First off – We’d like to thank the volunteers and organizers! We had a blast and the roads are awesome. Even Limestone was not as tough as some had predicted.

SS1 – First View. Good thing I couldn’t see anything.
Dust was the story of the night. We caught up with Dr. Clark and it wasn’t safe for us to try to chase him down. I can’t see anything… They let us get ahead.
SS2 – We set a pretty fast time with a fresh 4 minute dust window. 3rd place in production
SS3 – Another mid-pack time. 4th in production.
SS4 – As this was our second rally, we’ve been lucky not having to get out of the car and do the triangle run. 1/4 mile from the finish, the ass end steps out and I get ‘stupid sideways’ nose into the mountain. Re-start the car – stall… The car now won’t start. I don’t hear the fuel pump. Christine hops out and starts running the triangle down. She slips and wails her knee. I figure out the fuse is gone. We jam a new one in – throw everything into the trunk, clip some belts on, and head off again.
Turns out that Tine left her route book (the OK sign) on the back window. The workers at the end of SS4 were awesome! They found, and returned it to us back at the hotel.

Next morning

SS5 – I don’t want to hear any BS. Hammer down all the time (even if it’s a dumb ’roundy-round’ special) It’s a SUPER SPECIAL STAGE at a club event – We loved it! 1st in production We tied Jeff in the truck and Blake with a 0:45 – go Neon!
SS6 – Fuel pump fuse
SS7 – Fuel pump fuse on transit – and then on stage. I’m sure Bill or someone has awesome shots of me jamming a piece of 16g wire where the fuse was.
Service – I had some ideas what the pump issues had to do with. I jump out of the car and place my hand on the gas tank metal. It’s too hot to touch and I have ‘dishpan’ hands. The aluminum plate is reflecting the exhaust heat right into the tank. We have 20 minutes to pull something off before we head to the toughest stage of the rally. I have the crew take the gas tank plate off. The mid-plate still offers some protection – but I’d want to take it easy.
SS8 – I ride up on the ruts. We set a slow time but have no issues.
SS9 – Got some more confidence and set a faster time heading back.
SS10 – ‘Fast on Perkinsville’ We set a solid time (4th in production). I have to work to save it and I got the neon maxed out in 4th gear. We come into the finish and Christine tells me there is water all over the floor! I look down and the foot wells have about 1/4″ of water sloshing around in them. “What the?!” I figure there is a leak in the cool suit lines and we pull to the right to check it out. Open the trunk and the cool suit cooler is tipped over. About 2 gallons of water spilled over and flooded the car.
SS11 – Mid-pack time. Now that the fuel issues are sorted, I’m keeping up with the production pack.
SS12 – At the start of the stage the Neon shudders a bit and something doesn’t sound right. I have a feeling that we’ve either killed the alternator or belt – or that fuel pump has had just about enough of my crap. I also can hear that we broke the bobble strut as the exhaust is rattling free against the chassis. Just in case I turn town all the lights, unplug the cooler, and shut off the brantz. Tine runs the notes with a flashlight. That is a wild stage in the dark. Solid time again. They tell us that there is a car 1 mile from the finish. I think we saw 3 off on that stage. On a sweeping right hander I see Jeff’s triangles and hang onto the car. A lot of people we’re cranking there and we managed to keep it out of the ditch.
SS13 – We do a good job keeping up. We are stoked that we finished the Prescott Rally! Not too bad with a 4th in production with issues causing us to stop on stage a number of times.

Speaking of fuel pump…
On the way home we get about 70 miles out from Prescott and the Blazer won’t do 65 any more… hmm… Now it won’t go 55… Now I have my foot to the floor and we’re slowing down. “Umm… Jeff!” I radio ahead. We pull off and try to figure out what’s wrong with the Blazer.

Turn key – pump won’t prime. Maybe the fuel filter is clogged. We pull that. Turn key – nothing. At this point Marco and crew drives by and gives the thumbs up. Christine responds with the crossed arms – shaking head and Marco pulls to a stop and comes back to give us a hand.

A few raps on the tank and the pump primes again – then packs up. This won’t be enough to get us home. We try attaching an in-line pump to where the filter was. But because of the check valve, the pump won’t pull gas past the stock pump… that’s inside the tank…

At this point we decide to find an auto parts store. We send Marco and crew on their way (Thanks guys!!) Jeff and Christine take off leaving Guido and I to get the tank dropped. “I will have the tank on the ground when you get back.” I assured Jeff as he took off. I’m just about to un-do the strap bolts when I realize that we have 7lbs X 16gal of gas in that tank. We only went 70 miles… Guido and I brace and then lower the tank with the jack. We start to see the top of the tank come down just as Jeff and Tine get back. I don’t even ask – as I don’t want to think the last hour was pointless…

Giant blue box in Jeff’s hands – see the light… This is the ONE that they had. Good thing the blazer was a 2 door – as they didn’t have the 4 door pump… (the 2 door has a bigger tank – why we bought it) We get it all back together and running. It’s about 5:00PM. One more AZ sunset for us. When it rains it pours…

Again – thanks to all the volunteers and organizers that put this together. HUGE thanks to Jeff Rados & Guido Hamacher for making it happen. Big thanks to Marco Pasten, Jennifer Imai, and their crew that stopped to see that we were all right and helped with the repairs. Thanks to our service crew that was great all weekend – AZ2GNT.net! Thanks to our sponsors: rallydecals.com, Energy Suspension.

See you next time
– Kris