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VCRA SEASON OPENER “STRIKES OIL”
 Thirty of America’s finest rally teams converged on Ponca City, Oklahoma to officially begin the VCRA 2010 rally season. Dubbed the “RUFFNECK RALLY”, it aptly described the heritage of this great city….the home of Conoco Oil. The Ponca City Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce joined forces to provide an exceptional venue for the rally. And did they go all out?? I’m confident that no one went away from this event hungry…hospitality just got a new meaning in Ponca City. Every day of the rally, the city had a meal for all racers and support crews. The Saturday evening dinner downtown in front of the beautiful city hall building was simply outstanding. And let’s not overlook the First Street Restoration gang that provided yet another dinner Friday evening at the HGH Museum. If you did not gain five pounds at this event, you must have been sleeping in your car!
So what happened…seemed there was so much food and drink to be had, we almost forgot we were there to rally. But rally we did…and some were quit successful. The weather looked a bit grim on Friday with some strong winds and cloudy conditions. Twenty-nine teams took the green flag to start the season. Oooops… just out of the gate, the team of Coker and Cunningham had engine trouble in the famous ’32 Ford roadster pick up. Most would say that’s the way it goes…but not this team. Within minutes, J D Hanks had them a ‘29 Model A Roadster out of his stock pile of cars. The Coker team installed the speedo, put the deals and numbers on the car and made up enough time to avoid a DNF for  the day… so they were back in the mix. At any rate, the race was on! The wind did affect some, but the rain stayed away. The scores were really, really good for the first day of rally competition since last year. The first eight places in the Dash for Cash cars were under 10 seconds. The top two cars were under five seconds. Wow!! Martin& Martin, with a 0m04.23s day were right on the heels of the day winners, Graf & Holmquist at 0m04.08s. And look who’s letting everyone know they are here… Knowles & Gentry clocked in with a 0m06.52s to round out the top three for the day. Tommy Hudson was kinda busy on the first day, but we won’t dwell on that right now…after all, it’s the first day of a new season.
Day two, Saturday, looks like maybe could be some rain…cloudy skies and a little nippy for the open car folks. The course is going to take the cars to Enid for a lunch break, then on to the northwest for a look at the Great Salt Lake state park area near t he city of Jet. If you saw a water tower, you just might expect a maze. So away they did go, twisting a turning their way to Enid. The rains pretty much missed the cars before noon. A little bit to eat, a look at the sky, and most of the open cars folks dug out the rain gear, which turned out to be a pretty smart move. Most escaped the heavier rains, a few got wet, but all in all, it was not that bad. Obviously there were a couple of folks that it did not affect at all. The team of Graf & Holmquist turned in an amazing 0m04.08s score…in 8 legs they had two aces and the rest were one’s. Ty must have found something new, or was he just “rally lucky”. However, the pressure was building as Jason & Jason and Haverty & Hewitt were just ticks behind to let everyone know that it ain’t over yet! Saturday evening finish was in downtown Ponca City at the City Hall building…a super meal was served up and enjoyed by all.
 Sunday morning was greeted with clear skies and, hopefully, warmer temperatures. Looked like Graf & Holmquist had everything in hand….unless – well you know!! It’s a rally, for Pete’s sake…anything can happen. The near to the top folks were trying their best to rattle Holmquist….heard offers of wine cooler morning eye openers for Ty to lots of coffee with lots of caffine…we will just have to wait and see if that works.
And off they go!! First morning break at the end of the speedo check was at a gas station/ casino. Heard someone made more with a pull of slot machine handle than he ever expected to make for prize money at a rally. Don’t know if that’s true or not!
First thing out of the gate was maze that was a real test…some made it in fine shape,,,some did not! Then it was off to a drive to another small city for yet another maze. Those that were not sure of the stop loss at low speeds got tested. A coffee break, then on to a drive that tested the driver skill to hold speed for a while. Then back to curves, speed changes and turns. Back to testing a navigator’s skills. In the end, all returned safely to the hotel. And, once again, the city had a lunch of fried chicken with all the fixin’s waiting for all. Final scores were  tallied and, to no one’s great surprise, the team of Graf & Holmquist had survived all the threats and turned in another remarkable time of 0m06.52s. for the overall winning score of 0m12.23s for the event and the $2,000 first prize. They also won second place ACE winner and $200. However, on this day the team of Jason & Jason really turned up the wick and scored a fantastic day winning score of 0m04.98 to capture second place with an event total score of 0m16.60s and a cash prize of $1,200. Third place, and $900 went to Haverty & Hewitt with a total of 0m22.68s. Fourth to Martin & Martin with a 0m23.66s and $600 and fifth to Louibere & Louibere with a total of 0m25.27s and $500. Team Fredette, last years points champ, had some engine problems throughout the event, but were still able to capture the ACE award for the most aces (5) and a $300 cash prize.
The guys that had the most fun, I think, and also won their class in the For Fun class, and the Tommy’s Trailer award for the “Bad Luck” in their little 1935 Ford sedan, the team of Kern & Snow, showed you can really have fun, even if you have a fan blade sticking through your hood! They also scored an ACE!!
Beers & McNeill scored a first in the Rookie Class with Salys & Hall nipping at their heels…good going guys!
In the Raw Rookie class, the team of Phillips & Barnett scored a first place finish with a 2m36.00s time and they scored an ACE.
Here are the results! |
