Words and photos by James Heine

On a fine June day, few things beat a pleasant drive in the country, especially in the company of fellow sports car enthusiasts. That was true in spades June 3-4, 2023, in Wisconsin, when Milwaukee Region hosted a double National RoadRally weekend that covered some 360 miles of serpentine Badger State roads.

The two RoadRallies – the Roads Scholar National Course Rally on Saturday and the Roads Scamper National Touring Rally on Sunday – are each previous best-rally-of-the-year winners and events teams look forward to each year.

“My goal for hosting a rally is simple: provide an entertaining motorsport experience for every contestant,” explains Roads Scholar/Roads Scamper chairman/rallymaster Jim Crittenden. “That experience starts two weeks before the rally when they receive the General Instructions – the document that explains the rally rules – and it ends when they depart for home after the awards ceremony.”

In RoadRallying, he adds, “We have the challenge of precision driving while playing a game – the game of finding your way along an unknown route and trying to arrive at each checkpoint at exactly the right time. We get to explore new roads in a car we love to drive. Unlike other motorsports, we have the added fun of sharing this adventure with our rally partner.”

As organized by Crittenden and his committee, the June 3-4 weekend began with registration Friday evening in picture-perfect Verona, WI, with teams rallying west on Saturday to finish the Roads Scholar rally in historic Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi River. Sunday morning saw teams reverse course and depart Prairie du Chien on a winding Roads Scamper route that led them eventually to a finish at the Dorf Haus Supper Club in Roxbury, WI, just outside Madison.

Of the weekend, veteran Oklahoma Region rallyist Jim Duea noted he particularly enjoyed the format of Roads Scholar Course rally, “where contestants are given a free zone to figure out the traps rather than having to run on time with the pressure of figuring out the correct course,” he observed.

We caught up with the Roads Scamper Touring Rally Sunday morning in Prairie du Chien and shared in the day’s smile-producing roads and great scenery while taking the photos featured here.

Roads Scholar and Roads Scamper Winners

Roads Scholar: GPS, Satish Gopalkrishnan/Savera D’Souza, Mercedes-Benz; Equipped, Steve Gaddy/Chris Bean, Chevrolet; Limited, Jeanne English/Karl Broberg, Nissan; Stock, Jim Wakemen, Sr./Rich Bireta, Mazda

Roads Scamper: GPS, Satish Gopalkrishnan/Savera D’Souza, Mercedes-Benz; Equipped, Steve Gaddy/Chris Bean, Chevrolet; Limited, Bob Morseburg/Bruce Gezon, MINI; Stock, David Swanson/Jason Hack, Ford

Event results can be found on SCCA’s National/Divisional RoadRally results page.