Dec 26, 2020

New info on GAMR 1953! My daughter found some great documents from the Great American Mountain Rallye from 1953 and gave it to me for Christmas. Some amazing things, I have never seen before. It is press package sent to a Rootes Dealer in Portugal in 1953 about the participation of the Factory Team in the 1953 event. I am still translating some of the documents which are written in Portuguese.

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Oct 25, 2020

Today I received an email from Wayne Dix who ran GAMRR last year with his 16 year old daughter Bronwyen.It was her first rally.Following is the email he sent and a great photo.

Hi Gary,Today we would be in the last stages of GAMMR if the event had run this year. So I wanted to take this moment to offer you encouragement about next year.You may recall that my daughter Bronwyn and I ran last year in a 1999 Corvette. This summer we had an opportunity to acquire a suitable vintage ride for GAMMR in the form of a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe turned out in Chrysler vintage racing and road rally livery. We have the documentation on the car which we will bring with us next year. I looked into running a one day vintage rally in the Catskills, but we had a few hurdles to clear that prevented it – a month to get through registration and inspection then back ordered tires from Coker that are really needed before running any distance. Plus a few leaks underneath the car need attention. So, we’re focused on next year, and logging some miles in the meantime to build confidence in her capabilities.

All the best,Wayne

Wayne G. Dix

Wayne and his daughter Bronwyn in front of the beautiful Chrysler they plan on running in GAMRR for 2021

Feb 23, 2021

A short while ago I received an email from a reader asking me about some entrants in the 1955 GAMR event.I looked at the copy of the entry list, as sure as heck his mother and father were listed as an entry! Below is a copy of the email he sent me. Love this kind of stuff!

Hi Gary,Nice to hear from you. The pictures are amazing. That is definitely them. My mom who is 91 only recalls bits and pieces of the rally.From what she told me she remembers that they drove a light blue Beetle they got from my fathers parents. As far as the 1954 Austin Healy that was listed she wasn’t sure why they switched cars, it got me wondering, knowing my father he probably decided to use the Volkswagen with the rear engine design and weight distribution because it would be far better climbing snowy hills than the Healy!I’m assuming he read the rules and knew they could switch cars and I’m sure he wasn’t in the Rally for the fun of it, they were in it to win. I do recall many rally trophies that they had won and displayed in our dining room growing up but not sure if they received one for the 1955 GAMR.My Mom mentioned that they had started a local rally club in the fifties with a badge of their own designed and my father was a salesman for Russ Sceli a local foreign car dealer in Hartford who was a founder of Sports Car Club of America. As far as the ’55 GAMR, my mother recalled that there were some famous drivers that came from Overseas ( We had a cat named Juan Manuel and my sisters middle name was Mercedes) and that the grand prize was a trip to Europe. She said that after driving 10-12 hours straight and late into the night she was hallucinating and said the lines on the road were rising up and you couldn’t drive over them? She recalls navigating and my father doing the driving. She did say that they would have won except for at the end of the Rally in the trials they didn’t back up close enough to a stake set in the ground. I’m assuming penalty points where added for being too far away. After rallying for numerous years my father went on to race Austin Healys and later on a Lotus Super 7 very successfully in the Northeast holding the lap record for his class at Lime Rock in 1968. He did say that he sold his Austin Healy to the guy that owned Yankee candle and it was in his car museum up in Deerfield, Mass and last I knew his Lotus was owned by someone in California.Both myself and my mom live in Ct and she is encouraging me to enter the GAMR revival! I would also be interested in any other information on the ’55 Rally and share anything else of interest. Thanks for that info Stephen. So, to date we have meet two original entrants in GAMR ’55, the other one Peter Bullard; whom I spoke to yesterday and remembers his running in ’55 & ’56; he turns 90 later this year.Following is a picture of his mother and father at one of the trials at the end of the rally.If anyone has parents, or relatives that ran in GAMR I would love to hear from you.

The entry list showing Inge and Walbridge Baily entering a Healy, but we know they traded the Healy off for a VW. I am sure it was much better in the snow!

posted June 23, 2019

Exciting News!I got a message this morning from Matt Bullard who was visiting his Grandfather in Massachusetts this weekend.His grandfather who is 80 something was putting together a scrap book. Matt saw some documents about a “race” back in the 50’s.Well with a little Googling Matt found what this GAMR stuff was all about.Turns out his Grandfather Peter Bullard, and his best friend, George Fogg, raced in the GAMR in 56 in an Alfa Romeo and then again in 57 in a Jaguar! Mat said he and Peter bought the 56 Giulia Spider brand new and went in 1/2 on it. He thought his grandfather worked at some exotic car dealer in NYC; I am thinking Max Hoffman maybe?Then Matt proceeded to send me a few photos of what his grandfather had!Apparently Matt’s grandfather is quite spry and I he said he would love to meet me to talk about the 2 years he ran and show me the boxes of stuff he has.I will be calling Peter soon and try and set up a meeting. He is only about 1-1/2 hours from where I live.I just couldn’t wait to get all the images, but thought I’d share with you what I have so far.Matt plans of running the rally this year with a friend. He is in search of a vehicle to run; but he will be registering never the less.This is really exciting news as most of the competitors are well into their 80-90’s if they are still alive.I have been compiling GAMR info that I inherited from Steve McKelvie and that I found on my own.This appears to be the mother lode..

More info on Peter Bullard GAMR ’55-’56 entrant.

Feb 27, 2021

Some of you who have been following my page know that Peter Bullard ran in GAMR ’55 & ’56. I was put in touch with him by his grandson Matthew Hooper Bullard during the summer of 2019.Peter was kind enough to spend a few hours with me that Summer and allow me to make copies & scans of all the documents he saved form his two years as navigator for George Fogg III. Not to mention tell me some of the amazing stories of running the year that the SAAB factory team turned up on the scene and proceeded to put everyone else to shame; especially on the steep gaps in Vermont; where they proceeded to back up the hill! In the Fall of 2019 Matt and his father Stephen Bullard ran in GAMRR 2019! It was fantastic to have them attend. As I continue to find new documents about this event I have been sharing them with the group. A few months ago I purchased almost 200 original negatives from the 1955 event.I found a few shots of the Jag that Peter ran in; but none were all that great. I was quite disappointed. Then as I was finishing scanning one of the last folders I came across a fantastic shot of Car # 37! (The car he ran in for 1955).I had my friend a professional photographer clean up the image and the results were amazing. You could actually make out Peter and George inside the car! I had the final image printed on archival paper and framed it. I mailed it out to Peter a few weeks ago and got a call from Peter as to how excited he was to get this great piece of his automotive adventures.Today I received an email from Peter Bullard. Attached is a photo he attached to the email.This is such a great feeling to put someone back in touch with something they did over 65 years ago. Peter will be turning 90 later this year; which meant he was 25 when he entered his first GAMR. Congrats Peter; and thanks for sharing your story with all of us!

My friend Tim Winker who ran GAMRR2019 researched some of his SAAB collection and sent me a few scans of some info on SAAB’s victories in the early GAMRs.

Thanks Tim!

I am Looking for information about the Motor Sports Club of America, Inc.

All of my readings and documents gathered to date show that the Motor Sports Club of America (MSCA) was the organizer for the Great American Mountain Rallye Series from 1953-1957.I have not been able to find out much about them; other that the mailing address was NYC during this period. (it, however appears as though they were formed in Boston).

Here is a interesting story that I discovered when I did an on line search. Here is an excerpt that I find truly disturbing; but we must remember this was the 1940’s. I don’t have direct evidence of this policy but am only providing this from the link:”In 1945, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) had a discriminatory habit, if you didn’t have the right kind of job or were from a low social standing, they would not admit you into the club. They also had an anti-Semitic streak. After being blackballed out of membership to the SCCA because of their Jewish religion, Bob Grier and Larry Kulok (both had jobs in the fashion industry in NY) decided to start their own club – the Motor Sports Club of America (MSCA).

Despite the setback of being excluded from the SCCA, the formation of the MSCA would prove to be an important step in the growth of road racing in the U.S.”https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/…/motor-sports…/I am disappointed that my response to the post in the article has not received any information form readers.If you know anything else about MSCA; or anyone that was involved please reach out to me. Following is an original pin that someone acquired. Very tasteful, obviously representing an eared knock off hub from a wire wheel.

Thanks!

Jan. 21, 2021

Following are excerpts from the original 1955 GAMR Route instructions and the 2019 Revival run. This is a section of a public road in Keene NY that was used for a hill climb in the early 50’s.

We were able to run the 2019 contestants along that section; not as a timed (fastest) but for perfect time with a Regularity section. You will notice we had a CAS (Commence Average Speed of 25 mph). Doesn’t seem fast, but this road is steep, very curvy and not particularly smooth, even though it is paved today, unlike in the 50’s. The key to a good time in a Regularity is maintaining the CAS speed for the entire Regularity, in this case for almost 6 miles.
I am re-posting a link to a Hemmings story of the Hurricane Mountain Hill climb.
Enjoy!
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/all-the-way-up

Jan 8, 2021

Many who follow my page have seen images I have posted over the last few years. Jeff Weeks found a box of negatives in an antique store in Maine. The box was simply labelled GAMR.He could tell they were of some sort of automotive event. After a bit of Googling he came across our GAMRR page and contacted us. He was kind enough to share some quick images he took with his phone and processed into positives. I was finally able to make a deal with him to purchase the collection a month or so ago. I set off on borrowing a professional photo/negative scanner and started my work of scanning almost 200 images. This is a time consuming process; partly because I am scanning them at high resolution so that I can make edits to them at a later date. Some of the scans are 50-60 MB! They will be reduced in size after they are edited. I am attaching about two dozen of some of the interesting ones that have not been edited or cleaned up. Some of the shots are blurry, some are poorly exposed. I am hoping we can clean up some of the really interesting ones with help from my friend who is a professional photographer. In the meantime I couldn’t wait to share some of what I have acquired. I will be adding captions to those that I can obtain more info on in the future.

See my photos in the Media section of my page.