The week had a certain feeling to it. Like you would be working on something and get 99.9% there, and you would have to work harder then the original 99% to accomplish that remaining 0.1%. For example, you get packed up and ready to go and you’re just about to walk out the door – but you can’t find your keys. You then spend the next hour tearing the house apart just to finish your goal.

After a discussion about driving cars around and meeting up with trailers in the middle of the desert, we decided it would be easiest if we towed the car on our dolly out to Nevada and met up with Kevin, Danielle, and Jake in Laughlin. They would bring their four wheel trailer empty for the ease of the Laughlin Rally Transit System. What I’m talking about is the fact that Laughlin is a rally that takes place about 80 miles away (from the rally HQ) in Arizona. Peach Springs, Wikieup, all not close to the river hotels. This means the crew gets up, loads up, and drives 2 hours every morning for pretty much a week.

Much, much,
Tuesday night we arrive a little late after taking a detour to my office in San Diego. We call Donna Hocker with our ETA and eventually make it to her room a little after 9:00PM to check into the rally. Christine is set with her rally books and we are set to recce` for the first time at Laughlin.

Wednesday is the start of our 2 pass reconnaissance on Hualapai land. Kevin hands the Tahoe over to us and they scramble into the stadium seating for the ride. We notate Black Canyon and Diamond Creek. Black Canyon now has a rather nasty dip after a crest that I mis-read with a 7,000lb. Chevy + 5 people. Danielle (Kevin’s wife) was sitting all the way in the back. The back end of the Tahoe pops up and Danielle is left floating for a few seconds, then lands hard. I felt so bad – I stopped and apologized like 10 times. It was so hard that we named it and Christine called it in the notes. Listen for “Danielle’s Dip” in the when I post it up SS6 or SS7. After the first trip down Diamond Creek I was pretty much all set. It’s a fairly easy road to read and the last 1.5 miles are SO rough that I knew I’d be baby stepping the car regardless. The girls wanted to see the Colorado and the river at the bottom and convinced me to drive all the way down it again. The river is about 2 miles past the finish and over several water crossings. “Is this it?” we wondered, until we came around the corner and saw a 100 foot wide river in front of us. “That’s IT.” It’s awesome down there and I’m so glad I can say I’ve rallied in the Grand Canyon.

Thursday we are over on Cane Springs, Yellow Pine Ranch, and 17 Mile Road. I felt that Kevin and Jake weren’t getting the most out of me tossing them around the back of a car all week, so I decided (well, practically forced) Kevin to drive and Jake to read notes for at least one of our two passes. I figured that seeing the road once and then making changes in the notes the second time was all I needed. Front seat, back seat, or otherwise. Jake picked it up and it made the day pass quickly. I think the experience was good to get Kevin thinking about turns in his head and Jake used to reading notes.

Thursday night the rest of the crew arrived and we played with the alignment for about an hour. For future reference, 3 turns is 2.5 too many for the tie rods. I was satisfied that the car was driving straight and we went over to the MotorZone for the start ramp ceremony and scrutineering.

Going into Laughlin our plan was such: Charge hard on Friday (on the faster stages) and see where we ended up Friday night. Was there any hope of keeping up with a 175HP SVT Focus? Would we keep up with Group 2 cars in P-Stock? This would determine if we continued to push on Saturday or just back off and finish survive the rally. We were clearly aware of two things: 1. We needed USRC points to secure 2nd place. 2. There was a slim possibility that we could get 2nd in P-Stock or at least Christine could beat Terry Stonecipher in the Co-Driver points for the year. What we were completely unaware of was that we had a shot at winning the USRC Production Two Wheel Drive Championship.

Friday morning, drive the SuperStage, load the car, drive to Wikieup. We’re all helmeted up and ready to go when we turn the corner to see 30 cars waiting to start. Dick Moser suggests I get my radio out and we tune into what’s going on. In a matter of 4 minutes we went from knowing nothing, to knowing that John Dillion hurt his back but was able to move, and that the stage will be restarted shortly. One thing I want to mention here – Kudos for Laughlin and NASA for smartly handling a red cross situation and at least trying to restart the stage. We pay so much to play on these roads and when stages get thrown one after another it’s frustrating.

We start SS2 Yellow Pine Ranch and Christine is ten times better then last year on this stage. She calls the dozen or so fast crests right on time and we’re picking up speed. Four minutes in there is a long crest 250 (yards) then jump 300. It’s clear that she’s spot on and I shift into 4th. “Trust,” I say to confirm this. We begin to crest the top of the hill and I have time to think: “Wow – the top of this crest is really smooth. Oh wait – we’re airborne…” A pretty soft landing follows afterwards thanks to the Bilstein’s and I know we’re cranking down this stage.

A little further I see cars off the road and they’re waving us off. The stage has been stopped because the VW of Rafal Listopad & Greg Dorman has gone off big. Driver and Co-Driver have been reported okay, but we will transit the rest of SS2. So much for cranking over that fast crest… The landing has tweaked the rear camber and it’s probably a good thing we’re off to service. Kevin, Jake, Danielle, Harry, Kaiser, and Dan are waiting for us by the Shell station. Harry and Kevin have suspension parts ready to go if needed. It turns out we just needed to move and tighten the rear strut bolts. “Crisis averted,” I like to say.

SS3 and SS4 are considered by some to be the best rally stage out here. It’s the “17 Mile Road” roller coaster. No five mile long straights, just crest and turn, jump and turn, off-camber turn and crest for 8 miles or so. When you’re on it you have the car set up in the air for the next turn. A really awesome stage. Two miles or so from the finish we pass the Focus of Hampton Bridwell & Josh Katinger stopped on the side of the road. The game has suddenly changed. The scores from the P-Stock cars will determine our Saturday strategy.

Back into service we refuel the car and it proceeds to spit some of it out… The crew checks over the car from front to back and find nothing leaking. Yet there is a trail from the gas pumps over to our check-in point. I have a feeling that the replacement plastic skidplates are overheating the tank. We check and bang some wheel dents and get the lights set for the last stage of the night.

SS5 is “Cane Springs” or SS2 in reverse. I’m hoping for a low dust, quick run, here and I turn up the pace a little. Not to pick on the older guys, but I can still see well in the dark and I used it to my advantage here. We set a fantastic time, 15th out of 33. Load up on the trailer and head back to the Tropicana Express.

Kaiser, Dan, Harry and myself perform a mini-service over at the sandbox MotorZone. We cut some air holes out of the rear skidplate and covered the tank with some reflective metal tape where it’s close to the exhaust. Want to know how soft the sandbox was? Check out this picture of Harry using a jig-saw directly on the ground…

Saturday morning we head out to Peach Springs for the days stages. SS6 & SS7 are called “Black Canyon.” Last year we I mis-read a blind left five and put the car hard into a ditch. Because of recce` we were able to mark it in the notes with like a thousand exclamation points… Arrows, highlighting – I think there was even a skull and crossbones in there. We set a decent time but I was at this point in “finish the rally” mode after seeing the scores from Friday night.

We head into service just as the train is crossing our path. We nervously wait, but check in with time to spare. The car is running great. The tires look good. We’re ready for “Diamond Creek” the toughest and last stage of this rally.

SS8 & SS9 in and out of the Grand Canyon. We haul as much ass as we can going down. The steep grade levels some of the power advantage and we push until it gets just too rough. “Stupid Rough,” is actually what we put for one of the last sections. There is no dirt down there anymore. It’s just boulders. Three million year old giant car breaking boulders. We creep across the finish, turn around, and I’m out with the hammer working over the rims. “Just gotta finish…”

The trip back out was sort of surreal. There was a lot of dust and we had to keep the rally lights off for parts of it. “Have to finish…” We pass 1, 2, 3 cars off the road from failed attempts either coming down or going out of the canyon. “Gotta finish!” Christine calls a caution “BRAKE” right three into left three. We see triangles on the exit and Jeff Rados has tossed his truck into the boulders. He’s out and waving us on. “Didn’t brake,” Christine comments calmly as we continue at around 75MPH out of the canyon and through the dust. I’ve had it pinned in 3rd gear for what seems to be an hour. The car just won’t go any faster uphill.

We emerge at the top of the crest over a left hand corner and I finally see the flying finish. It took us over 20 minutes to get out of the canyon. When we stop, Christine goes over the list of cars that are off (and where they are) with Brent Ellzey the stage captain. “Did you get Chrissie & Terry?” Brent asks. “Oh… that must have been them here.” Christine checks. This means we just moved into 2nd place in P-Stock for the weekend.

Saturday night we get cleaned up and all go out for some dinner. The work is done. SuperStage on Sunday and we’re feeling good. We tried to find the CRS party but wound up going to bed at a fairly normal time for a Saturday night.

Down to the wire at the SuperStage: After some discussion about the CRS points for the year we realize that a 2nd in P-Stock for the co-driver is possible, but I have to beat the G2 Jetta in the sandbox. Like a good little rallycrosser I start emptying everything from the Neon. Spare tires, water, cool suit lines, camera, etc. We are light and we make our first run. (0.95) Fresh tires on the car for the second run. I take the last straight away too fast and we pop a bead going into the last corner. (0.94) We fix the tire and take the light bar off the car. Now I’m paired against an SRT-4. I keep a clean fast line and even get the jump on the 250HP Neon. We jam through the finish and beat the turbo Neon. (0.88) I am 0.01 ahead of the competition for 2nd.

While this is going on, the Formula RallyX guys are fighting for the water truck and other equipment from the SuperStage. At this point we are holding them up and we make the decision to go over to the course and do some of our runs. We get right in line and take our first run. Clean line – good time – we hand the car over to Kevin and he takes a run. Then Jake pops in and is working his way through the rutted course when he comes to a stop. “Oh shit,” I said out loud as I see him look at me and exclaim pretty much the same thing in French.

We determine that it’s the axle and push the car into the pits. I need a spare and I didn’t bring one. I walk up to John Black and without a thought he hands me his keys. We now begin to do a Neon to Neon axle swap in the middle of a sandbox. You have to also remember that in order to not lose any tranny fluid the car has to be at about a 30 degree angle. Kevin and Kaiser wrestle John’s car while Harry and I beat the rally car’s control arm down. Dan & Jake are ready with whatever tool we yell for. The Formula RallyX guys including a bunch of guys from DirtyImpreza.com are all watching, helping and cheering us on. It was a fast transplant and we drop the car to the ground ready to rally after 15 minutes. “Chug, chug, chug, chug…” Nothing. “Chug, chug, chug, chug…” The car will not start. “What the hell car?!” I scream.

It’s at this time Christine confirms the rules of the SuperStage with Michael Taylor. Michael assures me calmly that if we get over there and push it across the line, we will get the max time for our last run and finish the rally. There goes Christine’s second in P-Stock… We push and tow the car over to the start line, where the organizers have paired us against the Group 2 car of Scott McKinney & John Giannattasio. This car lost it’s transmission and had to be towed over as well. It’s going to be some sort of ‘push off.’

We receive the max time and finish the event. On the way back to the rallycross I try pop-starting the Rally Neon. “Thud, thud, chug, start! Rev!” Okay, the engine still works, let’s try the transmission. 1st gear… nothing. 2nd… nothing. “What the hell car?!” I shout again. We go back over to the rallycross to re-exchange axles and we learn that this one broke somehow as well. Do I know how yet? No… Kevin and the gang go and grab a new axle for John Black’s car from AutoZone and we carefully install it so he can drive it home. Thanks AGAIN John!

We push the Neon onto the dolly, load up and get cleaned up for the awards. We get called for the First Place in USRC Production 2WD and I’m like – “huh – oh for the event…” No Kris. For the whole championship. You see there is a rule in this years USRC that balances the 6 events on the East Coast with the 3 events on the West Coast. East coast teams – if they start, replace one of their events with Laughlin. DNF here and you replace your lowest event score with a zero. West coast teams – if they start, add Laughlin to their events. This is exactly what happened. Our East Coast competition started and did not finish, while we started and finished this amazingly challenging 3 day rally. Had it happened any other way – we would not have been champions.

I would once again like to thank the Crew: Harry Bushling, Kaiser Chen, Dan Green, Kevin Patterson, Danielle Patterson, and Jake Walters. You guys did awesome work! Thanks to John Black for giving us a shot at finishing up under our own power. Michael Taylor for being the cool head of reason when I was losing my mind trying to get the car going and finish the rally. The FRX crew for being patient and then helping us with everything! The DirtyImpreza.com guys for being our cheering fans at the SuperStage! Jimmy Brandt for giving us that extra push. I’m still in shock after a week of soaking it all in.

So – How’s Ze’Neon?
Well, I got her down to the shop and dragged her off the tow dolly. We pushed her into the bay and got her situated on some tall jack stands, knowing that she’ll be there for a few months. I was just about to leave when I decided to find out if she would start. I hopped in, primed the fuel pump and she started right up. I actually wasn’t angry. It is what it is, I guess. Loose wire? Car was pissed at me? In gear, the right front tire moves. First gear through third seem to do something, so the gearbox may not be a loss.

We’ve got a long time before our next rally so the plan is to do a complete tear-down on the car. She’s got 12 rallies on her and it’s time to see a frame machine, time to replace the front radiator support, and track down all the cracks in the shell. Maintaining a rally car is very much like maintaining an airplane. I’m even considering putting an ‘hour’ meter on the engine. Yeah, I only went 300 miles this weekend – but that was at and average 5,500 RPM. When was the last time you drove 6 hours at 5,500 RPM?