By Logan Keller

We pull up on a warm May day to the quaint town of Elkin, NC in the Healey, pleasantly surprised by the amount of cars in the designated street. This is not to say there were a lot; the crowd had been cut down to less than half, only showing cars from the 1980s and prior. It was the charm of the now private event.

Formerly called the Moonshine Rally, it has always been put on by the Triad Healey Club to raise money for the Lupus Foundation. The foundation raises money for Lupus research (Lupus being a chronic non-sexually transmitted autoimmune disease, or put more simply a disease where your body’s immune system attacks itself). Year to year more and more people came, until there were almost too many. The event organizer was getting along in years and some people became rowdy (Hint: it was the Miata's), and so it became an invitation only event.

My grandfather has come every year since its inception, so it’s natural we were able to come. An amazing journey was set ahead for us, ending at yet another beautiful winery and sufficiently showing the vast amount of scenery Carolina has to offer. We didn’t win an award this year, but were at our closest yet at eleventh. Nevertheless, I have come a long way from seven years ago when I was the youngest navigator at 9 years old, and was grateful to go with my grandfather to the yearly event. Whether invitation-only or public, I hope the rally continues for many years to come. Maybe next time I’ll even be the driver!