A record 36 teams turned out for the 20th Annual Tombstone Trail on October 25, 1997. Due to the cold weather and the travel distance for most competitors, the rallymasters had printed only 35 copies of the maps and instructions. Fortunately, the printers had printed an extra copy, so everyone who showed up got to compete.
Last to enter were David Merrifield and Bill Wilcox, who showed up in Cannon Falls, MN out of habit, checked the flyer to see why no one else showed up, and made a mad dash to Rochester, arriving just in time for the start.
The event was run in Fillmore County, Minnesota, home of the first 8 Tombstone Trails. Fillmore County has lots of small, remote cemeteries with a lot of history. It's always easy to find something interesting, and this year was no exception.
Scoring was based on collecting 200 points with the least mileage on the car. Previous winners Sharon and Dennis Doffing used the "less is better" approach, collecting just 201 points and being the only car to travel less than 40 miles to take 1st in Class A and overall.
2nd in Class A and 2nd overall were long time competitors Tami Benike and Traci Brant, who have come close on several occasions, but have never quite cracked 1st overall. 3rd in A were COM members Carl Hansen and Tom Griffin.
First timers Todd and Elizabeth Jarvey scored the upset of the night, finishing 1st in Class C and 3rd overall with an excellent run. They were followed by Rolf and Miriam Strand, who haven't run the Tombstone Trail in 15 years, and first timers Lee and Rodell Benjamin. All three teams showed up a lot of experienced teams, taking 3rd through 5th overall.
Mary and Mark Utecht won Class B with 6th overall. 2nd in class were Matthew Kuzma and Emily Burton-Weinman. Emily, the daughter of Beryl Ann Burton and Bruce Weinman, has been in 15 Tombstone Trails in her 17 years of life and gains the distinction of being the first 2nd-generation trophy winner. Craig Johnson, Chris Huebener and Deb Johnson came in 3rd in Class B.
Lots of good stories were told at the end point, as well as some reminiscing of the first 20 years of the Tombstone Trail. Many people have run at least 15 of the events, the leader being Dave Fuss, who missed the event for the first time this year due to competing on the La Carrera rally across Mexico this week.
Kerry and Karen Freund have caught Dave now, this year being their 19th. The only one they have missed was when the event was held on Halloween. That year, no one with kids showed up (suprise), and we decided to never do that again! That year was also the only one missed by Kathy Freund, who has been at the other 14 events held during her 15 year life.
Bruce Weinman and Beryl Burton are also in the 18 or 19 year category, I can't remember which. Others running at least 15 years are Dennis Doffing, Gary Starr, Rachel Fuss, who worked this year's event, and Tom Griffin.
Special thanks to Bill Bjorklund, Rachel Fuss and Rachel Larson for working the 20th Tombstone Trail. And thanks to all of you who have made the Tombstone Trail such a success over the years. With the good spirits and conduct exhibited by this group, I'm sure we'll be talking about the 40th Tombstone Trail in 2017!
You can see the event results or the scoring detail.
Mark Larson