10/25/2026
Our very first Douglas H. Thompson Road Rally event was 11/7/2020. Since then, we’ve made changes over the years to the 25 DHTRR events that brought in new supporters and drivers to our little road rally, but while also causing some that previously attended our events to move on and not return. Our outlook has always been one of gratefulness for those who’ve joined us over the years, but while also fully knowing how difficult it is to make everyone happy. Most car events tend to fade away over time due to the fact that changes are made to the events that some don’t agree with, people move on to different groups, people sell their enthusiast cars, or they’re just in a different time of their lives that don’t allow time for car events. And I have accepted that reality since I started this road rally.
I appreciate the upper-hundreds of people who’ve attended our events since 2020 and slapped a DHTRR sticker to their car, truck, SUV, or motorcycle over the years. I still see some of our original DHTRR stickers from 2020 on vehicles from time to time. And it always puts a smile on my face.
I created this road rally to honor Thompson and to support a great non-profit in his name. All while also sharing his story that was only known to a small number of people who are still around the Parker, Jack, and Palo Pinto County areas. He was a Texas Highway Patrolman before we were called Troopers. He was a husband, a father, a car enthusiast, and an outdoorsman who also happened to hunt rattlesnakes near much of the areas we drive on our routes. I never thought this road rally would still be running this far down the road. I figured it might just last a couple of years, knowing how fickle we as car enthusiasts can be. I figured it would just fade away. But it hasn’t. We’re still continuing to push forward.
This road rally is not ran off a committee. It’s ran be me and a few of my close friends and supporters that have been by my side since their first DHTRR event. It’s amazing what we can put together while sitting at a restaurant near Big Bend or at home in North Texas. I’ll continue to organize these events while working full time in West Texas as a THP Corporal. My time to put into this road rally is a lot less from when I was just road-trooping in the West-o-Plex. We will make adjustments from here on out for the better. When something doesn’t work, we’ll try something different or go back to how we use to do it. Continue to be patient with us. No decision is to designed to run someone off. I have gotten multiple messages in the past few weeks from those upset over some of our most recent changes. Our road rally will continue to evolve, all while remembering that we are not a high-speed/high-end road rally. We are a small road rally that was created to honor a fallen Patrolman and his family. The big picture is to honor Thompson’s legacy and less about making this road rally like every other road rally. We hope to see y’all at our upcoming events. Thanks for the continued support.
-Brian
