Most of the Mother Road Rally participants will be seen again at the Hemmings ...

Our Hemmings Speedster, driven by publisher Jim Menneto and navigator Mari Parizo, recently completed its first competition for the 2009 rally season by participating in the Mother Road Rally along Route 66 in Joplin, Missouri. While our new race car didn’t win, we did have a very respectable finish. Out of 30 cars, our speedster finished 23rd, but only 1 minute and 26.31 seconds out of first place. Eventual winners “Team Fredette” won with a total score only 21.24 seconds off perfect time. The Fredettes had a DNF on the last leg of the first day, however, when Mother Road rally officials were tallying total scores, the single worst score for a leg on days 1 and 2 were thrown out. The winners barely squeaked out a victory, defeating ”Team Jason” by only .54 second based on their car’s vintage. In vintage rally racing, the older the vehicle, the more leniency you get when calculating final scores. The Fredettes received a .59 calculating factor based on the year of their car (1928 Ford Speedster) while the second place team received a .66 calculating factor based on their 1935 Ford coupe. Our ‘34 Speedster times were calculated at .63. When your total time off perfect time is multiplied by this factor, you get your final score. So, even though the second place team was 3 seconds closer to perfect time, they missed the winners circle because their car was 6 years newer. Our team logged several legs within 10 seconds of official time, however, no coveted aces for the Hemmings crew.

Most of the Mother Road Rally participants will be seen again at the Hemmings Vintage Car Rally which will take place in Springfield, Missouri, from June 21 to June 26. Race teams accumulate points throughout 2009 by participating in these and other events including the Coker Challenge and at years end, a 2009 rally race season champion will be named.

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