Well, we did the
Rallye.
Wow... what fun.
Frank,
Larry, Rob, Kevin
Click on the links for the photo albums.
Movies will be
following shortly.
You will love to see what Deal's Gap is all
about!!!
Here is the synopsis....
Big Apple to Big Easy
Rally 2006 - The Beater Rally
Team Name: OSHIT Organization of Spridgets Handymen In
Transit
Team Members: Frank Clarici, Larry Macy, Kevin Valentine,
Rob Valentine
Wow, what an adventure!!!
We started out with a car that had a purchase price of less
than $250. Frank had just the car... a 1969 MG Midget.
Frank did some extensive restoration and body work. Kevin
made it run smooth & strong, and made it more
comfortable. Larry and Rob were the lucky 2 that got to
drive it.
Night Zero
Night zero was a get together in the Staten Island Hotel.
People looked at each other's cars and swapped build
stories. Many people were quite surprised at our car... it
was a bit "shinier" than the rest. There were a few
comments that night the it shouldn't be allowed in the
rally. Although we tried to explain the nature of a
Spridget, they just didn't get it... until we showed them
the picture of the car when Frank bought it. ;-)
Day 1
The day started off from the Staten Island Mall parking
lot. Our challenge was to play the game of Snooker while
navigating our own way to the Check-in point at our hotel
for the night in Virginia. Snooker is a billiard game where
you sink a red ball followed by any other colored ball. The
other colored balls are worth assigned points. Some are
worth more.. some are worth less. After you sink the
colored ball, you must sink a red ball again... and so on.
The version we played involved the interstate hi-way system
and a digital camera. ;-) We had to take a picture of a red
car, then a colored car of our choice, then a red car, then
a colored car of our choice... and so on. Pink cars were
worth the most points, black cars.. the least. Rules stated
that pictures must be taken of moving cars on the hi-way,
from our moving car on the hi-way. We also had to get the
interrior of our car in the picture. Do you have any idea
how difficult that was in a Spridget??? We actually did
pretty good. We got alot of brown cars....worth alot of
points, and one pink... worth the most points. However, I
neglected to understand the rules that once you complete
the 15 sets of red/color... you must take a picture of each
color in order. We lost alot of points for this.... but, we
weren't the only ones.
We got to meet Janice... I will let Larry tell that story
in depth if he so chooses, but she liked Larry, and her
husband didn't mind a bit... However, Larry minded!!! The
day's trip ended with a breathtaking drive down Skyline
Drive to our hotel. What a beautiful road... I will be
going back to drive it again someday. Our day ended at our
hotel near Harrisonburg, VA, swapping stories about our
drive with other teams. Team SU (David & Biff) stayed
at the destination hotel, while Team Fannypackers (Chris
King) braved the outdoors and went camping in the beautiful
mountains adjacent to the hotel. We were road tired, but
still pumped.
Day 2
Day 2 started by finding that the team from California
finally made it to the rally. They had broken down the day
of the rally and had to do repairs for the first day. Quite
a few teams were making repairs. We were still doing fine,
mechanically speaking.
Today's challenge was "I Spy". We had to pick a letter of
the alphabet, and take a many pictures of items, beginning
with that letter, as we could. Sounds easy, eh? Huh-uh.
Though we got 150 shots, with 142ish being accepted... it
was darn tough. We tried to take pictures of signs.. like
Taco Bell for the letter "T"... but it was only a sign.. so
the item ended up as "Taco Bell Sign" We could only use an
item once... so that was the only sign we could shoot...
see what I mean? From then on, it we wanted to use, say.. A
Texaco station, we had to shoot the station with it's name
in the picture. This was going to be tough! We couldn't
take pictures of ourselves... teeth, tongue..etc. We did
get one fine lady to let us shoot her tattoos. ;-) Although
we didn't agree with all the judges decisions as to what
was worth points.. we did a pretty good job. We arrived at
the hotel that night, and as we were driving down the road
to the hotel, we heard a very loud and odd whine from the
tranny. Not good. We pulled into the hotel and checked the
tranny fluid.... Bone Dry! Filled it up, that night and
checked for leaks.. none. Maybe we would still be ok.
Day 3
Day 3 started out finding our car and team SU's car
barricaded in behind the big green AMC. The guys got
waaaaay drunk the previous night and picked up the
Spridgets, moved them to the corner, and blocked them in
with the AMC. They were too drunk to realize the the OSHIT
car could have been put into neutral and rolled to the
spot... yet they carried it over. ;-) Little did they know
that I could fold the mirrors in and still make it out of
the spot. ;-) We all had a laugh, and started the day.
Today's challenge was a "Flash MOB" For those who don't
know, a flash MOB is where a bunch of people go to a
specific place all at once. These are usually spontaneously
chosen. Ours were quite planned. We had to have a picture
of our whole team at pump 1 at every gas station on the
right hand side along the pre-determined route. Not only
was there no numbers on some pumps, but we managed to get
20 pumps.... there were only supposed to be 18. We had
extra. It was kinda funny watching the gas attendants
trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The people
along the way were very interested in helping us out by
taking our picture. Nice people in the south! Our picture
expedition ended ad Deal's Gap. Deal's Gap is a road about
7 miles long with about 318 turns. Yeah... that's what I
thought, too!!!!! The bikers "own" this stretch of road.
And on Memorial Day weekend the gas station at the top was
packed with bikes. The were kind enough to let us in to get
gas... a few asked about our car. One real BIG guy asked me
if this was a joke. I said "no", sheepishly. He then he
continued with the statement... "I had one of these about
20 years ago... and I never shoulda gotten rid of it!"
Sheesh... I though I was in trouble there. ;-) We decided
that Larry would drive down the mountain first. We started
out for the first 100 feet heading to the top from the
other side. When we got to the top a female biker pulled
right out in front of us. Dang!!! Larry had to follow her
about 1/3 of the trip down. She wasn't slow... but we could
have gone faster. She finally pulled aside and let us pass.
Kewl! Larry had a smile from ear to ear! We squealed the
tires a few times around the corners. Awesome. Anyone who
has a Spridget should drive this road once!!!! We got to
the bottom, and switched drivers. OK, My turn.. and I get
to drive up!!! We got to about turn 3 or 4 and ***BANG***
we lost 2nd gear. I popped the clutch, and shifted to
3rd... ***BANG, CLUNK,CLUNK*** there went 3rd. We pulled
over and headed back down. Pulled out in first and was able
to shift to 4th without problems. We got to the end of the
Mountain, and pulled off when we got cell coverage. Larry
started to think the breakdown through while I started with
the list of emergency numbers so graciously donated by the
members of the Spridget list. Larry got some oil and
containers to flush the broken pieces out of the tranny
while I started calling. I got ahold of Bob Van Kirk who
was a HUGE HELP!!!! Thanks for all your help Bob. Bob
offered us any tools, parts and help... but he was over 5
hours away. He couldn't leave his house to get us at that
time, but said if we could get to him, he would make the
car right. That was too far to "limp" the car. So Bob
started making calls. He also put out an SOS to the list. I
got about 10 calls in the first 15 minutes, with offers for
help. Unfortunately, no one who was available on this
Memorial Day weekend had a tranny. Bob finally got a hold
of Bill Perry, and and eventually his son Will Perry from
Rivergate. They were able to get us back on the road with a
Rivergate 4 speed conversion. We left the shop at 1:30am,
drove an hour to our hotel and arrived at 1:30am. I love
time zones! We got an extra hour of sleep... and boy did we
need it!!!!!
This is where I want to thank everyone on the list who
offered help. With my hands full of tranny oil and being
quite busy with repairs... I wasn't able to write down
everyone's names. But, I want to thank all of you. This is
truly what the Spridget list is about!!! A special thanks
to Bob Van Kirk for calling all those Spridget people he
knew that were not on the list.
Day 4
Day 4 was simply a ride to New Orleans... no Challenge.
And, that's just what we needed!!! However the Sun and HEAT
were overwhelming! We had a bimini top, but it was so low
that it hit our heads while we drove. That didn't work. So
we drove in the Sun. We felt like Crap. We had each had
about 2 quarts of water every 100 miles.. and neither of
had to pee for the whole day. We arrived in New Orleans and
checked in to our Air conditioned room after about 9 hours
of torture. That evening we turned in our points from the
flash mob challenge. They let us turn them in late due to
our breakdown. The rally marshal didn't even look at the
pictures. He looked at our mileage log of where the
pictures were shot and gave us a perfect score. Whew!
The teams walked over to Pat O'briens on Bourbon St. We
mingled, drank, and encouraged young women to accept our
beads, from our balcony. Places 3, 2, & 1 were awarded
at the end of the night. We didn't make the grade... but we
had a blast trying. Larry and I ended the night with a walk
down Bourbon St and stoping in a European Jazz Club. Run
Down, Hot, and a 1 drink min per set. I loved it!!! We had
a blast!!!
Trip Home
Larry and I crunched some numbers and decided that instead
of walking around NO in 95º heat with 100% humidity for the
day, we would brave the trip back home. We were beat. After
all this is a "Beater" rally. Both us and the car! We had
put the bimini top on the car while it was parked, and
decided to try it on the way home. If it hurt our heads too
much we could just take it off. We got up to about 45mph...
and something neat happened... the top was loose enough
that the air current sucked it up into the air above our
heads... like an airplane wing.... right Cap'n Bob?
However, every time we hit a bump it fell back down, and
began to flap on our heads. One quick stop at walmart... $4
worth of curtain rods and some tape... and we made a roll
cage - looking "Top Stopper". It worked great.... and you
couldn't see it from outside the car... that was even
better!
We made one stop along the way to sleep the night. we had
to stop.. the alternator died. The next morning we searched
for a replacement... nope. They were "Warehouse
deliverable". Arghhh. So we got a generic alternator,
mounted it upside down, did a little filing, and went on
our merry way.
Conclusion
Beaten, Battered, Fried, Scrambled... this should have been
a food rally. We hit every set-back we probably could...
and loved every minute of it! Would I do it again... Sure!
With Larry.... Absolutely! In a Spridget....um, well... I
gotta think about that one. It was difficult getting in and
out all the time for the challenges. We fried in the sun.
We broke almost everything in the car. Did I mention we
Fried!?! 2 people on a team is tuff... more hands would
have been better. Rain was actually a blessing... other
than the computer and cameras... we needed the relief from
the heat.
I am in for next year... Larry and I decided to
find a shuttle bus with air conditioning, though. ;-)
See you at the 2007 BABE Rally!!
-
Rob Valentine
Team OSHIT