July 15, 2006 What a difference a year makes! Last year the Treeline Rally was full of drama, both positive and negative. During that rally, my grandmother had a heart attack and I took over the points lead in the Western States Rally Championship. But this year was different. Everyone was in good health and I was taking a big step in my rallying career. This time I was driving Vegas, an Evo 6.5. I was moving up in the rallying world and there would be no turning back. It was sink or swim in the open 4WD big kids’ pool. Jumping into the co-drivers’ seat this time was rally vet Piers O’Hanlon, who’s one of the few guys who’s both a driving and co-driving champ. (Hey, wait, I have a co-driving championship win, too!) I was really nervous about driving with him since he’s been with Wolfgang Hoeck, who’s got his fair share of fast, for a long time and I’m uh... slow? I wanted to say I knew what I was doing after so much practice, but the fact remained that I was nervous and I didn’t want to let Piers down if I was not so fast as his other rides and the other cars at the rally. It was so hot! The whole week had been in the hundreds. I forced myself to drink water and Gatorade. When we left the hotel parking lot for the long transit, Piers and I didn’t even bother to get completely zipped up. We were almost to the start of the stage when we ran into a long line of traffic. Two motorcyclists had had an argument with a car. Emergency services were needed and we were delayed an hour. We were stuck on the side of a mountain and there wasn’t a tree in sight. I was so hot. I got sunburned and I worried about poor bald Piers, but he had a hat. Finally we were allowed to go ahead, but the delay kida killed the rally vibe. The first stage was a giant “WHOA, NELLY!” and I had to remember to reign in my little girl. It was kind of scary, too, this being the stage where Vegas’ pervious driver had thrown her mercilessly off the side of a cliff! I was afraid she would balk and not want to race, but Vegas was a trooper and she pulled us through. We were all a bit slow on the first stage, but we were picking up speed on the second. And much to my dismay there were some who had encountered misfortunes along this long stage and had decided to block the narrow road. Piers commanded me to go on, urging me to ride the berm. I did as I was told until the berm gave way and BAM! Vegas smacked her cute little butt against the disabled truck, but we were free! And we were fast as the wind, with only two cars faster than us on the stage. I had to get out of the car at the end of the first leg. It was so hot and I was so excited, I nearly fainted. I got a standing ovation when we came back to service. No one thought that I would ever be that fast, right off the bat. I wanted to talk, but made like a celebrity and ran straight into my hotel room. In all of my excitement, I’d forgotten my gloves and with the heat, sweat and a thousand corners, I’d developed huge blisters on my hands. I took a shower and found some first aid, closed my eyes for a bit, got a pep talk from Leon and headed out to fight for my place on the podium. I hated the first stage. It was all uphill and straight into the sun, but I was the fastest car to finish it! My first stage win EVER!!! The next stage was long and we were on the prowl. I was not wasting any time. I was quick to shift, I threw Vegas around every corner and I listened to Piers when he yelled at me to get on it! And then Vegas got a flat tire. How far to go? Four or five miles.... We’re going! They didn’t give us 28 pounds of boost at service for nothing! There were no holds barred, we were going all out. We crossed the finish line and took another stage win- on a flat tire! We had to change the tire, but it didn’t want to come off. I needed to move Vegas, so I jumped back in, but she wouldn’t go. There was no power. Not one volt, not one trickle. I looked under the hood. This certainly wasn’t Anakin with his little motor, carburetors and pretty straightforward wiring. Vegas was chock full of turbo stuff, fuel injection, intercooler and radiator, wires, wire, and more wires. I didn’t even know what to look for. Cars were passing us. This wasn’t good and I was getting worried and flustered. Some of the volunteers helped us switch out fuses. It seemed like we pulled everything out and switched everything around, but it was no use. She wasn’t going anywhere. My mom had been working at the finish control for the previous control. She came down, but I didn’t want to talk and she was pretty worried, too. But there was nothing we could do. It was getting dark and the mosquitoes were coming out. My mom sprayed Piers’ head with bug repellant and I threw rocks into the creek. The ride out was pretty miserable. Vegas was cranky and didn’t want to steer. She was also heavier than Anakin and more difficult to pull. And then the sweep truck got a bit too excited and we slammed into the side of a mountain and lost some of our front bumper. Leon had brought help and I let them fix Vegas and put her on the trailer. I was pretty sad. We were doing so well. Second place overall, less than thirty seconds out of first and then the car in first lost a good minute on the last stage! In the end it was okay. It was only my first rally in a big 4WD car and two stage wins and a strong hold on second place was a pretty good start. We’d go to Gorman and I would drive Vegas again and soon she’d be rearing and roaring her way up the leader board!

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