Recently Uncovered Early History

Thanks to Dorothy Hansen, RAT s

An article from May 1961, describing, in detail, the 1961 HHHHH. Click here for the story

And what is this you may ask. . .

What is it?

The Hassle is basically an all city (and sometime suburbs) scavenger hunt. You have usually three hours to get the answers to as many clues as possible and then turn them in at the end point. The end point is a restaurant and every year there is a general theme that all the clues center around. Every year the Hassle starts from Northerly Island (the former site of Meigs field.) Below are: A Hero Monkey, carefully recast from the original, and a copy of the first logo used, from 1956.
Beautiful trophy

Trophies

Years and years ago, ODHDC had some really unique trophies. These were completely used up in the 1970's or 1980's and we have struggled with makeshift trophies in the interim. Recently (OK, 2006) Rich Cwik has gone to significant expense to recreate the original trophies, including recasting a mold to remake these trophies.

We'll use these beautiful, distressed monkeys standing on a radiator (and many other details appreciable only by the winner.) You must promise to cherish the monkey and allow parts of the trophy to get truly dusty in the original spirit of the event. Notice the dust layer next to the statue on the wooden base.

Questions?

As usual, nobody takes responsibility for anything to do with this event. I can, however, probably get a question answered if you email. Try writing an e mail to: Rich Carroll No guarantees that it will be answered, or even go where you think, but you can try!
We do maintain a mailing list for email, but no doubt a number of the email addresses I have are no longer valid, so please forward this along to other possible victims who could be suckered in wasting their time with the rest of us. If you want to be added to the mailing list, try: Try writing an e mail to: Rich Carroll

Early History of the ODHDC

ODHDC started as a club of sports car enthusiasts who would see similar sports car owners on the Outer Drive in Chicago, commuting to work from the north to the loop, sometimes in the most inclement weather. These were early pioneers of the sports car driving and sports car rallies, etc. As this became more organized, the annual Hero's Hectic Holiday Hangover Hassle was started on New Year's Day. Early records indicate the first HHHHH was the 1955 event. We do have a set of instructions from the 1956 event, labelled as ODHDC HHHHH #2. It appears the numbering of later events has been off by one or two. For the most part, we will descibe the events as they were numbered at the time they were presented, knowing that there is some minor discrepancy.

When sports car enthusiasts found the annual football bowl games less than thrilling, and wanted something more interesting to do, the HHHHH flourished. One of the more integral characters in the organization, was Bob Lester a mechanic specializing in sports cars, who ran a well known repair shop in the Hyde Park area, named Foreign Car Hospital.

Personal note: The Foreign Car Hospital and Lester's Team Wink were many things beyond a repair shop. This was sometimes a gathering place, sometimes a social network, sometimes just help for those who hadn't learned the ability to repair their cars, yet. I met Bob and others while I was trying to keep my Fiat 1100 running as a poor college student in Chicago in 1962. Bob would offer to repair the car, or if that was financially beyond my means, he would patiently tell me how to do it, and sell me the parts. I had never worked on cars before, but with Bob's help, it was not difficult. Fiats of that era were not as reliable as American cars, but success of 'foreign cars' was largely due to folks like Bob. RC

Curiously, several small tidbits from the earliest days in ODHDC have appeared. We'll list a few snippets, in no particular order, but for many, the names alone will bring memories.

Rosemary and Roger Dick from Evanston were active in several of the early HHHHH events
Event Chairman for the 1960 event was Carl Larsen, from Park Ridge Sports Car Club. Assisted by Frank Opalka, he put on the fourth HHHHH. In some places this is listed as HHHHH V.
Jerry Warshaw was named the 'Hero-Of-The-Year'
Winner in 1960 was Jack and Dee O'Hare in a TR3, with Peter Prohaska and Jay Adams finishing second in an MGA. Ernie Bock and Bob Steunenberg were third.

Event Paperwork from past events

For those who have time to spare, several past years challenges have been posted. A few are incomplete, and anyone with information to add is strongly encouraged to submit additional items. Click on the folder for the year to open the paperwork. Much of this information comes to us thanks to the wonderful files of Glenn and Barb Grossklags, and also to Sherry and Fred Egloff who had captured some of the earliest paperwork.

Please note: We need copies of any instruction sets, or even individual pieces from your files. We'll scan it and return it to you if desired. We also have made our best guesses as to the organizers, event names, years, etc. If there are some inconsistencies, please write us, and offer any paperwork you may have.

(partially missing) (noted as the second HHHHH)

"La Ville Vieux" (printed as HHHHH 10)

(missing)

"The Gold Rush"**(missing)

(missing)

"Fantastique"**(partially missing) by Warren Harder and Rich Carroll

"The Shiftiest Rally of Them All" (partially missing) by Rich Carroll and Paul Warhanik

"Gotcha"**(missing)

"O'Leary Incident" ** (missing) by Glenn Grossklags, Vergin Hancher, Kenny Lester

(missing)(unnamed) ** by Rich Carroll, John Baily, Steve and Edris Hoover

(missing)

"Treasure Hunt" by Paul Brian and Rich Carroll

"Railroad" by John Smiskol

"Happy Holiday Hangover Hassel"

"CTA" by Pat Thoma and Alden Wells

(missing)

"Leap to Confusion"(missing)

(missing)

(Post Offices)(Missing) by Pete Matuszak

"Colleges" by Andy and Stacy Kowalczyk (Stacy was Stacy Onofree at the time) Notable for first use of a Mac in layout/composition. Done under the name and insurance of SCCA, Indiana Northwest Region. Andy mentions that bonuses for Sliders, CTA transfers, and a box of Fortran punch cards, and as an homage to Pete Matuszak, a cancelled stamp from 1/1/85 (available as the O'Hare postal desk was open.)