8 replies to this topic

[tlc356]

In the mid-west USA there was I believe a sports car rally named the "Press on Regardless" and I think it began in the 1950s or the 1960's, however I am not finding anything about it on line.   

 

If anybody has information on this I would appreciate learning more so I can see if my memory is anywhere near correct. Thanks in advance. Tom

[tlc356]

Well that was easier than I expected. A regular search found nothing but Chat GPT was quick to provide an answer and here it is. " There was an auto rally called the “Press on Regardless”. It is a road rally organized by the Detroit Region of the Sports Car Club of America. The Press On Regardless was first run in 1949 as a Time-Speed-Distance rally. In 1969, the POR became a stage rally 1. The rally is still being held today and is the oldest continuously run rally in North America 23. The 75th running of the Press On Regardless® Road Rally was held on September 8 & 9, 2023

Edited by tlc356, 06 January 2024 - 01:49.

[Rupertlt1]

https://forums.autos...c/#entry8770933

 

Also from here:

https://forums.autos.../#entry10464874

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 06 January 2024 - 08:13.

[BRG]

The POR was part of the World Rally Championship in 1972, 73 & 74. 

 

I  believe that it threw up two unique events.  The 1972 rally (part of the International Championship for Manufacturers which preceded the WRC) was won by a US driver (Gene Henderson in a Jeep Wagoneer  ) who is the only US driver to win a world championship rally. 

 

And the win by a Renault 17 Gordini (Jean-Luc Therier) in 1974 was that model's sole victory at WRC level.

 

[2F-001]

The ’74 event was preceded by another little-discussed championship round - the Rideau Lakes Rally, in Canada (dominated, if my memory serves me, by Lancia). I don’t think it was run again; at least, not as an international championship event.

[Odseybod]

I'm wondering about the origins of the phrase Press On Regardless - it seems vaguely familiar (beyond being an event title). I've a hunch it's linked to a 1950s rally driver or endurance record setter, or maybe it's an RAF Squadron motto - or perhaps all four. Someone here will surely know. 

[Vitesse2]

There is a book about the POR, from the blurb for which ChatGPT appears to have sourced its answer. However, I'd dispute the origin of the name given there as being RAF, since Churchill's famous speech to which it presumably refers is known as 'never surrender', rather than 'never give in'. Green's Dictionary of Slang has 'Bash on Regardless' though:

 

To bash on regardless is a phrase first recorded in 1948 and is an extension of bash on, meaning 'to persevere; to pursue a course of action regardless of difficulties' (OED). The word bash comes either from the Swedish basa, to baste, whip, flog, lash, or Danish. baske, to beat, strike, cudgel and its basic standard English meaning is to beat or hit. It has, however, been suggested that it might be onomatopoeic. The term seems, albeit unrecorded at the time, to have been a British military coinage, used in World War II. Thus this example in The Royal Engineers Journal of 1949:, concerning the post-D-Day invasion of northern France

    Often frozen and wet through by night, they proceeded to march and fight at top speed for days on end. This was the 6th Airborne, with wings on its feet as well as its shoulders, and a spirit which said, 'Bash on regardless.'

During the 1971 India-Pakistan War, the Indian Army named one of their tanks, which was celebrated for its successes against the enemy, Bash On Regardless.

Merriam-Webster gives several vernacular uses for bash, but all marked as 'British, informal'. So maybe the word wasn't in common US usage even in the 1940s and would just have served to confuse?

 

There's a nice typo in the blurb for the book, BTW!

[Odseybod]

That Indian Army tank name chimes with a hazy memory of 'bash' being used in Indian English from the days of the Empah, meaning to 'go with purpose'. I think it crops up quite often in the 'Jewel in the Crown' series by Paul Scott.

 

The RAF's more daring pilots were often referred to as 'press on types', of course, which I think carried over into 1950s motor sport.

[RS2000]

I seem to recall that a major factor in ending WRC status for the POR was that the local police chief (in upstate Michigan) pursued a vendetta against the event/its competitors. Presumably because of some link section driving that reflected the event name....