Whisker’s Big Day at the Ghouls Gambol Rally

For over 50 years, Ghosts, Goblins, Spooks, Spirits, the Dead, the Undead, and even those that WISHED they were dead, have returned to haunt the Cascade Sports Car Club (CSCC) Halloween Rally. Like many road rallies today, it carries a rich history (some may say long and varied). Decorative dash plaques can be found in many a racer’s den or trophy room sporting witches and bats. To think that 30 years ago, entries were capped at 100 cars!

In 2018, the CSCC event saw 17 entries, with almost half the field in costume, including the cars themselves and even some haunted checkpoints. Of note was a Smokey and the Bandit Subaru Impreza, replete with a mustached “Burt” and a navigator in a wedding dress. There were two Zombie doctors, and even an Ace Ventura driving a rhino (who failed to make the start…). The story of Whisker’s the Cat was told in the checkpoint slips.

How did these early events attract so many entries? (see the dash plaques) Sure, there were just more people out enjoying their cars in the past, and many chose rally as their outlet. But “back-in-the-day” the Cascade Sports Car Club had a great system in place. In order for a ROAD racer to win a championship, they needed WORKER points along with racing wins to take home the big trophy. So racers spent the season on the track, but as fall descended, they realized that they needed to WORK an event to win the championship. So when Halloween came, they lined up by the score to man checkpoints, become haunted house monsters, or to help build the sets. With so many workers and great attractions, the entries poured in. Alas, those days are gone, but the spirit of the rally lives on.

This year, at one checkpoint, navigators had to reach into a bowl of slimy “worms” to pull out their Check Point critique slip (wet wipes provided). Prizes were awarded to best-dressed team and best-decorated car.  Teams had an option to stop at the haunted corn maze and pumpkin patch before heading to the Rogue Brew Pub in North Plains, Oregon for the awards.

The rally dished out more tricks than treats to contestants. Rallymasters Monte and Victoria Saager, laughed maniacally and rubbed their hands during the driver’s meeting.  The fun began with a classic ODO trap, take 30 minutes to complete NRI 14, yadda, yadda but the ODO check ended on instruction 13…  Then there were 2 NRI’s (Numbered Route Instructions) out of sequence.  The next diabolical trick was a note saying to PAUSE 1 MINUTE if the distance between NRI 30 and NRI 31 was more than a mile. Most teams paused, but the eventual winners told me that they estimated that the distance between the two NRI’s was about an inch or less (as printed in the Route Instructions). There were a total of 9 traps (tricks?) over 4 legs. Here is one more for you to ponder:

NRI 19 RIGHT @ Second OPP (opportunity)

NRI 20 Replace the word “Second” with the word “First” in NRI 19

(The scores are shown below)