[eyesoreracing]

What I remember:
Ralph Kosmedes was driving his Supra turbo. I think it was Wild West. I remember a piece of in-car footage from the speedvision coverage where the dome light came on, Ralph reached up to turn it off and then rolled in the next corner.

What I don't remember:
What year was it?
Was it really Wild West?
I remember that he was leading 2wd at the time, is that right?
Ralph?

-Dave

 

[Trevor Donison]

>What I remember:
>Ralph Kosmedes was driving his Supra turbo. I think it was
>Wild West. I remember a piece of in-car footage from the
>speedvision coverage where the dome light came on, Ralph
>reached up to turn it off and then rolled in the next
>corner.
>
>What I don't remember:
>What year was it?
>Was it really Wild West?
>I remember that he was leading 2wd at the time, is that
>right?
>Ralph?
>
>-Dave

I'm not sure Ralph would want to relive this, but I believe I can give you accurate information.

1998, Wild West.

If I remember right, the Overall 2wd fight was just shaping up. Ralph, Carl Jardevall (G5) and Dave White (G2) where running within a 10-15 seconds of each other, and I do believe Ralph was barely leading.

The part the Video didn't show (it was ESPN2 in 1998) was that the corner Ralph went off was the slickest corner of that stage, definately a gotcha in slickness.

 

[TNT]

Was that the maiden voyage when it was still black??

 

[Trevor Donison]

>Was that the maiden voyage when it was still black??

Nope. It was painted.

 

[Ralph Kosmides]

Thanks for brining this up, it is still a painful memory of a stupid mistake. It was 1998 Wild West. I don?t remember the exact circumstances of how we were doing against the other 2wd cars. The mind tends to block out unpleasant experiences. I believe it just started to rain and was slick. It was a right 3 off camber that was deceptive, especially when you are not concentrating on the road. I still might have gone off without the dome light; I believe others would have followed if we were not there to slow them down. In fact Vance (?Name?) was the first club car and even with us slowing him down he almost went off. I do not remember if it was the maiden voyage for the car but it was either the first or second time we ran the car. I might have run the Doo **** earlier. It was my first big off and taught me that a lack of concentration can result in a big economic loss. It was quite expensive since every panel was bent except the roof. At the time, I was on a Toyota parts program so the financial hit was softened. Joe Noyes (navie) may have better information (read memory).

The one thing I do know is:
First ? Crashing your car is no fun
Second ? Crashing your car from a stupid mistake makes it worse.
Third - Crashing your car from a stupid mistake on a nationally broadcast show with in car cameras is about as stupid as it gets.

Fortunately, nothing was hurt except my pride and wallet, I?m thankful for that.

Ralph Kosmides

 

[human turtle]

I was navigating for Jardevall at that event.

We had a very slim lead, just a couple of seconds, Ralph was annoyingly fast that day and we were trading a few seconds each way every stage. I do remember that had Ralph and Joe not been in front of us on the road (two cars as I remember with Janice Damitio in between us) it definately would have been Carl and I in that ditch. The first two wheel drive car, or more importantly the first rear wheel drive car that got there was going in. This was before course notes and even though it was in the route book you carried a lot of speed into that section.

I see that corner every now and again with Pa Tabor and I in the Sentra and I remember it, how could I forget, it's named for Ralph in the route book!

John Elkin
"Don't go where the road don't go."- Ringo Starr