By Cal Crouch

this year’s Pasta Fazoom Rally was also called "The Final Fazoom".  Ten years of fazooming the empty back roads of central New York had generated many great memories, fond friendships, and one burned-out organizer.

The Pasta Fazoom Rally is an Italian-marques-only event that traverses approximately 150 miles of challenging driving roads, with some great scenery thrown in as an extra measure for those who happen to have time to see it. Unbeknownst to the organizer, "The Final Fazoom" became a bicultural event: Italian cars and British weather. RAIN!!! In spite of this, the Italian cars still appeared — 23 of them! Scattered amongst the usual assortment of Alfas and Fiats were a couple of Panteras (including a rare GT5 model), a Lamborghini Espada, a 60s Fiat OSCA cabriolet, and even a Lancia Delta Integrale (the perfect inclement weather car). Those lucky Canadians can legally bring in vehicles that we can only dream about.

Driving through the drizzle and deluge, our participants encountered tree-canopied stretches of twisties in full autumn foliage, whose colors could not even be muted by the wet. Many voiced that this was the best route ever, and could hardly imagine what it would have been like with the colors in sunshine.

Also along the route, in the middle of nowhere (which pretty much describes central New York), the rally passed one resident’s personal veteran’s memorial park. This consisted of flowered gardens, stonework, flags and statuary representing each of the armed services, various commemorative plaques … and a Huey helicopter! Anyone have an idea what a surplus Huey, sans engine, costs? Much less getting it there? This had to be seen to be believed.

After our lakeside lunch buffet (which prompted the restaurant owner to state that in the future he will weigh everyone and charge accordingly), an executive decision was made to end the rally due to the weather, since everything looked socked in by fog to the north. At this point, the group had driven almost 100 miles of the 150-mile route. Prizes and awards were then distributed, with the final Founder’s Choice Award given to 17-year-old Joey Staskowski and his 1977 Fiat X1/9 in recognition of his participation and hope that his generation will pick up our love of classic sports cars. (This will also help ensure that our cars don’t become worthless in the future!)

I discovered later that the after-lunch portion of the rally was virtually rain-free. Who would have guessed! Oh, well. As all good things must come to an end, so goes the Pasta Fazoom.

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