[Jens]

Earlier in the season I theorized that Stig was here just to have some fun. Naturally I was slammed for this heresy.

Let's see...

From here:
http://www.specialstage.com/dc/dcbo...40166&sub_topic_id=40204&mesg_id=&page=#40242

David Sutton's said: The team went badly over-budget early in the season "learning how to rally in America."

What exactly does that mean? Stig has rallied here before and easily won. Hmmmmm..... "learning how to rally in America."? I don't buy it. Something else was at work here.

Stig was leading without so much as a scratch, but he goes home before the final round.

Theories:
1. Stig was here to play.
2. Stig was offered some money to add some life to the show.
3. Stig was asked to come here to here to spice up things.

Theories 2 and 3 are a bit cynical, so I'll stick with theory 1.

I am a bit disappointed that Stig and/or Sutton didn't send out at least a one line press release that they wouldn't be at LSPR, but so it goes. No biggie.

So, boys and girls, what does it all mean? What do you think?

 

[Doug Woods]

>I am a bit disappointed that Stig and/or Sutton didn't send
>out at least a one line press release that they wouldn't be at
>LSPR, but so it goes. No biggie.
>
>So, boys and girls, what does it all mean? What do you
>think?

Jens:

Why don't you telephone David Sutton and ask him?

Doug Woods

 

[Bruce]

>What exactly does that mean? Stig has rallied here before and
>easily won. Hmmmmm..... "learning how to rally in America."?
> I don't buy it. Something else was at work here.
>
In talking to teams from overseas - especially from Europe - they all seem to be impacted by the incredible distances the team has to travel to contest a US championship, as well as the different transportation logistics here. Just the extra days away from "home" are expensive and wearing. I was discussing US distances with some friends in Wales...when I told them how far it was from our house to Denver (maybe 950 miles), their amazed response was, "We could be in Germany!"

Bruce

 

[Morison]

the other option was that Sutton/Stig chose to not show so that they weren't beated on even ground ...
"we've proven that we can beat Richard in a fair fight and we are confident we would have won if our budget had allowed us to continue."

That said, I doubt DSMC entered the series without fully budgeting the season first.

Of course the good spin on this would be that they chose to not take the championship away from someone who clearly deserved it, and ran a much smaller budget team ... He could have done the same by entering and slowing down in the last few stages with 'power problems' ... but it's infinately cheaper to just go home.

 

[Bjorn240]

I have my own theory, which I'm not going to share, but I will say that the idea that Stig was somehow paid or incented to be here is totally unsubstantiated, and false.

- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

[KevinG5Hahn]

It all depends on how you look at it.

When it comes to something like rallying in another country there are going to be very hard to account for variable.

Like when you have to tow many thousands of miles accross the county and gas prices just kept getting worse and worse (worse than most analyst predicted). Budget for 2.50/gallon and have to pay 3.50 and your budget starts to get jacked, its really easy to spend a couple 3-5 hundred more on stupid stuff driving a couple thousand miles all the time. Things like this can really make life fun when crunching numbers and could have thrown the budget out of whack.

Besides, we are all assuming that DSC didn't originally budget for 6 events with a little extra left over for flexability?

We don't know what the budget was, how many events they planeed on going to or anything.

All we can hope for is that Ana, Stig, and David had fun and they want to do it again next year.

The Pat and Stig show was the best thing going last year. With 1 years worth of experience in the states DSC is only going to get better, the battle will only be more intense if it happens again next year.

 

[mattjohnston]

For some reason I doubt they will be back next year.

 

[dam3816]

Jens

Would I have liked to see Stig?
Yes.

Did it make the event any less without him?
No.

Does it really matter why he wasn't there?
No.

And the BIG Question. Did I have a great time anyways?

YES, so Jens stop frettin all the time and start enjoying life a little.

Thanks to all those who did compete and made for a wonderful event.

And Jake did you get Your 12 seconds back?

from the right seat
dave mulder
Finish 2, Start 5,10

 

[Don Kennedy]

>I am a bit disappointed that Stig and/or Sutton didn't send
>out at least a one line press release that they wouldn't be at
>LSPR, but so it goes. No biggie.
>
Why would you expect that when (AFAIK) there was never a press release announcing that they were coming in the first place }(

 

[John Vanlandingham]

I know one thing for sure and that is that Stig likes his beer, and it could be that the thought of being away from his local down the corner in Saffron Walden (if he's still there???) was too much to bear.


One can speculate over "why" forever.
The obvious thing is that it didn't matter enough to bother.


Jens did you get the hint to where to call?

You could call the boys back in Örebro, and talk to the workshop manager who is also named Stig, call after 5 or 5.30 and they are usually in a bit more talkative mood after they have had a few
'bärs'.
You're a Viking, so they´ll understand.




John Vanlandingham
Seattle, WA. 98168

janvanvurpa (at) f4 (dot) ca

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat!
Vive Le Groupe F!

 

[gplsek]

from my conversations with David earlier in the year they were always budgeted for the full season minus 2 events.

Now I would assume that with championship on the line after such hottly contested season they would pull some $$ out of their As#$# and show up to the last event and fight it out with Pat, if only for respect for Pat and the other US competitors.

-george

 

[Andy Swingler]

>"we've proven that we can beat Richard in a fair fight and we
>are confident we would have won if our budget had allowed us
>to continue."

Pat could probably beat Stig for 10 seasons in a row on what DSC spent on this "attempted-but-ran-low-on-cash" season. Boo Hoo. Don't they realize that the Rocket Team is a bunch of friends and family working on a shoe string? Didn't Pat even beat Stig on Stig's own discarded tires?

Fair fight? Right.

 

[DaveHintz]

Here is my theory:

Maybe Ana had to be somewhere else during LSPR. Wasn't she the one who was paying the bills anyway? Maybe nobody else came up with the bucks necessary for the DS car to be at the event.

 

[Flyboy]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...... Stig shoulda run LSPR. He coulda beat Pat. He woulda been the champ. But guess what, he didn't.

Face it, Stig gambled and lost. That's racing. Pat grenaded his gearbox two miles from the end of a win at OFPR. That's racing. It's never perfect, it's never certain, and it's never easy. Pat and Nat EARNED their championship fair and square.

Dennis Martin
[email protected]
920-432-4845

 

[Morison]

Andy, I'm not saying I would agree with the statement ... just that they could say it ...

 

[DaveHintz]

Pat & Nathalie definitely earned it. Their performance at Ojibwe and Cog was spectacular, and they could have gone that fast again if they had needed to at LSPR.

I don't think Stig gambled though. He's too smart to think anybody else could beat Pat. He just took as many free rides as he could find. When the free rides were over, he went home.

 

[jake himes]

>Thanks to all those who did compete and made for a wonderful
>event.
>
>And Jake did you get Your 12 seconds back?
>
>from the right seat
>dave mulder
>Finish 2, Start 5,10

I didn't check. But now you know how to fool a Yooper. The ol' "pretending to throw the ball" trick works too. Especially if you act like you threw it into the woods.

As far as the Rocket team I am very impressed. They do more with less. Man it would have been sweet to have the Rocketman in Group F for a while. There is nothing like a good swift arsekicking from a great driver to make us all appreciate the Group F motto a bit better.

 

[tom grossmann]

JVL , the way I heard it is someone secretly switched his beer for one of those knock offs that portray themselves as beer called Budweiser. Stig raised his glass and the foul odor alone cuased him to run screaming from the hotel bar , board a plane and vow never to return.
This is also my theory as to why the Vikings only came to America once....they tasted the beer and never came back.


Tom