Published on Thursday, 13 February 2014 21:00
Hits: 1092

He's Back ! 1990 Speedy Lewis Rallye

Editors's Comments: First half of the "Team Challenge,' this Saturday afternoon TSD rallye and picnic marked the return of one of the oldest events in Oklahoma Region history.

The Speedy Lewis Rally has always been special. speedyWhen the 1968 Board of Directors voted to drop the name ‘Speedy Lewis”, a part of the color and history of our Region was lost. But now the Speedy Lewis is back, and once again it is special.

Eighteen teams left Don Carlton Acura and all but two found every checkpoint. That’s a three-year record for participation and perseverance. The competition was close, especially in C-Novice. Only twenty five points separated the top four CN entries, with Harold and Connie Everett winning the class by only ten points. Next year’s class C should be ferocious when most of the CN teams move up.

Randy Saucier and Sharon McBride teamed up for the win in class C and took second overall with 262 points. Mike Woodruff and Ron Poloski finished second in C for the third consecutive rally.

First overall was a snap for the only class A entry of Jim Duea and David Bower, with a paltry 108 points. Actually I expected them to finish in the “single digits’ because following the course was intentionally easy. I guess Jim was lonely without any traps.

Jimmy and Gwen Johns found their own trap leaving the ODO check, missing the left turn which was only a hundred feet from the ODO sign. They were car number one, so they didn’t have anyone to follow into checkpoint one.

Checkpoint two preceded a trip over and under the Cimarron River Viaduct in Guthrie. I think every name in the Bible was in the graffiti on the concrete, or in one rallyist’s words, the viaduct was held up by the paint.

Everyone who ran the Speedy Lewis then shared in the magnificent weather, course and visual impact of a perfect Oklahoma fall day. The trees along the Skeleton Creek by the Wildcat Curves were vivid yellows, oranges and reds. The sandstone bluffs were backlit by pink and blue evening skies, and Patrick McKay’s Pumpkin Patch looked as if it were a Hollywood creation.

grandmatilliesFive miles to the north Grandma Tillie’s house and the sleepy town of Mulhall brought back memories of a slower paced, gentler America. One rally team arrived at checkpoint three eating ham sandwiches, evidently finding the MuIhall “minute mart” before the checkpoint. They seemed unconcerned that they had reversed the intentions of the rallvmaster, at least they were on course.

Checkpoint four was so far out in the boonies that the thumpa-thumpa of distant oil wells amid the plowed fields were the only signs of humanity.
On the south side of Crescent the rally teams found a herd of black and white cattle grazing on winter wheat that looked too green to be real.

After the fifth checkpoint the sun was gone and the night was incredibly black. However, some rally teams still found the toilet which was in someone’s driveway on Charter Oak Drive. Checkpoint six was in be same place as checkpoint one, a little bit darker.

Free hot dogs, chips, beer and cokes greeted the rally teams at Dufner Park. Quite a few ron-ralllyists attended the picnic and joined in the revelry and retelling of countless happenings of the day. After the last beer had been downed, and the last car pulled out of the park, I realized that over eighty people had participated, worked or just hung-out. That fact alone makes the return of the Speedy Lewis special, The level of competition, the conditions of the course and the fellowship at the picnic make it memorable.

photoo2

SPECIAL THANKS GO TO THE FOLLOWING: Pat and Patricia McKay, George Montgomery, Don Hooker, Matthew England, Leon and Helen MacKechnie, Walt Bower and David, Mike Elliott, Wiley and Ricky Hunt, Paul and Jimmy Fortner, Toni Williams, John and Sandra Saucier, George and Carol England, Jason, Guthrie, Scott Guthrie, Elizabeth England, Dave Brown, the Gordon Hawes family, Wendell Karr-Ake, Don Carlton Acura and everyone else whom I have overlooked. You made this great event possible.

results