The Almost World Famous
WHITE STAG 2000 RALLY
January 28, 2000 - Tonopah, Nevada.....Riders from all parts of the country are arriving for the premier winter motorcycle rally, WHITE STAG. The field sold out early, but we had several last minute cancellations, a first for the White Stag. With a riding filed of 27 riders, the event was still a big success. Sometimes a somewhat smaller group can be even more fun. The weather for 2 weeks preceding the rally was unusually warm and it looked as though this may possibly become a "wimp stag". One week before the start, the weather took a big turn, and it appeared as though we could have a repeat of last year's conditions of bitter cold temperatures below zero and possibly snow as well. Well things didn't last long and by Thursday it looked like it would again turn mild. While greeting the riders, many asked "what is the format...where are we going", but of course, I would never reveal such information, as the element of surprise is always the best part.
Friday Night 7:00pm The riders meeting begins and now they are starting to get serious. Last year, we handed out the route sheets and instructions at 6:00am, but due to the complex nature of this year's event, I decided to let them have the extra planning time and distributed them at the meeting. This year was again a team format but with a different twist. One rider from each team was designated "Relay Man" and had to meet three other riders of his team at a time and place determined by them, to pick up an envelope which the other three had to get at a specified location. The time and location of this meeting place was critical as the relay man would then have to turn in the envelopes at check point number two before closing at 3:15pm. This really took some careful thought. If the team failed to get all 3 envelopes and get them to the check point, they would be assessed a 50 point penalty.
Maps were being nervously scanned, laptop computers were blazing as they began planning their strategies. The Y2K Ultimate was a 100 point ride from Yerrington, NV to Kelso California and appeared to big the big carrot and would net the highest score. The big dogs quickly figured that if they rode hard, very hard, they could accumulate more than 100 points, and so some did. Routes to bonus locations to the north proved to be the winning combination with locations at Mound House, NV, Austin, NV, Eureka, NV, and Battle Mountain, and a few more.
Saturday Jan 29, 5:00am. Riders were saddled up outside ready for the 5:30am departure. With engines warming up, all electrics plugged in, the clock ticked toward the start. The temperature was at 12 degrees with a moderate wind which put the wind chill factor at about 3 degrees. Big Smokey Valley to the north was the path of several riders, where the temps fell even more. In just a few minutes, the parking lot was empty, the journey had begun.
At check point one, riders had an exercise in trap shooting and high powered rifle target shooting, where they would receive bonus points commensurate with their proficiency level. Ever try to hold a rifle steady when you are freezing your buns off? Some would not hit the broad side of a barn, while others would make good marks at an academy. At check point 2 later in the day, the relay men would test the tensile strength of a condom, plus participate in a coast off contest. You should have seen the looks when they were instructed to blow up their condoms. It's lubricated....aaaahhhhh shit! Just before closing of check point 2, a rider informed me that one of our riders was down due to an encounter with a cage driver. The rider was Thom Irwin of Los Angeles riding a nicely prepped Honda ST1100. I had very little information and wanted to quickly ascertain more details as to Thom's location and exact condition. I checked in via cell phone with Robert Adams, our check out/check in tech leader, and learned that Thom was somewhere near Beatty, NV some 100 miles south of Tonopah, (rally headquarters). I called the Beatty Sheriff's department and they informed me that he was at mile marker 63 with NHP. I asked where mile marker 63 was and the answer was "somewhere between Beatty and Tonopah" "Can you narrow it down a little, I asked?" "Nope, it's between those twp points" was the response. I'll bet that if they were chasing one of us, they would know where mile marker 63 was! After getting to highway 95 and checking the numbers, we determined that he had to be just about IN Beatty.
Gene Walker from Richmond, Virginia had rented a car as his bike had a mechanical problem in Chandler, Arizona on the way out and wouldn't miss the rally for anything. Gene is a White Stag veteran rider and rides out each year from Virginia along with Dave Swisher (the million mile man) and Lyle Grimes of MOA mile documenter fame. No one has yet been able to take the long distance award from these guys. Oh, I forgot to mention that Gene is also 78 years old, or should I say young. Gene volunteered to go on to Beatty and bring Thom back to Tonopah. My hat is off to Gene for his outstanding willingness to always lend a hand. Thank you very very much Gene, you are a trooper. My partner Jack Smith and I now had to beat cheeks back to Tonopah to score the riders and prepare for the awards banquet. We knew that the scoring would be time consuming and that we were now way behind schedule. At 7:00pm the banquet was to begin and so after calculating as much as possible, we went downstairs to the banquet room. Riders were there enjoying stories and consuming large quantities of MGD and other beverages of there choice. It was really great seeing the obvious looks of pride they had on their faces for having endured yet another White Stag rally. I made a pre-dinner announcement of Thom's incident, and that the scoring was not complete, so we would have to push things back a little.
The rally crew was served dinner first, and quickly gulped down the delicious food in order to return to the duties of finishing the scoring. We came back down to find the hard core riders anxiously awaiting our arrival with the final scores however, several opted to retire for the evening. The results were announced and the door prize drawing followed. Some announcements and other related business was discussed and then we concluded the ceremonies.
A few adjourned to the bar upstairs and kept the party going until 3:30am. Gary Eagan upheld his crown again this year with a score of over 200,000 points and a total mileage of 962 miles in just 11 hours....you do the math! Man that boy can ride. Second place went to Jeff Fisher of Reno, NV with 847 miles, Jeff is a hard charging rider and the battle for first place was a good one. Third place went to Chuck Hickey, also from Reno with 698 miles, a great job as well. Scores were calculated by multiplying the number of bonus points received, by the number of miles ridden. Factor in the cold temps and you have some serious riders! Way to go guys.
To sum things up, a great time was had by all, the event was a success, and I had a blast putting it all together.
Special thanks to Jack Smith, Robert Adams, Kitty Longhouser, Steve Losofsky, and Frank Caffaratti, for their help and efforts in making this event a big success. Thanks to the crew at The STATION HOUSE in Tonopah for the outstanding hospitality and great food, you guys are great.
I would also like to thank Pat Widder, of Widder Enterprises, Best Cycle Parts of Las Vegas, George Batcabe, Jim Robertson and Sierra BMW in Reno, for their support with door prize donations.
Again, a big thank you to Gene Walker.
Looking forward to seeing you all again at next year's event.
Tom Almassy, Rally Master