[BobbyB]

Sean Lamontagne's Gumb-ALS car rally at Westfield Tekoa Country Club to raise funds to fight Lou Gehrig's Disease
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By KAREN LAVARIERE-SANCHEZ
WESTFIELD - For three decades, Sean Lamontagne and his father, Bob Lamontagne, shared their passion for automobiles by building cars that they showed at rallies.

When Bob Lamontagne passed away in 2006, Sean Lamontagne turned that passion into a mission to combat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease that took his father's life.

On Sept. 27, Sean Lamontagne, of South Hadley, will host the second annual Gumb-ALS Rally, which will start and end at Tekoa Country Club. The goals of the event are to raise awareness about ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, and to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association ALS Division. The name of the event is a takeoff on the 1976 movie "The Gumball Rally," a comedy about a cross-country road race.

Last year's small kickoff event grew out of a local club for classic car enthusiasts who had assembled 1965 Shelby Cobras, one of the cars featured in the movie. The Lamontagnes had built two Cobras.

The first rally included 12 participants and raised about $800. This year's event is much more ambitious, but Lamontagne's goal is to "have a good time, have people enjoy themselves, while raising a little more awareness about ALS." The registration deadline is Sept. 5.

The rally is structured like a "scavenger hunt throughout the Berkshires," with participants looking for clues along the route that will lead them to a "top secret exotic location" (Lamontagne adds, "exotic is a relative term"). Each driver is required to have a copilot and must obey all the rules of the road. Contestants do not have to drive a 1965 Shelby Cobra; any automobile will do.

Once contestants arrive at the secret location, they will receive directions to return to Tekoa Country Club. Following the rally, participants are invited for lunch, a raffle and trophy presentations to the top three finishers.



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