Mike Bennett (left),
Detroit Region’s
RoadRally school lead
instructor, Mark
Henderson (center),
event chairman, and
John Fishbeck (right),
the school’s practice
events rallymaster.
changes. The rally school half-hour
registration period began at 10 a.m.,
followed by the first classroom session.
Although the paper handouts gave way
to transparencies quite a few years ago,
Fishbeck provided the latest technology
update to a PowerPoint presentation
run on a flat-panel television.
Attendance at the school has varied
from 15 to 40 students with a record
65 showing up at Sterling Heights one
year. This year’s 15 students started
with the traditional “What is a TSD
car RoadRally and how to do it,” notes
Henderson. Nearly all students who
have attended the school over the
years had never run a RoadRally.
Following the initial classroom
session, students made their first run
on the rally route trying to just follow
the course. Henderson noticed a new,
red “Mini Cooper on steroids” driven
by Jill Raymer. “It sat well off the ground
with rally lights up front and rally tires,
to boot!” She attended without a
navigator, but David Harkcom offered to
ride along on the practice rally.
Henderson explained that the rally
was less than an hour long. Even
though it was a course following run,
in keeping with rally tradition, cars
were sent out at one-minute intervals.
Students returned with lots of
conversations and questions. “A quick
debriefing and [question and answer]
session ended with lunch.”
The afternoon began with
instructors explaining how to keep the
car on time while running a RoadRally.
That hour of instruction ended with a
second trip over the practice rally route,
this time attempting to stay on course
and on time. More experienced “rally
regulars were at the out markers to
answer questions from the students,”
adds Henderson. After returning to the
event headquarters, the event was
discussed, participant questions
answered, scoring completed and the
informal results obtained. The event
concluded before 4 p.m.
ON RALLYING
ROADRALLY BY RICK BEA T TIE
CONTINUING
EDUCATION
Not many SCCA regions can claim an annual event that has been staged continuously for 30
years. Detroit Region’s RoadRally
program can claim an unexpected one.
For at least 20 years, and the total may
be closer to 30, the region has presented
an annual rally school. While the
stated purpose is teaching people the
sport of RoadRallying, its durability has
much to do with it being an event for
all the region’s RoadRally competitors.
The school is a midday event of
classroom instruction and driving
time on a practice RoadRally. For the
past three years, the location of the
event headquarters necessitated
running the practice rally in an area
of high traffic congestion and
metropolitan buildup. Also, the paved
roads and multiple traffic lights were
not typical of Detroit Region events.
Mark Henderson has nearly 40 years
of experience as an Equipped Class
competitor. He took over the
chairmanship for this year’s March 26
event in the traditional way; he brought
these location issues to the attention of
the organizers who then offered him
the job. Ken Wiedbusch, the region rally
director, and Mike Bennett, the rally
school chairman, “both politely asked
me if I would be interested in taking
the rally school in a new direction,”
relates Henderson. John Fishbeck
agreed to write the rally and Bennett
agreed to continue as chief instructor.
Henderson knew that “the rally
school, like all RoadRally events,
required significant time and effort
preparing materials, promoting the
event, pre-running the rally route and
meeting various deadlines.” Promotion
alone required flyers to be sent out and
postings made to numerous websites
and message forums. Through the
committee’s contacts with local
colleges, flyers were sent to campus
sports car and racing clubs for posting
on their websites.
The event has had its headquarters
all over southeast Michigan. Moving
the venue from Sterling Heights, Mich.,
to a restaurant north of Ann Arbor
allowed Fishbeck to write the rally for
typical TSD rally roads in the
Pinckney State Recreation Area.
Not only has the rally evolved
throughout the event’s history, but the
classroom portion has also seen
CONTACT RICK BEATTIE
RLBArchitect@gmail.com
JOHN FISHBECK