Eric Jones Memorial Tour - Shawnee Revisited
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Shawnee State Forest & Lodge
Check out the pictures from the route
On Saturday, November 15, 2008, there will be a memorial tour for one of the founders of performance rallying in the U.S., Eric Jones. This event will be part of a memorial to Eric Jones, hosted by his widow, Susan Logan. Headquarters will be the Shawnee State Lodge on SR 125, just north of the Ohio River, west of Portsmouth, Ohio. Please check out Susan's flyer: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the flyer.
Dick Paddock of CORC has laid out a two-loop tour through the Shawnee State Forest. The tour will allow those who wish to see the fantastic roads that Eric loved so much. Both loops start and finish at the Lodge. Participants may run either loop or both, depending upon their personal interests.
The Transit Loop is an all-paved 55 mile route that runs around the forest on old special stage transits from the Sunriser 400 Forest Rallys of the 1970's and 1980's. It also uses a few of the old special stage roads that have been paved since last used on the Sunriser. Although sometimes very tight and twisty, this loop is intended for those with classic cars who would like to avoid rock chips and dust. The Transit Loop will take about 2 - 1/2 hours to run if you take your time and stop at a view of the more scenic spots to take in the view.
The Stage Loop utilized as many of the old special stage roads as possible and is about 75% smooth gravel. Although most of the gravel roads are very smooth, and relatively free of loose stone, there tends to be loose gravel on the berms and in the center of the road, with a bare earth set of wheel tracks. Narrow or particularly low cars may find it difficult to stay out of the loose material. On the other hand, if you are a fan of great stage road touring, this will be your favorite part of the day. The Stage Loop will take about 3 hours to run if you drive carefully and responsibly.
If you are interested in attending the memorial or driving the tour, please contact Susan Logan at slogan.osu@gmail.com in advance so that we will have adequate copies of the route instructions and she can plan for a chili supper at the Lodge.
Back to the Eric Jones Memorial Tour -
Beginning in the late 1960's, Eric was the organizer of what started out as a fast average speed rally, part of the MONY (Michigan-Ohio-New York) Championship. The challenge in those days was to compete in a 'brisk' time-speed-distance rally that ran from early in the evening until sunrise the next day - thus the Sunriser name, and since the total route was about 400 miles through various state forests of southern Ohio - the full name became the Sunriser 400 Forest Rally. Eric worked with Stan Richards, Head Ranger at the time to open up the Shawnee State Forest roads (and one year even some bridal trails) for the Sunriser. Run in the early fall of each year, starting in 1967, by the mid-1970's the Shawnee Forest sections of the course became famous for their twisty roads, often with the added challenge of pea soup fog.
By the 1970's a new format called Special Stage rallying became the norm. With this format change, instead of trying to maintain a ridiculous average speed all night, the 'competitive' part of the event became closed sections of road where, from a Start Control to a Finish Control the goal was to go as fast as you could. Where the tour includes an old special stage, annotations are in the route book where the Start and Finish Controls were for the traditional stages.
The Stage Loop includes most Sunriser's great stage roads as Bridge Timber, McBride Lake (some times called 9-8-2-13), Copperhead Tower, Bear Camp, Forest Road 5, etc. A couple of the forest roads are now closed to traffic (FR 5, FR7). The Stage Loop will share with you the gravel roads and scenery that Eric enjoyed so much
On Saturday, November 15 we will have three 'start times' for rally participants, depending upon what they plan to run. You will be free, once you have signed the waiver and picked up your route, to run either or both routes at any time. The schedule below is intended to help organize the traffic flow a bit and assure that you have time to complete the route by 5PM when the refreshments start. A set of general instructions, which includes a sample of the route, terms that will be used, etc. may be downloaded by clicking HERE.
NOTE: The early registration for Eric's memorial activities has been excellent. Susan is sending out confirmation emails as she gets registrations. Given the excellent response, please be patient with us as we try to take care of everyone Saturday, realizing that we will have a mix of people that are 'old hands' at rally route instructions, tulip diagrams, and all - and a like number of people who we want to assure understand how to follow the route, so that they can enjoy the drive.
10:30AM – 3:00PM:Registration / Check-in in the lobby of the Shawnee Lodge. Look for someone sitting next to a checkpoint sign. We will ask you to sign a waiver and will then give you your route instructions.
Prior to each suggested ‘start time’ we will provide a short (15 minute) orientation to the route book and some suggestions for enjoying the day.
11:00 AM Orientation # 1 – Those planning to run both loops.
11:30 AM Suggested Start Both Loops – Those planning to run both loops begin their drive
1:00 PM Orientation # 2 – Those planning to run only the Stage Loop
1:30 PM Suggested Start Stage Loop – Those planning to run only the Stage Loop begin their drive
2:00 PM Orientation # 3 – Those planning to run only the Transit Loop
2:30 PM Suggested Start Transit Loop – Those planning to run only the Transit Loop begin their drive
5:00 PM All tour participants should be back to the Lodge for refreshments.
If you have questions about the tour, feel free to email Dick Paddock, Rally Master, at rpaddock@tsass.com