2006 Texas 1000 Road Rally

I just returned from a week of car guy/gal heaven, and wanted to post my experience. I started this week last Saturday, running Tillman's fantastic route in the SW area of town. What a fun mix of cars, and that added bonus turn was a big plus. Did about 250 mile that day door to door.

Got with my buddy Lambo Mark, aka dryhole, and we flew to Midland to start the Texas 1000 Vintage/Exotic Road Rally. About the only thing we knew was that Bill Neale, automotive artist par excellance, had been with this group 4 other times, and was going. That was good enough for us.

We were picked up by one of the "wranglers", 10 workers that drove Porsche Cayennes, (2 turbo's) to do whatever is needed. Dinner was under a B-29 at the Commemerative Air Force Museum, and we received our notebooks with all routes and information, and a little instruction on the rally timing, which we planned on not doing. Nice meet and greet, and got to talk about Ford GT's with two present owners.

The daily drill is leaving out between 8 and 9, and driving a couple hours to lunch, and another 2-3 hours in the afternoon. We stopped at the historic Fort Stockton for lunch, and ended the day at the Hotel Paisano in Marfa.
We were driving the 355 Spider in the event, and right before lunch there was a 49 mile stretch where I followed a 959, a 911 cabrio, and a 2007 Shelby Hertz Mustang. It was great watching this group traverse the long sweepers, and great straights, with lots of topography mixed in for interest.

At the Hotel, it was fun to see all the cars together for the first time. Some of the more fun cars were:

Year ? Ferrari Superamerica (from Collier Collection in Naples, once owned by Enzo himself)
1968 Lotus Seven Series 3
1969 Morgan 4/4 Super Sports
1974 Ferrari 246 GTS Dino
1966 Shelby Cobra 427
1966 Ford Terlingua Mustang
1974 Mercedes 280 Se 3.5
1964 Corvette Sting Ray
1967 Corvette Sting Ray
1966 Ferrari 275 GTS ( 75 year old driver drove his ass off)
1968 Ferraru 330 GTC
19725 Porsche 922
1987 Porsche 959 ( with 8,000 miles on it)
1989 Porsche 944 S2
1996 Corvette Grand Sport
2006 Corvette Z06
1990 BMW Z1
1995 Ferrari 355 Spider
2007 Hertz Shelby Mustang

Along with this group, was Tom Meunier, and owner of Exotic Car Transport, and a small team of mechanics. If they couldn't get you car running, you could put it one of the 2 trailers, and drive one of 6 cars Porsche of North America had generously supplied. A Cayenne Turbo, 3- 911's, a Boxster and a Caymen S. Mark took the Caymen on a 100 mile stretch, and really liked it.
Lastly you had the baggage truck, who put your bags in the room before you arrived in the evening. No check in, just pick up the key. Super easy!

After dinner, we got to tour the studio of famous "cutaway" artist David Kimble. He had great stories to tell, including being refused a visit to draw the F40 in Italy, only to find one in the US getting certification, and doing his work there. He raced cars and motorcycles in his past, and had some nice bikes there to view. He had to learn to dis-assemble cars to be able to give his cutaways the depth that make his so special. Enough talking, here's some day 1 pics.

Day One Mileage - 321 Miles
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Stopped by Fort Davis on the way to lunch at the McDonald Observatory. When we got to the top, there was a sign stating it was the highest spot in the Texas Highway system. Long distance views from up there. From there we went 175 miles south to Lajitas. The last 50 miles was called the River Road (Fm 170) and was a great winding roads with about 75 whoop di doos thrown in. These were for runoff during the infrequent rains down there, and had some steep up and downs to keep the stomach tight. The trailer guys said they were catching air with the tires some were so steep. Lots of blind hill cresting too, making it a heavy concentration type of road. The Lajitas Resort was built by an Austin developer, Steve Smith, and he has plunked in excess of $234 mil making his own oasis in the high desert. Put in a runway for commercial jets, and may be getting service there soon. Top quality surroundings and meals made it a good home for the next 2 nights.

The next day was our Big Bend tour. Saw amazing rock mountains jutting up out of nowhere, and some great canyons tool Rugged land that has so much texture, it was a great first visit there. It was also the only place I got radar'ed the whole trip. We had been warned of the strict 45 mph speed limit in the National Park, and 2 of our group got warnings.

Ended the afternoon at Terlingua Ghost Town, home of the yearly Chili Cookoff's. The specal part was the presence of Bill Neale, who along with Shelby and Tom Tierney, also a Dallasite, started the Terlingua Chili Cookoffs (and wild party) 40 years ago this year. Today there were 8 of us in town, but next week 8,000 + will descend on this tiny, out of the way rockpile to do it one more time. We mostly ran with the 959 and the Terlingua Mustang the next several day, which was fine by me.

Day 2 mileage - 250 Miles
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Day 3 - 150 miles
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Day 4 sent us from Lajitas to Ft Stockton and on to Midland for our longest day, 385 miles. The reward was ending at Chaparral Cars, with dinner at the Petroleum / Chaparral Museum.

The 355 had performed flawlessly until day 2 when 3 cars got some bad gas. A can of "heat" seemed to fix it until day 4. After filling up in Terlingua, where they don't sell much premium. we had multiple problem, with the 1-4 slowdown happning too much. We took the easy way out. We put it on the trailer and drove a red 911 S the final 175 miles. Great ride, but maybe not that much greater than the better looking to me Caymen S.

With dryhole putting us out in front of the pack, we pulled up to Chaparral Cars an hour early. I pulled in the spot by the door, and saw a gentlemen talking to the timing point check in people. I hollered over, " Is it allright to park here?". He ambled over and said "Sure, it's the boss's spot but she's not here right now. Hi, I'm Jim Hall." He had to rush off to pack for a trip, but promised more visit later. We walked out to Rattlesnake Raceway, behind the modest shops, and felt we were on hallowed ground. Jim said it wasn't worth keeping up for 20 laps a year, so he has let it go.

That night we ate amongst the Chaparral's at the magnificent museum they built for Jim. Can Am racing was the top of the sport in my opinion, and I was racing my Cox Chaparral and reading every car magazine I could, as he changed the sport of auto racing forever. His parents had died in a plane crash when he was 17, and he had to take over the family oil business at that young age. He and Hap Sharp teamed up in '61 and stared playing around with aerodynamics and downforce. Lots of rudimentary measurments, and trial and error, but when he got it right look out! Bill told a story where often the last mechanic leaving the car at the start of the race, would reach in Jim's pocket and remove the slide rule Jim had just been using. The displays are well done, and you can sit in a mock up of a car. The night was a boyhood dream come true.

The whole trip was so much more that I imagined it would be. The drivers all shared a love of cars, and each group had amazing stories to tell. There were all ages there, and our heroes were the 75+ couples driving the 275 GTS and the 959. I hope I'm doing the same thing at that age.

So ends a week where Mark and I put on 1,300 miles plus in exotics of some form. It never got long, and I know it will not be my last with this group.
They do a West Virginia tour (Greenbriar), and a Northeast/Canada run also.
Rich and Jean, who put on this labor of love are to be commended for making it truly and all inclusive week of fun. Take a look at www.vintagerallies.com, it was worth every cent! It was a week I won't forget.
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The Z1 is west coast, and the 959 resides in the Northeast.

 

Thanks guys, it was a special event for me.

A couple more stories. If you saw the Star Trek Ship design, David was hired by Star Trek The Movie to design all the models for the production. It was top secret stuff, that he had to keep in a safe, as several magazines were trying to scoop the designs. He was a little Trekkish himself.

Bill got Shelby on the line while we were in Terlingua, and started with "I bet you can't guess where I am right now Shel". The Shelby shop wanted to give him a birthday present one year, so they found a beater Pinto Wagon, installed a 289 Cobra engine, and set up the suspension to squat in the rear. They filled the wagon up with moving boxes floor to ceiling so it would look laden down. Shelby pickup Bill up at LAX, and had to yell his name before Bill realized he was being picked up in this piece of junk. He said Shelby love taunting Porsches, and then blowing their doors off in the car.

The Cobra was really loud and also a lot of fun to follow. Soon after receiving the car he ran it at the Historics at Laguna Seca. Said there were 40 Cobra's on the grid, way too crowded, and on his way up the hill to the corkscrew he hit a cloud of dust from someone who had gone off course. He had to brake hard to avoid cars, and found himself heading directly for a concrete wall on the left. He was uninjured, but the car was gone for a long time getting repaired at the Shelby factory. He's back competing again, so he got back on that horse.

 

So my Texas 1000 navigator , Mark C. (dryhole) found this on an old hard drive and passed it on to me. Great memories, and a bunch of these photos were mine.

RIP Bill Neale, you are greatly missed.