Mark Lovell and Roger Freeman fatally injured at Oregon Trail Rally. I am in a complete state of shock.
Early today I was keeping an eye on the updates from Oregon. “Stage Closed, report back for a drivers meeting.”?? This was followed by a long period of silence. That silence was broken by some horrible news.
It appears that Mark Lovell, and co-driver Roger Freeman were just a short bit into one of the first stages, when they hit a tree killing both driver & co-driver. No specific crash details have been released – but the Oregon State Police did a full accident investigation.

Having met Mark several times – We’ve lost some true friends. Roger has been co-driver for the last couple of rallies, and has driven with Mark many times before that. I can still recall the rush he gave our group when
he drifted a long sweeper at STPR for well over 200 yards, and at well over 90 MPH.

This is such an unfortunate event. This is why safety is always a number one concern. But in motorsports – you have to accept that motorsports are dangerous. Rally is a risk. Just like driving on I95 is a risk. One that has to be humbly calculated. Would we rather retreat from this danger – or take the chance of life – and explore our humanity, and the bounds of not only our machines, but ourselves. James and I decided to go for a drive, and toasted to Mark and Roger on one of our favorite dirt roads.

Mark Lovell & Roger Freeman ~ Rest In Peace 7/12/2003