One for the road: Pumpkin Run rally draws 47 teams to Millsboro

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 5/25/21

MILLSBORO — There is southern hospitality. Then, there is Millsboro hospitality.

A warm Sussex County welcome and tasty home-cooked grub greeted driver-navigator tandems from across the country last weekend, as Millsboro hosted the 20th edition of the North East Rally Club’s Pumpkin Run Road Rally.

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One for the road: Pumpkin Run rally draws 47 teams to Millsboro

Posted

MILLSBORO — There is southern hospitality. Then, there is Millsboro hospitality.

A warm Sussex County welcome and tasty home-cooked grub greeted driver-navigator tandems from across the country last weekend, as Millsboro hosted the 20th edition of the North East Rally Club’s Pumpkin Run Road Rally.

Past racers and winners of the huge Great Race — the pinnacle of road rallies held each June — were among the 47 teams that took to roads in Delaware and Maryland in the Pumpkin Run, a Millsboro staple for two decades, which doubles as a fundraiser supporting the Millsboro Fire Co.

Carol McRae, whose brother, the late Tom McRae, teamed with Norman Miller to bring the Great Race to life in 1983, said the Pumpkin Run has a special place in the hearts of road rallyists.

“It’s just something about this town that has a charm,” said Ms. McRae, known in the rallying circle as “Sister.” “The hospitality here, it is just overwhelming,” she said.

Former Millsboro Mayor Bob Bryan, a past Great Race participant who served 18 years as North East Rally Club president, again acted as Pumpkin Run event director for 2021.

“Bob Bryan took an interest in it and brought it to Millsboro. This is our 20th year. He has done an excellent job,” said Ms. McRae. “You’ll see the camaraderie when everybody comes in. It is one big family.”

Millsboro Fire Co. member John Hall agreed, saying, “It’s just a family — a family reunion. If (a car) breaks today, tonight, there are four or five out there working on that car.”

Annually, the Pumpkin Run salutes an individual or group for support of the event with the “Our Best Friend” award. This year’s honoree was the fire company’s Ladies Auxiliary.

“We always have an award for a person or persons who has done something to really enhance our club,” said Mr. Bryan. “We honored the ladies of the kitchen, who have cooked our meals for 20 years. They take no money. I pay for the cost of the food. They do all the work, volunteering. It’s Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast and dinner and Sunday brunch.”

Auxiliary members received kitchen aprons as prizes.

“And they do good Sussex County home-cooking,” Mr. Bryan added.

Ms. McRae said many look forward to the good eats.

“The Millsboro Fire Department, the women make the best food. Everybody brags on the food — always,” she said. “(They) are such great hosts. It has just been a win-win for everybody. It’s the place to come.”

Financial support is generated through raffle and silent-auction efforts, as well as monetary donations from participants. Entry fees help to provide the food.

Additionally, Bob Harrington of Millsboro’s Watson Funeral Home again donated money for prizes — televisions, laptops, tablets, gift certificates — which went to drivers, navigators and volunteers through drawings.

The last event, held in 2019, raised about $7,800 for the fire company’s restoration of its 1935 REO and other antique vehicles.

Previously held in the fall, this year’s Pumpkin Run served as an opportunity for teams planning to take part in the Great Race on June 19-27 to fine-tune their time, speed and distance calibrations and skills.

“This turned out as the only practice rally for the Great Race this year,” Ms. McRae said.

In the world of road rallying, teams receive precise instructions each day, which detail their every move down to the second. Teams are scored at secret checkpoints along the way and are penalized one second for each second either early or late. The lowest score wins.

Pumpkin Run 2021 participants hailed from California, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

Teams included the 1-2 finishers of the 2019 Great Race: winners Howard and Doug Sharp in their 1916 Hudson Hillclimber and runners-up Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry, a nephew-aunt duo from Georgia in their 1932 Ford Cabriolet.

The field also included a Millsboro Police Department entry — Seth Bullock and Patrick Forester — in a 1972 AMC Matador.

Also competing was Jeff Stumb, executive director of the Great Race — an adventure that will start in San Antonio, Texas, and conclude in Greenville, South Carolina.

Due to the pandemic, the Great Race was not held in 2020.

Ms. Gentry, who also teamed with her nephew as Great Race grand champion in 2017, called the Pumpkin Run’s Saturday route “very challenging,” but she wasn’t thrilled with their performance.

“I have no idea but probably not too good,” Ms. Gentry said. “I would think there is something a lot better.”

Navigator Bill Sacramone of Port Orange, Florida, who teamed with driver Pete LaMountain of Oxford, Massachusetts, did notice the landscape during the Saturday leg, which included lunch at the Marydel Fire Co. and pit stops at Royal Farms in Felton and Goose Creek in Denton.

“I tell you what, I can’t believe that Delaware and Maryland have got so much farmland,” said Mr. Sacramone. “It’s unbelievable. We got two free carwashes on that road!”

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