Q. In what game does 2 beat 4?

A. When John Lane's driving the 2 wheel drive Volvo and the rest of us are chasing him in our AWD thunder machines!

This past weekend was the Olympus International Rally held in beautiful downtown Pomeroy, WA, population 1500+/-. Neat town. I could just see it 100 years ago with a dirt road as main street and wood sidewalks...great people, too!

With my normal driver (if there is such a thing as a normal rally driver) sidelined with such worldly stuff as schoolwork, I teamed up with Dmitri Kishkarev in a 1997 Mitsu Evo4 for this West Coast swing (which will most likely include Oregon Trail next month). Dmitri is on the Matthew Johnson path (several years in a VW Golf and stepping up to AWD and some real power), although Dmitri isn't taking the indirect route through PGT. This Mitsu is an Open Class car all the way. Feels just like Dennis's although maybe a little down on power.

Dmitri is a controlled driver. He's totally aware of both his and his car's limitations, and we didn't put a wheel off all weekend. Since he wants to run three events for the total investment of towing to the Pacific Northwest from New Jersey (how the hell does a rallyist exist in NEW JERSEY?), Olympus, Oregon Trail and Rocky Mountain in BC, he announced he wanted to "take it easy" on all the components.

The stages were reputed to be wicked fast an proved out to be exactly that. Speeds over 110 were experienced by lots of teams. But I wouldn't call this really unsafe. Two of the stages had straights (with multiple crests) of 1.4 and 1.25 miles, so you just mashed the peddle and hung on. There was very little to go wrong. Derek Ringer (WRC Champ with Colin McRae and now co-driving for Travis Pastrana( claimed at the award podium that he had never ridden so fast in his entire rally career. Indeed I don't think any of us has. But it is pretty unforgettable blasting along looking down a the digital speedo on the terratrip read 118!

Rally America in their wisdom and in perfect alignment with their lawyers and insurance carriers have ruled that stages that average over 80mph will be "neutralized" by giving all the cars that accomplish that the same time that would denote 80mph. So many stages were basically 'uncontested'. It's a shame, too, because the roads were spectacular and fun. Good cambering, great spectators, and all around fun.

But back to our rally. Saturday we started off pretty tentative. I'm not sure whether it was getting used to me, or holding back on the car, or what, but we basically held our road position. I felt both Dmitri and the car were capable of better, but it's his car and his wallet!

By the end of the first day we were soundly entrenched in 17th overall place, which was a little move up the ladder (we started 22nd). We had finished 5th in the Regional event (4th Open), and there wasn't a scratch on the car. Overall a good day.

But Sunday, Dmitri must have awakened with a good Russian sneer on his face, because he and the car were in no mood to pussyfoot around. We went out and set 13th fastest time on the first stage, and we were now dicing with John Lane in the BHV (Big Honkin' Volvo) for an overall win in the second Regional event. We discussed some techniques on how to handle the communication of the long straights that worked to perfection and really clicked. There were four stages. Unfortunately the 2nd and the 4th stages were 'neutralized' by the R-A 80mph rule, so the only two that counted were the 1st and 3rd. going into the 3rd, John had us by 5 seconds or so. Dmitri took off with a mission and drove incredibly. The straights topped out at 118 (or better). All the corners were nailed and we were really cooking (we'd beaten John on this stage on the first pas, but now we had to get him by over 5 seconds!). In typical Dmitri 'attack' mode he went for the chicane at the end of the 700 yard straight a little too hot and slid to a stop inches from the chicane barrel (hitting it was 10 seconds), but then killed the engine. When restarted, we were so close to the barrel we had to back up before taking off. ARRRGGHHHH! At the finish control I asked the crew what John's time had been and we STILL BEAT HIM! But only by two seconds. So that's how 2 beats 4. Total differential 3.4 seconds.

We won Open class in the Regional, which Dmitri tells me is the first trophy this car has ever gotten, and stayed entrenched in our 17th overall position in the National.

On a scale of 1-10:

Rally location = 9.5 (hope they build a Holiday Inn Express in Pomeroy! We commuted 35 miles)

Rally roads = 10 AWESOME Great surface and engineering. I had no problem with the speeds

Officials = 10 I never had a watch that differed from a worker's by more than 1/2 second. And it was always in MY FAVOR!!!!

Evo4 = 8 A little down on power requiring some babying that I think cost us several places, but Dmitri is as much fun for me in his as Dennis is in his....tough cars, great drive trains.

Dmitri = 9 Wish we could have pushed it Saturday. A little tentative on Saturday...rusty since no driving since Tall Pines...all that was gone by Sunday, 'tho!

Me = 8.5 A little late on a call or two, lost once or twice in successive 6's, but I'm hearing everybody had those problems.

Humor of the weekend was the Jemba note R3+ 1000. About 1/3 through the 1000 yards with the speedo reading 110 or more, Dmitri implored urgently over the intercom "what's next!!!!!" Knowing we had another 500+ yards I calmly replied "Don't' know. Let me look" that broke up the tension. Dmitri had heard I could be an asshole!

Until Oregon! Or whenever something else neat happens.

Good luck on finals, Heath!!!!

Wow...it's been a long cold Winter

I'm sworn to secrecy about Heath's and my adventures at 100AW. We consider ourselves spanked and ready to proceed. Heath DID, however, with one small exception, drive an excellent event significantly improving his speed factor, and I DID, however, with one small exception co-drive fairly well. I give the weekend a B+....next on the list for us will be STPR.

But this weekend I'm headed to beautiful downtown Pomeroy, WA to take part in my first Olympus (as a competitor). I last attended this event in 1987 when it was a full works championship event, and it was on the west side of the state near Seattle and Tacoma then (and is now, except for this year). This year it's based out of the Pomeroy on the east side of the state where the locals hold Regional events because road-use permits were not clearing fast enough. It's been REAL WET over on the coast. We're expecting very fast smooth gravel based roads and we have one pass recce with Jemba notes, so "courage" will be the by-word of the day



Since Heath is mired in schoolwork for the next month, I'm at Olympus with Dmitri Kishkarev in his Mitsu Evo. I've watched Dmitri in this car at a few events in the past, and we pal'd around at 100AW a little but he could not find a co-driver for that event. Evos are cool. Dennis Martin and I do well in one and Dmitri doesn't seem to crash much, so I'm looking for a really fun weekend.



I'll have a full report upon my return!!!! Maybe even during if there's any wi-fi in Eastern Washington!

Off to the races!!!

Heath (my driver of the year) arrives at St. Louis International Airport at 9:00 tomorrow night. From then on we're on "Rally Time."

The car should be in pristine condition, and will have new seats with side head restraints on them. I became a believer in those at Oregon last year with Justin as we smacked a bank with MY SIDE so hard I watched the side window just 'pop' out. The amazing part was using a combination of the HANS device and the side movement protection of the seat, I never had even the slightest twinge of neck pain. I'm a fan! So that was one of my provisos in getting into Heath's car this season. We would both have that protection.

Heath's car is well equipped with a Coralba C-Giant Rally Computer. This thing has more computing power than computers the State Department used during the Cold War. The manual which I downloaded from the web is about 1/4" thick. Matthew Johnson had it's little brother, so I'm somewhat familiar, but this mother can get complicated. It will start a clock at the start line when your wheel first moves (thus eliminating your need to remember to start a watch). At the finish it will give you Time, Distance, Average Speed, Top Speed, and probably current status of the Dow Jones Industrials! If we've stopped to fix a flat (no, no, no, no, no!!!!) it will tell us what speed we need to travel in order to avoid road points (I thought that was MY job!). Anyway, I've been studying up on it and I'm ready!

Heath's been reviewing in-car videos of Matthew Johnson and me and Dennis Martin and me just to get used to the cadences I use. They are different for both those drivers, so i hope Heath has an idea what he WANTS. Matthew could hold 3+ actions in advance...so could Dennis mostly. Justin would have to be hearing the action he's just about to enter. So pacing is totally different with different drivers. We'll be working that out.

Strategy? Well Heath's youth has him a little frustrated at his starting position (32 out of 56; 10th PGT car out of 13), but that's of no concern to me. This season is going to be a process. Placements will fall into place when they fall into place. A couple of things will happen at 100AW. First, we'll get a benchmark to build on. Between 100AW and our next event, Oregon Trails, Heath has finals (at Michigan Tech in Houghton, MI) and NO TIME to rebuild a wrecked car. So we're certainly hoping that will not happen. We'll end up with a lot of in-car to analyze. I remember after Oregon '06 (first event with Johnson) I spent hours and hours pouring over the tapes and talking with Matthew and it made a world of difference for STPR. Heath and I will be doing the same thing.

Heath and I do get to run recce (see all the racing stages before actually racing them) on Thursday...it's legal....a couple of the national events are starting to allow this. that will give us time to sort out a little about how he wants to hear things, as well as how he actually sees things. The co-driver sits on the passenger side and basically makes changes to the notes that the driver dictates. Neither of us have much experience with recce, so I'm pretty sure we'll mostly just benefit from a day behind the wheel and a good look at the roads. I remember being totally worn out after recce last year with Justin, but we were attempting to do some major eticing to the notes (that didn't work so well!).

So off we go for the '06 season. New driver. New Crew. Lots of old friends in PGT to go chase! And starting on my home turf. Can't wait!

Latest rally prodigy teams up with wise old mentor for Rally-America 2008 Season.

Nunnemacher at 100AW, 2006

Nunnemonster Rallysport announced that their driver Heath Nunnemacher will team with veteran co-driver Kim DeMotte for the 2008 Rally-America Season. This pattern falls in line with that last two successful pairings of Kyle Sarasin with Mika Johanssen, and Chris Duplessis with Martin Headland, both relative youngsters riding with experienced co-drivers in mentor roles.

Nunnemacher spent the 2007 season with his mom Heidi Nunnemacher sorting out the 2002 Subaru WRX and getting valuable seat time while training at Team O’Neil Rally School and Car Control Center in New Hampshire.

“I watched Heath and Heidi most of last season, while co-driving for Justin Pritchard and Dennis Martin, and being very comfortable with the PGT environment, (DeMotte and Matthew Johnson teamed up as National PGT champs in 2006) watched his speed factors steadily increase. Heath’s going to continue to improve and give the regulars (Stephan Verdier, Pat Moro, Travis Hanson, the Conley’s and more) some great competition.

“I’m totally excited about having an extremely experienced co-driver call the notes for Heath this season.” Heidi Nunnemacher told us. “I’ve had an incredibly fun time co-driving for Heath, but he’s ready to go to a new level, and he needs someone like Kim with the experience to help get him there. I’m delighted to continue to crew and can’t wait to see them compete.”

Nunnemacher is a full time student at Michigan Tech in Houghton, MI, sometimes known as Rally U. since a vast number of graduates are deeply involved in the sport.

DeMotte is Management Consultant, Speaker and Author who’s developed the Corporate CoDriver Programs for Executives wanting to improve their communications and relationships with their direct reports.

The team’s first event will be the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Salem, MO the weekend of February 22 – 23.

LSPR - Reunion tour re-started

So being at a rally with ALL the drivers you rode with in a season is a little like being at a cocktail party with all your ex-wives. But all my ex-wives are pretty good people and so are Justin and Chris. This weekend I was in the right seat for Dennis Martin.

Now Dennis has a......reputation......and not undeserved, of wrecking cars. The last BIG off he had was in the '05 LSPR with Alan Perry running 3rd on the road when he REALLY regretted the used tires he was on...but that's a whole 'nuther story as they say.

I called Justin in late September and inquired about his LSPR plans and he said he had none. So we agreed that I was a free man to co-drive for Dennis and Bill Westrick said he would sit in with Justin, so it seemed like everybody was covered.

Dennis and I had tried this reunion at Ojibwe in August only to suffer the 10 year old car syndrome. But it was the "nice" kind of dnf!

Dennis has an honest good speed factor, so we started in 7th position out of 69 cars...we would be delighted to finish there. As a matter of fact we would take anything in the top ten. So after pooching up the new Super Special in Houghton we headed off for Herman Truck Trail. Not one of Dennis's best efforts, but we survived. See the video...pay particular attention about 3:06 into this video!!!

Pat Moro found this puddle a few cars later and completely ended his bid for the PGT Championship.Photo by Art Partyka!!

This was not either of our best events. Dennis was rusty and the Hankooks he had on didn't seem to be able to hook up with the new additional 35 hp he'd found at the wheels. To be fair these were the "old" soft compound (70's) and most were on the new "71's", but it was very difficult to keep the car in straight line.

However we look at our "rustiness", we had a couple of top 4 stage times and most fell in the top 8 and finished a very respectable 8th overall in a very competitive field.

But what else went on you ask?

Let's take my drivers by the numbers. The last guy I drove for didn't have too stellar an event.

Chris Duplessis has now "joined the club!". Martin was still grinning with a lap full of windshield!

And then there was my OTHER driver. Justin and Bill ended Brockway rather abruptly. Bill's GPS said they went from something like 60 to 0 in 1/10 of a second. Both were hauled away for observation, but seemed mostly unscathed. A testimony to HANS devices for sure. So it seems I need to go to a casino and gamble. I sure picked the right one for LSPR!




Another season wraps up. I took points in PGT, Gr2 and Open, so suspect I can be officially termed a rally ho. I ran with three great drivers and am certainly open for negotiation for the 2008 season (R-A, NASA, and maybe even CARS!!!)

2007 Rally America Group 2 Champion Crowned!

Well…officially he’ll get his hardware in a month after LSPR, I suppose.

Thanks Art Partyka for the above photo which explains a lot about the camber adjuster being out of whack on the right front strut when we pulled into Hayden!

Chris Duplessis has run just 5 events this season in his Duplessis Racing (ne: Pooh Corner Farm Racing) Group 2 VW Golf. He just won all five of them. From time to time he got pushed by the likes of Michel Hoche-Mong….and this weekend a little by Jimmy Keeney, but for the most part everyone was eating his dust….even on wet courses. And while the championship is decided on one’s best 7 out of the 9 national events on the Rally America tour, Chris’s 110 points in 5 events is mathematically unbeatable…..so it’s over.

Martin Headland (Chris's normal, if there is such a thing for co-drivers) co-driver had another commitment this weekend and asked if I was available....seems none of my regular (if there is such a thing for drivers) drivers was interested in the long tow, so I was. After some hasty negotiations with Team O'Neil Driving School and GoFast Energy Drink, they had (barely) the funds to haul the mighty Golf to Steamboat Springs....so we were on!

Now let me tell you how it is to ride with this VW wunderkind. First, the car is significantly lighter than most of the cars I’ve had the privilege of co-driving in. That makes it nimble and easy to change direction and yaw. Most PGT and Open cars are all wheel drive and require some fancy gyrations to get around differently configured corners. This VW (at least this one driven by this driver) seemed to change direction as if it was reading my mind (I’m the co-driver….the guy who knows what’s going to happen around that next corner!) and I’m not even the guy with the steering wheel….or more importantly the brake pedal. You see, Chris is a protégé of Tim O’Neil, Left Foot Braking King of the World….and actually trains for Tim at the Driving School. The only car I’ve gone deeper and harder into any corner in was Justin Pritchard’s ’66 Austin Mini. Now THERE’s a light car. But in the right hands cars this light seem to defy physics.

I had people approaching me (noticing the semi-permanent grin on my face) suggesting that they KNEW why I was grinning. They had seen us at this corner or that corner and our approach speeds, time-in-transition, and even sometimes exit speeds seemed to be better than a lot of the big dogs at the front of the pack. The list of reasons we didn’t win this rally overall is actually quite short. Horsepower: this car develops maybe 115 at the wheels….at sea level….we were between 7,000 and 8,500 feet…stock engines gasp at those altitudes. Tires: Sunday, we could have used bigger chunks out of the Michelins. We took everybody’s advice about cutting the tires, and these were the team’s last four, so hacking them up beyond future use was not wise. He’ll probably run LSPR on this set. Talent would not be one of the reasons.

That’s the other thing I enjoy about this team. They are pure grass roots rally. Chris is the next Matthew Johnson, or for that matter John Buffum….rally gods who scraped together whatever was needed and built their own cars….towed 1000’s of miles, raced, won, towed 1000’s of miles back. In a parking lot full of huge trailers, and box trucks full of entire spare cars and blue shirted mechanics, Chris’s brother Forest sits….waiting to spring into action….which, was, and pretty much has been all season, boringly unnecessary.

FLASH! Hey Subaru! Hey Mitsubishi (well maybe not Mitsubishi)! Hey Volkswagen! You want team driver that’ll bring back the car in one piece AND win! He’s re-writing the book that for so many years has dictated that one simply HAS to go over the edge a few times costing multiple shells and untold paint jobs. I think Chris doesn’t believe that.

Now on to some other stuff that happened this past weekend at Rally Colorado. First, congrats to Matthew and Jeremy for finally cashing another Subaru check. Like Chris, Matthew simply blew away the competition. Stephan Verdier and MJ were having a good go at it, with Pat Moro in the shadows and the Conley’s in Pat’s shadow….when the ol’ WRX “Y” pipe issue started popping again…literally. I think Stephan lost 2 and Moro 1. These could have cost Verdier his win…not sure…don’t have the scores in front of me. But this little glitch first reared its ugly head at STPR. Subaru must have changed it’s supplier of these things, because they’ve become the next ‘fuseable link” in WRX PGT cars when the temperature’s over 80. Although trannies seem to be the other one that ruins everybody’s day. Johnson had to change his out after the press stage.

As it stands, the PGT championship will come down to LSPR…..Verdier can be the spoiler, but MJ has to win and Pat can’t be any lower than second for Pat to hold the lead. A lot more exciting than last year.

Oh yeah…there’s still a good fight among the money teams….SRT-USA got zapped with an unspecified “unsportsmanlike” penalty of five points for each of their team drivers. I heard through the vine-o-grapes that this infraction actually occurred at Ojibwe, but can’t confirm…so we’ll leave it at rumor status. Anyway, that neatly tightens things up among the top 4 for a super showdown at LSPR….stay tuned!

OK….driving back on boring I-70 in Eastern Colorado….I’ll think of more for another post when the weekend all settles in

Over and out from the current president (there’ll be lots more) of the Christopher (Robin?) Duplessis Fan Club.

Even a BIGGER Age Differential!!!

Pooh Corner Farm and Pooh are getting together!

Duplessis Motorsports headquartered at Pooh Corner Farm in Mason Twp, Maine is teaming up with Pooh (moi!) from 100 Acre Wood fame to compete at Rally Colorado September 22nd and 23rd in Steamboat Springs, CO. That's really the 100 Acre Wood.....at an other rally!

Please no honey jars stuck on our noses!

Chris Duplessis, age about 12 (it's ALL relative!) is driving the G2 Golf and currently leading the Rally America Group 2 standings. He's also tied for second in the 2WD with the fire breathing Dodge SRT-4 Gr5 car of Cary Kendall just 5 points behind the highly supported Ford Focus of Kyle Sarasin and Mikael Johanssen.

Chris is an instructor at Tim O'Neils Driving School in New Hampshire, and so has the ability to....practice....a lot.

Martin Headland, Chris's normal co-driver (if there is such a thing as "normal" for this profession) has a conflict this weekend and asked me to sit with Chris and keep him focused.

So far this season I have co-driven for Justin Pritchard at 4 events, the last one (Rally West Virginia) being highly successful, and Dennis Martin (see the post below).

This ride with Chris is really exciting as it appears he can mathematically wrap up the Gr2 championship here. It was here last year that Matthew Johnson and I technically wrapped up the PGT championship, but we didn't know if the Foust/Crouch car would make LSPR or not. It didn't. I really want to be a part of that in this young future champion's career.

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