Overcrest Rally Night Zero And Day One: Vibes, Go Karts, And A VW Brasilia

The Overcrest Rally is off to a great start with “Night Zero” and day one in the books as I write this. I’ll tell you all about the fun before I hop back into my borrowed VW Brazilia and get back on the road to continue the adventure (with more reporting to come), and if you need a refresher on what Overcrest is, have a gander at this piece from a few days back.

Night Zero

My partner, Jeremy Malcolm from Hagerty, drove from Dallas, Texas in a Volkswagen Brasilia to pick me up in Little Rock, Arkansas before we headed north to the rally start point.

We enjoyed Night Zero at Mountain View Go-Carts which has a fun story all on its own. Closed down a few years ago after the owner died, the site sat dilapidated until a new owner bought it in late 2023 and began rejuvenating the property. Now, he’s reopened it turned it into Overcrest Raceway.

The drive took every bit of two hours thanks to the meager 65 peak horsepower in the little VW. Despite its age, it did surprisingly well on the highway with no real hiccups to speak of. Once we exited I-40 and headed north into the hills things became a little more interesting. Not only does the road begin to twist and turn, but the Brasilia showed off some of its high and low lights. We also saw this weird old truck with a turbine engine sitting on the bed. If only it ran. 

Back to the Brasilia. Since the engine is set far in the rear the front end turns in very well but then hanging on through the turn is an interesting experience. The weight at the aft of this car is evident. The brakes don’t love slowing it down on steeper gradients either. We found their limit relatively quickly and employed generous engine braking to combat it. 

Once we arrived at Overcrest Raceway the festivities began with copious amounts of go-kart action. I even blew a tire at one point. The event featured a very traditional Arkansan mix of chips, cheese dip, cole slaw, baked beans, and pulled pork sandwiches. Homemade desserts were on offer too including cupcakes, no-bake cookies, and carrot cake. 

Perhaps nothing was as special (and rightly so) as the cars and the people around them. Overcrest caps registration to around 100 cars for various reasons including logistics. Frankly, it doesn’t need more because the variety of what we have here is awesome. 

There are countless Porsches of every ilk. Our VW is one of only a handful. Someone brought a first-gen Dodge Viper RT/10. There is an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, a Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, and a couple of Subaru Imprezas. There are a few Alfa Romeos, a classic C3 Corvette, and even a BMW Z3M. 

As I sit here writing this to you I’m enjoying a great view. A classic Chevrolet Camaro sits just ahead of me with a few Porsches and an E39 BMW 5-Series nearby. Let’s talk a bit more about what exactly day one at this rally is like though because that’s what really matters. 

Overcrest isn’t the type of rally you might see on social media going from big city to big city. It’s very different and today I’m going to give you a little insight into how exactly it stands out. Sure, the route is dramatically different from what many might expect, but it’s far more than just about the drive.

Day One

Those who love to party hearty late into the night, beware – the morning meeting begins at 7 a.m. sharp. Accommodations are up to each participant so the start location isn’t necessarily close to where you’re staying either.

For me and my drive partner, Jeremy Malcolm from Hagerty, the start point was about 30 minutes away from our lodging, a lovely little spot called the Wildflower Bed & Breakfast in Mountain View, AR.

We hopped into the Volkswagen Brasilia, and I kid you not when I say that it starts better when it’s cold than when it’s warm. Once it fired up we made our way to the start location, Blanchard Springs Caverns, and met up with the group where something else stood out to me; This community is all about the vibes.

After Night Zero and the registration day, it was clear that the 90-100 drivers weren’t here for a phallus-measuring contest. The opening comments from leadership were all about taking care of one another, being safe, having fun, making friends, and soaking in the moment because “these are the good ol’ days.” That sentiment felt like the theme of day one.

As a major sponsor of the Overcrest Rally, Hagerty had arranged a coffee stop about 40 minutes away. To ensure that everything went smoothly, Jeremy and I needed to get there first or at least close to first but we had a problem: the Brasilia was blocked into its parking space by a Volvo Amazon.

In a group of nearly 200 people, finding the owner wasn’t going to be simple and nobody was rushing to leave. Again, the vibe was, in part, about making friends which is what everyone was doing.

How did we get out? This place has the type of vibes where it was no big thing for us, along with the blessing of leadership, to roll the Volvo into a parking space where the owner surely would find it later, a little confused but otherwise unharmed. Little did we know that we were about to run into problem number two though.

As we rolled into Calico Rock, where the coffee stop was, we accidentally drove right past the GPS pin. Of course, we only did that because there was little more than a concrete slab on a street corner in that spot. Feeling that perhaps we had somehow beaten everyone there (in our 65-horsepower 1979 VW), we parked and called the coffee shop that was supposed to supply the event (they shall not be named). Turns out they had decided to basically bail out. “Cool.”

After months of planning, meeting these folks in person, and having agreements in place, the entire reason for pausing in Calico Rock was about to go out the window. Thankfully though, some quick thinking on the part of Overcrest leadership and Jeremy found another spot called the Printing Press Cafe. Better yet, it was on the main drag so when a few Overcrest cars parked nearby, everyone came without having to get directions.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Autopian (@theautopian)

It was a scramble but it couldn’t have worked out better. The folks at Printing Press Cafe went way out of their way, worked incredibly hard, and dealt with what seemed like what must be the longest (seemingly unending) line they’ve ever dealt with in this tiny little town. On top of that, the Overcrest Rally participants were patient, kind, and about as chill as they could be while waiting for order fulfillment.

The local museum and gift shop sits just across from Printing Press Cafe and the folks there opened up to give the rally group a second place to hang out and use the facilities since the coffee shop was small and only had one restroom. Here’s a little-known gem you’ll only hear here. The Calico Rock Museum has two genuine pieces of art from Andy Warhol. Who would’ve thought?

From there we headed out to the next spot, a BBQ joint about two hours as the Brasilia drives. Speaking of how this little Volkswagen drives, it’s not what I’d call fun but at the same time it’s incredibly engaging. There’s really no way to do anything but focus on driving when behind the wheel. Everything in this car is manually operated.

The steering, brakes, and even the windshield wiper fluid require mechanical engagement from the human body (with no hydraulic boost) to function properly. That’s right, to use windshield wiper fluid you must press a button next to the clutch with your foot. Hilariously, when stationary, it’s powerful enough to shoot almost past the rear of the car. Mostly it just lands on the roof.

Driving the Brasilia is an exercise in remapping one’s mind. There is no ‘fast’ in this car. The speedometer reads in km/h and maxes out at 160. I do not believe this car has ever come close to that figure. Partly because it only has 65 horsepower and partly because it feels unsafe at 130 km/h (80 mph). Simply getting this car to go that fast requires well over 15 seconds of full throttle, a lot of room to run, closed windows, and usually a downhill road.

Once at any speed close to 80 mph, the steering is so light and loose that control feels more like a concept or idea rather than something one has. Don’t forget that the roads on this rally are full of curves and elevation changes. Put simply, the Brasilia is completely out of its element. Despite that, it was a complete champ through day one.

We realized early on that engine braking is the best way to navigate downhill sections as the thin and short disc brakes up front get hot quickly. That sorted, we made our way to Marshall, Arkansas where we made a pit stop to repair the only thing to fail so far, a rear tail light.

At the auto parts store the gentleman behind the counter told us that we should go find a local who happened to have several “weird” VWs. “Turn left outta here, turn right at the next road, go over the hill, and look to the left… you’ll see it,” were the directions to this seemingly mythical VW heaven.

Sure enough, we had no need for a specific address because in this tiny town, those simple directions were perfect. Sitting just about a mile from the Bumper to Bumper auto parts store we found not one, not two, not three, but six Volkswagen buses sitting near a storage building in various states of disrepair.

After a knock on the door, the owner’s wife popped out and shared a bit of the story behind the vehicles (look for a longer feature on this in the future). For now, I’ll just say that the husband is the real VW fanatic in the equation.

The couple also owns a VW Thing, a Bug, a 1500, and another mostly restored bus that all rest quietly inside the building. After spending the better part of surveying the space we moved on, having reunited the Brasilia with many of its long-since-separated siblings.

Our next stop was Sims BBQ in Ozark, AR which was roughly an hour away. In that time we picked up on something I didn’t expect. This wasn’t the only rally going on in the area at the same time. The closer we got to the lunch spot the more that became apparent. Sure enough, as we rolled in, several Porsches from that rally sat in the gravel parking lot. There was also an LS-powered classic pickup with brakes bigger than the Brasilia’s wheels.

The food was great and we took our sweet time sipping sweet tea before heading back out on the route for the day. Only a few miles into that stretch of the journey we paused for a quick stop at the St. Francis National Forest. “If Chris puts something on the map, it’s usually worth stopping for,” said Julien Baumgartner of Baumgartner Restoration, one of the many participants on the trip. The pair of us went for a short hike, found a great caterpillar, and then some stunning views that, in the wet part of the year, surely feature a waterfall.

All of this brings me back to the theme of day one. In the space of a single day, I’d learned a lot more about my driving partner, met some truly unique car lovers in the middle of nowhere Arkansas, found some incredibly cool cars, driven some epic roads, and taken a hike with a fine art restoration YouTuber that has close to two million subscribers. At no point did the day feel rushed or as if we really needed to get to anywhere at any specific time. We slowed down, checked out some incredible cars, and soaked in the vibes. This is the 2024 Overcrest Rally and we’re only at the halfway mark.

More to come!