1981) and Modern (1982 and later). Within the directional route instructions, a series of “clues” are to be answered based on items found along the way. The single or multi-word answers are scored on correctness, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Each word within an answer is given an individual point value. This usually guarantees no duplicate scores between teams.
The route traversed Baltimore and Harford counties in Maryland and York County in Pennsylvania. The scenic rest stop was the Ma & Pa Railroad Heritage Center at Muddy Creek Forks in Airville, PA. As in the past several years, the rally started and ended at Dejon Vineyards in Hydes, MD. Most novice entrants’ scores were a fraction of last year’s scores. A first-timer last year scored over 200, but this year scored just 71. The greatest number of errors were in capitalization. Most scores would have been much better had this been given more attention. Interesting locations for answers included being on a twenty-foot-high mailbox, a huge painting on a grain bin, a lighthouse nowhere near the water, and a flying horse mistook more than once for a unicorn. Dejon Vineyard had live music, wine tasting, and a food vendor to partake in if desired.
Last year’s inaugural Selfie Photo Contest returned with very surprising results. There were first, second, and third-place wine prizes for each class and wine for the selfie contest winners. The prize for the Selfie Photo Contest was awarded to the Jefferson/Jefferson team. The Historic Class first place was team Ellis/Ellis in a 1973 MGB with a score of 27. Second place was team Liddick/Liddick in a 1977 MGB; their score was 31. Third place was team Kapplin/Atwell in a 1976 TR6 with a score of 40. These are some very close scores, considering just 13 points separated first and third. In the Modern Class, the first place was team Kohls/Malhotra in a 2014 WRX with a score of 10, and second place was a three-way tie that was broken via a quiz from a brochure that teams were told to get at Muddy Creek Forks. Awards went to team Williams/Horant in a 2019 Fit and team Wilder/Wilder in a 2020 Yaris. Each team had a score of 30.
Our sequestered scoring table/team provided scores before teams exited their vehicles or completed a wine tasting during the heavy return period. The pile of answer sheets to be scored never exceeded five sheets at a time during this period. To say this method of scoring and texting results is much more efficient and faster is an understatement. It has worked so well that it is now the standard at the Get the Dust Off Rally, Radnor Hunt’s Concours D’Elegance Chester County Road Rally, and the Triumphs Around the Chesapeake Fall Foliage Poker Run.
Dennis Blevins and Chris Horant wrote this GTDO piece, and we greatly appreciate its submission.
