Jim & Kaari's Rally Diary

Chapter 7

Lake Superior ProRally 2001

Most of our Rallies this year have had drama of some sort. Our biggest challenge in LSPR 01 was getting there...

-lots of last-minute RallyTruck wrenching - normal

-get loaded up late - normal

-service truck blows head gasket as we head out of town - not normal

-we dial 1-800-Go Ryder, truck for the weekend would by $497 BEFORE mileage

charges... we won't be doing that!

-put spare coolant from RallyTruck in service truck

-drive home in a series of small trips waiting for the engine to cool each

time

-comtemplate towing 4000 pound rallytruck to Michigan with Astro minivan

-decide towing 4000 pound RallyTruck to Michigan with Astro minivan is a bad idea

-arrange to borrow buddy's truck

-wait two hours for buddy to deliver truck

-unpack service truck

-remove topper from service truck

-mount topper on buddies truck

-repack service stuff

-re-wire trailer and attach to buddy's truck

-trailer brake controller doesn't work

-buddy's truck won't start

-now about seven hours late leaving, more panic, nearly decide to stay home

-fix battery cable connections, truck starts

-leave

-don't shut truck off until arriving in Houghton MI 4:30 AM Friday

-sleep a little

-get up, attempt to unload RallyTruck

-discover co-driver did not change door keys when we changed doors after Headwaters roll

-two other rallyists say they have SlimJims--at home

-co-driver gets coathanger (thanks Brenda!) just as driver and crew chief partially remove back window and open door locks with a long pry bar

-co-driver begins the first of many .3 mile sprints from Super 8 to Best Western to register, check notice board, etc.

-register/tech/start/yeehaw we're finally racing!

-at first service, get strange looks while modifying our bumper with a

sledge hammer to make room for the additional two lights I've owned for a

year and never had time to install. Wire with wiring cut from earlier

re-wire of the trailer

-trade stage wins with the Plymouth Neon ACR of David and Shannon Johnson: win Stage 1 by .03, win Stage 2 by .05, lose Stage 3 by .60,....

-see a very large black bear run across the road in front of us on-stage

-win Stage 8 by 1.33, thus ensuring our class win for Friday but don't know this yet

-go to bed Friday night (OK, Saturday morning) thinking we are second

--sleep a bit more

-co-driver executes yet another .3 mile sprint from Super 8 to Best Western, checks scores, sprints back to Super 8, detects incipient shin-splints in overused leg muscles

-discover we're glad we'd decided to make the extra effort to get to the event

-start second club rally

-trade stage wins with Johnson&Johnson again

-Brockway 1 cancelled (sad) (OK, the driver is sad. Co-driver is neutral at the time, but very glad after doing Brockway II. WAY too high up!)

-run Brockway 2/yeehaw! (driver's opinion. For co-driver's opinion, see above.)

-driving goes okay except for one very scary moment on Stage 3 (Passmore) about 0.40 from the finish. There was a sneaky corner that was off-camber, possibly decreasing radius, with steep and deep ditches inhabited by big trees right at the bottom. That ditch wanted us bad! I didn't come into that corner very hot, but the truck seemed to drift right for the ditch regardless of what I tried. Throttle, steering, brakes, nothing changed our direction. I was just about to decide whether I wanted to go in sideways and risk a roll, but save body damage if we didn't go over, or nose it straight in and safely hit one of the trees at the bottom for certain DNF. At the very last moment, like the last few inches of road, the tires finally bit and we went on our way (disappointing the hordes of spectators at the corner). Kaari probably never realized how close this was to a big oops becuase it all happened at fairly low speed. (Kaari's note: oh yes she did!!)

-as a big kid, I've always wanted a tricycle. On stage 15, Delaware II, I get one.

-leading Johnson&Johnson by a very narrow margin when right-front wheel passes us and is last seen heading into the woods at a high rate of speed

-triangles, OK sign, shovel, jack, do badger imitation to see if still have

lug bolts

-lug bolts all sheared off, dang!

-come-along attached from a-arm to fender (through handy rust hole!) to

pull-up right-front suspension (can be seen in the photo)

-doesn't work, too much weight on front wheels, just lifts left rear tire

off ground

-tell sweep we're done, hand them score card, chat with medical sweep (Wego racing), pound on truck with hand in frustration

-very nice sweep guys have Allen wrench big enough to remove brake caliper

-sweep guys perform search-and-rescue mission and find tire; retrieve from way back in woods

-rotor removed to find hub has handy holes to allow wheels to be bolted

back on with ordinary bolts

-drive back to Houghton under our own power with only $50 damage done

-happy we didn't have to figure out how to get a 3 wheeled truck on our

trailer!

-clean up, go to awards, hear very funny partially sober Lovell victory

speech

-consoled by others telling us they've also had wheels fly off sometimes.

-drive home without incident

-unload stuff

-clean and return buddy's truck

-go to sleep

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