Rallye Star!

	February 27, 2005 It's a predawn start for Leon and I today as we head out to our first event of the season, the California Rally Series Ridgecrest Rally Cross. It's a points event, so Leon is willing to tow Prince the entire two hour trip up to the high desert. Yep, you read it correctly- Mr. Rogers and I will not be contesting the rally cross championship together. Leon decided that I need seat time in Prince, so we'll only use a gravel tire shod Mr. Rogers if Prince isn't ready to race. I really wanted to run with Mr. Rogers. I know how to drive him, I know how he reacts and I know I can kick all sorts of ass with him. And those, says Leon, are all really good reasons why I should move up a class into the 2WD rally car/rally tires class. I hate to admit it, but he's right. I mean you're never going to learn how to swim if you never get out of the wading pool. I'll swallow my pride and see what I can learn from the other rally drivers who will surely kick my ass today. When we arrive, there's already a million cars in the open dirt parking lot and we take a spot in the back next to the 350 HP Line-X truck that was in my class at Ramada. After we unloaded Prince, I went up to register for the race and pay my CRS dues. I figure I'll spend at least $300 on licenses and dues this year alone. On the way back, I ran into Craig Hollingsworth, my dad's old friend from elementary school and production class national, regional, and local champ. He's also in my class. He came out to teach at the rally school that was held the day before and he tells me he'll probably leave early to beat the snow back home in Lake Tahoe. I'm still worried as I've spotted two more CRS champs in my class! Sheesh! Why don't they just throw Tommi Makkinen into the mix!!?!?! Leon and I walked the course together formulating an attack plan for the roughly ½ mile track. I tried not to think about my expert competition and resigned myself to not winning anything this time, but to focus on learning my car instead. For my first run, I was at the end of the line and all of the 2WD street cars went first. The course was torn up pretty bad when I left the start, but nothing could have prepared me for this! The road was soft and sandy and full of ruts, just like Ramada except that the soil wasn't draining and was slippery and muddy. Prince was all over the place. I tried to stick to the lines that Leon had told me to take, but that strategy wasn't working. I really didn't know what to do. Worse yet, where I could give Mr.Rogers infinite throttle and maintain perfect drifts, Price had a limit and I found it really quickly as I nearly spun out. Then the grip of the gravel tires freaked me out. I should have stayed on the power to break the traction and slide, but the initial bite scared me and I lifted. At the end of the course, I nearly hit a HUGE hole and by the finish I was raving mad at the water truck, my crappy performance and not being able to drive Mr. Rogers. What a nightmare! I was completely embarrassed and was ready to leave. I mean you're really eating your shorts when you go from almost winning a rally cross outright to loosing all visible signs of your driving ability. It took Leon a lot of effort to calm me down and get me back to business.

February 27, 2005

It's a predawn start for Leon and I today as we head out to our first event of the season, the California Rally Series Ridgecrest Rally Cross. It's a points event, so Leon is willing to tow Prince the entire two hour trip up to the high desert. Yep, you read it correctly- Mr. Rogers and I will not be contesting the rally cross championship together. Leon decided that I need seat time in Prince, so we'll only use a gravel tire shod Mr. Rogers if Prince isn't ready to race. I really wanted to run with Mr. Rogers. I know how to drive him, I know how he reacts and I know I can kick all sorts of ass with him. And those, says Leon, are all really good reasons why I should move up a class into the 2WD rally car/rally tires class. I hate to admit it, but he's right. I mean you're never going to learn how to swim if you never get out of the wading pool. I'll swallow my pride and see what I can learn from the other rally drivers who will surely kick my ass today.

Practicing for the rally cross.

When we arrive, there's already a million cars in the open dirt parking lot and we take a spot in the back next to the 350 HP Line-X truck that was in my class at Ramada. After we unloaded Prince, I went up to register for the race and pay my CRS dues. I figure I'll spend at least $300 on licenses and dues this year alone. On the way back, I ran into Craig Hollingsworth, my dad's old friend from elementary school and production class national, regional, and local champ. He's also in my class. He came out to teach at the rally school that was held the day before and he tells me he'll probably leave early to beat the snow back home in Lake Tahoe. I'm still worried as I've spotted two more CRS champs in my class! Sheesh! Why don't they just throw Tommi Makkinen into the mix!!?!?!

Leon and I walked the course together formulating an attack plan for the roughly ½ mile track. I tried not to think about my expert competition and resigned myself to not winning anything this time, but to focus on learning my car instead. For my first run, I was at the end of the line and all of the 2WD street cars went first. The course was torn up pretty bad when I left the start, but nothing could have prepared me for this! The road was soft and sandy and full of ruts, just like Ramada except that the soil wasn't draining and was slippery and muddy. Prince was all over the place. I tried to stick to the lines that Leon had told me to take, but that strategy wasn't working. I really didn't know what to do. Worse yet, where I could give Mr.Rogers infinite throttle and maintain perfect drifts, Price had a limit and I found it really quickly as I nearly spun out. Then the grip of the gravel tires freaked me out. I should have stayed on the power to break the traction and slide, but the initial bite scared me and I lifted. At the end of the course, I nearly hit a HUGE hole and by the finish I was raving mad at the water truck, my crappy performance and not being able to drive Mr. Rogers. What a nightmare! I was completely embarrassed and was ready to leave. I mean you're really eating your shorts when you go from almost winning a rally cross outright to loosing all visible signs of your driving ability. It took Leon a lot of effort to calm me down and get me back to business.

Leon had entered his 500 HP Viper powered Dodge truck in the rally cross. He took me out for the next run and showed me how to drive in the conditions. I'll never figure how he got that huge truck around, but I listened to what he was telling me and finally stopped giving myself such a hard time. My second run was faster and all about the rally adage of "going slow to go fast." There was no out of control sideways, only staying out of the mud and close in on corners. I felt better this time and after another run with Leon, I was ready to go out this time and get aggressive! I stayed close to the insides of corners and began to turn in early, avoiding lots of loose dirt, mud and the bid hole. I was even faster than before, having taken nearly 10 seconds off of my first bad run.

In the end, things weren't that bad. I wasn't at the tope of the 2WD rally car list, but I wasn't at the bottom either. I beat all of the 2WD street cars, which was where Mr. Rogers and I started. Most importantly, I learned what happens when you step your game up. It's not easy. You've got to learn quickly and adapt. You have to go easy on yourself and look for small victories before going for the big ones. You can't judge your new results on your past performances. It's all about setting new standards, dealing with growing pains, breaking your old boundaries and heading out for new challenges.

Back to Diary of a Driver.