Oh, joyous day!

 

The team learned this morning that our post yesterday *incorrectly* reported the demise of Street Safari and potentially even the BABE Rally. We have been informed that Street Safari’s organizers are taking a hiatus and that we may have very happy news from them in the future. THOTC apologizes for having passed along incorrect information.  The team has certainly been wrong about many things, but we never have been so happy to have been wrong!

 

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THOTC 2013 BABE Rally Wrap

The 2013 BABE Rally is over… It was a fantastic experience, as always.  The array of crappy old cars (and one crappy old semi-truck) was staggering, Costume Day the most humiliating one yet, and the parking lot parties in the evenings still the stuff of legend. It also was a bittersweet experience as the 2013 BABE Rally was the last BABE Rally ever.

 

Dodge (the team’s beloved 1969 Dodge Dart Custom) had few mechanical problems… A broken oil pressure switch caused an oil leak of massive proportions that caused the car to be temporarily re-christened “The Exxon ValDart.” A weepy power steering pump at the start of the Rally degraded over four days of hard driving and threw a tantrum (and all of its power steering fluid) all over the Night 4 hotel parking lot. Dodge’s  44 year old un-rebuilt suspension proved strangely unsuited for off-roading and the car has developed a marked list to starboard. Best of all, after off-roading also loosened Dodge’s exhaust system in its mounting brackets, an unexpected encounter with a raccoon corpse in the road separated the muffler from the downpipe and necessitated a challenging (and icky) roadside repair. However, Dodge came through the ordeal with flying (albeit sun-faded) colors and is awaiting transport to Burn’s New York garage where a survivor restoration (and potentially a turbo-charger re-fit) await.

Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse successfully completed four of the five stages of the Rally, racked up 1,250 miles, and raised $1,328 for two great charities – the Hot Rodders Children’s Charity ($682) and Toys For Tots ($646). (The team was unable to complete the fifth stage of the Rally due to a friend’s medical issues requiring the team to return home early.)

The Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse would like to thank StreetSafari, Misfit Toys, Allpar.Com, North Georgia Mopar Club, Year One, Leverage Corporation, Pathfinder Advisors LLC, our (very patient) families, our friends, and all our fans for all their support on the 2013 BABE Rally and those two great charities. It isn’t just that we couldn’t have done it without you… we *wouldn’t* have done it without you.

Though the BABE Rally is no more, Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse remains committed to driving beat-up old Mopars in wacky automotive events to raise money for worthy charities. Have a look at Asphault Adventures (www.asphaultadventures.com) and 24 Hours of Lemons (www.24hoursoflemons.com) for hints about what lies ahead for Crash and Burn and look for more details in the near future.

Thanks so much for coming along for the ride… See you on the road!

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Why THOTC rallies

It is great fun, but it also is an opportunity to raise money for very worthy charities. Clark from our friends at Team Foolswagen reminded us why Toys For Tots and Hot Rodders Children’s Charity (which supports Toys For Tots and many other charities focused on providing for needy children) are so deserving of support.

For those of you who already have pledged your support for those two great charities, thank you. If you have not yet had the chance to do so, please click the Pledge tab at the top of our website and pledge your support too.

Thanks for reading, and see you on the road!

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THOTC 2013 BABE Rally Day 3 Update

Some wrenching on Dodge, the truck, the other truck, and… oh yeah… the *other* truck made for a busy morning. After a quick lunch, the team took Dodge on an unplanned (and ill-advised) little jaunt up and down some gravel and dirt roads and enjoyed a little relaxation by Tannerite. All in all a good day for the team, though Dodge’s power steering pump may require a little attention come morning.

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KillBoy was here!

It isn’t unusual for random folks (locals curious about the crazy cars, police officers concerned about the crazy people driving the crazy cars, various crazy and not-crazy friends of the Rally) to show up at the nightly parking lot party. However, tonight, we were visited by veritable motorsports royalty when Killboy the famous Route 129 photographer (and his lady Zombie Girl) pulled their tricked out street racers into the hotel parking lot in Robbinsville, NC. Details on why they were here are a bit sketchy, but KillBoy apparently snapped each and every BABE Rally car on his souped up camera.

More details (and a few photos of the great artiste snapped by stunned BABE Ralliers) forthcoming tomorrow.

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THOTC take Dodge a little off the beaten path…

True, the 1969 Dodge Dart Custom sedan was not designed for dirt tracking and hill climbing, but the old girl did pretty well with it. Special thanks to Justin (the BABE Rally organizer) for providing the musical cue that accentuates the video.

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THOTC BABE 2013 Night 0 Update

Dodge is in better shape than we thought last night, and certainly in better company.

 

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2013 BABE Rally: Day -1 Video Update

It was an absolutely lovely day… right up until it stopped being lovely. One the plus side, Dodge got lots of love from passers-by. On the not-so-plus-side, THOTC is puzzling over a brand-new, out-of-the-blue mechanical problem that defied diagnosis today and may take up a good chunk of tomorrow to addres…

 

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At least the weather will be nice for Deal’s Gap…

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We’re so close to hitting our goal and we need your help!

$875 / $1000

Thanks to some very generous corporate and individual pledges, we are getting very close to our goal of raising a thousand dollars for two great charities. But we have only five days to go before the start of the 2013 BigApple2BigEasy (BABE) Rally and still need help to close the gap!  A $0.01 per mile pledge equates to a $15.00 donation and it wouldn’t take many of them to get us to our goal! If you have not already done so, please visit our Pledge page or use the Contact form to pledge your support for our two great charities.

Please remember that donations to these charities are tax deductible and both charities make a little money go a very long way to serving the needs of needy children.

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