On Saturday, December 10th, the SCCA Lone Star Region held our Holiday Tree Run, which has become an annual holiday event. We traveled 84 miles from the Summer Moon Coffee Shop parking lot in San Marcos to the Lee County Christmas Tree Farm and 17 miles to the Roadhouse in Paige for our social. Teams answered questions along the route and self-graded their score sheet, and I included historical facts along the route in the instructions.
I loaded the MotorSportReg.com website for this road rally on Nov 4; one person signed in through MotorSportReg.com on Nov 24. This person had run two earlier road rallies this year but had to drop out due to a work commitment. The following person signed up on Dec 6, followed by a single signup on Dec 8, and then two signed up on Dec 9. The Facebook boost, done in early December, assisted these last signups. Would the turnout have been higher with multiple Facebook boosts in the middle of November and in early December? Paula Taylor did not sign up on MotorsportReg.com but had corresponded with me through emails about coming and paying at the event.
Four of the five cars signed up for this event were SCCA members. One of the SCCA members and the lone non-SCCA member had been on two recent road rallies and were also participants in Track Night in-America events. Three of the five cars had participated in previous road rallies.
There were no participants from VetMotorsports.com, but they continue to be co-sponsors for our events.
The participants voted the following awards to their members during our social at the Roadhouse in Paige:
Youngest Driver was Chris Hamilton (43)
Youngest Navigator was Andrea Troxel (39)
Oldest Driver was Paula Taylor (SCCA Member for 45 Years)
Oldest Navigator was Greg Matocha (Don’t ask!)
Newest Vehicle belonged to Jamey Osborne (Still had Dealer Temporary Tags)
Oldest Vehicle belonged to Chris Hamilton (1995 Chevrolet Corvette)
Furthest Car to Participate was Chris Hamilton (Bulverde, TX)
Most Unique Car belonged to Jamey Osborne (2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E)
Youngest Participant was Shawna Scarnato (38)
Good Citizen Award went to Mark Scarnato for stopping Chris Hamilton from driving his Chevrolet Corvette over a decorative curb in the parking lot as Chris left the Summer Moon Coffee Parking lot.
Results from the Evaluation reports
All 5 participants said they had fun.
All 5 participants said they would run the event again.
All 5 participants said they heard about it through the Lone Star Region’s newsletter.
Suggestions: It was fun, So much fun, and Loved it
Complaints: No phone service and one wrote None.
Possible future road rallies from Evaluation Reports
Painted Churches — two
Twisted Sisters Tour of Hill Country — three
Winery Trail — four
Texas Independence Historical sites — two
Pie Run (Five famous Pie Places) – five
Highland Lakes Tour — one
Shiner Brewery — three
Cinco de Mayo Tour to Goliad — one
National Mammoth Museum, Waco — none
Texas Frontier Forts — none
Chihuahua Trail to Indianola — one
Brackettville and Fort Clark — one
Texas Distilleries Tour — one
San Angelo — none
Texas Caves — two
Washington-on-the-Brazos – one
Request for a scary event at Halloween
Proposed Road Rally Schedule for 2023 subject to COTA Updates
Feb 25 or early March – San Antonio to Gonzales (Immortal 18 route)
Late March or Apr 1 – Johnson City to Llano to Fredericksburg (Blue Bonnets)
Jun 17 – Historic Tour of San Antonio
Aug 12 – Moontower Tour of Austin
Oct 28 (after F1) – San Marcos to Filling Station (TX Chainsaw Massacre)
Dec 9 – Season Holiday Run
Analyzing participant turnout vs. road rally length suggests that we do better if the road rally length is less than 90 miles. I will try to hold them below 75 miles to maximize financial payments to the Region.
