2003 Wild West ProRally cont.

This is Mark Nelson in the Team Dynamics car - he did a helluva job on it! Mark was one of my instructors at the CRS Rally School.

2003 Wild West ProRally cont.

Glenn Wallace's Historic class Ford Cortina mkII sure is nice!

2003 Wild West ProRally cont.

This is Bruce and Lee's car.

2003 Wild West ProRally

My friend Lee was attempting to win the PGT ProRally national championship this year as a navigator and called on me to join the service crew for car #60. This was my first time working as a rally team member and it was a great learning experience. The amount of preparation, supplies and work and money that goes into running a rally car is staggering. Like most rally novices I thought the production classes would be simple: add cage and go rally. The #60 car was campaigned nationally that year, and had a full sized pick up full of spares, plus the trailer to tow the car. With only myself and one other to do the service (plus Lee and his driver Bruce) we had our hands full getting the car out on time in the FIA mandated 20min services. My job was typically to take the tires off and either change them or inspect them for cuts and then mount them. We used a Snap-On cordless impact drill - it's a MUST HAVE for a rally car. The logistics can be crazy for the teams as well. We had a park expose at a local college Friday night, followed by a parc ferme at another location over-night. We had a early morning start, with the last timed service before the park ferme at 10pm. I learned to take naps during the stages and be prepared for anything during service. I really have to thank Lee again for this awesome opportunity to see how a top flight PGT team is run. The car took second in class and Lee secured the national championship that weekend too!

2003 The Road Not Taken

This year, I reunited with my good friend Jon to repeat our performance from the previous year's running of TRNT. This year however we did it in my car, and Jon navigated for me, and TRNT was run in it's usual nighttime format. I picked Jon up at the Portland airport, and we headed down to the Rally HQ at the Spirit Lake casino in Grande Rhonde, OR. We change tires in the parking lot and took off into the mountains. TRNT is known for it's twisty, narrow and often steep roads over the mountainous coastal region of Oregon. We had no difficulties, but still the rally beat us bad. We only took away one point, which kept me in good standings for the PCC, but some of my competitors did well and extended their lead. This was unfortunately the last running of TRNT. It's was a great rally and I'll miss it. Both times I've run it, it's kicked my butt, but I wanted to get back and do it again as soon as possible!