March 6, 2005 Today was pretty cool for a rally. Most days we all have to get up at the butt crack of dawn and be out racing as the sun comes up. Not today! Having registered last night and not set to start until around 6 p.m., I got to sleep in and relax! Leon and Mark met up with Casey and I later that afternoon when they returned from the press stage. (We had tried to crash the press stage, but apparently they were not interested in plebeian cars like Prince. Prince took offense and wanted to remind everyone that he’s not just any Corolla, he’s the 1999 and 2000 California Rally Series P-Stock Champion!) We also met Aaron and his girlfriend Jessica, who very kindly took Prince through tech inspection. I was glad that Jessica was able to come out, and for that matter my parents and brother too, so that they could experience the race with us instead of being rally widows. Making his debut at the Rim rally was the latest addition to my automotive family, Hachi the 1986 AE86 Corolla Levin! He was an ugly ducking with mismatched fenders and about five different colors when I bought him. But he had a strong heart and even managed to get out and play in the dry lake bed before committing to a life full of tarmac. He spent a lot of time with Howie and Ritchie at Techno Square and at the body shop before stepping out with his brother Prince. Even though he was not quite ready, I entered Hachi in tomorrow’s car show hoping that he’d give me exposure to the large Rim crowds. Even now he was gathering stares from passersby who stopped to look and score some Rallye Star beads and stickers. He looked awesome! And so did Prince. I’ve gotten so many compliments on his paint and vinyl that I know all the effort I put into making his innumerable stars was worth it! My parents would be working Del Sur tonight and they stopped to say hello before leaving for the hill. We all walked with Leon and Mark to the super special stage (SSS) which, only three hours before show time, was still being constructed! They were trying to build a tunnel with a bridge on top it out of a giant steel pipe, but it wasn’t working. I hoped we wouldn’t have to drive over it, or under for that matter. My parents left after a long round of hugs and honey be carefuls, and soon it was time for Leon and Mark to leave. I took pictures of them and they were so excited. It was great. But luck was not on their side. Leon went to back out, when we heard a funny noise coming from his Evo 7 named Michele (after Miss Mouton). I saw a puff of smoke rise from Michele’s hood nostrils and I waved them to stop. Well, they didn’t need my waving because Michele stopped for them. Her clutch went out. To this day we don’t know why. We think Leon’s truck told her about how rough things were and she decided that she didn’t want to go out. The problem was terminal and Leon was absolutely crushed. He’d wanted to win this rally for years, almost won it last year, and now was out before it even started. Even I felt like crying. Despite the tragedy, Leon took me for a walk and told me to think about my rally. Now I was the only one carrying the torch. I had to knock ‘em out. And that was my plan. With only ten stages and four SSS matches, I had to attack from the get go. I had to beat Don Shryer and I had to score in the top of my class. This was my really big event. I’d be winning points here for the California Rally Series, the Western States Rally Championship and the US Rally Championship. I had to do well, period. No if, ands or buts! The rally started well. For SSS 1 we were paired against Don and set to run an off-road NA$$CAR track as I called it, just one big oval. I won the coin toss and took the inside lane. There would be no spinning of tires like in Oregon, no rookie mistakes like at Ramada. This is a fight to the death. When the lights went off, we were out. I slammed on the gas. First, second, third gears. I could hear the carburetors screaming! Prince clawed at the sand like dog with rabies. Down to second for the corner, foot flat on the gas and back to third. I was so focused on being the best that I could be that I didn’t see anything but the road ahead. I was aggressive. Prince and I had something to prove- that he wasn’t a old beater and that I wasn’t a token. I didn’t know it was over until the course workers flagged me down. We had won that round decisively, even though Prince had started off with only three cylinders. I was excited but a singleness of purpose kept me pushing on and kept me in attack mode as we headed out for Del Sur. Del Sur seemed more difficult as it was an uncontrolled road, but I think it was Leon and Stig and nearly every other famous driver I’d met that told me to take every rally one day at a time, one stage at a time, and one corner at a time. The darkness kept me focused and my newly unleashed driving prowess guided me into finally becoming the driver that I knew I could be, not the scared girl with a hesitant foot. No, everything was decisive this time. Right from the start I worked the gear box, fully discovered the brakes, forced myself to keep my foot on the throttle. I looked ahead reading the road, faster, faster, faster just like Leon had yelled at me. L2 , R3, L4, R4. The mountain read like a book and I was flying! I broke deeply for the water bars. I put it all on the table. We had some moments, but that’s the price you’ve got to pay. My parents were at the finish, but I didn’t even see them. Suddenly we had a problem- Prince had stopped and wasn’t starting. Worse yet we had to get out of the way. I was freaking out to say the least. I was panicking, worrying that I’d DNF just as things were getting going again! It was hard getting through the turnaround, with so many cars on such a narrow road. I joined a group of cars having trouble at the bottom of the hill, all with flashlights on and hoods up. I popped the hood and checked everything that I knew about. I checked the wiring harness connection and it seemed okay. I called Leon and Aaron and was absolutely confounded. But it was the wiring harness! I checked it again. It had come out. The connector bit was old. I gave Casey my Nomex gloves and he snapped it back in. Disaster averted. Well, almost. As is often the case at critical moments, the damn thing popped out again right as we were pulling up to start! Casey jumped out and fixed it again, but this time we had to go. We left by the seat of our pants! Casey spent time buckling himself in, as I drove blind. I hadn’t plugged my intercom in, so Casey shouted until he found his place and got my intercom plugged in. I never let up, going as fast as I could just like last time. The whole debacle cost us around a minute, but we did not get caught on stage. I finished strongly and was proud of my driving. Finally, I was really racing! I was very tired when I came back. Aaron already had a wiring harness fixture ready. Ritchie and Howie had come out to service Leon’s car, graciously stepped over to mine to give their baby a proper tune up. Everything was going fine. Things got even better when we got into the scoring area. After Friday night’s stages, I was third in Group 5!!! And 36th out of 68 starters!!! Now that really blew me away! I savored the moment and then Leon and I began talking about tomorrow. I would have to attack again, right from the get go. I was apprehensive- the roads were so rough and Prince’s suspension not so good. How would I drive over the rocks and ruts? The difficulty of tomorrow’s stages was gathering the roar and size of a tidal wave. So I went macro, and decided to go back to the one-corner-at-a-time-sweet-Lord-Jesus route. I went to sleep early, set for an early start tomorrow and kissed my Prince goodnight. We’ve come a long way baby, but we’ve got even farther to go… Back to Diary of a Driver.