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The Fox & Hound Rally
Dogs and Frogs and Bears…Oh My!
The “Fox & Hound” night rally, a joint NEOkla and Oklahoma Z Car Club event on Saturday night, Aug. 25, wasn’t won by the only Z car entered (Yours Truly), but we must have had the best adventure.
A night rally calls for spotting red-and-white reflective markers to determine which way to go at intersections, and to be sure you are still on course. Ideally, the navigator should be the only one watching for the reflective markers so the driver can concentrate on keeping the car between the ditches.
However, who can avoid trying to spot the markers just to back up the navigator? This leads to less than ideal attention to the road ahead—until you spot a pair of Beagles taking a nap smack in the middle of the highway! A stab at the brakes and a flick of the steering wheel saved the lives of the somnolent pups, and, no doubt, some expensive front-end damage to the 350Z.
Just as the adrenaline from the near miss was subsiding, we entered a tree-lined section of asphalt that seemed to be alive. Slowing dramatically to figure out if it was safe to proceed, we discerned in the high beams what must have been thousands of frogs crossing the road en masse. We cranked up the radio so we wouldn’t hear the crunching and proceeded very slowly. I didn’t want to have to pluck the critters out of my radiator.
Then another dog! This time it was a Tick Hound, perfectly camouflaged for the night, who ambled into our path. Simple straight-line braking saved his furry self, but the close call persuaded me to stop trying to spot reflective markers and pay exclusive attention to the road.
We took a wrong turn that got us into Sapulpa, so we had to pull into a parking lot to turn around. No sooner were we headed back to pick up the course again than I noticed an Oklahoma Highway Patrolman following us.
So, not only had we dealt with dogs and frogs, now we had a ‘bear’ on our tail. We hadn’t done anything illegal, but I was sweating bullets afraid that I had a taillight out, or he didn’t like my vanity plate—or something. The trooper followed us about two miles, then pulled into a private drive. He was only going home and we just happened to be in front of him.
Whew! Were we glad to see the finish line at the Fox & Hound Bar & Grill in Tulsa. The “Fox” took the ideal route of 40 miles, and laid out a ruse trail of 60 miles to keep the “Hounds” at bay. The first place trophy went to SCCA member Jeremy Utterback with his navigator Court Tortorici (and passengers Theresa Hudgens and Jo Dobbs) who completed the course with mileage of 46 miles. Having extra eyes to watch for reflective markers must help.
Second place (longest mileage for the evening) went to Brian Laughlin and his father with 54 miles on the clock.
Everyone had an adventure to relate, but none were as peculiar as those of the Ken Frakes and navigator/son Lee team. We finished somewhere near the middle of the six-car field, but no other entry even saw a cop the whole evening…and they won’t find out about the frogs until they wash their cars.
— Ken Frakes
2005 Daytona Blue 350Z
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