Outer Drive Hero Drivers Club annually presents the
Heroes' Happy Holiday Hangover Hassle
each year on New Year's Day.
As usual, the next ODHDC event is 1/1/25.
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2024 Winners were: Joyce Franklin, Deb Briars, and Martha Wiczek
In Memoriam:
Gone, but not forgotten.
Paul Brian
I first met Paul at a meeting of the fledgling Concours Plaines Rallye Team in 1964.
His brother, Bruce, was more my age, but Paul was much more my spirit. I don't think
I realized his youth, until he asked to, rather permanently, borrow my driver's license.
We rallied a lot together , socialised, and stood up for each other's first weddings.
We both drank Stroh's beer, not only for it's taste, but for the association with Detroit,
where the "big tally teams" were headquartered. I remember sharing several Strohs while
Paul and I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon live in July 1969. I rallied in a prepared
Volvo for 1968 (winning class) and 1969. Both times Paul was on my crew, We won class again in
1970, this time for VW of Canada, and again Paul was there. We put on several HHHHH rallies for ODHDC,
the second oldest car rally in the US. In 1979, when I was a National Pro Rally Steward for Chisholm Trail Pro
Rally in Texas, I got to spend a week with Paul at his home in Dallas. I got to meet Edmond X. Ramirez, Sr.
and see Paul's repressive office at Amectran. I sat in the EXAR1 and saw Amectran's other prototypes
and plans to use the many thousands of square feet of planned production space, much of which was empty.
Paul Brian
Paul was a seven time ODHDC winner, and authored or co-authored many ODHDCs.
Over the last sixty years, Paul has been a best friend. We talked a lot about cars, and people in the car industry. We each knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, We shared many, many discussions about our children, wives and ex-wives. We seldom talked politics, thus, strongly keeping the discussion friendly.
I am left with a very heavy heart, lots of tears. but a million memories and a several thousand good stories .
RIP Paul, til we meet again. RC
We have moved memoriams to past members to a memoriam page for members who have passed in prior years. Unfortunately this is becoming a longer and longer list as ODHDC is now approaching 70 years old.
To enter the 2025 event, please go to the parking lot for the old terminal building at Meig's Field Northerly Island.
We'll congregate, starting at 11:00 A.M. and mumble hello
greetings in the chilly air. We'll meet in parking lot of the
administration building (This used to be the control tower for Meigs
Field.) on Northerly Island. This is several hundred feet south of the
Burnham Park Yacht Club. This is also south of the entrance to the
Adler Planetarium parking lot.
At 11:45 (ish) we will have a participant's meeting, and specific instructions will be handed out at noon.
Please note that it is illegal for commercial vehicles to travel more than one block on Chicago boulevards, and Lake Shore Drive is designated as a boulevard. We have no problem with you running HHHHH in a truck, but Chicago Police may remind you about this with a personal citation. If you get a citation, bring it to the end point, we may adjust your score (+ or -) with appropriate points.
We urge you to come out, perhaps even finding a unique way to join this hunt for information about a very specific piece of the area history. Don't worry about anyone not allowing you to run, we have had large vans, hearses, and school buses of people run.
See Atlas Obscura (written by Sarah Laskow) for an interesting article on the HHHHH event.
At 11:45 (ish) we will have a participant's meeting, and specific instructions will be handed out at noon.
Please note that it is illegal for commercial vehicles to travel more than one block on Chicago boulevards, and Lake Shore Drive is designated as a boulevard. We have no problem with you running HHHHH in a truck, but Chicago Police may remind you about this with a personal citation. If you get a citation, bring it to the end point, we may adjust your score (+ or -) with appropriate points.
We urge you to come out, perhaps even finding a unique way to join this hunt for information about a very specific piece of the area history. Don't worry about anyone not allowing you to run, we have had large vans, hearses, and school buses of people run.
See Atlas Obscura (written by Sarah Laskow) for an interesting article on the HHHHH event.
Numbering of the earliest HHHHH events seems quite confusing; we have devoted a special page to address this.
Collecting the Early History of ODHDC and HHHHH
Each year, we receive more and more information about the early
life of the HHHHH. We are always pleased
to include this on the web page so that history is preserved before we
all go away. This year, we received items from Frank Opalka,
who gave us a large folder of information which we scanned, and then
sent to Jim Torcaso. Frank's information included
much great information from the estate of Jim and Debbie Golden.
Jim and Debbie's daughter had passed the information to Frank Opalka
after Jim's death.
Jim Torcaso was one of the founding members of ODHDC, and we would have loved to have his stories. In the past we received a large box of information from Glenn and Barb Grossklags, and a few years ago, Dorothy Hansen, former member Rallye Addicts Team (a.k.a. RATS) gave us an article from May 1961, describing, in detail, the 1961 HHHHH. Click here for the story We have scanned the information from Frank Opalka and Jim Torcaso, and added it where appropriate, and have now added solid information to at least twenty of the past HHHHH events. We encourage anyone with additional information, old sets of instructions, flyers, handouts, etc. to get a copy to us, so that we can share with all the interested past participants.
Rich Cwik was a driving force behind the scenes in the HHHHH rallye in the past few years. Early trophies were quite unique, and we ran out of them years ago. Rich saw this need, and had recast the metal 'monkey' that has adorned the trophy in past years. He did more than recast them, he took the castings, added a base, and finished the trophies and added lettering. Rich and his friend, Cherrie Pacque, were winners in 2006, along with Bob and Sue Herzog. Since 2006, when he recast the monkies, the trophies have again been an integral part of ODHDC and HHHHH.
Jim Torcaso was one of the founding members of ODHDC, and we would have loved to have his stories. In the past we received a large box of information from Glenn and Barb Grossklags, and a few years ago, Dorothy Hansen, former member Rallye Addicts Team (a.k.a. RATS) gave us an article from May 1961, describing, in detail, the 1961 HHHHH. Click here for the story We have scanned the information from Frank Opalka and Jim Torcaso, and added it where appropriate, and have now added solid information to at least twenty of the past HHHHH events. We encourage anyone with additional information, old sets of instructions, flyers, handouts, etc. to get a copy to us, so that we can share with all the interested past participants.
Rich Cwik was a driving force behind the scenes in the HHHHH rallye in the past few years. Early trophies were quite unique, and we ran out of them years ago. Rich saw this need, and had recast the metal 'monkey' that has adorned the trophy in past years. He did more than recast them, he took the castings, added a base, and finished the trophies and added lettering. Rich and his friend, Cherrie Pacque, were winners in 2006, along with Bob and Sue Herzog. Since 2006, when he recast the monkies, the trophies have again been an integral part of ODHDC and HHHHH.
What is the Rally?
The Hassle is basically an all city (and sometime suburbs) scavenger hunt. You
have usually three hours to get the answers to as many clues as
possible and
then turn them in at the end point. The end point is a restaurant and
every
year there is a general theme that all the clues center around.
Below
are: A Hero Monkey, carefully recast from the original, and a copy of
the first
logo used, from 1956.
We'll use these beautiful, distressed monkeys standing on a radiator (and many other details appreciable only by the winner.) You must promise to cherish the monkey and allow parts of the trophy to get truly dusty in the original spirit of the event. Notice the dust layer next to the statue on the wooden base.
We do maintain a mailing list for email, but no doubt a number of the email addresses I have are no longer valid, so please forward this along to other possible victims who could be suckered in wasting their time with the rest of us. If you want to be added to the mailing list, try: Try writing an e mail to: Rich Carroll
Trophies
Years and years ago, ODHDC had some really unique trophies. These
were
completely used up in the 1970's or 1980's and we have struggled
with makeshift
trophies in the interim. Recently (OK, 2006) Rich Cwik had gone to
significant
expense to recreate the original trophies, including recasting a
mold to remake
these trophies.
We'll use these beautiful, distressed monkeys standing on a radiator (and many other details appreciable only by the winner.) You must promise to cherish the monkey and allow parts of the trophy to get truly dusty in the original spirit of the event. Notice the dust layer next to the statue on the wooden base.
Questions?
As usual, nobody takes responsibility for anything to do with this event. I can, however, probably get a question answered if you email. Try writing an e mail to: Rich Carroll No guarantees that it will be answered, or even go where you think, but you can try!We do maintain a mailing list for email, but no doubt a number of the email addresses I have are no longer valid, so please forward this along to other possible victims who could be suckered in wasting their time with the rest of us. If you want to be added to the mailing list, try: Try writing an e mail to: Rich Carroll
How Did This Start?
Early History of the ODHDC
ODHDC started as a club of sports car enthusiasts who would see similar sports car owners on the Outer Drive in Chicago, commuting to work from the north to the loop, sometimes in the most inclement weather. These were early pioneers of the sports car driving and sports car rallies, etc. As this became more organized, the annual Hero's HappyHoliday Hangover Hassle was started on New Year's Day. Early records indicate the first HHHHH was the 1955 event. We do have a set of instructions from the 1956 event, labeled as ODHDC HHHHH #2. It appears the numbering of later events has been off by one or two. For the most part, we will describe the events as they were numbered at the time they were presented, knowing that there is some minor discrepancy.When sports car enthusiasts found the annual football bowl games less than thrilling, and wanted something more interesting to do, the HHHHH flourished. Jim "Torc" Torcaso was one of the primary people behind the organization of ODHDC, and contributed his time and interests, not only for the New Years Day event, but for summer events as well. Torc is responsible for the ODHDC name. Fred Egloff was not only a very early member, but one who stays active and still participates on the HHHHH event on New Years Day. Frank Opalka was another in the list of founding members.
One of the characters who was active in the early years of the organization, was Bob Lester, a mechanic specializing in sports cars, who ran a well known repair shop in the Hyde Park area, named Foreign Car Hospital.
Personal note: The Foreign Car Hospital and Lester's Team Wink were many things beyond a repair shop. This was sometimes a gathering place, sometimes a social network, sometimes just help for those who hadn't learned the ability to repair their cars, yet. I met Bob and others while I was trying to keep my Fiat 1100 running as a poor college student in Chicago in 1962. Bob would offer to repair the car, or if that was financially beyond my means, he would patiently tell me how to do it, and sell me the parts. I had never worked on cars before, but with Bob's help, it was not difficult. Fiats of that era were not as reliable as American cars, but success of 'foreign cars' was largely due to folks like Bob. RC
Curiously, several small tidbits from the earliest days in ODHDC have appeared. We'll list a few snippets, in no particular order, but for many, the names alone will bring memories.
- Rosemary and Roger Dick from Evanston were active in several of the early HHHHH events
- Event Chairman for the 1960 event was Carl Larsen, from Park Ridge Sports Car Club. Assisted by Frank Opalka, he put on the fourth HHHHH. In some places this is listed as HHHHH V.
- Jerry Warshaw was named the 'Hero-Of-The-Year'
- Winner in 1960 was Jack and Dee O'Hare in a TR3, with Peter Prohaska and Jay Adams finishing second in an MGA. Ernie Bock and Bob Steunenberg were third.
Event Paperwork from past events
For those who have time to spare, several past years challenges have been posted. A few are incomplete, and anyone with information to add is strongly encouraged to submit additional items. Click on the folder for the year to open the paperwork. Much of this information comes to us thanks to the wonderful files of Glenn and Barb Grossklags, and also to Sherry and Fred Egloff who had captured some of the earliest paperwork. Frank Opalka had collected a large sheaf of papers, and allowed us to copy them before they were sent on to Torc in early 2013.
Please note: We need copies of any instruction sets, or even individual pieces from your files. We'll scan it and return it to you if desired. We also have made our best guesses as to the organizers, event names, years, etc. If there are some inconsistencies, please write us, and offer any paperwork you may have.
