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Last weekend, 72 vehicles and around 300 people participated in the Run Gifford Run Poker Run Gambler 500 throughout East Lewis County. Racers set out from the Lewis County Fire District 14 fire station in Randle on Saturday, Aug. 5.
Organized by Veterans Memorial Museum Executive Director Chip Duncan, the race featured a road rally and poker run along with participants cleaning up trash throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Cars traveled in groups of five to 10 during the cleanup effort. Duncan added the HooptieX rally races the following day saw 27 cars take to the dirt track to complete 309 timed laps.
The event doubles as a fundraiser for the museum and Veterans Journey Forward, a local nonprofit that provides counseling and resources for veterans in Lewis County.
“I don’t have the exact numbers, but I would guess at least a ton of trash was picked up, and we were able to raise close to $5,000 for the museum and Veterans Journey Forward,” Duncan told The Chronicle earlier this week.
Duncan first became involved with Gambler 500 events in 2018. The Gifford Pinchot National Forest has become an illegal dump site lately, Duncan said, which prompted him to move the race to the region after initially holding it in Chehalis.
Racers drove a loop through Randle, Packwood, Ashford, Elbe, Mineral, Morton and Glenoma and explored Forest Service roads leading to Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams throughout the race while they collected trash.
The Gambler 500 originally began in Oregon in 2014 as an endurance challenge among 28 drivers to see whose car would survive a 500-mile off-road race, according to Car and Driver magazine. Gambler 500 events are now held nationwide and internationally.
The Veterans Memorial Museum is located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis. For more information, visit https://www.veteransmuseum.org/ or call the museum at 360-740-8875.
To learn more about Veterans Journey Forward, visit https://www.veteransjourneyforward.org/.
