After a quick stop at the shop to exchange the Blazer for Ze-Neon, we arrived at the new GCRallyX venue out in San Bernardino. The Glen Helen Raceway has a great area for the crews to setup and get our rally on. I think they did a great job setting this event up in a short amount of time.

The very first thing was to get the tent set up and get some shade. This was a mini-service test and we had to get the tools out. Tires swapped, fart-pipe on, etc. I was downing gallons of water from my camelbak and Christine did the same. It was hot. 100 in the shade hot. 6 bottles of water and 2 Gatoraid’s for lunch hot. John, Jay, and company setup their tents next to us to maximize the shade.

We walked the long course and I notated the corners to Christine. I must have said “bumps” about 10 times. The terrain looked mean, but not as hard packed as I expected. The water truck made its way around the course and by the time it got around to the start again, the dirt was dry.

We had an outstanding first run to set the stage for the rest of the day. Although I always hear people talk about ‘taking it easy’ your first run, I often attack the course the hardest the first time out. We set a blistering 124.6 second run. Christine was not sure if we were ahead of all of our rivals but said: “It’s the fastest time up there right now.”

We watched the 4WD cars do their thing, with the ‘finale’ being a run from Leon Styles in his open class Mitsubishi EVO. Dust and the sound of an angry Mitsu were all that could be seen from the sidelines. He was certainly having a fun time out there. Someone came over to me while we were setting up for our second run. “Dude – you beat Leon!” I chuckled at the concept of it and went over to talk shit to Mr. Styles “You’re not going to let a little Neon beat you, right?” I smiled. “I was having fun out there!” He replied. We talked about the possibility of the FWD cars winning an event like this as it was pretty technical and not nearly enough room for the EVO to ‘stretch it’s legs.’ Leon is a great guy, and I’ve seen him run rallies for the last few years, so it’s cool to get to know someone you’ve looked up to. (Maine Forest last year)

Our second run, I got crossed up in some of the fresh mud that was left by the water truck. I straight-lined two of the last corners to gain back some time. Christine could have sworn I hit some cones. I made it close. In with a 125.

Now with only a 2 second lead on first place in the class I was jittery on my last run. There was not many more places I could gain 2 seconds, but tons of places I could lose 2 seconds. Christine kept me focused and I pushed hard to set a 124.8. I knew I had Rally 2WD in the bag. It wasn’t until later – and to my surprise – that I found I had set the best overall time for the day and “Winning it all.” Or as Scott from the Gravel Crew put it, “I 0wn3d Leon.”

I’m stoked, and we’re excited and ready to run Gorman Ridge Rally in 3 weeks!
Video: My camera’s DV port is ‘br0×0red’ – so that will be coming soon.
Pictures: I only snapped a few – but they are here. Please let us know if you have any of us!