Rally Convoy Primer!

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Maplehawk
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Rally Convoy Primer!

Post by Maplehawk » Sun Jul 21, 2002 3:27 pm

:D This is a reprint of Matt Bennet's recap of the 2001 eastbound convoy to Norwalk to give you an idea of what fun you could be having. For info on the 2002 plans go here:

:arrow: http://www.thebennettcompanies.com/norwalk2002.htm

FIREHAWK RALLY CONVOY RECAP
By Matt Bennet

First off, I would like to thank everyone who attended the 2001 Firehawk Rally, and especially those who participated in the Eastbound Convoy. All of you contributed to another awesome rally and trip out there for me. A special thanks to Jason for helping me keep them all together and in line, and one to Jeff Kasper, who drove the whole way from California, after some coaxing that is was ok to drive with the not yet broken in 383 combo. He was free to attend even though he doesn't have a Firehawk (just a WS6) but he does have a GTX and he joined us for the first convoy in '99. Those who participated in the convoy are as follows:

Bob and Shelley Deffenbaugh, California
Jeff Kasper and girlfriend Allison, California
Dale Rice, Kansas
Myself, Cindy Haas (fiancee), brother Mark, Iowa
Jason and Karen Uehling, Iowa
Mike Webber, Iowa
Dave and Miriam Grimes, Iowa
Gerry Coleman and Connie Femrite, Wisconsin
Bruce Rudolph, Wisconsin
Robert Wehrman, Minnesota
Bill & Vickie Ball, Illinois
Dan & Emina Mitic, Illinois
Ron & Chong Shriner, Indiana
Frank & Betty Ellias, Michigan
Randy Rupp, Michigan
Joe Chen, Ontario
Mac Logan & Tom Turner, Alberta

I sincerely hope you all had a good time with so many Hawks on the road at one time and I hope you all decide to participate again next year. I know I'm looking forward to it! Emails will arrive early next year to all the participants to gauge interested in joining again.

Our trip started from Des Moines late Thurs afternoon, once Jeff Kasper made an appearance and agreed to join us for the trip to the Illinois border since he wasn't that tired. It turns out we would be missing Dale Rice on the first leg, since he had to pull his annual, get the car from the body shop at the last minute routine. As Jason, Jeff and myself approached Iowa City, I was fortunate enough to evade a Semi who decided he needed in my lane worse than I did, yet his front tire came awfully close to my quarter panel but managed to evade it just in time.

We arrived in Geneseo, Ill. for the stay over, and were met at the hotel by Dave and Miriam Grimes, sans Firehawk, it's on order. Friday morning came with a surprise, as Mike Webber decided to make the trip, after thinking he was going to miss it (Thanks Rhonda!), as well as Dale Rice pulling an all-niter to get to the hotel at 4:30 am for about 2 hrs sleep! You are the man.

We headed for our first pick up point to meet Bob Deffenbaugh, all the way from California. This is Bob's second trip here in the 4 years I have been attending. Definitely deserves some credit for making the drive not to mention doing so in a Firehawk that was 1 day old when he left California. We manage to pick up a tag along Pewter Hawk with Colorado plates, but he didn't pull off with us at our destination to pick up Bob. If he is a member, drop me an email. We were also greeted by Bill Ball, who decided to join us a little earlier, which is fine...the more we have the better it is.

By now it was a little after 8 am, and we already had 6 Firehawks, one WS6, and one Buick...or Cadillac however you look at it. Our next route took us on a little detour to Joliet to avoid the road construction, and we detoured Gerry Coleman and Bruce Rudolph to our new meeting point, and picked them up. 8 Firehawks strong and a few great one liners on the radios and one memorable one thanks to Gerry.

We manage to get thru Chicago without any major mishaps, thankfully. Picked up Robert Wehrman in his purple 95, at a rest stop just outside of Chicago, and met Dragan Mitic in the loud, but awesome sounding 10th Ann. On we rolled, managing to miss many attempts by troopers to keep the Hawks under the speed limit, but we wouldn’t be denied. Of course, as many Valentines as we had in the cars we should have been able to pick them up early.

Onward, drawing plenty of smiles, thumbs-up, and honks from people we passed. Some of the CB talk Dale was passing along was pretty good as well.

We picked up another member of the group in Ron 'Chief' Shriner, at a gas stop in Indiana. By this point we were at 11 Firehawks, one WS6, and a Buick. Onward to meet Mr. Firehawk, who for some strange reason called me earlier that morning while standing outside the Henry Ford Museum ....I'm still trying to find a reason why he was at a FORD museum !!

The only error we managed was in the time we gave to those across the time zone. Seems I forgot to correct for the hour ahead. Oh well, can't be perfect, otherwise I wouldn't have anything to shoot for next year.

As we approached Toledo, Mac informed me everyone was ready. Joining up were Randy Rupp, Frank Ellias, Mac, and Joe Chen in another 10th from Canada, who happened to get to the rendezvous just in time. The best part was as we approached Toledo all of us managed to sneak up on Chuck Bradford, along I-80, and got him to join before we picked up Mac and the rest of them. One more unexpected addition was great.

We arrived at the Norwalk turn off, just in time to see our new found State Police escort attempting to join the high speed convoy. I merely waved at him and smiled, but the look on his face to see us all pulling off was pure joy! Got off the Turnpike, everyone made it and managed to pull into a parking lot of a factory next to a dealership. We were surprised by a guest from SLP, Mr. Dave Hamburger, who just happened to be heading from the track and saw all of us. Got plenty of pictures but 1 Hawk missed the turn off to be in the pictures.

All in all another eventful trip over to Norwalk. Pictures of 14 Firehawks and one WS6 was pretty impressive. 15 total Firehawks, Jeff's WS6, and 2 other cars in the convoy made for the best trip out there yet. I got plenty of video and some good photos. You can view the pictures at http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumInd ... 638103&f=0
Hopefully after I return from Hawaii, I'll start editing the video. (ed Matt is getting hitched Sept 8)

Mike W. "The east-bound caravan is more fun than you can imagine (great job Matt). If you live anywhere west of Norwalk, be sure to join in next year."

Jason "Had a great time in the convoy again, props to Matt IFBA for organizing it again. What a huge one we had this year!"

Bill Ball "We had a blast!"

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