The Austin-Healey Club of America, Midwest Region, presented us with, well, let’s be nice and say a “different” kind of rally the day before the Brit Car Fest. This was something called a Texas Bell Curve Rally. In general, it was timed between two check points, the top and bottom 10% of the elapsed times were tossed out, the rest were averaged, and the car finishing closest to the average elapsed time wins.

In other words, it was a crap shoot. There wasn’t much you could do to improve on pure chance, but there were some things you could do to make things worse. Apparently it’s not good to park or get lost for 20 minutes. Also not good to start last and proceed to pass several cars in front of you. When the last half of the pack hussled a bit to cluster together in a fairly close caravan with the mid starters, it made the early starters look late.

The good news is that 20 cars entered, and the rally distance was about 125 miles (if you didn’t get lost). So collective mileage was at least 2500 miles, and none of the cars broke down. I’d like to say they all finished, but apparently a couple of cars called in and went home. Well, okay, Barney’s MGA did twist off a half shaft two blocks from home, but that wasn’t part of the rally, and it was repaired in time for the British Car Festival the next day. To top it all off it was a very nice day for a cruise, and a good time was had by all (even if a few may not want to admit it).

Seconds Driver/Navigator Car Elapsed Elapsed Time -Average Place Frank Cartwright 1969 TR6 7620 11.692 1 Tom & Diane Berger 1974 TR6 7628 19.692 2 Joe & Maureen Cacciatore 1969 Jaguar XKE 7578 -30.308 3 Russ Fitch & Mary Warren 1979 MGB 7718 109.692 4 Steve & Beth Gurr 1978 MGB 7448 -160.308 5 David & Michaela Lieb 1972 MG Midget 7770 161.692 6 Steve Domeratious & Al Keil 1986 Jaguar XJ6 7810 201.692 7 Barney Gaylord 1958 MGA 7811 202.692 8 Larry Czachor & Heidi Horst 1971 MGB 7405 -203.308 9 Marty Thomas & Dan Anderson 1963 AH 3000 7379 -229.308 10 Mike Schickler 1962 AH Sprite 7278 -330.308 11 Mike & Sandy Shuck 1973 MGB 7243 -365.308 12 John & Claudia Teschky 1986 Jaguar XJS 7151 -457.308 Bern Biondo 1976 TR6 8220 611.692 13 Ken & Barb Olendzki 2002 Mini Cooper 6990 -618.308 Dan & Steven Brantley 1978 MGB 8353 744.692 Kathleen Meader & Mark Wirta 1979 MGB 9307 1698.692 Jon Fraleigh & Rom Mochizuri 1975 Jaguar XKE DNF Doug Clark 1953 MGTF DNF Press on Regardless Award Average Time of Qualified Cars 7608.308