Bob Golfen
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 10, 2001
The excitement in Gila Bend flowed from one side of town to the
other.
Small hotels on the strip were booked for the first time in recent
memory, the Space Age Lodge was enjoying a rare upsurge in
restaurant business, and Chamber of Commerce members were
fixing a barbecue dinner for 700. Drivers from all over the
country were coming to compete in the Gila Monster Open Road
Rally. That and the weekend's carnival, custom car show and live
music were expected to draw crowds from Phoenix and Tucson.
This was going to be big.
Then, just two days before the event, Maricopa County officials
became concerned about high speeds in the rally and revoked the
permit.
The cancellation left a lot of people in Gila Bend holding the bag.
"This really hurt them. It hurt the local businesses," Gila Bend
Mayor Chuck Turner said.
The word came down late Thursday in a fax sent out at 6:22 p.m.
to the Chamber of Commerce and signed by Richard Wallace,
engineering manager of the Maricopa County Department of
Transportation.
Kent Myers, the Phoenix man who conceived the rally, said he
believed city, county and state officials understood the nature of
the rally when permits were issued in November.
He's particularly galled that it was canceled at the eleventh hour.
On Friday, he and town officials spent the day trying to get the
revocation undone. But Wallace could not be reached, and there
was no one who could change the order on such short notice.
Wallace was unavailable for comment for this story. In a written
statement sent to The Arizona Republic on Thursday, Wallace
said no one at the county knew the rally was a high-speed event
until a Feb. 1 story in The Republic.
"Our initial interpretation and understanding of a 'road rally' was
one that automobiles would be operating under ordinary traffic
rules," Wallace wrote. "It was unfortunate this was not clarified
earlier."
Sylvia Hannah, the Tucson district permit supervisor for the state
Department of Transportation, looked into all aspects of "open"
rallies, learning about the speeds and what measures are taken to
ensure safety and liability protection.
"We did our own research, and we decided this (the open rally)
should not be a problem," Hannah said.
But the county controls the major portion of the road.
After Myers broke the news to drivers, there was still a car show.
And the street party went on.
But crowds were not there. The Elks Lodge canceled its Sunday
pancake breakfast.
"It probably cost this town $150,000 in revenue for hotels, gas
stations, restaurants," Myers said. "That's a pretty big impact for
a little town that's starving to death."
Reach the reporter at bob.golfen@arizonarepublic.com or
call (602) 444-8106.
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Corvette owners ought to write or contact this writer to inform them we do not take it kindly that an American grass roots events is cancelled under our feet as some people traveled long distances to support this race and not even be told it was yanked under their feet without even a notice.
Heck I would not even buy gas from that state until they clear this mess up.
