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Texas Hospitality  -  Challenge Championship San Antonio
by Mary Ann Kretz

   While Atlanta was being doused with a week of rain and thunderstorms, San Antonio, Texas experienced near perfect weather for the bi-annual Challenge Championship in May.   Dick Maury, Jim Anderson, and I had decided to take our green (race car) E-Type to the event to try our luck at the national competitions including, of course, our favorite event, the slalom.

   We were able to borrow a Cadillac Escalade for our tow vehicle which made the nearly one thousand mile trip to Texas much more tolerable than our usual configuration of open trailer and pickup truck.  We loaded all the spare tires and tools, chairs and tents, advertising materials, and personal gear and set out before daylight on Sunday morning. We wanted to allow ourselves plenty of time to arrive in Texas by Monday afternoon.  The luxurious ride was nice but we found the trailer to be somewhat unstable at sustained highway speeds and were not able to maintain more than about sixty miles per hour without the trailer starting an alarming side to side motion.  This was looking like it could turn into a very long trip indeed.

While Jim and Dick were discussing tire pressures and tongue weights, springs and shock absorbers, I was watching the right side of the trailer in the rear view mirror. I noticed the rear trailer tire looked a little odd and said so. That was about the time I saw some rubber pieces detaching themselves from the tire.  Oh oh, not good.  Naturally, all this was happening in a highway construction zone with no safety lane to pull over.  Just as we saw the tiniest break in the concrete guardrail, I saw the remains of the right rear trailer tire rolling off down the road behind us!  We just managed to slalom the truck and trailer in between the highway cones and slide to a stop on a small piece of paved shoulder.  The good news was we had a spare trailer tire and one of those large floor jacks to make quick work of the tire replacement.  The bad news was the spare tire was a different size than the other tires and looked like it was the original spare tire for our “vintage” trailer.  Clearly, we needed to find a replacement tire as soon as possible. 

   Sometimes, the highway angel is just looking out for you.  Armed with the GPS search function and an i-phone internet connection, we were able to find a tire store in rural south Georgia that was open early Sunday morning and had two trailer tires in stock that were the exact size we needed.  We discussed buying some lottery tickets as lady luck was definitely looking out for us today.  We were on our way in less than an hour.  By adding some air to the truck tires, we were able to increase our speed to about sixty-five and pressed on through the swamps and marshes of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

   We arrived at the historic Menger Hotel in downtown San Antonio on Monday afternoon. The original hotel, which is directly across the street from the Alamo, was built in 1859 and has gone through many upgrades of rooms and facilities.  The hotel is furnished with many pieces of antique art and furniture and the beautifully restored three-story lobby contains an original stained glass window.  Memorabilia of famous visitors and events is displayed all through the impressive lobby.   We soon made our way to the Menger Bar which was purported to be a favorite haunt of Teddy Roosevelt. Many stories of gunfights, mayhem, and historic events are chronicled here.

   The evening weather was perfect for a stroll down the famous Riverwalk, only a short distance from the hotel.  The beautifully landscaped walk runs for several miles on both sides of the river and takes you past numerous restaurants and shops. It is rightfully the pride of downtown San Antonio.  Every restaurant features outside dining right along the river in the shade of beautiful old oak trees.  After much consideration we made our dining choice and were not disappointed.

   The hospitality suite was open on Tuesday morning and a practice slalom event was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Alamadome. The parking lot was a very large clear area with plenty of room for the JCNA slalom course, and was just minutes from the hotel.  This was a great chance to lay out the course, check out the timing equipment and get in some training for eager novice drivers.

   The welcome reception was held at the hotel Tuesday evening.  This was a great opportunity for some of the drivers and navigators to plan their strategy for the rally on Wednesday morning.  I managed to snag a driver spot with an experienced navigator which was great for me.  All that calculating and instruction reading makes me car sick.  Traveling as driver, I would get a better chance to see at least some of the scenery.

   The rally driver’s meeting started at 8 a.m. sharp on Wednesday morning.  After a few final instructions, the first car was off at 8:31 a.m., headed for the Texas Hill Country.   Our route led us around a few one way streets and out of town on the highway to the odometer check point exactly ten miles away.   Next, our route took us down narrow country roads through farms and ranches with many cattle guard crossings, all noted in the detailed instructions.   A few longhorns and lots of goats were busy munching grass and seemed not the least concerned about a parade of Jaguars racing through their turf.  The rally ended in the musically famous town of Luckenbach, Texas, population three, a definite cowboy, motorcycle, and tourist destination.  There was just enough time for a group photo in front of the post office/gift shop before we made the short (untimed) drive to Fredricksburg, Texas.

   Fredricksburg, like many towns in the area, was founded by people of German heritage. It was also the home of the famous Admiral, Chester A. Nimitz. The hotel that his family owned when he was a child is now known as The National Museum of the Pacific War.  A traditional German lunch with sausage, sauerkraut, and German potatoes was served at the museum in a room that was purported to be the third oldest dining room in the state of Texas. After lunch there was time to tour the surprisingly large museum. The exhibits were very well done and included the actual Japanese mini sub captured on Pearl Harbor Day. 

   Wednesday evening activities included our own personal guided river boat tour and dinner at the very elegant Club Giraud.  Once again the weather was perfect for the outdoor reception on the patio.   San Antonio was beginning to seem like the perfect place for outdoor dining.

   Thursday morning started early with the long awaited slalom event.  Approximately forty drivers registered and were tech inspected and given last minute instructions on cone avoidance.   The audience was larger than expected but everyone was able to find a chair and some shade to view the roaring engines and squealing tires.  Many of the classes were decided by fractions of seconds.  Jim managed to win our class by a mere eye blink of one-tenth of a second on the very last official run of the day.

   On Thursday evening, Victor’s Service Center, a very impressive local Jaguar repair facility, sponsored a reception at their location just a few miles from the hotel.   If the thought of dining and dancing in a garage makes you wince, you would be wrong in this case.  “The Cat’s Meow” as Victor has dubbed this annual event has been going on for many years and is an excellent chance for Victor’s customers from near and far to display some of their rare and exotic cars and to enjoy Victor’s outstanding hospitality. 

   Friday morning was the time to get out your secret cleaning tools and elixirs to chase down all those tiny imperfections in fit and finish for the concours d’elegance. The event was held in Alamo Square, just a few blocks from the hotel.  Cars were placed in the historic square while owners feverishly preened and buffed.  Just as the last cars filled the square, a small rain shower decided to stop by.  San Antonians insisted that it had not rained for months and that the shower was a good thing, an attitude we are familiar with in Atlanta.  It’s my understanding that judges ignore rain drops in such situations, but how do they know if they are new or old rain drops?  The judging and concours was finished by mid afternoon which gave everyone a few hours to enjoy the city before dinner.

   At the awards dinner we were treated to a lively presentation by Michael Mohan, Jaguar Cars Programmes Director.  He spoke about and presented videos of the current performance models and gave us just few small hints of the new models to come.  The long awaited awards were presented and for some the party continued on in the Menger Bar.  We found ourselves pretty exhausted and still faced with the task of re-packing all of our “stuff” plus some new “stuff” that we always seem to acquire. Somehow it all had to fit back in the truck for the trip home.  It looked like yet another early morning wake up call.

   Armed with new trailer tires and adjusted trailer tongue weights, our trip home was delightfully uneventful.  Our many thanks to Brian Blackwell and his team for a great time in San Antonio.  We know these events are a lot of work, but Brian and his team made it look easy.

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Flat Tire	Menger Hotel	Menger Hotel	Menger Lobby	Menger Lobby
Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice
Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice	Slalom Practice
Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach
Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach Nimitz Museum.jpg	Rally To Luckenbach
Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	Rally To Luckenbach	River Trip
River Trip	River Trip	River Trip	River Trip	Slalom
Slalom	Slalom	Slalom	Slalom	Slalom
Slalom	Slalom-Team Pink	Victors	Victors	Victors
Victors	Victors	Victors	Concours	Concours
Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours
Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours
Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours	Concours
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Concours	Concours	Awards	Awards