Fireball Rally

[karioth]

hey wassup guys, I talked to a few of you about this fireball rally im planning. Basically its like the gumball rally but for poor college kids. So far this is a solo effort on the planning/finances. Basically I wanted to know if you guys would be interested in sponsoring this event and/or entering cars. If I can get some sponsors we can do stuff like get car decals and small trophies for various superlatives. Also if any of you have some ideas on a destination that would be helpful, roads must have 2 lanes or more. Im considering elkton (west on 33) and Roanoke (south on 81) right now. Remember, its not a race, its a rally . Any questions IM me at "karioth" or post here, ill check it frlom time to time.

from my profile:
First Annual Fireball Rally 2004
Rally from Harrisonburg to Elkins WV (tenative)
Date: April 3 (tenative)
All cars/trucks/motorcycles/golf carts/go-karts are welcome!

Current Sign-ups
Drivers: 6
Co-Pilots: 4

Contact me if you wanna participate! Include name, type of ride, co-pilot name (if any), and contact info.

[.RJ]

I dont think it would be a good idea for a university sponsored club to advocate reckless driving....... it could be a quick end to our relationship with the University, which is getting better every year

Unless this is a TSD rally of sorts, but thats certainly not what Gumball was.

[G.Irish]

Well if you do something like this you're going to have to have a lot of organization and a lot of local support. Bottom line is that if you don't have a lot of controls in place people are going to be stupid.

If you could put together a legit event with a sanction possibly (to cover insurance/liability) it'd be pretty cool. Who all have you been working with/talking to?

[G.Irish]

Whoa, I missed the part about the Gumball Rally hock:

You'll have to do a lot of thinking things through if you are serious about it. There is no way we could endorse this if its not done properly because bottom line is bad shit happens, especially when you have people blasting around that may not know what they are doing behind the wheel. You may not be familiar with the UVA car club but they've had several crashes because of back road jackassery, one of them resulting in a hospital visit and a near death from bleeding. I had a backroads crash that costed several thousand dollars and I had been doing track events for a year by that time. To think that a bunch of college kids will have enough sense/skill to not fuck up in something like Gumball is, well, wishful thinking at best and a good way for someone to get hurt at worst.

Again if you're trying to do this the smart way then we'd be interested. If you're trying to do this the dumb way then I say 'go with God'.

[.RJ]

Just as a reminder of what happens when you act like a knob and on public roads, or how unpredictable the street can be....

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[KPWSerpiente]

I don't understand what the problem is.


1. You decide how long you want it to be (in distance and time).
2. You pick a starting point, and an ending point based on how long you've chosen the event to last. I think something scenic would be nice.
3. You select some well priced hotels to stay at a long the way and make the proper amount of reservations ahead of time.
4. Cars sign up (driver, co-driver) and pay an entrance fee which covers hotel rooms. Participants sign forms in which they will agree to abide by all traffic laws and will handle themselves in a responsible manner.
5. Rally is held, everyone has a good time.

You drive on the road every day. You don't get a ticket, get in an accident, or drive reckless every day do you?
Why is it assumed that a simple extended cruise in your car is going to provoke some kind of mishap.

Anyway, I'd be down dependong on date.

-T

[karioth]

the rally as i said is not intended to be a race. the "winner" is determined by who gets to the destination the closest to the target time, which is decided by mapquest. As for liability, right now it is up to darwinism, people must register before they can be part of the rally, all the people who have registered so far are friends of mine who I know can drive or follow the speed limit. We also turn away blind people, quadrapalegics, and most females.

[G.Irish]

I don't understand what the problem is.

The problem was the Gumball reference. The Gumbally Rally was most certainly not something that could be called safe or tame. *addendum* Another problem is that just because it is intended as a cruise does not mean people will behave. I'm sure everyone has read at least one story where a cruise went awry because of people showing off or being stupid, that's the nature of the beast. If it sounds like we're being safety nazis its because we've been there, seen that, and realize its stupid when bad stuff happens that is avoidable. *addendum*

If its a TSD rally then that's cool. I would be down for that. There are two races that weekend so I wouldn't be able to actually come but I think it might be a fun event for everyone, again, assuming its done with either a proper selection of people or proper measures in place to mitigate risk.

At any rate the rules/regs must be clearly articulated for the club to sponsor it per se. Even then we have to be very careful about how exactly we are affiliated. Most of you have no idea of the amount of trouble we had to go through in order to become a club just because of the liability issue.

[Chris]

We also turn away blind people, quadrapalegics, and most females.

1st of all, I know you're joking with this but that's pretty offensive. I see your idea with this Fireball Rally and its a cool idea, but our club has had a very tough time with the University because of the nature of our activities and the liability that comes with it. We cannot become an official "sport" through JMU bc of this and have to remain a club. As Gerald stated, we would like to know more about this once you can come up with the liability to cover this.

Our main focus in this club is the motorsport aspect. I'd seriously recommend you and your friends come check out a track event and enter in the High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) program. This way you can learn to drive at high speeds on track and test your car's limit in a controlled area. I would bet money you would have a lot more fun on track than on the street. Let us know what you decide and if we can help you out.

[karioth]

Also I think some peopel are confused about the duration of this, the plan is to rally somewhere about 100 miles away (maybe roanoke, elkton, etc.) then we'll have a dinner / awards ceremony, and come back as a group that evening, then go to an after-party. No hotels or anything needed. This is a pretty short event, and as for liability, well i cant control anyone elses driving but as i said earlier, the peopel registered so far are all friends of mine, and i assumed that people in MM would be proficient enough at driving to do this. And yes I did plan to have a meeting beforehand to give people tips on how to get there closest to the mark time, avoid tickets, suggest a route etc.

anything else ?

[G.Irish]

Also I think some peopel are confused about the duration of this, the plan is to rally somewhere about 100 miles away (maybe roanoke, elkton, etc.) then we'll have a dinner / awards ceremony, and come back as a group that evening, then go to an after-party. No hotels or anything needed. This is a pretty short event, and as for liability, well i cant control anyone elses driving but as i said earlier, the peopel registered so far are all friends of mine, and i assumed that people in MM would be proficient enough at driving to do this. And yes I did plan to have a meeting beforehand to give people tips on how to get there closest to the mark time, avoid tickets, suggest a route etc.

anything else ?

Ok, now that you've elaborated I feel better about the idea. You may be able to get some precise timing equipment from Blue Ridge or WDC SCCA. Or you could use a synchronized watch system. Any ideas for routes? How many people do you want to be in this event? Entry fees? Do you want to measure time by stage or time by total transit? How many volunteers will you need?

[Maengelito]

i think if people want to do it, thats fine, but there is no way that MM could endorse this. we're not saying you cant do this, its just really sketchy for this group to get our names associated with it. personally, i think it probably would be fun, but like chris said earlier, going to the track is much more fun and probably a lot safer as well. come participate in an autocross or hpde and learn from instructors and professionals.

[Dave]

I think it would probably be best that MM not badge thier name on this, just to keep us from being liable in any way.
That being said, if it is done correctly it has potential to be safe AND a lot of fun. If MMers want to participate, there shouldn't be any problem in that. There also isn't any problem in organizing this or advertising the event on our board in the attempt to get people to sign up, just like any other forum. However, I believe that is as far as our club should go in terms of being involved. Furthermore, if any MMers decide to participate, I would highly recommend that you not wear any MM gear on the trip so that you won't risk any kind of conjunction with the event. Back when I was on a school sponsored team, we were warned to not even smoke while in any kind of team clothing, and I would expect the same from our members.

[G.Irish]

Furthermore, if any MMers decide to participate, I would highly recommend that you not wear any MM gear on the trip so that you won't risk any kind of conjunction with the event. Back when I was on a school sponsored team, we were warned to not even smoke while in any kind of team clothing, and I would expect the same from our members.

Does this mean I shouldn't wear my MM gear at the strip club or brothel?

[Dave]

those are acceptable venues if you ask me G .
I was saying we should be held to quite the high standard of a varsity sports team, since we sure aren't getting an assload of money from JMU, but I don't think we should risk our name with an event that has this much potential for damaging the rep that we have been building. Not saying it'll happen, but there is a higher chance of it than in normal everyday driving.

[Mike]

Does this mean I shouldn't wear my MM gear at the strip club or brothel?

Yes, for the simple fact that you might get stains on it.

[.RJ]

Most of you have no idea of the amount of trouble we had to go through in order to become a club just because of the liability issue.

It still gives me heartburn...... Even though we got the club recognized, they take liability very very seriously, alot more than we think they should. Why? It only takes one accident for them to be looking at a $20 million lawsuit.

RJ- who will be at Mid-Ohio April 3rd he thinks hock:

[karioth]

Also I think some peopel are confused about the duration of this, the plan is to rally somewhere about 100 miles away (maybe roanoke, elkton, etc.) then we'll have a dinner / awards ceremony, and come back as a group that evening, then go to an after-party. No hotels or anything needed. This is a pretty short event, and as for liability, well i cant control anyone elses driving but as i said earlier, the peopel registered so far are all friends of mine, and i assumed that people in MM would be proficient enough at driving to do this. And yes I did plan to have a meeting beforehand to give people tips on how to get there closest to the mark time, avoid tickets, suggest a route etc.

anything else ?

Ok, now that you've elaborated I feel better about the idea. You may be able to get some precise timing equipment from Blue Ridge or WDC SCCA. Or you could use a synchronized watch system. Any ideas for routes? How many people do you want to be in this event? Entry fees? Do you want to measure time by stage or time by total transit? How many volunteers will you need?

As of right now there are no entry fees but I'm thinking a small one ($3-$5) might be a good idea to cover all the personal costs that I will incur (trophies, decals, number paint, radios, etc.). Anyways if you are interested IM me at "karioth", incude your name, ride, co-pilot if any, and email addy.

Anything else leave it here, ill check from time to time

[Feersty]

I guess this event was a wash. I met the creator of this thread today, seems like a cool guy, fwiw.

[G.Irish]

Blast from the past! Goes to show its not easy to put on an event.