2001 MUSR (Mid US 914 Ramble)

It started innocently enough. My husband Jim, who has had a casual interest in 914s for a while now, posted a general question to the Rennlist 914 group. Within hours, he got a few responses, including an email from Charlie Davis – "I see you live Austin. You’re coming up to Dallas for the MUSR, right??"

"What’s MUSR?" I ask.

MUSR is the Mid US Ramble, an annual gathering of the PCA 914 Special Interest Group. Basically, it’s an excuse to come together to look at, learn about, and drive 914s. Hosted this year by the Maverick Region, it was held on the last weekend of October at the Marriott Solana, about 25 minutes from downtown Dallas.

I was promised a weekend in a beautiful hotel, a nice dinner, and even a free t-shirt. What I ended up with was all that, plus a husband with a serious case of 914 fever.

The event kicked off on Friday, with some tech sessions designed to spread the word on all you need to know about taking care of these little roadsters. Jon Lowe gave a talk on technical resources and rear caliper repair. Dave Darling presented Electrical Diagnosis 101. There was even a panel discussion on getting your car ready for autocrossing – handy, since a pecial charity autocross was scheduled for the next day. After an afternoon getting to know the cars, there was a Dinner Rally; a tour designed to help you get to know the area, followed by a fajita dinner at Lauderdale’s on the Lake, to let you get to know the people. Jim Stoner and Kim Lackey were the big winners of the Rally, successfully getting all the right answers to the rally quiz while traveling the Texas Plains in Jim's beautiful blue 1973 2.0.

Saturday morning featured a swap meet, where one driver’s garage clutter became another one’s treasured find. Pieces and parts get a new home, and both seller and buyer come away winners. Meanwhile, in the specially reserved area in the front parking lot, 914s were being primped and polished for the Car Show. Any hope of Jim coming away from the event without "teener-itis" was wiped out by the awesome display of cars lined up for the judging. Jim spent several hours getting a close-up look at the cars he’d admired from owners’ webpages, and taking a ton of pictures for future reference. Best of Show went to Rich Johnson’s fabulous yellow 1971 3.0 914/6 conversion, a car even a 914 newbie like myself can admire. Best Race Class went to Bill Dugan, whose 1972 2.0L looks fast even when it's standing still. Best Stock 4-cylinder was John Rogers' orange 1.7L, with Dennis Carter’s ‘76 2.0L and Jan Mayo’s ‘74 2.0L a close second and third. Joe Yoder once again took top honors in the Modified 4-cyl class with his elegant 1975 2.1L, edging out Jim Stoner. Pat Steiger took Best Stock 6-cylinder with his orange 914-6, and John Swanson got Best Modified 6/8-cyl. The Samuels’ red 1973 914-4 was crowned Most Original, and John Hodges earned the dubious distinction of Dirtiest Engine Bay for his green ’74 2.0.

Just after the judging, some of the cars were pulled into the Marriott’s lobby entrance for a group photo. The cars were arranged around the hotel’s unique stone circle architectural feature, with each car precisely and meticulously guided in to create the overall effect of petals on a flower. Kudos to Thom Ewing and Kevin Hardison for making the climb up to the adjacent building’s roof to get the aerial shots.

After the photo-op, everyone scurried away to grab lunch and get to Standridge Stadium for the auto-cross. The track was a quick and challenging course designed by Cody Sears, with a 360-degree loop, two slaloms, and some tight gates. Low-point of the afternoon was a confrontation between a Corvette and a sign post, which the sign post clearly won. A good time was had by everyone else though, with some fast 914s really showing their stuff. And the auto-cross gave Jim some good ammo to use in his quest for a 914 – "see, a chance for wives to prove they’re faster than their husbands!," as quickest 914 was Jan Mayo in "the Cockroach," a race prepared '72 4-cylinder. She beat out husband Ed, with a top time of 37.475 seconds compared to his 38.014. Other quick drivers included John Swanson with a 48.625 in the Conversion class, Kevin Hardison with a 39.896 in Improved, Cody Sears with a 38.833 in Production, Alan Barrilleaux with a 43.529 in Stock 2.0, and Betty Perrine at 44.013 in Stock 1.7/1.8.

Next was the Tech Quiz, written for the Ramble by "Damp" Dave Darling. 914 gurus matched wits with stumpers such as "what is the stroke measurement of the 1.7 and 1.8 liter 4-cylinder 914 and 914-6 engines?" in a 20 question battle for tech trivia bragging rights. Ed Mayo came out on top with 18 right, besting Jon Lowe’s score of 17. Jim presented his non-winning score to me as evidence that he needs to go to next year’s MUSR, although he was quick to point out that he got all 4 of the tie-breaker questions correct, including the origin of "Damp" Dave’s nickname. "Damp" comes from Mr. Darling's reluctance to put the top on his car. (The answer to the stroke question, by the way, is 66mm.)

The evening concluded with the Awards Banquet, held in the Marriott’s ballroom. During the meal, a silent auction was held, with all proceeds going to the families of the victims of September 11. Charlie Davis and the event chairs presented the weekend’s trophies, which Charlie hand-made from mesquite trees from his own property. A special award went to Lawrence Bonkoski, who took away the prize for coming the longest distance to attend – packing it up to take all the way back to Egypt, where he is a Warrant Officer in the Army. Rich Johnson had rounded up over $7500 worth of goodies from sponsors, with treats including Porsche books, posters, and accessories. All told, about $2700 was donated in the charity auction and everyone went home happy. I won a sail panel vinyl replacement kit – so now Jim just needs to find a car to put it on.

Which is exactly the problem – what was a small but controllable interest in Porsche 914s has blossomed into a classifieds-ad, web-surfing quest for a car. MUSR was a well organized event. All the people were friendly and eager to share their knowledge and passion for this sleek little sports car (during dinner I made the faux pas of calling it "cute," but we won’t mention that). Jim had a great time. And I must admit, I did too.

    The following is a picture of the formal shot in front of the Marriott Solana.
    Click on the picture to get the hi-rez version.

    The following are the results of the competitive events at the 2001 Mid US 914 Ramble.