From March through September 2020, PCA Chesapeake suspended all club activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the club's leadership decided to start resuming official activities by early October. In response, the Tour & Rally Committee held its first driving event of the year on Oct. 31st. The One-Lane Bridge Gimmick Rally was one of the three major components of the region's 51st Chesapeake Challenge.

As a result of the constraints arising from the pandemic, this year’s turnout was less than last year’s 60 competitors in 30 Porsches. But the rally attracted a bigger field than my fellow co-chair and I expected under the prevailing circumstances. Face masks, social distancing and "touchless" practices were required.

A total of 52 rallyists in 26 cars registered. On the day of the rally, 50 drivers and navigators in 25 cars showed up in our assembly point: the parking lot of Kecco’s Neapolitan Woodfire Kitchen in Reisterstown, Maryland.

This year’s gimmick rally was unlike any Randy and I had done before. Each one has always been different. But our rallies’ general objectives are invariably the same every year. There are seven: (1) Follow the route, as instructed; (2) take note of certain details along the way; (3) carry out some tasks; (4) answer questions; (5) submit the completed questionnaire; (6) finish in the specified number of minutes after being launched (in this case, 80); and (7) have fun.

At the finish line in Hunt Valley, practically all the participants said they attained the seventh objective.

Perhaps the most unusual part of this year's gimmick rally was the manner in which I distributed the blank questionnaires and received the completed ones. I used text messaging to send out the questions and required all the navigators to do the same in submitting their answers. Those not adept in copying-and-pasting had to master the process overnight. Two teams whose scores would have won them first and third places had to be disqualified for submitting their completed questionnaires in clever ways that were not in compliance with the instructions, which everybody else had gone through hoops to follow.

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