Rally North America Ohio Valley 700

[Dan@Adams]

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to participate in the second annual Rally North America Ohio Valley 700 Road Rally, benefitting the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Ohio.  RNA is a not-for-profit organization with the goal of bringing auto enthusiasts together with a common objective for each rally - driving for a cause.  Both Ohio Valley 700 events have benefitted the EFWO, in memory of Cody Converse.  He passed away unexpectedly from an epileptic seizure in 2013 when he was 17 years old, and his father now participates in the rally with us in memory of his son.

 

50 teams took part in the two-day rally event last weekend, and we were able to raise over $26,000 for the Epilepsy Foundation!  To date in 2014, Rally North America has raised over $140,000 between Rally US 50 for the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and the OV700 for the EFWO.  I am extremely proud to be a part of this wonderful charity organization.

 

First, here's a little background of my rally history.  I've participated in 4 rally events with RNA now, starting back in summer 2013 for Rally New England, where I served as Navigator/Co-Driver for a good friend in his GTO.  From there I got hooked.  Here is a shot of Terry and I, Team Angry Goat, taking some hot laps around Watkins Glen:

 

 

We took home a 2nd place finish on Day 1!  Rallies with RNA are set up such that you can only place in the top 3 on one day of the rally, so as to give more teams a chance to win.  Next up was last year's Ohio Valley 700.  I had so much fun being a Navigator in the Rally New England rally, that I wanted to try my shot at being a driver for this one.  So I took my TBSS and turned it from this:

 

 

To this in plastidipped rally trim, with a former Miss Ohio for good measure

 

 

My good friend Donny served as my navigator for this rally.  Team Stealth SS did great for a newbie driver and a newbie navigator, but a torrential downpour combined with a very thirsty SUV ensured that we didn't get any podium finishes

 

Beginning in fall 2013, I began my next project - a dedicated rally and autocross vehicle, so that I didn't have to keep beating up my daily driver.  I purchased my dad's 2002 GMC Sonoma work truck off of him and proceeded to rebuild the whole truck, with the help of a lot of great friends and two outstanding performance shops.  This truck and its story deserve a whole separate thread on here, so I'll post that tomorrow if I have a chance.  I had plans of having the truck up and running for May, so that we would have two solid months of shakedown and working out any bugs...that didn't happen exactly according to plan...we fired up the truck for the first time with the new engine and everything else literally the day before Rally US 50.  Team Blue Steel was born.

 

 

Nearly every day and night of this rally, Donny and I faced obstacles to overcome - overheating issues, tire rub issues up front bending the fender lip and slicing the sidewalls, power steering lines bursting, no air conditioning in 90+ degree days, electrical issues with headlights/radar detector/stereo, running out of gas twice...the list goes on.  But we made it through the entire rally - all 5 days from West Virginia to Colorado, and then another 3 days back home to Pennsylvania...and despite all of the odds, we managed to take 1st place on the final day of the rally into Pueblo!  Nick and Adam's Polishes were nice enough to donate a Basic Car Care Kit for the pre-rally charity auction.  It auctioned for just under the retail price, so someone got a nice deal on some amazing products and we helped out the Accelerated Cure Project for MS too!  That someone being my codriver

 

 

With Rally US 50 over, I started planning for the Ohio Valley 700 the very next day after we got home.  I had big plans of overhauling the entire cooling system in the little blue racetruck (I knew a stock 4.3 cooling system would never be enough for a heads/cam LS1 but we just simply ran out of time to finish the truck properly), adding air conditioning, putting on the C6 Corvette front brakes, and getting all of the electrical gremlins sorted out.  More and more people kept bringing cars over for me to detail though, and that combined with work travel to Japan kept me from getting much work done on the truck.

 

I traded in the TBSS in September and got a new daily driver, and I decided it would be great to serve as a temporary rally vehicle for the two-day OV700.  My navigator Donny had enough fun being navigator after two outings, so just like me he was hooked and decided to give driving a shot...this meant I needed a new navigator! lol.

 

So my nearly brand new '14 Regal GS went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

My good GTO buddy Terry decided to change roles to navigator for this rally, so now the roles would be reversed from my first rally with him in New England.  Since it was close to Halloween, and since there are a lot of GTO owners in Rally North America (including both of us), we decided to poke a little fun at ourselves and others, and Team Goatbusters was born

 

Edited October 19, 2014 by psu goat

[Dan@Adams]

Nick was nice enough to work with me again on donating a kit to auction off at the pre-rally charity auction for the Ohio Valley 700.  I was already traveling to the Carlisle area to apply all of the sponsor decals onto the Buick, so I stopped over at Fall Carlisle.  Nick worked with Adam and Dave to put together this nice kit!

 

 

I can't even make this up, but my bud Donny ended up with the winning bid on this one too, so I think it's safe to say that I got him hooked on Adam's Polishes as well

 

Rally North America tries to promote a fun and safe atmosphere.  Teams are encouraged to make theme vehicles and wear costumes and awards are given for best dressed vehicle, best costume, and so on.  Here are just a few from this past rally.

 

Team Community Chest (they ended up driving around and making their own checkpoints on day 2, finding as many different monopoly locations as they could...and they were a huge hit when they stopped into a local Mcdonald's for lunch!):

 

 

 

Wayne and Garth even showed up to tell Scott, RNA President, "We're Not Worthy!"

 

 

Other random pictures from the rally:

 

Plastidipped Donny's wheels for him:

 

 

On our way to Dayton:

 

 

Some of the cars at the Day 1 Start Line:

 

 

Uh oh...not even an hour in and four of us got pulled over and got warnings.  The officer was very respectful and mostly wanted to know "what was going on with all of these cars with the stickers on them".

 

 

After the finish line on Day 1, many of the teams made the 15 minute drive to the now closed but haunted Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum for flashlight tours, zombie paintball, and a haunted house.  Good spooky times were had. 

 

 

Scott even took this picture inside the Asylum, no joke!

 

Edited October 19, 2014 by psu goat

[Dan@Adams]

The first 3 teams into the Finish Line on Day 2, my old co-driver Donny and his girlfriend, my friend Dan and his girlfriend from Pittsburgh, and myself and Terry.  We took 2nd, Donny took 1st, and Dan in Team Impr335ive took 3rd.  Southwestern PA cleaned up!

 

 

 

Once I got home, I had to snap a few photos with both of my #57's together before I began destickering the GS.

 

 

 

As you can tell from some of my pictures, there is a very diverse range of vehicles that run in RNA events - supercars, trucks, minivans, sedans, and everything in between.  Our events are more about raising money and having fun than going fast.  It is a rally, not a race.  We strive to adhere to all of the rules of the road, and to enforce that, all teams that wanted to be trophy eligible had to run the app Glympse for the entirety of the rally.  It's a GPS social tracking app that constantly monitors your location and speed.  This added a new fun factor to me, as it was interesting to see where all of the teams were at on the map.  A handful of teams were disqualified due to excessive speeding, because that is not what RNA events are about.  Good people, great cars, socializing and eating at good venues after the finish line each night, and the main purpose: raising as much money as possible for very well deserving charities and organizations...that is what it's all about 

 

If anyone is interested, the next event is July 2015, the Smoky Mountain Rally.  We will be raising money for Hope for the Warriors.  You better believe I have big plans for the little blue Sonoma this winter...based on the charity and my profession, I'm feeling a military theme is in the works. Thanks for looking and stay tuned!

 

-DT

Edited October 19, 2014 by psu goat