Old Fashioned VW Rally?

[skycop60]

What ever happened to good old fashioned VW Rallies, where you had a navigator and map for completing a fun course laid out by fellow VW or NB people?

I can recall, which obviously shows my age, joining a friend with his VW and spending nearly a full afternoon looking for the elusive billboard with a frog on it somewhere so we could move to the next checkpoint. These were not timed courses with high performance bugs but simply friends and enthusiasts sharing a afternoon of friendly competition.

Anyone else remember them? or possibly reviving them for the DFW area?

[dmbluebeetle]

I've never been in one, but it sounds like fun. what more do you remember about doing one?

[skycop60]

They were essentially a scenic drive and timed competition. Not the sophisticated speed type of competition, but a leisure type. The course could be anywhere from 2 to 25 miles and usually started in the morning so you could all wind up with the last point on the map being a lunch stop. Maps were very detailed but contained fun things; like turn left at the frog and proceed 2.5 miles till you reach the green turtle. Then along the way were stationed check points to punch or mark your map. Winner usually got a neat prize like dinner for two or a trophy and two complementary tickets to a show. Mostly just fun.

You had a navigator they took care of directions. What made it fun was you didn't get the map until the start of the race. There may be several maps so no one knew for sure which map you would get. Same course, but different directions. We didn't have GPS back then, so the navigator had to keep track of the mileage at the beginning and at each checkpoint. That also contributed to the fun. Afterward we would all share our problems and of course blame our navigator for all the missed turns and checkpoints.

I'm not sure it could be done today because of all the competitiveness and win at all costs attitude. But then of course I could be wrong. Just plain fun is possible, right?

[Cameron_Talley]

We've done them at Roswell a few times. They are great fun. As long as you and your navigator don't try to strangle each other (sorry mom!).

[dmbluebeetle]

I'll have to investigate this further. Sounds like a fun GTG event.