April 29, 2006 Silent Hill Day two dawned gray and moody. Our first stage of the day was Del Sur, a perennial favorite. But the mountain was bathed in a dark fog that made the local forest and farm communities look like a scene out of the video game Silent Hill. After beautiful conditions last year, the road was cut up, the ground was hard and we went through many places where we couldn’t see and I probably took too many chances with such limited visibility. But we made it through and rather quickly at that. We returned to service with a rather disturbing problem- Anakin’s battery wasn’t working with his alternator, causing the battery to lose charge. We’d started losing the odometer and the gauges, but the problem could easily grow much worse, especially as it got dark. The crew replaced the alternator and battery and we headed out. I won my Super Special stage and that put me into a good mood for the next two stages. I’d never done them before. The first, Leona Ridge, was scary! It was really fast and full of blind crests and I felt I was lifting too much and it was sandy and I had a bit of trouble at the helm without the aid of power steering. At least the other stage was really tight and twisty and I liked that one much better. Not that we didn’t have any problems, though. In between these two stages, I’d heard a strange noise, a really loud clattering and I had to try my best not to freak out. I jumped out of the car at the end of the stage and looked underneath- the sump guard (a large metal plate that covers the bottom of the engine) was falling off! I had to save it so with the help of some of my friends, we removed it and put it into Ani’s trunk. But there was a problem- Ani’s fuel lines ran through his trunk and the sump guard was poised to cut through them like a giant guillotine! I had to protect the lines, so I threw off my inhibition s and my shirt and cool suit and wrapped them around the fuel lines. I didn’t really care if I was walking around in a bra, I had a rally to get to. I finished that stage with a little more caution having an unprotected engine, but I was happy with my results, 12th overall in a national rally with over 30 competitors. Heartbreak Hotel I’d be lying if I said that being 12th overall in a national rally didn’t make me a little bit nervous. I was getting tired and to make matters worse, I’d just lost the coin toss and I was stuck in the crappy lane for the final running of the Super Special Stage. I looked across at the hatchback version of Anakin, crewed by two professional stunt drivers... and I mean, I’m not the sort of person who feels that she’s got something to prove, but... they were professional stunt drivers and I was a girl and a rookie and no one really expected me to beat them, even though I’d won my three other rounds of the Super Special. I looked straight ahead at the jump. It didn’t look so steep on this side and I knew that I’d have to pull ahead of them in the initial straight section if I was going to win this round. Not that Super Specials are the end all of the race, but I’d been pulling up to 20 seconds on the people I’d beaten so far and that was a lot of time this late in the game. I had to win. The flag dropped and I jammed ahead of the other car, which was quite easy since Anakin had a great deal more torque than his opponent. But I made a horrible misjudgment. I waited too late to brake and then the lip of the jump was a lot steeper on this side than it was on the other. Anakin leaped into the air and I could feel his rear end wanting to swap places with his nose. I was scared out of my mind and embarrassed. I could hear Leon screaming at me already. I couldn’t believe that I had made such a rookie mistake. I held tight to the wheel and Anakin landed with a terrible thud. My knees hit the dash and my head hit the wheel, giving me some pretty nasty bruises that I hid later. All I remembered was putting him in first gear and pushing into the next corner. Anakin was still running, we hadn’t flipped over and I was ahead of the other car. I bungled every other corner of that course, running over signs and timing equipment and jumping lanes, but we did beat the other car by a good number of seconds. When I stopped, my hands were shaking. I opened the door for some fresh air and because I thought that I might puke. We got a standing ovation from the crowd and the other guys applauded me and said that that was some of the best driving they’d ever seen. Then I really wanted to puke or faint or what I really wanted was another chance to show everyone how I could really drive, that I was not some idiot girl in a car. Once we got out of the stadium, we checked Anakin. He was okay, nothing had been damaged, except for his suspension. I allowed myself a sigh of relief as we headed out for the final two stages. By the start of the second to last stage, however, the adrenaline had started to wear off and I had a splitting headache, aching knees and swollen hands. If I could just maintain this position and get through the last two stages... I sped off into the night trying to put my pain and electrical problems out of my mind. But I couldn’t use all of my rally lights and it was getting dark. And my arms burned from having to fight against every bump and ditch that we ran over. I didn’t want to complain to anyone, but at that moment I would have given my kingdom for a power steering rack. The course got twisty and we were less than a mile from the end, when I lost it. The corner was off camber and downhill and I didn’t have the strength to jerk Anakin away from the soft berm. I didn’t lift as he softly dug into the moist soil, hoping to get out, but it was hopeless. We were stuck. Claire jumped out to put triangles out and I got it in my head that I could save myself from this untimely end. I tried going backwards and forwards. It was no use. I stood out with a tow rope, begging for a tug, like the pirates at Disneyland begging the aloof dog for the keys to their prison as it burned. Prison, that’s what this was. What had I done to deserve this? Why wouldn’t anyone help me? I threw off my gloves and started digging until my nails bled. I would NOT DNF! I couldn’t DNF! Not after all of this hard work, not after beating really fast cars, not after breaking into the top three in my class during a national rally! It wasn’t fair! I stopped digging and I sat defeated and indignant, vowing never to let my weaknesses defeat me and I felt like Scarlett O’Hara swearing that she would never go hungry again. But this is rally and these things happen. But knowing that doesn’t make it any less painful. To make matters worse, Ani’s electrical problems meant that halfway out of the stage, we were left with no power and I didn’t have a clue where we were. I got out of the car and I kid you not, it was pitch black and I could hear coyotes howling and I was alone and I had this feeling that this was going to turn into an episode of the show I Shouldn’t Be Alive. Luckily, some of the workers came out behind us and they were able to tow us down to the road where Leon, Aaron and the Leon’s co-driver Mark, nicknamed the Pirate came to rescue me, my co-driver having luckily gotten a ride back with some of the other volunteers. They all tried to console me, but I didn’t hear anything. I tried to clean my nails and wipe off the mascara that I’d smeared around my face.. Leon was proud of my ride and the Pirate offered to co-drive for me... but I was still stuck in that moment, sitting in the dirt, feeling utterly helpless, everything lost. I barely heard Leon when he asked me if I would like to drive Vegas, his Evo 6 at Treeline.... Back to Diary of a Driver.