March 19, 2005 It was another 4 AM start and for some reason I wasn’t slow to get up. In fact, I was excited at last. Why at last? I spent the whole night worrying about finishing the race. The two scares that I had yesterday got me thinking about ending up in the trees, crashing or going off. The margin of error was so small that there was barely enough room for a mistake. I thought about the eight stages today and hoped that I would finish. But a good night’s sleep pushed those negative thoughts out of my head. Casey told me later to look only where I wanted to go and only there, so I couldn’t see anything else that might distract me. Leon told me this, too. Leon was always there to reassure me so today I felt confident. The morning was clear and the valley was lovely as we made our way out to the stages. It wasn’t even that cold. I’ve had quite good luck with weather this year! I didn’t want to entertain the possibility of rain on these slippery clay stages. As we waited for our crew, we discovered a surprising situation- that I was third out of four Group 5 cars. On SS2 Justin Pritchard, driving a VW GTI had gone off and then taken twenty minutes to get back onto the road, making him sixteen minutes behind me. We figured that I’d have to drive fast and cleanly to keep him away over today’s 100 stage miles. I spent a lot of time talking with Leon about what I could do to drive faster, how I could get over my fears. When Aaron and Prince arrived I was ready to go! Today I wasn’t last on the road, only fifth from last. There were more people today, since today was also a regional event. I felt like I was moving up in the world! But not only in start position! On SS5 and SS6, I warmed up and found my rhythm. Casey was on top of things, reading the notes and coaching me, reminding me to shift and get on it, but also telling me when I did something well. I think I liked these stages best of all. I was smiling when I came back to the service area, again without a scratch on the car. As I walked around service this time, I began handing out my latest promotional items- official Rallye Star Mardi Gras beads. They were a success! Before I left, I put my beads in the car to hand out to the course workers- I wanted people to remember me! SS7 started near a Confederate campsite, on top of a big hill. I could tell from the transit climb that the stage would be fast, descending into a valley with lots of fast five and six corners and I remembered all that I could from recce. When I got to the start, I launched Prince into a scary piece of road- the road was just the width of a car, crowned with a deep ditch to one side and a cliff to the other. There had been lost of gravel, but the big cars had cleared most of it away. You’d have to stay exactly in line with the clear spots to stay safe. Prince walked on me a few times, but we were okay. The downhill parts were fast and I drove way too cautiously. I really need some bigger balls! But the big balls stage was yet to come. SS8 was twenty miles long, made up of the two stages we’d done yesterday. It would definitely separate the boys from the men! That is if we could start. Apparently, two course worker vehicles had some sort of incident that left us with 40 minutes to kill. I got out, walked around and talked to the other competitors that left me feeling less nervous. They were very nice and we shared water, crackers and energy bars. When we finally began, I was nervous and excited. The Cherokee roads were very technical and both physically and mentally demanding. I didn’t know if I had the stamina in me to make it through this stage, let alone rerun all the other stages we’d done today. Oh yeah, and most of what lie ahead would be done in the dark!

I focused on the task at hand and quickly began to remember the stage from Friday’s recce and runs as I began to knock down the mileage. Casey and I were back into the rhythm of Cherokee’s twists and turns as we danced with the mountain. When we reached the halfway point, however, everything stopped! A little blue and white VW GTI had just rolled and was lying on his side. The driver and co-driver had just gotten out and we lost some time looking for their OK sign. Some time was actually a lot of time- enough time for the next car to catch us. Luckily there was enough space for him to pass. Only a few miles later was a green and white EVO lying on her side, another victim of the many off camber corners. We didn’t lose any time there. The last car we saw on the side of the road had mechanical problems and they cheered us on as we blast past. I was so tired on the last quarter of the stage that I started to just drive it, instead of racing it. But I soon caught myself and began racing again as Casey began counting down the miles. Soon we were at the end! As I drove back to service, all I could think about was lunch and a potty break. And at service, that’s all I did! For SS9, I really put the pedal to the metal, eager to improve my times and to keep Justin Pritchard hopefully behind me. I drove quickly and neatly following everyone else’s tracks. I made every straight count, but I was still cautious. I’d seen enough cars out already! SS10 flew by in the same way. Casey told me that I had knocked 20 seconds off of my times for both SS9 and SS 10! He was really proud of me and I was really happy with my progress. Back at service I was happy to only have two stages left. I walked with Leon and we spoke with Seamus Burke, one of Leon’s contemporaries from the ProRally series. His car had gone off on the morning (we nearly hit it!) and was a reminder of what these roads could do to even a veteran driver. I was very lucky to still be in the game, being a beginner and all! I gave Seamus some Rallye Star beads to cheer him up. Before heading out to the final stages, I got interviewed for the Motorsports Mundial program. Leon had been talking to them before he came over to coach me on the art of the interview. Leon is the king of interviews. Leon was always on the ProRally broadcasts and he always knew what to say. But I didn’t know what to say in the face of the obvious questions- “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? Why are you driving? Etc.” I decided to bite my tongue for those and give a flirty answer. Leon also reminded me to plug my site and sponsors. The whole interview went smoothly and it made me forget about the 20-mile stage. Speaking of which… SS 11 was hard. It was twilight and the stage was very fast. I’d never driven a rally car in the dark at competition speed, but it seemed like the flat light of dusk was even worse than darkness. I lost a lot of time, but all I could think about was finishing and bringing Prince back quickly and safely. On SS 12 the darkness really threw me off. I had been learning to read the road and for much of the rally had based my speed on what I read and heard from Casey. But now I couldn’t see the road ahead. The trees, hills and darkness were claustrophobic. I wasn’t going that fast, but it felt like I was. Luckily, there were no delays and we made it out safe and sound! I screamed, happy to have another rally under my belt! When we came back, everyone was glad to see us. There had been so many people cheering for us. It was completely awesome! At the restaurant, everyone was congratulating me and I was so tired and happy. That is until Casey and I had to file an inquiry. By our calculations I was ahead of Justin Pritchard by 14 seconds and that meant a lot to me after all of my hard work and effort. But Justin somehow managed to get most of his time back and now was ahead of me by 45 seconds. No one had a decent explanation of why this happened, but right after we loaded Prince up, Casey and I were talking with the stewards when we should have been relaxing. We ended up having to drop the inquiry against my wishes and I walked away feeling angry and cheated. But that’s rallying and sometimes you’ve got to go with the majority. Casey and Leon talked to me, telling me not to worry but after all that I was still angry and even more tired. Later on at the awards dinner, Justin’s co-driver tried to give me their trophies and I nearly socked him. A million expletives crossed my mind. I got some food later and Craig and his co-driver tried to cheer me up. I felt better and gave out the rest of my beads- I didn’t think that I’d run out! Everyone liked them. Despite losing valuable championship points, I had to admit that the experience was very educational and I felt like a better driver after it all. I got a good sleep that night and when I made it back home, I watched all of my in car videos knowing that I have a lot to do before heading off to the Oregon Trail rally in… ek! Less than one month! Back to Diary of a Driver.