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So, after a winter's break, we were definately ready to rally. We spent November and December taking it easy, and January and February prepping the car
for our first rally of 2004, the Doo Wop's! All the NW drivers love these rallies, and so excitement was pretty strong. After a nice shakedown at a rallycross at
Pacific Raceways the week before (where Ken actually beat Chris in his own car, the punk! [4:00 vs 4:05]), we headed off to Hoquiam Friday afternoon. This Rally was
a nice short two and a half hour tow, and we were in Hoquiam by 5 PM. 4 of us drove the tow vehicle down (Chris, Ken, Bud & Glen), while the other three
service guys (Nick, Tim and Richard) came that evening, as they had work & school.
After a long wait for scrutineering, we got the car tech'd and checked in, and went to bed. We stayed at the Olympic Hotel in Aberdeen, as our typically
late hotel reservations precluded us from staying at the headquarters hotel (we're learning, we'll make reservations for OT WAY in advance!).
Saturday morning we headed off to Montesano for Parc Expose and the start of the rally. We had a nice short transit from Montesano down to Pico, our 1st
stage of the day. The Pico stage was somewhat of a novelty as it starts and ends at the same place. After completing the stage and servicing, we headed back
out for the second run. This turned into a cancelled stage, as Deborah's orange Subaru had gone off and Lee, her co-driver, was currently recieving medical
attention. So back to service. Thankfully, we discovered later, that Lee was OK and no serious injuries were sustained.
At service, we had discovered that a front caliper bolt was missing (eek!), and this was a problem since Chris forgot to pack the box full of fasteners. Thankfully with
something like 6 Golfs (Golves? hehe) entered, we were able to snag a bolt from Noah Third. Thanks again Noah!!! The other issue was a noisily failing power-steering pump,
but it was managing to hang on, and fluid wasn't leaking yet. So we figured ignore it, and cut the belt off if it actually fails.
So now, off to the Smith Creek stage. First off, what a transit (something like 40 miles)! After a brief wait for the start of the stage, and numerous
comments from people who have run it before of "pin the throttle to the floor and have fun!", we took off down the stage. Our GTI on the new suspension was definately
a big improvement, but at the high-speeds and ruttyness of Smith Creek it was very hard to keep in a straight line. Smith Creek is well known for its jump in
the middle of the stage, and we knew it was straight over crest, but that has to have been one of the most frightening moments in our (short) rally career.
Chris held the throttle until about 50 yards from the top when he decided that he didn't want to go over it wide open and lifted. Probably would have been fine, but
still, better safe and planted that flying through the air!
After Smith Creek we headed for the famous Brooklyn Tavern to service. Nothing major wrong, good, and off to the stage. This stage has some beautiful corners and is mostly wide open smooth gravel. We took our time
and drove the stage briskly, but without any excitement. A clean run on a fun stage! Aside for a brief heavily exposed section at the end of the stage, I really
enjoyed the road!
After Brookyln, we learned about messed up TSD-style route-book nonsense with an "O" (observation) control. We followed the instructions to the turn around point and
headed back to the stage start only to learn we had missed a control. So we turned around and headed back to the control. Thanks again guys (you know who you are)for warning us! Ken
was annoyed because the route book clearly showed us turning around .7 miles before the control, and we followed the instructions.
One more run at the Brooklyn stage, another service, and a final run at Smith Creek capped off day 1 of the rally. Good Stuff!
Day 2 started in Hoquiam with a transit out to Failor Lake. This stage was GREAT (my kind of stuff), filled with flowing technical corners, some good straights, a nice
acute corner, and a beautiful surface. We noticed a big back up at the control, and realized they were having problems with timing. We were prepared to protest at our first service.
As it turns out, we never made it!
After another long transit, including 4 miles of 15mph through spotted owl country, we were at the start of Crane Creek. This stage had huge exposures and a mucky surface, as well
as tons of vertical elevation change. About 6 miles in on the down-hill section, I took a turn a little wide and slid off the road, causing us to roll down a cliff about 20 feet off the
road. So it goes. Thankfully our saftey gear held up and we escaped without serious injury (some bruises, but that's to be expected!). After the rest of the cars made it through the stage, we rode
back to service is Ray Damito's van. Crane Creek was run twice, so after an hour or so of sitting at service we took the trailer up to the site of the crash to see about fishing it
out. It was looking pretty hopeless as the car was quite a ways off the road and well below the road surface.
While we were waiting for the tow truck, two of the EMT's showed up to survey the carnage, and to my suprise, one of them was a guy named Jason Weber, who I (Chris) had grown up with. I hadn't seen
the guy in nearly a decade, and the first words out of his mouth were "Chris, you really gotta learn how to drive!". Thanks man, Thanks. Still, great to see him :)
Eventually, a tow truck arrived, and with some determined effort the car was recovered. We loaded it on our trailer and headed home. We were in good spirits despite the crash, because
we were uninjured, and it actually didn't look too bad! So time will tell, and we'll keep the repair effort information up to date on the website.
So here's how it went:
Doo Wop 1 results
Doo Wop 2 results
Our time on Failor Lake (which had some time card problems) was a 9:01. We DNF'd Crane Creek, and DNS'd the rest of the day.
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