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Antique car rally rolls into regio

Looking like a rolling museum exhibit, nearly 60 antique cars motored through Northwest Arkansas on Monday to open the five-day Rogers Vintage Rally.

Drivers and navigators of the 58 cars in The Hemmings Challenge 2008 series associated with the Vintage Car Rally Association rally streamed into downtown Van Buren around noon Monday for their first lunch break after a short tour in eastern Oklahoma.

The rally is scheduled to run through Friday — each day sending teams on different routes through Northwest Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma and southwest Missouri.

The rally isn’t a pleasure ride for the teams. The rules of the rally require them to follow specific routes and drive at precise speeds for exact distances and try to arrive at their destination in a set amount of time.

“This is a very intense competition,” association director Rex Gardner said. “These people are very intense about what they do.” The teams with the best times will win a purse of $ 65, 000, Gardner said, a good incentive that has drawn entries nationwide.

Monday’s route took teams, starting a minute apart, on secondary roads to Stilwell, Okla., and on to Van Buren for lunch. The teams then roared off to Mountainburg and back to the finish line at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers. The teams will start and finish at the center each day.

Routes the remainder of the week will send teams to Joplin, Mo., Claremore and Muskogee, Okla., and Eureka Springs. The drivers will vote on the best of these five “host” cities, which will receive $ 5, 000, Gardner said.

The organization also hopes to raise $ 25, 000 for the Autism Society of America, Gardner said.

Driver Dan Loubiere of Pearland, Texas, and his navigator and father, Bill Loubiere of Plano, Texas, fought a losing battle to stay dry Monday as they rolled into a rainy, downtown Van Buren in their open-cockpit 1932 Ford Speedster.

They were in good spirits when they eased themselves out of the cramped seats, despite their rain suits not doing the job they’d hoped. Many of the old cars have been carefully restored. But they are not just a bunch of pretty bodies. They are working machines that must endure the rigors of the road and get their teams from start to finish for all five days of the rally. Dan Loubiere said he has redundant systems in his car to keep it on the road. Teams are allowed to upgrade things like electrical and cooling systems and brakes to maintain safety, driver David Reeder of Fort Smith said. Otherwise, it’s original equipment in the cars.

Reeder and his six-time navigator, grandson Sawyer Stone of Hot Springs, who turns 15 today, competed Monday in a 1932 Ford Coupe.

“I just love old cars,” Reeder said. “I’ve had old cars all my life.” The brother and sister team of Jeff and Ashley Campbell of Rogers drove a 1930 Model A pickup. Driver Linda Pike and navigator Shelia Watson, both of Searcy, competed in a 1937 Ford convertible. Tom Lindsey and Janice Haggard, both of Conway, entered a 1941 Ford Coupe in the rally.

Garth Hill of Springdale drove a 1931 Packard Roadster; G. R. Pike of Searcy was the driver of a 1916 Hudson Indy Racer; and John Hollansworth of Hot Springs Village drove a 1917 Peerless “Green Dragon” racer.

There were several antique open-cockpit racers in the rally, as well as regular road cars.

The oldest racer, as well as the oldest car in the rally, was a 1911 Velie H 1 Racytype driven by the father-son team of Howard and Douglas Sharp of Fairport, N. Y. The youngest car in the rally was a 1953 MG TF with the team of Charles and Jane Darrow of Jersey Shore, Pa.