Saturday, February 28th, there were many sports cars checking in at the Monolithic campus in Italy. The Monolithic Dome Cabin was the checkpoint for the cars in the Roads of Texas sports car rally.

This sports car event is basically a course following event. The participants are given a list of instructions and a route to follow. According to Joe Lumbley (rally master), “It is a contest, not a speed contest but it is a nice brisk ride. This course is about 180 miles long. It started in Dallas and ends in Grandbury.”

Each car has at least a 2 person team consisting of a driver and a navigator. The rally master sets up a complicated course from the starting point to the ending point of the rally. They have a fairly complicated set of rules that govern the course and the rally master tries to trip up the teams and make them go off course. The team that falls for the fewest number of traps wins.

The cars run in four classes, depending on experience levels. The classes are divided by first timers, novices (people who have rallied before but who have not won a trophy), general (ex-trophy winner) and master (lots of trophies, previous championship winners). Each car received a score based on their performance. These scores were then ranked by overall position and position within their class.

Trophies were awarded in each class. The trophy winners were:

First Place:

• Novice class: Chris & Jamie Strong in a Volvo 242 (green Volvo)
• First Timer class: Brent & Bonnie Elliott in a GMC Denali
• General Class: Jacob Myhre and Craig Morris in a Honda Civic
• Master Class: Cliff Palmberg and Louis Plumley in a Subaru Legacy

Second Place:

• Novice class: Rachael Boesche and Tim Boesche in a Mazdaspeed Miata
• First Timer class: Raymond Paterson & David Paterson in a Mazda Speed3
• General Class: James Koffeman and Ed Kofeman in a Mazda RX-8
• Master Class: John Marshall & Teri Marshall in a Subaru WRX

Third Place:

• Novice class: Brad Murray and Michael Murray in a Jaguar S-Type
• First Timer class: Shawn Rizzo and Alicia Rizzo in a Subaru WRX
• General Class: Bob Harris and Adam Harris in a Nissan Vista
• Master Class: only two entrants in master class: no third place winner

Joe Lumbley said, “Please accept the thanks of the Sports Car Club of America and my personal thanks to Monolithic’s assistance and hospitality this past weekend. With the cold wind blowing all of the workers involved and all of the participants greatly appreciated the opportunity to have a checkpoint inside the domes.”