Courtesy of Bob Benson:
Wand'rin Star I
May 27
10 stages, 93 stage miles
1/O4 Scott Justus / Matt Chester Chevy Blazer 89:13
1/O2 Brent Cary / Stephen Geiger Mazda RX-7 91:34
2/O4 Karen Burrows / Ken Cassidy Mitsu AWD 95:36
3/O2 John Moore / Kennon Rymer Mazda RX-7 96:45
4/O2 James Cook / Cable Rhodes Mazda RX-7 98:41
2/U2 Tom Hanlon / Juanita Miller Ford 102:55
3/O4 Roger Hull / Michael Taylor Eagle Talon 107:04
5/O2 Todd Jarvey / Richard Faber Dodge 107:24
4/U2 David Ralakis / Gary Davis Mazda 323 119:29
DNF:
Michael Muenter / Don Hanke Mazda (RX-3?) overheating
Lester Ewing / Steve Cochran SAAB aerobatics
Robert Gilliard / Trent Gilliard Subaru broken steering
Wand'rin Star II
May 28
5 stages, 43 stage miles
1/O4 Ken Cassidy / Karen Burrows Mitsu AWD 48:14
1/O2 Brent Cary / Stephen Geiger Mazda RX-7 50:09
2/O2 John Moore / Kennon Rymer Mazda RX-7 50:27
2/O4 Roger Hull / Michael Taylor Eagle Talon 50:35
3/O4 Ken Stewart / Ralph Starr Chevy S-10 51:54
3/O2 Todd Jarvey / Richard Faber Dodge 52:11
4/O2 James Cook / Cable Rhodes Mazda RX-7 52:15
5/O2 Robert Burtis / James Burtis VW 54:06
1/U2 Arthur Jowi / Jim Hurley Toyota 54:13
2/U2 Richard Miller / Juanita Miller SAAB 61:25
6/O2 Michael Muenter / Don Hanke Mazda (RX-3?) 64:30
3/U2 Floyd Shrader / Richard Beach Ford 68:18
Spring in North Texas made the weather a concern as the event approached. While the floods stayed a few hundred miles away, toad strangling thunder boomers accompanyed by hail and the odd tornado continued to rake the Red River valley, with the weekend forecast changing almost hourly. Friday ignored the forecast and was dry. Saturday and Sunday were so nice that the workers who had listened to the weather guessers, and had prepared accordingly, came away with painful sunburns, even though the temperatures never got above the upper 80's. Welcome to spring in Texas - forget the forecasts and be prepared for anything.
Saturday was Wand'rin Star I, a coefficient 3 event of about 93 stage miles with Ken Stewart as Rallyemaster. The roads at Camp Maxey, the Texas National Guard training base just north of Paris, were in excellant shape. The graveled roads, configured to support main battle tanks, were hard, firm and fast, with only a small amount of standing water in the deeper turns. The smaller support roads, generally sand based, had drained well in most places, with only occasional water or mud.
The ten stages ran rapidly. The transit to the first stage started on time at 1:30 in the afternoon, and the sweep car was off stage 10 before dark. The primary delays were due to cars taking offs and being recovered by sweep. While no one landed in the bogs and ponds along the course, sweep Floyd (Doc) Shrader reported that 2 cars were well into the weeds, brush and trees. One would have been missed had not the codriver's red driving suit been noticed as he repeatedly jumped up, barely visible above the weeds; it took 5 tow straps to reach the car and recover it.
The most spectacular off was captured on tape by 2 very good photogs who managed to get it coming and going. The cars were decelerating into a 90 left late in the day when the wind, sun and previous passages had dried out the road and generated a layer of loose surface. The early cars cut low through the turn, apparently leaving a bit of a hard ridge higher in the curve, invisible under the loose stuff. The rear end of Lester Ewing & Steve Cochran's SAAB drifted into that ridge and went high in the air, lifting the front end off as well. Approaching 40 degrees angle to the ground, the SAAB executed slightly more than one complete rotation about its longitudinal axis before reestablishing contact with the ground well off the road. Sheet metal was everywhere, the left side suspension bent like spaghetti and the right side suspension destroyed - one rotor was snapped like a broken plate. The tape clearly records, after impact, Lester trying to crank the engine and get under way. A few seconds later reality set in and they both bailed out through the windows, shaken but unhurt. Looking at the car on a trailer after the event, it was hard to tell whether it will ever compete again or not.
On Sunday, Dave Thomas took over rallyemaster duties for Wand'rin Star II, a coefficient 2 run of about 47 stage miles. Ken Stewart pulled on a helmet and debuted his new Chevy 4WD S-10 pickup. There was a bit of disappointment this day. Saturday's overall winner was Scott Justus, driving Ken's previous mount, the Chevy Blazer. Unfortunately, there were no stages replicated between the events and Scott worked controls with me on Sunday, so there was no even unofficial comparison between Scott and Ken running in Ken-built vehicles.
The 5 stages ran smoothly. Doc Shrader also pulled on a helmet and competed, tied into the radio net and running last on the road as a (very) fast sweep. Those extra duties brought him in last overall, but he had fun. Richard Miller's SAAB broke its front motor mount during the Saturday event, limping the last 3 stages. Sunday morning found Richard using a coat hanger to secure the front mount before the start. Afterwards, he reported hitting his highest speeds yet in the car and joked about replacing the other 2 mounts with coat hangers.
Michael Muenter was not destined to repeat his win of last November here. He had overheating problems all weekend in his Mazda, and almost blocked the event on the last stage of the day. The penultimate stage used a track that Camp Maxey will eventually turn into a road. Sometime last summer they had laid a sand base, which Scott and I could usually see through the weeds and wildflowers as we drove out to establish a turn-around control. We turned back and set up about a half mile shy of our official position after encountering weeds taller than the hood on the Suburban, rising out of standing water that obviously extended out of sight. Yes, there was the path of a road bed, sort of, but this wasn't the WRC Safari.
All the cars made it in at speed with no problems, running at 2 minute intervals due to dust and no breeze. The launch point, already soft sand, was rather torn up and loose by the time Muenter brought the Mazda to the line. He launched with the rear end hopping erratically and stalled it about 20 yards up the road, exactly blocking the road with an overheated engine that wouldn't start. I gave a hand pushing the Mazda back to clear the road and then ran to where I'd dropped my clock. I shouted to the car on the start line that they had 15 seconds, were they ready? Two thumbs up, so I counted them down to launch then walked back to the start line. Nice we were running at 2 minute intervals. We gave Michael a tow start after the last car left. On our way out we marveled at how well the rallye cars had mowed the weeds on this "road", and at how well they had followed our original tracks in - the mowed track was barely wider than a single car.
It was interesting watching the 2 Ken Stewart trucks. The older Blazer, piloted by Scott Justus, was obviously faster. But this was Ken's first outing in his new S-10. Claiming to have built it just to have fun, its not turboed, yet. Nevertheless, it was by far the quickest vehicle off the line all weekend, be it hard gravel or soft sand. The auto tranny gave no wheel spin at all, but got it off to a start smoother and faster than even the RX-7s, the next fastest starters there. Its not clear whether or not there will be a heads up match between these 2 trucks, as Scott left this event to begin moving to a new job in Huntsville, Alabama.
Classes for the event were Under 2, Over 2 and Over 4 (including AWD). Unfortunately, the official results report class position, but neither the class nor the vehicle model. The results below are in overall order with class position noted, but the class and models are based on my hazy recollection and may well be wrong.
by Bob Benson