European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Of the map does not show any 1 roads where the sketch is you must follow the sketch that s what the directions said for a recent night rally sponsored by the Ger Man american motor sport club of Wuerzburg. And that s what we did Asi found out first hand what this rally business was All about. In a car rally nothing is certain. Especially the immediate destination. Be ing perpetually late and behind time zipping through Little villages while the local townsfolk wave you on from win Dows and doorways is All part of the color. Of course after you be zipped around the same Corner three times frantically searching for that mysterious Check Point and watched the same people waving you by three times the Colo begins to fade a bit. A rally neophyte i was driving the Little red roadster of it. Jim Lange from the Nord Bayern sup dist Public affairs office who was navigating. With is German Shepherd dog Caesar inthe Back seat Jim had won the Wuerz org club s last rally and i Felt smug behind the wheel at the starting line when the official handed Lange the map plot or sketch for the first half of the just behind us Caesar was stretched to m apparently Complete Confidence. By Charles Graham staff writer to Complete Jim said. At an average Speed of 55 Kilometres or so. Of course that s the Ideal. By the time you Vemis sed the first checkpoint a few times it takes some pretty fast driving to setback on  there s no telling How fast we were going Down that farm Road after missing the first turn for the first checkpoint when 1 sneaked a Peak at the speedometer and promptly hammed into a Washtub sized pothole. But when the car came Back Down on the Road a 90-degree turn loomed straight ahead. A Sharp Stab on the brakes a deft turn of the wheel the car quickly responded and a split Sec Ond later we. Yere sitting in a Nice freshly slowed , the engine s still running 1 ventured gamely then pulled Back onto the rutty Road and took off not stopping to Check for Man Uever , i was Only much later hat night in we were lost and fitting in the Middle of a sprawling pasture that Lange said lie had always driven be Navi a ulis was has first a tally As a actually the term navigator is a is Noier Palm Der is much Moreik a Anc Nas a Pioneer connotation etly describes the feeling of through a pitch Black night rapidly narrowing rat wed while the Brush and tall weeds the car s sides Ine course takes about three hours my 24, 1968 Ith the navigator charting the route the Driver can concentrate completely on the Road. Sometimes vague images come co mind As he goes barrel ing Down some nearly obscure tree lined track slightly wider than the  the bark in t scraped off the Trees he thinks. Are we the first rally car to come through Here or did we get the wrong Road then there is the Ever present Dan Ger whenever driving the uncharted farm Village Back streets of suddenly rounding a turn and running straight into a Farmer s compost pile. Even when this disaster has been averted the problem still remains of making a a turn in the barnyard without getting the car stuck in the mud or whatever that Stu they stuff is with Lange cutting out instructions we finished the first half of the rallying fairly Good shape then heavily launched into the second half which called for us to go from town to town in a specific distance for example from town a to town b in 16.5 kilo me ters. The catch is that town a is Only five Kilometres from town b on the main Road so you have to find the Back Road that is exactly 16.5 Kilometres Long and does t go through any other towns on the Way. That is the Road with the checkpoint on it. We were zipping along nicely headed for Homburg to Cross the main River when. The River Road suddenly de toured and we were in downtown Hom Burg right behind three other rally its. While Lange frantically worked outa new course. I took off after the three in front. They headed straight up a Hill then began peeling off one at a time to turn around and go Back. But we pushed on unafraid right into a wide open pasture with no  we started backing Down the Hill the Guy who had followed us doing the same. Halfway Back we got turned around and when the car behind us pulled off to turn around we headed straight for another group at the Bot Tom. Down the Street in another line we went straight into another barn Yard. Off to the left was another group of wandering Drivers so we followed those. Now a Long line of cars barrel Down the Street around a turn and straight into a Roadblock. Everyone cockeyed for a better position As we All tried to turn around twisting an scraping gears in the narrow Street. Off we went Back through town the citizens lustily waving us on other rally its to the right and left watching us go by. Down a tiny Street we shot straight toward a string of cars com ing the other Way. As our lines struggled past each other one Guy stuck his head out the win Dow. Have you seen the checkpoint he hollered. The stars and stripes out in the country and All alone once More we sailed along another uncharted Road that seemed More like these for a Stewart Granger Jungle movie. Tall grass and deep ruts surrounded Theca. It was very quiet when we stopped because the Road had petered out into an empty Field again. Go Back to that Fork said Langnas i cautiously tried to turn around in the elephant grass without getting stuck in a Rhino s watering Hole. Back to the Fork and Down the other Side which was t any better. But we pressed on because these car Light kept Bobbing along on the horizon. Few More twists and turns and the lights were coming straight at us. Theca pulled alongside. It s the Guy from Homburg. Have you seen the checkpoint he hollered. Five cigarettes several More co pastures and at least a dozen frantic turns later we were a few Kilometre from the last checkpoint and a couple hours behind schedule. Most people finish within 30 minutes of the Ideal time but at least Well Fin ish Lange smiled grimly. Then a con Stant rattle which had been growing rapidly louder suddenly stopped with deafening silence the Generator quit charging and the engine started heating up. We dropped All plans for the Las checkpoint and headed straight for the restaurant judging stand where official computed the Drivers scorecards and named the Winner while the competitors All relaxed with a Little food and liquid refreshment. We pulled into the restaurant and twas packed with rally its the tables filled with nearly empty plates. Hey Jim what kept you so Long called one of Large s friends. A the fan Belt broke he said disgustedly. Page 11