Jim & Kaari's Rally Diary

Chapter 2 Ojibwe 2000

I had no idea there would be a Chapter Two, but we got even better stories from Ojibwe, so we decided that the saga must go on. As before, we decided that we'd learn more and have more fun if we worked rather than just "hanging out." In addition to working a spectator stage where we got a real good look at the cars, we also got to work a finish control.

We figured that Bob and Paul would be there again, so we looked for them as we wandered around looking at the cars in the motel parking lot. It turned out, they were looking for us because their service crew had decided not to come to the rally so Bob's 15 year old son Brian had no one to ride around with. Bob asked us if Brian could ride with us (and our hairy dog, Fletcher), which was fine with us. (He must have decided it was unwise to ask us to act as a service crew!) Consequently, we kept much closer tabs on Bob and Paul's progress than we might have done otherwise.

Things went pretty well for the little Subaru on the first day. They finished, but they had upgraded the driving lights without upgrading the wiring, so the 200 extra watts was running through the OEM headlight switch (no relay). Needless to say, the light switch melted down. Paul was left with only his OEM hi-beams … if he had an extra hand to hold the switch on. These hi-beams netted them penalty points on the transits, assuring them of the last place position of the finishers. On the second day, our not-quite-rookie crew was hanging in there until the seventh of nine stages. Kaari, Brian, Fletcher, and I perched on a hillside at our marshal point and watched as car after car sped by-but no Bob. When the cars stopped speeding by and began lumbering by on the end of tow straps, we knew there must have been trouble. Finally the Subaru appeared, under her own power but definitely limping. They stopped when they saw us, and explained that they'd had two flat tires-and only one spare. Bob hopped in the front seat with us, Kaari hopped in the back seat with Brian and the dog, and we set out to follow Paul to the end of the stage. (Kaari's note: Jim can't resist giving the ol' Legacy a little test when he gets on stage roads, so at one point he was having enough fun to have Bob grabbing the door handle and gasping. It won't be long before we'll write chapter three-Our First Rally!)

We caught up with Paul at the end of the stage. Paul voted for us giving them a ride back to Bemidji to pick up their trailer-a one-hour drive each way. I tried to dissuade them because I really wanted to see the special stage at the ranch since Kaari and I have raced dirt bikes there before and I was curious to see how fast the cars could go relative to my bike on the same course. Also, I hadn't seen a service area in action and this would give me a chance to check out everyone's service set-up. Finally I convinced Bob and Paul that they might find a spare tire they could use at the ranch (unlikely, though, because of their 13 inch wheels.) So the five of us piled into the Legacy, draped the dog over the laps of the unfortunate three in the back seat, and drove to the ranch.

As we drove up the dirt road leading to the ranch, Brian looked out the window and said "Hey, that guy has a Subaru in his driveway." He laughed. "Maybe he'll lend us his spare." There was a thoughtful pause, and then Paul said, "Yeah, maybe he will. Jim, turn around and go back there!"

We pulled into the driveway of a tiny house. It was almost dark by then, and all the curtains were drawn.

"I'll handle this," said Paul. Looking quite the professional racer in his brand-new driver's suit, he smoothed back his hair, tucked his new white helmet under his arm, and marched up to the door (which he later told us was liberally adorned with "this house protected by Smith and Wesson" stickers.)

"If anyone can do this, Paul can," Bob said as the rest of us waited somewhat skeptically in the car. "He's the Golden Boy."

Sure enough, a minute after the homeowner came to the door he and Paul were walking towards the man's Subaru and Paul was giving us the thumbs-up.

Paul informed us he'd negotiated the use of a spare tire, and also sold some of Bob's Matchbox car collection!

Seeing how much fun they had, even right after DNFing, helped solidify my decision that I really wanted to give this a try.

Paul's "Golden Boy" reputation continued since the Peterson/Anderson Subaru outlasted every other car in the PGT class for the win!

After this event our discussion changed from "should we try this sometime?" to "when should we get started?"

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