It’s been several years since the Harrison/Beidelman team RoadRallied together. Harrison has been busy running the SCCA Indy Region RoadRally program and road rallying when she can with other navigators. Beidelman has been busy with work and life in general. So, we were excited this year when the stars aligned, and we could both attend the Gateway Divisional RoadRally weekend in St. Louis. The SCCA St. Louis Region has been rebuilding its rally program over the past several years, and we look forward to shaking cobwebs off our RoadRally skills and participating in some good, solid events.

Friday evening was Tulips by Night, a Tour Rally. Route following would be easy and give the navigator a chance to re-acquaint themselves with the timing app that we use. This event was a Monte Carlo-style rally with the time and mileage given for each checkpoint. After struggling with the timing app during the ODO check, we put it away and used the information provided in the route instructions. We got decent scores by getting exactly a mile from the checkpoint, leaving that point exactly a minute before we were supposed to be at the checkpoint, and then driving 30 mph “seat of the pants” through the Richta passage controls. We were satisfied with the results, and it made for an enjoyable evening.  

Saturday was the Tweedledum Course Rally. The last time either of us ran a Course rally was well over five years ago – this would be a challenge. As we started the odo check, we were both nervous. The driver was worried about her rusty course-following skills, and the navigator still hadn’t become comfortable with the timing app that we use. That was all put on hold when we were en route to the starting point for Leg 1; we got stopped by a train. All of the rally cars, plus the sweep car, were also stopped, so we relaxed a little when we saw that. Then the train stopped, too. After waiting several minutes, it looked like the train was going to be there for a while. Fortunately, Jim Heine, in the sweep car, knew a way to get around the train and get us to the starting point for Leg 2; we all turned around and followed him to the beginning of Leg 2. He discarded Leg 1.

As we took off on Leg 2, it took every ounce of concentration for me to follow the course, and I did it poorly. As the navigator was asking how the app worked (I have no idea!), we went “straight as possible” through a T instead of turning right. Fortunately, some latent instinct kicked in, and I was aware that we had probably done that incorrectly. Finding ourselves on IL-3 going past our hotel, I knew we had messed up, so we U-turned, went back, and took another look at the intersection – it was definitely a slanted T, so we turned right. We had our worst score on that leg, but the rest of the day went smoothly as we recalled what we used to know and avoided additional serious errors.

Sunday was the Milburn Pennybags Presents Game Tour Adventure (GTA) RoadRally. We love GTAs and thoroughly enjoyed this event. Our game plan was simple. Read every sign on the right-hand side of the road, write it down in order seen (along with the NRI being worked when it was spotted), and then figure out the Monopoly-style game instructions in the parking lot at the end point. It worked well. We missed one sign, and I saw one that I shouldn’t have seen; there was a rule that a sign couldn’t be more than 50 feet from the road. I have no idea how far 50 ft is, so I shouted out “HH” with enthusiasm, and the navigator wrote it down to include with our calculations at the end. We also neglected to read the entire set of instructions before running the rally, so we missed the Tie-Breaker question (How many No Parking signs did you see along the route?) With those errors, we still managed to eke out a win in the event, barely, and ended the weekend on a high note.

I am grateful that St. Louis has re-established their RoadRally program. Jim Heine and Tom vonHattan put together some fun routes, and we enjoyed chatting with Rose vonHattan at the endpoints. Kudos to their entire RoadRally Committee for an enjoyable weekend and for giving us the chance to reconnect with our RoadRally community. Since it’s only about a 4-hour drive from Indianapolis, I look forward to going back for events next year. If you haven’t been to the SCCA St. Louis Region RoadRally yet, you should give it a try.