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by Doug Hubbard, '49er Rally Veteran

The '49er Rally is still creating very much of a past and the BMW Club of Northern California remembers the respected past as we travel into the exciting future. As we move to a new location, lets look at where we've been and how we got from the very first one to our new location in Auburn.

The BMW Club of Northern California was organized in Oct. 1965 but it took a little while getting its Rally up and running. Our Rally was first held Memorial Day 1972 and it took the name BMW '49er Rally and Tour, and for many years that name stuck but slowly the Tour part of the name faded from general use; however, even today a few still refer to it by that name. Nowadays when someone says, The '49er, we know they are talking about our BMW Rally and not some obscure sports team. We struck gold with a traditional but ever-changing format while offering the BMW rider a great time in Gold Country.

1972, a time when very very few BMWs were seen and if you saw one on the street it was most likely a /2 and the black color scheme was in vogue, proportionally hardly anyone knew such a machine existed. Memorial Day 1972 found us for that first '49er at Oakdell Park, a small park just outside Morgan Hill, CA. Over 300 BMW enthusiasts made that a huge turnout for the time. The BMW Club of Southern California took largest club award with 25. Long distance club was the BMW Club of San Diego. Long distance rider was Philip Funnel from Vancouver, BC. English Trials winner was Ernie Ward. Yes, we had English Trials back then, found them to be a big hit and still have them at every '49er to this day.

In 1973 a new location was in order. Still near Morgan Hill but this time at Sanger Park. The very young BMWMOA asked if they could share in our '49er and promote our Rally as their very first MOA National Rally. Of course they could and so our second '49er became the first MOA National. 425 attendees, not huge by standards of today but back then, a turnout to be talked about. The Rally stayed at Sanger Park for 1974 with 338 attending, a very good number as this wasnt a National, but a change was coming.

The Gold Country - Calavaras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA, on Hwy. 49 saw us on Memorial Day 1976 with 422 attending. We were starting to promote our '49er theme more heavily with this move to the digging. We stayed in Angels Camp for three years, our numbers were increasing, our Rally was becoming known throughout the U.S. and we felt an urge to move on.

At Mariposa County Fairgrounds in Mariposa, CA the '49er Rally found a home for the next 14 years. The good people of the small town of Mariposa became family to us and more often than not the waitressess on our first day in for the long holiday weekend would be heard to say, our BMWs are back in town. The '49er garnered great success during these years. The Rally became well known internationally and saw visitors from several European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand. During these years we added events to our already full calendar like the off-road GS Tour, the Poker Run and Fun Run. The English Trials on the hillside remained a crowd favorite and the Trials riders grew bolder and bolder and enjoyed themselves to the fullest. The '49er was at Mariposa for so long that some folks were beginning to call it, The Mariposa Rally. Not wanting to be type cast, the Rally looked for a new home.

The '49er moved to the Plumas County Fairgrounds in Quincy, CA in 1993 and stayed for six years. What a grand time we had in Quincy! The Feather River Canyon was a great ride and the new motorcycle road from Bucks Lake to Oroville opened during our stay here. Rally participants wondered why there was a fog horn that blew at odd times of the night when we were in the crisp clean air of the Sierra Nevada. We all took a tour of the saw mill over the years and found out. We are going to miss the wide open expansive campgrounds of Quincy and the grand log entrance to the Fairgrounds and the management couldn't have been nicer. But, we felt the pull of Highway 49 so it was time to move on.

The '49er Rally did not leave the Gold Country, in fact the Rally moved closer to the heart of it. The Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, CA was our next stop and this location was just as nice as any we have had before. Staff at the fair, both in the office and on the grounds, couldn't have been friendlier, and there was plenty of space to spread out. Back Forty BBQ offered catered dinners, and old town Auburn was just a ten minute walk away with more restaurants and shops to explore. The move south also brought with it warmer weather, and we did not experience any rain at our Auburn Rallies.