Thunder in Sun Valley

It was a knockdown, dragout weekend as Dodge Vipers stormed the back roads of the Okanagan Valley to Sun Valley Speedway, dodging HEMI® orange cones all the way. Sometimes the Vipers won; occasionally the cones. From 450 hp to 1,000 hp outputs, from stock to heavily modified, Vipers left their wide footprints all over the Vernon speedway and most of the Okanagan Valley.

Friday night, the Grand Kelowna Resort was treated to 20 Vipers of various generations. Sparkle and decibel levels reached new highs as the Western Region Viper Club of America arrived from all parts of Alberta, B.C., and Washington State. Old friendships were renewed (and adult beverages consumed) in the Vine Lounge that evening.

The next day, the entrance way of the Grand Kelowna filled with Vipers. My Roe supercharged Viper (720 rwhp without nitrous) and three others with Paxton superchargers were squeezed into the parking lot. Besides my sapphire GTS, I saw at least one other nitrous equipped Gen 2. Resembling a flower garden, the gateway didn’t take long to fill with colorful, sparkling Dodge halo cars.

Although some still retained stock exhaust, most were equipped with thunderous Corsa sound equipment! Promptly at 8:30 a.m., 16 of the machines turned left and cruised the boulevards of Kelowna, B.C. For any long trip, the first stop is the gas station, of course.

Wanting to get the full scope of the beautiful Okanagan Valley, we cruised the back roads and high two-laners for that wonderful look at the lakes and scenery. Often the right road shoulder was non-existent or a few hundred feet below our asphalt surface. The view is much clearer when there’s nothing in the way of the lake below.

Following Craig Sanford (our chapter president and host), all those Vipers thundered over hill and dale, around all the serpentine highways and byways, letting the entire countryside know the VCA was in town. I drove my GTS near the rear of the parade with my wife, Deana, taking pictures for most of the drive.

Before the constabulary could become “involved,” we were lined up in the driveway of Sun Valley Speedway outside of Vernon. After signing waivers, we were directed to our pit areas and emptied all loose objects from our cars. We received our safety instructions and walked the course through the cones. After a trial drive, we began our first runs of the autocross.

Viki from Valley Traffic Control Co. brought the cones for the autocross and volunteered her efforts for our event. Craig took her for a ride in his 2003 SRT10® and Craig said that she screamed all the way throughout the ride. Now there’s a woman that knows how to enjoy herself!

Colleen Willick took the seat of her black and silver Paxton supercharged 1999 GTS first and yelled to Gordon Roberts, our start timer, “Be gentle, I’m a virgin.” Her husband Ron did the next run. When it comes to successfully running an autocross, smooth is where it’s at. However, while fishtailing into second gear in every straight, I still managed a decent time. I didn’t win, of course, but I’m sure I had waaay more fun than anyone else.

I strapped Michael Cook (9-years-old) and his dad, Pat Cook, into the passenger seatbelt for rides during my third and fourth run and they agreed that my way is the best. Roberts ran his 2003 black Gen 3 to the best VCA time at 47.40 sec. Greg Weflen got second place in his blue/white 1997 GTS with an average runtime of 47.41. Daryl Ketter of Kamloops took the third place trophy with his yellow/black 2006 SRT10.

Craig Sandford’s son, Dexter, not only bested all of the VCA in his Dad’s 2003 Viper, but also managed to set a record with 46.66. Not owning his own Viper (yet), he was disqualified because of his non-membership. His time bested his dad’s by 1.21 secs! Guess who taught Dexter everything he knows? My best time was a measly 48.41. No scratches, dents or impacts happened, which assured that everyone had a great time.

I asked Weflin how his Viper’s paint could be so perfect. After removing his vinyl front Mopar® bra he showed me his blue masking taped wheel-wells. He said he uses painter’s tape so that it comes off easily. I’ll testify that it works! After enjoying our VCA lunch, we completed our last runs and headed off on our own with instructions to meet at Earl’s restaurant for dinner. After an excellent meal, many of us met in the Grand outdoor patio lounge and caught up to date with old friends and met new ones.

Sunday saw a late morning meeting in the Grand Hotel’s gateway to gather for another back road cruise through the Valley. Through many residential areas we rumbled more than thundered this morning. Evelyn and Udo Nells (local VCA members) led the cruise and we stopped at the Kal Lake lookout for a few minutes. Then it was on to the historic O’Keefe Ranch.

We became a tourist attraction ourselves once we parked on the grounds along the highway fence. Fred and Elouise Kappler in their Paxton equipped 1999 black/silver GTS made certain that no one got lost by playing rear gatekeeper throughout the weekend drives. Don and Chris Campbell posed beside their new 2008 black coupe at the ranch. We ate lunch at the O’Keefe restaurant where I managed to down a “Logger’s Cheeseburger” that contained a whooping 12 oz. of beef.

Many members enjoyed the antique log ranch house, school house, museum, blacksmith shop, general store as well as the wine tasting booth in the gift shop. Okanagan Valley is famous for its premier wines.

That afternoon, we met back in the Grand lobby for the short walk to the houseboat dinner cruise. Out on the lake we enjoyed cocktails and were treated to an up-close look at Kelowna’s new $50,000,000 bridge. A speedboat came roaring by and it became clear that half of their crew suddenly had clothing issues—that is, they showed us their feminine side. After circling our ship they headed off into the distance, to thunderous applause.

The entire weekend was a blast. While we cruised the backroads, people stopped and waved our entire entourage through intersections. Even out of our Vipers people treated us like kings and queens. There’s more to the Viper club than cars—the main feature of the club is the people. Overall, I managed to add another 2,148 miles this weekend, putting my total to 34,488—and every mile has been worth it.