Day #2 began with another push start in the dark and an early meetup at Ghost Town Village.
Looking back, this day was chaotic but it was also the most action packed and incredible of days. None of this is meant to be critical of the Overcrest Productions crew, the fact that they’re able to essentially produce a brand new event annually is nothing short of incredible. I’m glad I’ve been invited to go to ½ the rallies that they’ve put on. Any large scale event like this is bound to have hiccups. I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished and hope they’re able to continue sharing their curated experiences with the rest of us.
Hagerty hosted Coffee for this morning, but the coffee shop somehow missed the memo on how many people would be here. They had one tank of coffee and one person serving coffee to 200 people. I’d imagine that since most of us have the knowledge to drive/maintain 40+ year old cars, we can serve ourselves out of an insulated beverage dispenser. I digress… I’m sure any of us business owners would be happy to host coffee on one of the rally days in the future, myself included.
Today’s route had some insane variety and also probably some of the sketchiest roads that resulted in some mishaps that you may have seen on Julian’s thread (aka Showdown).
Coming out of town, we hit some dense fog, which made for some cautious driving up the mountain roads. I don’t currently have heat in my car which means no defrost, I was battling a windshield that was fogging up on the outside and even with new wipers, was annoying. At one point, as we were coming down the hill, I turned the corner into bright sunlight, it lit up the windshield, and I couldn’t see. I was essentially driving blind down a curvy road until we hit shade a few seconds later. That was scary AF.
After this first morning session there were a few small towns that we cruised through prior to getting back to some of the curves. On our way up a super fun road, we ended up behind a pickup towing a hay-baler. At no point in time did they pull over and let anyone by despite multiple pull-offs. Several of us were able to pass as the road opened up into a passing lane but man, the number of inconsiderate and unaware drivers we came across while on this rally was alarming. I realize we are guests in their towns but are also in vintage sports cars, not driving insanely fast, enjoying the curves, doing our best to be considerate. I’ve driven throughout the US and on many mountain roads and this has been the worst I’ve experienced. Unfortunately, this meant that many of the roads we were on meant driving 20-25 mph when 40-50 would have been more appropriate. At the time, it felt like a waste not knowing what was coming next…
Have you ever been on
https://roadcurvature.com/ ? It’s an amazing site that heat maps roads based on curviness. If you look at the entirety of the US, Appalachia has the most dense quantity of curvy roads in the United States. As early morning turned to late morning and we got around the pickup truck, our route took us from Trust, NC through Hot Springs, NC, through Foster Creek, NC, into Mars Hill, NC, and then to Burnsville, NC for lunch. Those roads are the brightest of bright pink on that website. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so worn out from driving before. I’d love to know how many turns we made throughout the rally. This was also the section that caused some mishaps. There was a 180-degree turn going down in elevation that was so unlike all the previous turns, the outside of the corner was also the edge of a slope. It was incredibly sketchy and it was the first time on the rally that I puckered up, hard on the brakes, skidding towards a cliff, hoping this wasn’t the end either via car in the other lane (I never cross the double yellow around blind turns) or heading over the side of a mountain.
The comedown after that shot of adrenaline was serious. I just wanted lunch and a break but the roads and my crew continued until Pigs and Grits in Burnsville. I was so out of it that at some point I missed a turn, as one of the roads came to a Tee I ended up behind regular traffic and as this year’s route guidance was by route book only and I didn’t see where everyone turned. My friend Kyle (Mr Millrace) had to chase me down. See my previous thoughts on packing better breakfasts and not just snacks (protein bars, almonds, pretzels, beef jerky, and water), lol.
Lunch at Pigs and Grits was delicious and I was starting to gain some energy back.
The afternoon’s drives were a little less intense until another rogue turn almost caused a multi car pile up. This turn (which was on the Tarmac route, there were both Tarmac and Gravel routes in the route book) eventually put us on a gravel road. The avocado was fairly clean up until that point but after this, the car, engine bay, and interior were covered in gravel dust. There are reasons we were avoiding those routes.
Despite a snails pace on the gravel route, one of the 924S (John Rausch/Gain Stage Garage, my dude!) that were with us seemed to be having some suspension issues afterwards. We took a bit of a break at a laundromat with a nice parking lot to poke around. With that break, it was fairly clear that we wouldn’t make it to that day’s destination on time if we followed the regular route (again). The finish line for today… Fairgrounds Raceway in Boone, NC.
We were told to get to the raceway between 5-6pm so we took an alternate/shorter route to get there. That route put us on Blue Ridge Parkway during peak leaf peeping season. There were so many people out making memories and taking pictures of the incredible views… and at the same time, more cameras were focused on us than the trees which was pretty memorable for me. I was the caboose and there were so many people rubbernecking. Also, like I mentioned, absolutely incredible views!
We made it to the Raceway almost right at 5:00pm and those that arrived there early were able to park in the fenced in area of the race grounds. I was the last car that didn’t make it in. Turned out that was a blessing in disguise so my car wasn’t stuck (and considering I still had to push start it, parking it on a hill was a good idea).
None of us really had any idea what this night would entail but we could see the race track was a dirt oval so only time could tell. We were also able to camp at the race track tonight, which didn’t seem super wise of us considering we had a 1,100 mile ride home the next day, but what’s more fun than friends, cars, camping, and bonfires? Being that we got there at 5pm, we were hoping we could setup camp in the daylight but no one was really clear on where we were supposed to camp. At least not in any manner that made sense. There was an area that was staked off that someone said we weren’t supposed to park in because it was an active airstrip. From what I overheard, it was called the “Moat”. Later on, we found out that was an “airstrip” but it was for RC planes. Jeff thought that was where we could camp but no one had setup camp there yet so I was leery. A little while later, I ran into Kris and Jake and by this time it was dark. The funniest conversation of the weekend ensued as I tried to put together everything I’d heard about camping so far, second-hand. Turned out the “Moat” was the “Mowed” area that was fenced off and that we WEREN’T supposed to camp there. Pretty much anywhere but there. It also turned out that there were some campsites along a creek that ran alongside the property. I had to pull up google maps to see where the creek was but by that time it was dark and the event was about over with. Turns out, there is a new addition to the Overcrest crew, Stephanie, that I will be directing all future questions to!
As for setting up camp in the dark, have no fear! I brought a set of bistro lights and a yeti goal zero to power them that I lugged with this entire trip. With tents setup and beers flowing, we enjoyed conversation, a burbling creek, and went to bed around midnight for another 5am wake up, this time to drive home.
But yes, the event at the racetrack was unreal! We had another delicious BBQ dinner, smoked pork bbq sammies, cole slaw, and banana pudding. SO GOOD.
And the pièce de résistance, ACTUAL DIRT TRACK RACING. I’ve never been to a dirt track race nor would I normally find myself in an area/environment that I probably would. BUT, I’m glad that I was able to experience it. The sights, the sounds, the dirt getting thrown into your face (if you are standing in the right spot) made for such an incredible night.
I’m feeling truly thankful for both the crew I drove with and what the crew at Overcrest has continually allowed us to experience.
Tomorrow (Sunday of rally weekend), we have a 1,100 mile trek home and there is supposedly a massive rain storm rolling through most of our route. After 4 straight days of 5am wake up calls, the idea of not having to wake up on Monday morning to get in my car and drive was making me consider driving all the way from Boone, NC to Minneapolis, MN rather than splitting the drive up…
The adventures continue in the next post.