Carl Vogel has done it again—he put on a well organized, scenic, interesting, fun rally with the help from his children, grandchildren and friends. Unless you have organized a rally you have no idea the amount of work that is involved. You have to select the route, write out the directions/questions, check and recheck for clarity and correctness, worry about the weather and finally worry if anyone will show up.

This year Carl put in over 700 miles developing the route. Back in January he was able to pick the perfect day eight months into the future—storms the day before and after, with light cloud cover to keep down the heat and a breeze to keep down the humidity.

The Vintage MG Car Club and the Chicagoland MG Club were there in force to celebrate the event: an M-type, 8 T-types, an MGA, 7 MGBs, an RV8 and 4 “civilian” cars, for a total of 22. Also, as an encouraging sign for the future of our hobby, we had three generations of the Gerry Risner family rallying in a TF and a B.

Watches were synchronized, odometers zeroed. We were released in one minute intervals. Where did everyone go? There is that initial anxiety. What is the first direction? Okay, there’s the answer to the first question. I guess we’re on course. After awhile we settle down and can take a moment to enjoy the scenery. What’s that? An MG is coming from the other direction! Are they wrong or are we? Carl likes to over lap the route to keep us guessing.

Why Talley-Ho? It’s a fox hunt of course. This year the “fox union” graciously agreed to allow their members to participate. They positioned themselves along the route. It was our job to find them and record their location. There were five in total with one doing double duty.

As for the results, the T-types swept the top three spots: 1st-Maitzen TD, 2nd-Fischer TF, 3rd-Grossklags TD. There was a tie for 4th: Vogt in the M-Type and Wydra in a ’73 B. Trophies were awarded. Pick one—a large fox statue, a medium fox statue, or a lovely diamond and ruby fox pendant/keychain. Not all T-types did so well—the TD team of Riley/Diaz finally showed up after most of us had finished our lunch.

There was a second category of winners. The names of all those who had correctly located all the foxes where put in a hat. Two names were drawn by an impartial grandchild. Fischer and Maitzen made their selection from a choice of fox themed adult beverages.

Thank you Carl (and team) for a job well done.

~~ Ric Maitzen