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It didn't hit me until I was flying on the plane home from LSPR how much I had been through at the event and Dennis Martin and I didn't even start Saturday.
- Because of the seeded draw, I co-drove in the first car on the road at a National event for the first time.
- We were running a very strong third place overall until we DNF'ed. It was the first time I had ever run near the top of the field in a National event.
- I red-crossed a stage.
A big tree fell across the stage and blocked the road between car 0 and the first competitor (Seamus). Tim O'Neil ran back to the start (1.6 miles) and Martin (Tim's co-driver) and I (later just me) stopped cars far enough back to slow them down before they rounded the bend where all of the cars that started ahead of them were sitting.
- I had the scariest stage of my life, up to that point.
We encountered torrential rain in the last third of the first run through Passmore. Dennis and I could not see out of the car. We were driving completely off of the notes. I would get a glimpse of the turn and call it and Dennis would respond. I was also concerned that we were going slow enough that the car behind us might catch up with us and not see us.
- I had the true scariest stage of my life.
We went wide through a long, fast downhill turn and struck some trees, including three big ones that we took down, but, in return, they also rolled and spun the car. That wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when we realized that we were upside down in the middle of the road in pitch dark in a long, fast downhill, slick turn and couldn't get the doors opened and knew the next car would be coming soon. Dennis tried to kick out the glass on his door and that eventually opened the door (but didn't break the glass) and we got out.
- I got to meet Doug Havir.
Doug was the next car on the road after our roll-over above and when presented with the choice of hitting our car (he could only see me and thought Dennis might be in the car) or hitting a tree, he center-punched his car into a tree.
- I had my most humilitating moment in rally.
When I got out of the car after the rollover, it was pitch dark and I could not see the stage road and didn't know which way we were facing. Neither did Dennis because he had run down the stage to warn the next car, but he ran the wrong direction. I saw the lights from that next car (which turned out to be Doug and Scott) and realized the triangles, flash light and OK/red cross sign were all trapped in the car. I ran up the stage on the inside of the turn, but realized they wouldn't see me there, so I crossed the road. From Doug's lights, I could see some thick trees that I could get behind, so, with an escape route, I started flagging him down. He saw me and slowed and made the choice mentioned above. I could see that he was slowing enough that he wasn't going to go through the trees and I was directly in front of his car when it stopped, directly in front of his in-car camera. When his car stopped, I went to see if Doug and Scott were OK, but I slipped and fell in the mud, flat on my face, all on Doug's in-car. You can even see my feet fly up in the air (because I fell down an incline). As I walked through service on Saturday, everyone kept saying to me "have it seen the video - it is so funny".
So, that was my weekend.
alan
- Because of the seeded draw, I co-drove in the first car on the road at a National event for the first time.
- We were running a very strong third place overall until we DNF'ed. It was the first time I had ever run near the top of the field in a National event.
- I red-crossed a stage.
A big tree fell across the stage and blocked the road between car 0 and the first competitor (Seamus). Tim O'Neil ran back to the start (1.6 miles) and Martin (Tim's co-driver) and I (later just me) stopped cars far enough back to slow them down before they rounded the bend where all of the cars that started ahead of them were sitting.
- I had the scariest stage of my life, up to that point.
We encountered torrential rain in the last third of the first run through Passmore. Dennis and I could not see out of the car. We were driving completely off of the notes. I would get a glimpse of the turn and call it and Dennis would respond. I was also concerned that we were going slow enough that the car behind us might catch up with us and not see us.
- I had the true scariest stage of my life.
We went wide through a long, fast downhill turn and struck some trees, including three big ones that we took down, but, in return, they also rolled and spun the car. That wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when we realized that we were upside down in the middle of the road in pitch dark in a long, fast downhill, slick turn and couldn't get the doors opened and knew the next car would be coming soon. Dennis tried to kick out the glass on his door and that eventually opened the door (but didn't break the glass) and we got out.
- I got to meet Doug Havir.
Doug was the next car on the road after our roll-over above and when presented with the choice of hitting our car (he could only see me and thought Dennis might be in the car) or hitting a tree, he center-punched his car into a tree.
- I had my most humilitating moment in rally.
When I got out of the car after the rollover, it was pitch dark and I could not see the stage road and didn't know which way we were facing. Neither did Dennis because he had run down the stage to warn the next car, but he ran the wrong direction. I saw the lights from that next car (which turned out to be Doug and Scott) and realized the triangles, flash light and OK/red cross sign were all trapped in the car. I ran up the stage on the inside of the turn, but realized they wouldn't see me there, so I crossed the road. From Doug's lights, I could see some thick trees that I could get behind, so, with an escape route, I started flagging him down. He saw me and slowed and made the choice mentioned above. I could see that he was slowing enough that he wasn't going to go through the trees and I was directly in front of his car when it stopped, directly in front of his in-car camera. When his car stopped, I went to see if Doug and Scott were OK, but I slipped and fell in the mud, flat on my face, all on Doug's in-car. You can even see my feet fly up in the air (because I fell down an incline). As I walked through service on Saturday, everyone kept saying to me "have it seen the video - it is so funny".
So, that was my weekend.
alan