As we patiently waited for the NASA events this year, our season started quite late. We miss Rim of the World. There were lots of questions from fellow competitors as to what rallies we’d be doing this year, and how come we weren’t competing in ________ Rally? The answer this year is a little more complex and I’m going to touch upon some of the team planning that is imperative to success.

Rally America this year has added the requirement of HANS (Head and Neck) devices at its events. NASA looks to add this requirement in 2009. With new helmets and seats to accommodate the devices, we looked at a team cost of around $3500 for the year (equivelent cost of two rally entry fees) just to enable doing a Rally America event in 2008. I’m not drilling holes in a 5 year old Bell helmet. I want comfortable seats that have space and padding for HANS. End of discussion.

We are planning to take 2009 off. Christine needs 100% to finish her doctorate, and I think it’s a good chapter point for our rally career. Don’t worry – we’ll be out volunteering and in our CRS capacities and back in 2010. This gives us time to save for all sorts of new things. Not to get too ahead of myself, but a new faster car is on the drawing board. Propagate rumors accordingly! 😉

As soon as the USRC calendar was announced we started on the plan. So in April (two months before the rallies) we had booked flights and secured lodging for the North Nevada / Idaho loop. We had non-refundable tickets before most teams decided to even RUN the rally. As the price of fuel and flights skyrocketed over the summer this decision saved us hundreds of dollars. The trip was a tow to Reno, rally at NNR, then a tow to Boise, fly home, fly back, rally at Idaho, tow home. Not that all this planning didn’t prevent the unexpected. We had to replace the fuel pump in the Blazer in Idaho and the rear differential bearings when we got back. So much for all the ‘saved’ money. Make sure when you start rallying that you realize $1000 is nothing. Vaporized in seconds by rally teams everywhere.

North Nevada was a fantastic rally, great roads, great organization, etc. So glad we could support these guys. Kudos to them for resurrecting a ‘dead’ rally. Remember the Reno disaster? *cough

North Nevada Rally:
What a comeback. As it was a CRS rally we wanted to do well in P-Stock. With 5 starters in our class we had some great competition. We weren’t sure if we’d be faster then Andrew Lockhart in his VW Golf on stage and we’re always trying to keep up with Chrissie Beavis in her slightly advantaged Group 2 Jetta. After four stages we’re having clean runs and we pull into service. First question out of the crews mouth: “What’s with the 2:36 minutes of road points?!” Christine goes immediately to the scoring van in a flurry.

Christine returns and exclaims; “I’m soooo pissed at myself right now.” I roll my eyes a bit and ask; “So, we’re down 2:36 then?” She then begins to explain the situation. She made a rookie math mistake at an MTC giving us the penalty. Out on the stages, Chrissie Beavis had her heater core explode she narrowly avoided burning her legs – this dropped her out of the running. We’ve beaten Lockhart unexpectedly on 3 of the 4 stages. Good news – we were winning! Bad news – we’re 1:30 something behind, with 2 stages to go.

Immediately Christine is like – “No way… Not going to happen in 2 stages.” I take a calmer approach and start to think about what I can do. The crew is super positive. Louie (a volunteer from the Dirty Impreza group) puts it in perspective. “That’s only 45 seconds a stage.” To which I reply – “I’m sayin…” The crew gets a good chuckle out of this as they ready the Neon for the final attack.

I turned it on for SS5. Staying smooth, but pushing hard. When we zoomed into the finish control there was a resounding – “Woah!” from the control workers. Rally drivers LOVE to do that. Thirteen minutes flat – setting 4th fastest overall! Stage 6 was also as fast as I could manage, setting a mid-pack time. When we pulled into service, the crew played a trick on us – with somber faces they exclaimed an 18 second gap. Disappointed, it was then revealed that we WON by only 18 seconds. There was much rejoicing. Our first ever P-Stock win.

Fun runs?! To sum it up quickly: Because the rally was classified as ‘new’ by the CRS – they only scored the first 6 stages of the rally in the championship and we knew that going in. The organizers were prepared to run 8 stages. So the last 2 stages were competitor optional. We had talked before about not running the last two stages to save the car for Idaho, but after seeing the stages and having such a good time on 5 and 6 we had to do it.

Now the fun part. As we came in, the control workers asked us if we wanted to run 7 and 8. We hooted a “Yes!” and we asked how many people were going for it ahead of us. The answer was 2 or 3. We get handed a time card and we head out for the last two stages. We pull in, and there are NO other cars there. Pat McMahon who was working the ATC says: “The Marciniaks are first on the road.” I’m stunned as I realize: 1. Being first on the road = awesome. 2. All the other top teams chickened out as if they had team orders. “Oh Kris, Dodge called – and if it’s not for championship points you can’t run it…” “Gotta save the car for Idaho!” I agree that if you felt you MAY damage the car and you were towing up to Idaho like we were, okay, okay – put it on the trailer. The reality for me is: Rally is an awesome hobby that I love doing. I won’t be asked to join the Citroen PWRC team next year. We’re out here to have a great time – and even if I destroy the car on those last two – I’m still doing what I love to do. These were great stages, let’s go rally!

Idaho Rally:
If you missed my mentioning this, Richard Rockrohr & Marie Jacobs were our gracious hosts during the Idaho rally and I would like to once again thank them for making this event so awesome for us. They made this a superstar event. What I mean by that is: We flew in and were picked up at the airport. We awoke the next morning and did recce in Dick’s (Alcan Rally-prepped) WRX wagon. When we got to the rally hotel that night, Ze’Neon was sitting in the parking lot waiting for me to breeze it through tech and slide it back on the trailer. After Friday’s stages we put the car on the lift and looked over everything. Saturday’s service had the comfort of the RV and AC. Plus they took care of problems with the Blazer while we were in SoCal. Great people – extended rally family.

The field was made up by a lot of AWD turbo cars, so 4th overall was not happening. We did manage 9th of 19 starters and 14 finishers. Our in-class competition was a couple of great guys, Ben Hetland and Tyler Smith who had picked up a Focus ZX3 and were rallying it for the first time. They had mentioned to us that they were rallynotes.com fans before the event, and it always feels good to inspire others.

The roads here are the best. The only description I can come up with is “true rally roads.” No long straight flat over crest 1000. These are technical fun roads where the longest straight away all weekend was “150 cattle guard then 100 L5.” Not rough, and not 100 hairpins, but great flowing roads. As I grew up driving on crowned roads back east we were able to sneak some time away from other SoCal teams not used to ditch hooking. If Christine didn’t say “Don’t cut”, I was deep in the ditch trying to carry speed over to the next turn. The elevation changes were steep and this was challenging with a production car, but so good.

Gorman Ridge Rally:
Strategy of survival. Gorman gave us our first finish in 2005 and our first DNF in 2006. With the tow fund on the line, we had to take it easy and finish this one. Getting passed on stage sucks, but seeing the USRC arch at the end of the night makes up for it. The rally saw 12 retirements out of 30 starters. Attrition of 40% is not too bad for this one. Just a note – I love this event. Sure it’s rough and it beats the hell out of everything including your spine, but it makes for a well rounded championship event. Nick Taylor driving a Subaru Impreza over the weekend put it best when he compared it to the Acropolis WRC Rally. Not every rally can be – or should be – Finland. It takes many types of events to build a great championship.

So where are we? We’re set for the penultimate (love that word) round of the USRC championship, The Prescott Rally. As most of you know we love the event and it holds a special place for us. For the 4th year in a row we will be charging hard on the red clay stages. I hear that they are going to run Perkinsview again – a 22 mile stage that we set 7th fastest on in 2006. I’ll be looking to better my time of 21:24 on that stage.

We just booked our plane tickets to Rally New York and we’re working on a plan to get the Dodge Rally Neon out there!
See you on the stages! – Kris