"Copper and Turbo" Top 5 Page for this destination Houghton by rachelmkurtz

Rallying is a car race on existing roads - often dirt roads in some back country somewhere. They usually last for several days with timed stages - both day and night. It is sport of speed, strategy, and resourcefulness. For instance, if a car breaks down on a stage, the driver and co-driver have to fix it with what they have on them. Otherwise, they are out of the race. There are scheduled maintenance stops that are timed. If a crew can't get a car fixed in the allotted time, they are penalized. And it's a ton of fun to get involved in.

The rally I got to see was in Houghton, Michigan. Most rally fans watch the WRC races around the world, but there is a North America Circuit with some manufacturer's represented. This particular race also included local drivers in a different class.

Subaru team car

As you can imagine, it was freezing cold! But, lots of coffee and hot chocolate kept most of the crowd there. Plus, it was really fun to get to mingle with the polished cars and teams.

Lovell's Subaru in front of the mine buildings.

I thought the coolest thing about Houghton was the abandoned copper mine - the Quincy mine (www.quincymine.com). They had really neat tours of the buildings that are still standing, plus, part of the tour includes going down in a section of the mine that was actually worked. It was an amazing tour and filled with interesting details. A definite must-see if you are even close! The mine is actually on the road north of Hancock, which is just across Portage Lake from Houghton.

***Note*** Unfortunately, there are crashes in this sport. We watched Mark Lovell drive for Subaru in Houghton in October 2002. On 12 July 2003, Mark Lovell and his co-driver Roger Freeman crashed in a rally in Oregon - both men died. A tragic day.