By Jared Curtis

Matt Heeren poses for a checkpoint photo during the 2008 CornBall Run.

“Get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway, lookin’ for adventure and whatever comes our way,” states the classic 1968 Steppenwolf song, “Born To Be Wild.” The song encourages the same kind of attitude drivers will need when they compete in the 2009 CornBall Run, a 200 to 400 mile road race across Iowa on June 13. Organizers Jared Austin, Mark Kraft, Hogan Tilley and Kevin Tilley have been holding the race since 2007. This will be the fourth CornBall Run (they held two in 2007), and the number of participants continues to grow.
“At our first race in June of 2007, we had three teams. But the following August, we had 12 teams,” Austin said. “Last year’s event had 30-plus teams registered, but the weather was really crummy, so only six teams showed up. But we had a few random teams show up, so it ended up being a good race.”

After working together, Austin and Kraft both discovered they were “car fanatics” and began tossing around ideas. Out of the discussion came the CornBall Run, a local event for car enthusiasts.

“It’s not uncommon for Jared to think up random ideas. But most of them don’t come to fruition,” Kraft said.

After coming up with the idea, the rally needed a name.

“We started brainstorming names and Mark just kind of said, ‘We’re in Iowa; how about the CornBall Run?’” Austin said.

After the self-proclaimed “motor heads” had their idea and name, it was time to hit the streets. The group made flyers and took them to the Iowa Speedway in Newton. They also created a Web site. But after a lot of work and not a lot of response, The CornBall Run idea was lost in the shuffle.

“I had kind of forgotten about it when I got a call from a guy wondering about the start time, the price, etc.,” Austin said. “I told him I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but he said he had friends from out of town coming in for the race. So the Friday before the race, I drove to all the checkpoints and took the photos and ran the race myself.”

The next day the first official CornBall Run took place. Three teams showed up, including one team driving a Porsche 911.

“When those three teams showed up, I got an adrenaline rush, and I knew it was going to be a fun event,” Austin said.

Sage Evans and Jon Wise, better known as “Team We Go,” stand next to their 2008 Mini Cooper S. They finished fourth at last year’s event. Photo by Jared Curtis

The CornBall Run consists of teams of two. The day of the event, each team receives its checkpoint packet, which provides pictures of specific landmarks and maps indicating the exact location each picture was taken. The checkpoints can be reached in any order and by any route. Participants must travel to each checkpoint (in the past they’ve been everywhere from the U.S. Post Office in Derby to the Southfork Campground at Lake Rathbun to Rose’s Café in Millerton) and provide proof by taking a digital photograph before returning to the start/finish line. This digital photo must be taken in the same location as each printed picture in the checkpoint packets. The pictures must include the car, a participant and the landmark shown in the given example. The first team to visit all 10 checkpoints and return to the start/finish line will be awarded first prize, which is 70 percent of the entry fees collected. Competitors are encouraged to use GPS and computer navigation, although it doesn’t seem to offer any advantages.

“We’ve never had a team using GPS win an event,” Austin said. “These teams are on their own, but you see other teams on the road and you can try and figure out who’s running the best route. It’s usually a close race with the average time between the first and second place teams being less than two minutes apart. Last year the third place team was only eight minutes behind the leader. So if you get pulled over once, you’re done.”

New in 2009, a secret minimum time will be calculated as the best possible time to reach all checkpoints and back without breaking the law. The race doesn’t really test the speed of the vehicles, but rather how smart the drivers’ navigation skills are.

“We added the time because we want a safe event,” Austin said. “The point is not to drive 150 on the highway. Sure it’s a competition, but it’s also a great way to see small rural areas of Iowa that you might never even know existed.”

Throughout the years, the race has drawn a wide variety of vehicles and competitors. Each team needs a minimum of two people but can have as many as their vehicle can legally hold.

“We’ve had people compete in Mini Coopers, Porsches and a Smart Car. It’s not only cars either; we had a few teams in SUVs and one team had a tricked out Tacoma truck,” Austin said. “Any vehicle can participate, because it’s not about speed performance; it’s all about strategy, efficiency and navigation.”

Although Austin and Kraft don’t compete in the competition, they still run the route beforehand, allowing them to know the amount of time to run the race safely. But they do miss not being able to compete.

“It’s a double-edged sword. On one hand it’s really rewarding to be involved with the organization and execution of the event. On the other hand, we miss out on the adrenaline rush of competition,” Kraft said. 

Austin agrees.

“I really wish I could be involved,” he said. “But I take pride in creating something that people show up to compete in. I have a lot of fun seeing the enjoyment on the competitors’ faces.”

Although Kevin Tilley and his son Hogan are organizers of the event, they still get to the hit the road. They drive what is known as the “chase car.” They run the route and keep an eye on competitors, filming race footage and reporting back to Austin and Kraft who wait at the start/finish line. For 16-year-old Hogan, the experience is a blast, even if he’s not competing.

“It’s kind of like the ‘Amazing Race’ but with really cool cars,” he said. “When I heard about it, I jumped at the idea of being involved. I like being a ‘chaser’ because you get out ahead of the teams, and it’s fun running into different teams at the checkpoints. It’s like a bird’s eye view of the race, and we can tell what teams are succeeding and what teams are struggling.”

Kevin, a racer most of his life, relishes the chance to hit the open road.

“Growing up, my dad ran a junkyard, and we had a track behind it. So we’d get some junkers, and I’d race them around the track until they’d quit running,” Kevin said. “It’s definitely a high-energy event, and being a traveling salesman, I’m on the road all the time. But this is something different and fun on the road. Plus, Hogan and I have a great time following the competitors.”

Hogan would also like to compete but is happy helping out and promoting The CornBall Run.

“It’s a chance to create your own adventure,” he said. “Other than car shows, you don’t really see a lot of cool cars together at one event. It brings car fans together and lets people know there are cool things to do in Iowa.”

History of the road race/rally

Rallying is a motor sport in which cars have to get from one place to another and are organized in stages or checkpoints. According to rallycars.com, the fact that rally events take place on normal, everyday roads contributes to the sport’s popularity. Road rallies are the original form, held on highways open to normal traffic, where the emphasis is not on outright speed but on accurate timekeeping, navigation and vehicle reliability, often on difficult roads and over long distances.

Organizers Jared Austin (driver’s seat), Hogan (behind car) and Kevin Tilley (standing) get ready for The 2009 CornBall Run. Not pictured is Mark Kraft. Photo by Jared Curtis

Rallies take place on all surfaces and in all conditions — asphalt, gravel, or snow and ice, sometimes more than one in a single rally, depending on the course and event. Rallies are also run every month of the year, in every climate, bitter cold to monsoon rain. This contributes to the notion of top rally drivers as some of the best car control experts in the world. In the mid 1980s, road rallies were starting to cause concern for the police, who felt that speeds had become too high. At this time, road rallying was still very much based on speed and driving skill with much less emphasis on the navigation than there is today. Police started to monitor events more closely and revealed that some cars had been regularly clocked traveling anywhere from 120 to 150 mph. In 1988, rule changes came into effect, having a dramatic impact on the popularity of the sport, though largely achieving aims at reducing speeds.

Although the sport was slowly fading away, one man took it upon himself to race against the clock from coast to coast. In late 2007, one year after completing the fastest known “Cannonball Run” across the U.S., car enthusiast and rally driver Alex Roy spoke out about his adventure. Roy traveled from New York to Santa Monica, Calif., cruising through 13 states in a little more than 31 hours, beating the previous record (32 hours, 7 minutes, set in 1983 by David Diem and Doug Turner). He traveled with a cameraman to document the event, and his car was equipped with several GPS units, police scanners and radar detectors in a bid to avoid speed traps. After failing twice before, Roy brought along a view from the sky, with a friend flying a small plane looking out for construction or speed traps. Although The CornBall Run is not about speed, the determination, planning and strategy Roy showed is exactly what organizers want to promote.

“Thousands of people across Iowa enjoy cars on some level as a hobby,” Kraft said. “There are only a few chances to enjoy them in this type of setting. And, who knows, you might make some money.”

As with any sport gaining momentum, Hollywood jumped on the road racing/rally phenomenon. Many people remember “The Cannonball Run” as a funny, ’80s road comedy. But to “gearheads,” The Cannonball Run is the original outlaw cross-country road race, organized by legendary Car and Driver writer Brock Yates. Officially known as the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, the race set the standard for outlaw driving. According to Yates and his fellow competitors, trying to beat that record today is pointless because of the party atmosphere and non-law-biding drivers. Other films evolving from or into races include “Cannonball” and “The Gumball Rally” which was a six-day, 3,000-mile race across Europe. In 2004, “The Gumball Rally” was held in the U.S. with the race running from New York to California. It had several celebrity drivers, and media outlets followed the race across the country. The 2009 event was from Los Angeles, Calif., to Miami, Fla., and included Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces and Aston Martins alongside today’s “greenest” hybrid and electric vehicles. Although there are no plans to expand The CornBall Run, the success of other cross-country races is encouraging.

“I believe the growth of The CornBall Run is entirely up to the participants,” Kraft said. “We have not imposed any limit on entries nor do we intend to until it gets to be a burden.”

This year’s race

Joe Hintzsche stands next to his 2008 Smart Fortwo, which he’ll drive in The 2009 CornBall Run. Photo by Jared Curtis

As of press time, there were more than 15 teams registered for The 2009 CornBall Run. Organizers are unsure how many teams will show up, but they are expecting at least as many as they’ve had in the past.

“Because of teams registering and then not showing up in the past, this is the first year we’ve had teams pay the registration before the event,” Austin said. “But things are looking good so far, and hopefully the weather will cooperate, and we’ll have a great race.”

Three teams that competed last year will be returning, including last year’s winning team of driver Matt Heeren and navigator James Carlock.

“It was my first time racing last year,” said Heeren, who drives a 2005 Subaru WRX. “Jared had posted the info on a Subaru Web site; I researched it and thought it sounded like a blast.”

Although having a sportier car and GPS can be an advantage, Heeren knows he’ll need to step up his game to repeat this year.

“Having the ability to go a little faster than most cars helps, but it’s all about navigation rather than speed,” he said. “We totally ignored the GPS system on our last stop and actually got ahead of the team in front of us.”

Heeren had done some rally racing in Colorado and figured competing in The CornBall Run would be a blast.

“I knew it would be fun, but I was more interested in seeing if I could win the thing,” he said. “It was a lot more intense than I thought. You don’t really have time to make a plan, you just have to go. There is no time to relax, and we had to use our brains a lot more than we thought we would.”

Along with winning the race, Heeren also enjoyed the sights.

“I’ve lived in Iowa almost my entire life, and I hadn’t seen the majority of the places we stopped in,” he said. “The organizers do a nice job finding the out-of-the-way places you normally don’t see. I’m really looking forward to running the race again.”

Another team competing for the second time is married couple, Jon Wise (driver) and Sage Evans (navigator), also known as “We Go.” They competed in a 2008 Mini Cooper S and finished fourth last year.

“Nobody believes us when we tell them about The CornBall Run,” Evans said. “We got involved because it was something close we could do, and it sounded like fun.”

Competing for a second time, the couple won’t be as overwhelmed as they were last year.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it is nerve racking. You’re scrambling trying to figure out where to go,” Wise said. “Your only concern is where you are and where you’re going.”

Thanks to not knowing the route, competitors will be taking the beginning of the race can be just as exciting as the finish.

Cars line up as they prepare for the start of The CornBall Run. Special to Cityview

“As soon as we got the packet, I ripped it open and started shouting out the names of the towns,” Evans said. “You don’t need GPS. You just have to trust your map and your instincts.”

Wise agrees.

“It was exciting; I didn’t even know some of these towns existed,” Wise said. “All I needed was a map, a highlighter and my wife.”

Both say they have never done anything like The CornBall Run before, and say it’s a true test of a marriage.

“Not only is it a fun, rewarding experience, there isn’t a better way to kill three or four hours on a weekend,” Wise said. “You get to see a lot of the country, and it’s a chance to win some money.”

Driving what could the oddest car you’d expect to see in a road race, Joe Hintzsche (driver) and Laura Burkhalter (navigator) will compete for the second time in Hintzsche’s 2008 Smart Fortwo.

“A friend had heard about it, and I thought it sounded interesting,” Hintzsche said. “I also thought it would be fun to show up in a vehicle that nobody would expect.”

Hintzsche’s team finished in fifth place last year, but enjoyed his time on the road.

“I hadn’t really taken any trips in my car yet, so it was a blast,” he said. “It involves a lot of strategy and an obscure knowledge of the back roads in Iowa.”

Using only a map and highlighter, Hintzsche’s team had to figure a lot of things out and did lose the pack.

“After the second check point, we lost everybody,” Hintzsche said. “But we got back on track, and we were glad to find out we came in fifth when we got back to the finish line.”

Although Hintzsche knew of the “Cannonball Run” films, his childhood prepared him more for the race than the films ever could.

“I grew up in a family that took weekly Sunday drives. It always appealed to me, and I enjoyed doing it on a grander scale,” he said. “You have nothing to lose, and everyone has a chance to win.”

The organizers of the event look forward to continuing the rally and spreading the word about a fun, exciting way to see what rural Iowa can offer.

“We have grown every year, and hopefully we’ll continue to,” Austin said. “As long as your vehicle has four wheels or more, you’re good to go.” CV

Competing in The 2009 CornBall Run, June 13
www.cornballrun.com

This year’s start/finish line is at the front drive of The Salisbury House, 4025 Tonawanda Drive in Des Moines. Registration will be set-up in the cobblestone courtyard outside the garages and begins at 9:30 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., a rules meeting will take place, and the rally will begin. The entry fee ($75 by June 12 or a number of limited spaces are available on the day of the event for $85), which includes a free T-shirt, can be paid any time prior to the start of the event. Online payments (all major credit cards or Paypal account) can be made on the registration page. The first place team will receive a cash prize amounting to 70 percent of entry fees. All checkpoint pictures must include the entry car, entry car’s license plate, the background/landmark shown in checkpoint picture and the same participant in every picture (can be driver or passenger). The CornBall Run is not advocating the breaking of speed limits or any other state or federal laws. Any participant observed breaking any laws will be disqualified at the staff’s discretion. Any team that returns before the secret minimum time will be disqualified.

Popular road racing/rally films

“Cannonball” (1976)
“The Cannonball Run” (1981)
“The Cannonball Run II” (1984)
“The Gumball Rally” (1976)
“Hips, Hips, Hooray!” (1934)
“Johnny Dark” (1954)
“Monte Carlo or Bust” (1969)
“Safari 3000” (1982)
“Speed Zone!” (1989)
“Speeding Venus” (1926)
“Spinout” (1966)
“Two-Lane Blacktop” (1971)
“Vanishing Point” (1971)

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