We wish a happy and safe Thanksgiving to all. This TBT reminds us to be thankful for our right to have fun with cars, along with the friends that come from SCCA events.
From the January 1964 issue of SportsCar, by Dave Gulick:
Everyone in the Southern Illinois Region eagerly awaits that one Sunday in the fall of the year after all the cows are moved to winter pasture around Alhambra, Illinois. As soon as Ken Suhre knows that his father has the annual chore accomplished, he notifies the rest of the SIR members and we are off to the BASCH. (Don’t ask me why it’s spelled that way—we still spell rallye with an E, too.)
The long period of drought which covered much of the country added an unusual touch this year since we had previously been concerned with mud.
We understand that Mr. Suhre is applying for federal aid on his property after our last Basch, declaring the pasture a disaster area. Shades of the Dust Bowl! Any of the hardy souls who sneezed and coughed their way through the afternoon’s event would vote YES on the proposal, I’m sure. It didn’t make any difference what color the car and its occupants were at the beginning, everything was a nice shade of tan by the end of the day.
In fact, the dust was so thick, that you had to turn on your windshield wipers to see where you were going. And for those who brought along the picnic basket to nourish them through the day’s activities, there was nothing like a tan and cheese sandwich and that bottle of Pepsi, “chewed good like a Pepsi should.”
The course was an intricate one which used logs, stumps, bushes and small trees for the usual pylons to mark the way. The rolling terrain added no little interest as you found yourself dropping off or popping over a hill headed the wrong direction, unless you had memorized the route.
A last minute gung ho drive by Bob Brooks in his Austin-Healey stopped the timer at 2:01 to nose out a spectacular drive by Ralph Hoyt in his Mini-Minor at 2:02. The rest of the times were spread out rather closely to the 2:20 mark.
It’s a good thing that the concours season is over because it will take all winter to get all of the dust out of their cars.
