Road Rally Races

People love speed and racing each other from on foot to horses to cars. Every spring the road rally races come to Dent County.

The local paper wrote up big articles about the race, Hundred Acre Wood Rally, and the drivers beforehand along with a map of the routes plus viewing places. I paid scant attention as I milk in the mornings.

Then I got an idea for a novel and the Rally was a good starting place. So I started checking out the event.

Road Rally races aren’t like horse races where the first one over the finish line wins. They are timed races where the winner has the fastest accumulated time for the several legs of the race.

road rally races are held on back country gravel roads
The waiting crowd stands around in the designated Road Rally viewing area and talks, eats, takes pictures until someone calls out the Rally cars are coming. A car tops the hill and races down leaving behind billowing dust clouds.

Ridge became a big fan of the road rally races. Since these racers are urged to respect traffic laws, he did so as well. Yet, he loved the driving, the skill, the speed.

The villain was based on a happening very long ago in northwest Arkansas. A college professor wooed one of his students and married her. He moved her out into the woods with no way to communicate with anyone or get to anyone. Her family finally tracked her down a few months later.

road rally races take top notch drivers
The Road Rally cars come down a hill and make a turn onto another road. In dry weather the cars can slide across on the loose gravel. In icy weather they slide on the ice. If they slide too far, they slip into the ditch. Once the cars make the turn, they can speed off down the road leaving a cloud of dust drifting over to settle on the spectators.

Ridge’s car is the bridge between the two. It is his first car. It is special in a way only a first car can be special. Driving it is a passion Ridge is loathe to give up or have reined in.

cover for Running the Roads by Karen GoatKeeper
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I enjoyed writing “Running the Roads”. I found the road rally races interesting. Watching the cars swoosh down a hill, slide around the curve and zip off down the road was exciting. I do understand the passion some people feel watching these events.

Every March I read the articles in the local paper. I look over the map. And then life takes over. Milking is done first.