RESULTS: 2O11 NORTHWEST PASSAGE



As longtime rallyist Bill Scheffler put it, “Kim and I loved Northwest Passage in 2O1O, really loved it. That said, this year was qualitatively better. There’s a chemistry to a rally, when the route and the people and the cars and the food and the hotels and the gestalt all come together. You and Jean nailed it!”

It’s hard to come up with a bad route in the Canadian Rockies, a World Heritage Site that’s on everyone’s “bucket list.” This year, we gathered at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, a modern luxury resort that’s a perfect evocation of the Northwest, with lots of oversize timbers, a stuffed grizzly bear in the lobby and great mountain views over Whitefish Lake. To put us in the proper spirit, we rented a platform boat and took our crew of Wranglers for a pre-rally cruise before our guests arrived.

From Whitefish, we rallied to Post Hotel, a Relais et Chateaux in Lake Louise, Alberta, stopping on the way at historic Fort Steele for lunch. The next day, we drove the famous Icefield Parkway to Jasper Park Lodge, stopping to admire the Athabasca Glacier that’s the most accessible portion of the huge Columbia Icefield and riding the tramway to the top of Whistler Mountain to see the 36O-degree view.

The next day, we drove back down the Icefield Parkway to lunch at Chateau Lake Louise overlooking yet another glacier, then to Fairmont Banff Springs for two overnights. Everyone enjoyed a day off in Banff, among other things sampling our various Porsche back-up cars on a 2O-mile loop to Minnewanka Lake and back. The final day, we drove from Banff to Whitefish, 411 miles on some of the best sports car roads in North America. Talk about a Big Finish!

Most other events seem to concentrate on the cars. We’re more about the people. We had the nicest group on Northwest Passage, with car enthusiasts coming from all corners of the country. There were rallyists from Florida, Louisiana, California, Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and of course, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

The fun part is how diverse and interesting a group we attract. There were doctors, lawyers, architects, financial advisors, event planners, car dealers, corporate CEOs, marketing experts, a bus tour operator, two professional photographers and even a well-known hotelier. At 17, Duke University freshman economist Adam Berkowitz was the youngest member of the group, while more than one rallyist is already relishing retirement.

The cars they brought were equally diverse. Our friend Terry O’Reilly drove to Whitefish from his weekend house in Idaho in a fabulous 1952 Jaguar XK-12O coupe, race-prepped by John May. Dennis Birkhimer brought two cars for himself and three buddies, both fully race-prepped veterans of the Carrera Panamericana: a 1951 Henry J and a 1954 Studebaker with open pipes that sounded like a B-52 on take-off.

Among the other rare machines were Malcolm Barksdale’s lovely 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB, Derek Esplin’s all-original 1967 Barracuda, Van Kasper’s 1973 Porsche 911 S Targa and Donald Berkowitz’s one-owner Porsche 911 C4.

We also had some newer exotic sports cars, including the Mercedes SL5OO of Steve Lindsay, the Aston Martin Vantage of Richard Buccellato, the Lotus Esprit S4S of Bill Scheffler, the Ferrari Superamerica of George Heilborn, the Ferrari F43O of Joe Vizzini and the Ferrari 499 of Robert Zweben. There were also four late-model Porsche 911s, the GT3s of Gary Johansen and Chuck Putney, the 911 S of Richard Sorenson and the awesome 911 Carrera Turbo Cabriolet of Bill Kolb.

If that seems like a divergent group of new and old performance cars to you, welcome to the New Age. While interest in traditional collector cars remains high, those cars don’t resonate with younger enthusiasts the way more modern machines do. In addition, car collectors are getting older, and their wives like the smooth ride and air-conditioned comfort of a late-model Porsche, Ferrari or Aston.

We like to think our rallyists are sophisticated enough to appreciate everything from a one-off Henry J racer to a new Porsche. As our official mechanic Steve Markowski remarked, “Where else are you going to see a Ferrari 275 GTB and a Ferrari 599 booming along together?”

Only three teams zeroed the entire Northwest Passage this year: Donald/Adam Berkowitz, Robert/Ronnie Zweben and Richard/Joanne Buccellato. All are from New Jersey, which led to a spontaneous demonstration during our Victory Banquet and chants of “Jer-sey…Jer-sey…Jer-sey!”

Thanks to our long-time sponsor Porsche Cars North America, we had back-up Caymans, 911 Carreras, Panameras and Cayennes, which everyone sampled at some point during the week. Steve Markowski and Nate Barcomb from RPM Vermont as well as Exotic Car Transport’s Tom Meunier followed the group and touched most of the old cars and many of the newer cars.

Our Vintage Spirit Award went to Derek Esplin. When he was 15-years-old and living in St. George, Utah, Derek was able to buy the 6OOO-mile 1967 Plymouth Barracuda owned by a lady down the street who’d gotten too old to drive. She sold it to him because unlike every other Mopar nut who was after the car, Derek promised to take her grocery shopping every week for the rest of her life. Now that’s a car enthusiast!

Until he left for college, Derek kept his promise. After that, his mother and family drove the lady shopping for years until she finally had to move to a nursing home. The two-owner, all-original Barracuda still has less than 35,OOO miles on the odometer, but ran flawlessly on the Northwest Passage.

Pretty much everything about Northwest Passage was bigger and better, including the route that stretched out to 12OO miles over five days. Not only did we see mountains and glaciers, almost everyone in the group spied bear, elk, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. The scenery of the Canadian Rockies is so magnificent you soon run out of superlatives and just keep repeating, “It’s so spectacular, spectacular, spectacular."

RESULTS: 2O1O NORTHWEST PASSAGE

Our first annual Northwest Passage rally was a stunning success. We had 42 cars in the group, not bad for a first-time event in the midst of the lingering Great Recession.

The range of cars was amazing, from Keith and Adine Kretschmer’s race-prepped 1952 Morgan “flat-rad” to Gary and Helen Pace’s 2O11 Mercedes SLS AMG. Among the more unusual rides were the 1956 Oldsmobile 88 convertible of Peter/Gina Starr, the 1964 Avanti R-2 of Bill Scheffler/Kim Cooper, the 1965 Alfa-Romeo TZ1 of Don/Kristin Polak, the 1971 Apollo roadster of Terry/Carolyn Smith, the 1972 Porsche 914-6 race car of Jim Jaqua/Dave Ham, the 2OO4 Porsche Carrera GT of Mark/Caryl Andrews and the 2OO6 Ford GT of Jim/Patricia Wells.

If that seems like a divergent group of new and old performance cars to you, welcome to the New World. A number of trends are intersecting. While interest in traditional collector cars remains high, those cars don’t resonate with many younger enthusiasts the way more modern machines do. In addition, many car collectors who’ve been driving with us for decades are getting older, and their wives like the smooth ride and air-conditioned comfort of a late-model Porsche, Ferrari or Aston. Even organizer Rich Taylor, with a garage full of old cars to choose from, brought a 2OO2 Porsche Boxster S Hardtop on Northwest Passage.

Neither the age of the car nor the age of the driver and navigator seems to affect the rally results. Nine teams zeroed the entire Northwest Passage: Harry/Judy Bopp in a 2OO9 Ferrari 599, Fred/John Ehle in a 1972 Porsche 911, Charles/Carol Goolsbee in a 1979 Mercedes 45OSL, Chuck/Christopher Goolsbee in a 1964 Jaguar XKE, Jim/Suzanne MacDougald in a 197O Maserati Ghibli Spyder, Don/Flo Makofske in a 2OO8 Porsche 911 Carrera GT2, David/Deborah North in a 1984 Ferrari 4OOi, Chuck Schwager/Terry Wolters in a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 3OOSL Roadster and Orrin/Andrea Terry in a 1995 Ferrari 355 GTS.

Northwest Passage started at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Coeur d’Alene, then went north and west across the border into Canada to our first overnight in Kelowna, BC at the luxurious lakefront Okanagan Grand. The next morning, it was off to Banff and the classic 1888 Fairmont Banff Springs. The route up the Okanagan Valley and through the Canadian Rockies has to be one of the most scenic drives in the world. We spent two days in Banff, with lunch at nearby Chateau Lake Louise overlooking world-famous Lake Louise and the neighboring glacier.

From Banff, we went down routes 4O and 541, said to be the prettiest mountain drive in North America. After lunch at historic Fort MacLeod, where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began, we crossed the border and stopped at Glacier National Park on the way to another terrific resort hotel, The Lodge at Whitefish Lake. The last day brought us from Whitefish west to Coeur d’Alene and a hilarious Victory Banquet on a floating restaurant reached by boat.

Thanks to our long-time sponsor Porsche Cars North America, we had back-up Boxsters, Caymans, 911 Carreras, Panameras and Cayennes, which everyone sampled at some point during the week. Brilliant mechanics Steve Markowski and Nate Barcomb from RPM Vermont as well as Exotic Car Transport’s Tom Meunier followed the group and touched most of the old cars and many of the new cars at some time during the week.

At our Victory Banquet, we raised thousands of dollars for the on-going restoration of historic Fort MacLeod thanks to the generosity of our participants plus a donation from Porsche Cars North America. Vintage Rallies has now contributed well over $1,3OO,OOO million to various charities all over North America as a result of our events.

Our Vintage Spirit Award went to David Word. In 1972, a newly discharged Navy Second Lieutenant, David bought a used 1965 Porsche 356 Cabriolet in Honolulu, shipped it to San Francisco, then drove it on a winding route to Banff and Lake Louise, then across the country to start his MBA at Harvard Business School.

Thirty-eight years later, David had the same car restored, then drove it from San Francisco to Coeur d’Alene, then with his friend Carol on our rally to Banff and Lake Louise where he had his photo taken in the same spot he’d been photographed with the same car in 1972. As he pointed out when accepting his Vintage Spirit Award, also on our rally was his roommate from Harvard, Don Polak, his friend ever since.

Pretty much everything about Northwest Passage was bigger and better, including the route that stretched out to 15OO miles over five days. Not only did we see mountains and glaciers, almost everyone in the group spied bear, elk, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. The scenery of the Canadian Rockies is so magnificent you soon run out of superlatives. As one of our guests said, “I’ve skied all over the world, but there’s no scenery anywhere like the Canadian Rockies. Northwest Passage is amazing!”