by Ken Frey
First, let me thank all the people who helped me put the rally together. My thanks to Co-Chairman Dave Trezza who cold ran the rally, helped write a couple instructions I was having a problem defining and helping me put up the Bunny signs. My thanks to Diane Mays who could not run the rally due to a schedule conflict. She cold ran the rally and spent Sunday helping me pick up the signs so I could get with family and celebrate Father’s Day. Thanks to Debbi and Gary Kanzler for doing the rally registration. My thanks to Frank Cardone for designing and ordering the dash plagues and manning the Checkpoint with me. Thanks to Ed McGuirk for showing up to work and helping us at the checkpoint. Thanks also to Jesse Lipscher who took my raw data and turned it into results.
All the Bunny signs were seen by rallyists and were picked up the following day. It was a very tight competition with only three points separating the top two teams. Eric Trautmann and Allison Colon led the competitors followed by WSCC members Gary and Debbi Kanzler. Not too far behind were Brian Johnston and Sean Johnston. The next WSCC team after the Kanzlers were members Mike Caroll and Tim Farrelly in seventh place, then club members Don Mays and Mark Connelly in eighth place. Club members Jesse Lipscher and Barbara Gebela ended in tenth place.
The hero of the rally is Grandma. All hail Grandma!!! Her son, Dennis Byrnes, showed up and registered as the driver with his Mom, Terry Byrnes, as the navigator. It was a family affair with Dennis’s niece in the back seat along with her boyfriend so they could see and learn what rallying was all about. Behind them in another car was Dennis’s son and daughter. The family has been rallying for about 35 years. They remember starting rallies at the Kensico Dam. When Grandma and her team got out of the car at the finish, she was all smiles as she walked with her cane into the restaurant. I commented that she looked very happy. Her response was ”I like to win!” How well did Grandma do? Grandma missed the time by only five seconds and was the only competitor to nail the mileage. The penalty of the two people in the back seat gave that car 1000 penalty points or it would have been a slam dunk win for the Byrnes team. Seventeen of the eighteen cars finished the rally. It was nice to hear a number of people say they enjoyed the rally route, showing them some new roads and new big houses.
We look forward to seeing you all at the Fall Rally on October 13 and Annual Turkey Tour on November 17. Have a great summer!