Okay. So you want to build a rally car. You’ve been working on this used Galant and you are totally going to rally next year. You’re ready to make the jump off the (couch / drag-strip / PS3 / rallycross / TSD / keyboard / underground racing club) and actually go stage rally! The first thing you absolutely must do is attend the CRS Rally School in Ridgecrest, CA on February 7 - 8th 2009. As graduates of the school in 2005, it gave us the confidence to tackle national level competition our first year and go on to - well - you’ve seen the trophy room.

Here’s what I said about it after we took the class in 2005:

Two key things to mention. We’ll be once again volunteering as instructors. We’re offering a discount if you take the school and attend our High Desert Trails Rally (two weeks later) on February 21st! See the High Desert Trails Rally website for more details.

Click here for the 2009 CRS Rally School Website!

Sign up, tell your friends, get prospective co-drivers a late Christmas gift, and get your girlfriend to go.
You’ll have a great time and we’ll see you there!
UPDATE: Bumping this above RTUSA3

Road Trip USA III Gallery is up.

Just a quick post to report that we pulled in yesterday around 3:00PM. Some quick stats from the trip:

3325.15 Miles (from NJ)
15 States
48:56 Drive time
67.9 MPH Driving average
1291 APRS Packets
27 MPG
123 Gallons of gas
$215 on gas card

I will have a full update with pictures, etc, later tonight three weeks from now.

Total Miles: 2953.40
Weather: We bring the rains
States: NM, AZ

Made great time to Brian and Vanessa’s house in Phoenix. We had steaks on the grill. Just when we were used to the warm Southwestern weather, we wake up to some rain. Just a reasonable commute to home now.

Texas once again disappointed me this morning. For years I’ve been telling people this cute story about how they have shamrock shakes YEAR ROUND at the McDonald’s in Shamrock Texas. Lies. Damn lies…

We pull into the drive-through. I desperately scan the board for the little plaque that reads - (Shamrock shakes served year round!) - that I remember seeing only four or so years ago. I know if I was the manager of this silly little McDees in a town called Shamrock - well - you’d bet your ass we’d have Shamrock Shakes whenever you wanted.

The rest of the story goes like this:
“Two Shamrock shakes please!”
“You fail, please drive around.”

Total Miles: 2548.28
Weather: Warm with gas fumes
States: OK, TX, NM

In New Mexico we headed to Roswell. Smelled like cows. We moved on.
Made it to Las Cruces, NM - now we only have a short hop to Phoenix tomorrow.

Total Miles: 1894.28
Weather: Clear and cold
States: TN, AR, OK

The extra hour from CST that got us to TN last night helped get us going at a decent time this morning. New years day on the I-40! Another 600+ miles under foot. The highlight of the day would be the guy in the Tahoe that drove off from the gas station without a brain… *KaChunk! I turned around to see the truck 10 feet away with the nozzle and the hose still attached to the car, but no longer attached to the pump. Break away hoses for the win.

For those of you just joining us, the rally car can be tracked here or on APRS.fi by searching for KI6IUC-9.