An early club rally with a "Gay 90s" theme!

Over the years, SAMOA made several trips to Bert Lobberegt's father's private car museum including celebrating the SAMOA 20th anniversary there. It was more than a car museum with music machines, cuckoo clocks, and much more. On Nov. 1, 1970 the first visit by the club started with a gimmick rally designed by Chuck Heleker and Ellen Dawson. The Gay 90s Rally started at the Sunset Village parking lot in Eastgate with all the cars lined up in a row and the owners, starting a few yards away, rushing to the cars to get the instructions placed on their front seats. Sort of a Mini Le Mans start. That kicked off the rally and the hilarity that eventually guided all the cars to the museum on the Sammamish Plateau above Issaquah.The photo was taken just prior to the start of the rally and very recently Chuck Heleker and Bert Lobberegt had to do some scratchin’ to come up with this caption information:

From left, Marcia (maybe Arnold by then), unknown male, Jerri Everett, Kathy Woodcock (Looks a little like Kathy Dawson - At least we got the first name right), then probably Larry Arnold, then an unknown, balding male in sun glasses (That must be Jerry Everett?), Unknown female in yellow jacket, Mike Howze in SAMOA jacket, in background in SAMOA jacket might be Brian Carlson, owner of the car he's touching, right behind him in green jacket unknown, unknown female in red hidden behind Jim Dawson (Jim is wearing SAMOA jacket and looking left), the brown shirted male is Mike Woodcock, person behind Mike unknown and on the far right is Jeorge Patience. The little girl in the foreground of the photo, standing next to the open Mini door is Gretchen Everett (who we hear is now active in SCCA autocrossing - of course!)

The Mini on the left is Larry Arnold's car although not sure if he was owner at this time. We wonder since he and Marcia are both outside the car....The woody in the center is Brian Carlson's, later sold to Chuck Heleker and now belongs to Barbara Praefke....The blue Mini with white stripes on the right is Jim Dawson’s (formerly Del Gould's) Downton Mini.

Perhaps a SAMOA member from that period will be able to fill in some of the blanks?

And who might this be distributing rally instructions to the front seats of the participant's Minis? An only slightly younger Chuck Heleker, of course!