Robert Altman, 81, who died Monday, is best-known for directing “M*A*S*H,” “Nashville,” “The Player” and “Short Cuts.”

But he also learned the trade by directing a few episodes of the “Route 66″ television show. Quite a few other young, talented people in Hollywood cut their teeth there as well.

A complete obituary is here.

According to this news release, Activision has produced a new PlayStation2 game called Harley-Davidson Race to the Rally, which allows even non-motorcycle riders to experience the open road in a Hog.

Here are the features:

Harley-Davidson®: Race to the Rally takes gamers from coast to coast across America exploring classic rides centric to “Harley-Davidson” and the biker lifestyle such as Big Sur, historic Route 66 [my emphasis], and the Badlands. Each of the 20 authentic Harley-Davidson® motorcycles including the Dyna®, Softail®, Touring®, and Sportster® are fully customizable and upgradeable with licensed parts and accessories, so there are thousands of possibilities on which to perform the gravity-defying jumps, and high-speed turbo boosts in this game. Plus, it features a soundtrack that captures the attitude of “Harley-Davidson” with tracks by George Thorogood, Heart, Poison, Great White and more.

The game retails for $29.99 for PlayStation2. A PC version of the game will be out next Tuesday and will retail for $19.99. It’s rated “E,” for everyone.

I talked today to Jim Rowenhorst, owner of the Metro Diner at 3001 E. 11th St. in Tulsa, which is closing and will be eventually demolished to make way for a new University of Tulsa entrance.

The diner is closing after the regular 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift on Nov. 26. The restaurant equipment will be sold at auction at 2 p.m. Dec. 12, and the decor will be auctioned at 4 p.m. that day.

Rowenhorst confirmed he had “recently” accepted a buyout offer from TU for his business. The Metro Diner will not be moved, as he’d initially hoped. He leases the land on which the diner sits; the land owner reportedly had accepted an $800,000 buyout months ago.

Asked about the buyout for his business, Rowenhorst refused to elaborate on the actual total but said it “wasn’t close” to what he wanted, “less than half what I paid for the business.”

Rowenhorst was in the middle of a long-term lease. He was asked why he didn’t hold the landowner to the terms of the agreement as leverage for a higher settlement from TU.  Rowenhorst paused, then said, “I was tired of fighting it, I guess, and the prospects of getting anything (an offer) better didn’t look good.”

One thing that Rowenhorst won’t auction is the Metro’s famous neon sign (shown above). He wants a noncommercial entity to have it, such as a museum, although he admits its large size will be a hurdle.

“I’d rather give it away than sell it for nothing,” he said.

Parties who are interested in giving the sign a new home can call Rowenhorst at 918-269-0649.

Today, I received a news release from the fledgling Route 66 Heritage Foundation of Lincoln County in Illinois about its efforts to acquire and renovate the long-neglected The Mill restaurant/tavern on Route 66 in Lincoln.

Most of the details about The Mill saga in recent weeks have already been reported here. However, the news release mentions that a Web site, SavetheMill.org, has been launched.

Also, Geoff Ladd, who has led this undertaking, has a message to roadies:

We are looking for help from Route 66 enthusiasts around the world to keep this project going. We’d love to hear from you (217-732-8687 or info@tourlogancounty.com). We hope to have it ready for a photo attraction by the spring of 2007. There has been a lot of hard work so far on the part of this excellent group of concerned citizens and preservationists, and we have overcome the odds and some heated criticism at times in our effort to save The Mill from the wrecking ball. Make plans to visit Lincoln, Illinois, in 2007 and see The Mill!

UPDATE: The Lincoln Courier has a story about the preservation group’s efforts with The Mill.

Although this will be an ongoing project through at least January, I’ve already started to update the Calendar of Events tab at the top of this Web site.

I’ve already placed a bunch of 2007 events there. If you know of a Route 66-type festival in your town, e-mail me at route66news@yahoo.com.

For a first-time event, the Tulsa World Route 66 Marathon on Sunday in Tulsa, Okla., seemed pretty polished.

More than 3,000 people participated in the 26.2-mile run and half-marathon footraces, which is an unusually high number for a first-year marathon event. And you know next year’s Route 66 Marathon will be even better, because organizers will have discarded the bad ideas and kept the good ones.

You couldn’t have asked for much better weather for the runners — brisk but not freezing at start time, with sunny skies. In the above photo, here are the runners streaming down Southwest Boulevard, aka Route 66.

The national interest in this event was astounding — I heard many states and a few foreign countries when the runners’ names were announced as they approached the finish line.

The top men’s runner in the marathon was Chris McClure of Oklahoma City in a time of 2 hours, 44 minutes, 29 seconds. That’s a pace of 6:17 per mile. The top women’s finisher was Jessica Tranchina of Tulsa in 3:07:03.

In the half-marathon, the top men’s runner was Dan Uskert of Bentonville, Ark., in 1:18.03. The first-place women’s finisher was Emily Corbett of Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1:28:19.

Complete results from the races can be found here.

As a bonus, there were about 50 swell-looking classic and custom cars that were part of the proceedings.

Here’s are Tulsa World stories about the event, which was part of the weekend’s state centennial celebrations.

KOTV in Tulsa has more coverage of the race.

A couple bloggers already have chimed in about the race. Redforkhippiechick has some photos of friends who competed in the races. Bumpkin enjoyed the “Run Happy” sign.

Laurel Kane passed on bad news today about the historic Spraker Service Station along Route 66 in Vinita, Okla.:

The Spraker Service Station in Vinita, OK, which just a few weeks ago was the subject of an email writing campaign advocating its preservation, is no more. As I drove through Vinita on my way to Afton this morning just before 9 a.m., the bulldozer was taking large bites out of it, and only about one-fourth of it remained standing. It was virtually gone, and I found it quite interesting that this was occurring early on a Sunday morning, when few people were out to witness the devastation. On my way home from Afton, it was nothing but a pile of rubble.

The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. The picture above that I took of the station was from last week. I tried to contact the owner of the property to get him to reconsider the demolition, to no avail.

The owner of the property is C.R. Moore Co., a Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep dealership. The next time you need a vehicle, you know from which dealership to not buy one.

I’ll have more about this later.

For those who think regular motorcycles are too darned big, there are mini motorsports rallies.

This one was on Route 66 in Arizona from Seligman to Grand Canyon Caverns.

I love AC/DC, but “Shoot to Thrill” seems a tad macho for someone who rides a motor scooter.

The Creek County (Okla.) Board of Adjustment rejected Charles Elliott’s request for zoning exceptions so he can host a motorcycle rally on his property off Route 66 near Depew, according to the Sapulpa Daily Herald.

Elliott hosted one rally last year, but a second was halted by a court injunction because it violated zoning rules. Elliott’s land is zoned agricultural, not commercial.

Elliott reportedly is “upgrading” his property with an RV park, campground and special-event facility.

Elliott, filing as the Route 66 Biker Church, wrote in his application that he plans to use the property for church revivals, concerts, event RV camping, tent camping, car and bike shows, biker rallies and toy runs.

“A Route 66 Biker Church? Cool,” you may be thinking.

“Property that’s used for camping, cars and bike shows? Cooler!” you may think.

So what’s the problem?

Credibility’s the problem.

A quick Google search found Elliott’s Web site. I’m not linking to it, for reasons that will be apparent.

First, the site doesn’t allow visitors under the age of 21. That raises a red flag right there.

Second, the site shows photos from an earlier rally. Images include women wrestling in a tank filled with what appeared to be in a chocolate pudding or mud. There also are images of bikers, drinking cans of beer (some apparently more than others). A chat board offers what can only be described as crude incentives for bikers to attend the rallies.

Third, I distinctly remember a flier touting last year’s rally. One of the featured events was nude karaoke.

This is supposed to be a church?

I guarantee the nearby residents who complained to the county weren’t unhappy about just alleged zoning violations.

If Elliott wants his Route 66 Biker Church to pass muster, I’d advise he do a few more charity events (like a toy run he’s organizing in December), clean up the rallies and and retool the Web site so it’s family-friendly.

If he doesn’t want to do these things, then don’t call the complex a church.

The Albuquerque Journal has picked up the story about owner Richard Gonzales filing an application to demolish the historic El Vado Motel.

Much of the backstory has already been covered on this site. But there’s this excerpt:

To get the demolition permit, Gonzales will have to show the city Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission that the property is “incapable of producing a reasonable economic return.” Gonzales, aided by hired engineers and architects, made that argument at a hearing last month, complete with various financial statements and renovation estimates.

But the city, at least so far, isn’t convinced [my emphasis] that El Vado has to be such an unprofitable venture.

The information Gonzales put forth “is inconclusive with regard to potential economic return,” according to a report written by Senior Planner Maryellen Hennessy. “Opportunities for reuse are too easily disposed of in the evidence presented.”

The city-hired engineer, meanwhile, is taking a closer look at the economic story ahead of a Dec. 13 hearing, where the issue is scheduled to be hashed out further.

This reiterates the notion that the city is taking a dim view to Gonzales’ latest antics.

But again, we’ll keep you posted.