I’m sure that some of you long time fans have noticed that the stylized Neon at the top of the page changes from time to time. Illustrated in Macromedia Flash by tracing a transparent picture of the car by hand, changes to the car, the stickers, and the design have happened over eight times. Sometimes subtle, sometimes major – see how the Rally Neon progressed through the years.

2007 – Christine and I get married and besides changing her name I decide to issue a special edition rallynotes.com banner for the occasion. I also added the “P” for “Production.” As in “OMG that P car just beat you down the stage.”

2006 – Bilstein comes on board as our USRC sponsor and I changed the windows to allow the names to be read. This banner was up for more then a year as we won the 2006 USRC Stock Class National Championship and the USRC Rookies of the Year!

2005 – Christine and I rallycrossed the car non-stop and I soon realized that I had my co-driver with me. We finished the Neon’s first rally at Gorman Ridge in August. Shortly before that I added her name to the car (with flags) and my only sponsor at the time: rallydecals.com

2005 – The rally car was stashed in NJ for several months and we drove it across the country shortly before the new year. I updated the wheels and got the Rally America logo on the banner. (Little did I know I wouldn’t run a RA event until the end of 2006) Still no names as I prepped the car for its first rally.

2004 – I decide to move to California with Christine. A fresh start and new beginning. This is reflected in a brand new template nicknamed “A New Direction.” It signifies the car going west and a clean slate. This is one of my favorites. I purposely left off the names as I had no idea who would be my co-driver.

2003 – The roll cage is finished and James and I race to put a new engine in. We complete the Neon’s first event: The Big Lap TSD and rallycross. It is uncertain if we will have the money and the car ready to compete in the Maine Forest Rally. We painted the back of the car white and updated the banner. This was on the site for more then a year.

2002 – Later in the year I painted and stickered the car to match. James Mackey helped me get the car up to Vermont for the roll cage and we started doing more work together on the car. It was only fair that his name be on it.

2002 – After getting the hang of illustrating the car with Macromedia Flash, I decided it was time to do it right. I made a new base template that would allow me to try different colors, wraps, and vinyl on the car. Jeremy’s name is on the car as he was (at the time) helping me work on it and looked to be a strong candidate for co-driver. He subsequently borrowed the car for ‘a day’ and came back 4 days later. This would be the end of his short stint.

2001 – This was the next banner with some “sponsorship” on it. It’s funny how you want to envision the end product. Early in the rallynotes.com page development it was used as a place-holder for a few months. I bought the Neon in May of 2002 from a Subaru buddy. If I remember correctly, it cost me $1350 and a skidplate.

2001 – This was the first successful color test. The car was mostly red and I decided that painting a car was not in the budget. You can see that I took the checker idea a little further.