SnoDrift ProRally

Local Time is GMT -5

Civil Twilight Start 7:30 AM	Sunrise 8:01 AM
Civil Twilight End 6:14 PM	Sunset 5:43 PM

Privateers to the podium…

Withdrawal of factory ProRally teams brings change – and opportunity

By David Gee

The off-season always means lots of changes for any form of motorsport, or any other professional sport for that matter.

But with the decision by Subaru of America and the Air Force Reserve to withdraw their team efforts from the 2004 SCCA ProRally Championship competition, the starting grid for Round One - this Friday’s Sno*Drift Rally in Michigan - will be missing something.

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Update Time	News
Fri 30-Jan-04 14:41	Welcome to the Sno*Drift ProRally and the start of the 2004 season. We have a field of 55 getting ready to take the start from Lewiston, Michigan. The temperature is about 10 degees and the wind is blowing making it feel well below zero. The first car will be leaving here at 3:01 to run Special Stage 1, Special Stage 2, Special Stage 3, Special Stage 4 before coming back for the first service. We will have the start order up as soon as the final changes have been made. The practice stage was a 3 mile stage run this morning where the major concern was finding the proper tire, Blizzak's or Hakka's seem to be the popular choice. We will have some images from the practice stage up soon.
Fri 30-Jan-04 14:44	Car 591, S Cizmas / Sturm have no rally computer, David says he knows the roads pretty well and they aren't too worried about it.
Fri 30-Jan-04 14:51	Car 508, Ottey / McGarvey had a little problem at the practice stage this morning, their service truck was hit by a civillian vehicle. Pam tells us when Tom has some sort of oops before an event they always seem to do well....they hope this counts as the oops and is a good omen.
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:19	Car 72, Hamilton / Sabo are happy to be in the car again after an absence of a little over a year. The team plans to try and make at least six events this season including Pikes Peak.
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:24	Cars have started Special Stage 1, which is a 2.01 mile stage.
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:30	Car 88, Havir / Putnam is reported off .97 into Special Stage 1, they are apparently stuck on a bank.
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:36	Here are some images from Parc Expose
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:47	Car 540 may be starting up to 30 minutes late, he is making some last minute repairs.
Fri 30-Jan-04 15:55	Cars started Special Stage 2 at 3:38, many have already completed the 5.09 mile long stage and are on their way to Special Stage 3.
Fri 30-Jan-04 16:19	The finish of Special Stage 1 called in wondering why it had been five minutes since they had seen a car, the midpoint then reported that they had four cars nose to tail going past them. We have no idea what the problem was, hopefully someone will tell us the story.
Fri 30-Jan-04 16:29	Special Stage 2 reports Car 594 off about 2.5 miles into the stage, everyone is reported OK and they are trying to dig themselves out.
Fri 30-Jan-04 16:32	Car 536, Drozd / Malik is reported off at the spectator point of Special Stage 3, everyone is OK.
Fri 30-Jan-04 16:39	Morgan Segal's pictures from the practice stage have now been posted in the Gallery section, check them out!
Fri 30-Jan-04 16:54	The cars are arriving at Special Stage 4, the first car is scheduled to start at 5:09. After the 7.38 mile stage the cars will be heading back to Lewiston for a minimum of 30 minutes of service.
Fri 30-Jan-04 17:01	Car 594 , earlier reported off on Special Stage 2, has dug themselves out and finished the stage.
Fri 30-Jan-04 17:05	Car 546, Irwin / Schmidt was reportedly off on Special Stage 3 but were able to get themselves going again and have continued.
Fri 30-Jan-04 17:26	In Special Stage 3 Car 536, Drozd / Malik was off but they have been pulled out and they have finished the stage. Car 553, Brownell / Windsor was also reported off and OK.
Fri 30-Jan-04 17:38	The first cars have arrived at service, the service break will be extended to accomodate the shortened Ranch stages.
Fri 30-Jan-04 17:39	Car 99, Iorio / Ho has been reported off on Special Stage 4, they are OK.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:02	The group N race is heating up here in the snow. The crew for Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly says they may be leading Group N right now. Car 83, Utecht / Secor believes they may have tied for the fastet time on Special Stage 1 with Mitchell / Donnelly, but things got a little hairy on Special Stage 3 when they spun in a narrow section of road and lost about 30 seconds. Utecht told us they had to do a "47 point turn" to get pointed in the right direction and get going again.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:06	Things aren't going so well for Car 374, Styles / Dillon. The inside of the windshield is icing up, the car is mis-firing, and their feet are cold. Everything combined, they are losing about ten seconds a stage.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:08	Special Stage 4 has just started the last car, everyone should be in for service soon.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:17	Service crews are set up and are waiting for the cars to check into the regrouping control and enter service
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:23	Car 535, Himes / Himes stopped in to let us know things were going very very good....then they picked up a side job out at Henry Joy's ranch. Jake tells us Henry asked them to do some shoveling on the side of one of the roads.....and if you believe that's why they spent 8 minutes shoveling I bet they have a bridge to sell you.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:24	The SCCA officials are sporting new yellow jackets this weekend, Sue looks happy to have it in this weather
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:28	Special Stage 4 reports Car 617, Mozer / Efting is off and OK as well as two other unidentified cars.
Fri 30-Jan-04 18:34	Here are the top five cars with the scores we have received so far: Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb - Open - 1997 Mitsubishi Evo 4 Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly - GN - 2002 Subaru Impreza Car 54, Richard / Maxwell - GN - 2002 Subaru Impreza Car 122, Martin / DeMotte - Open - 1997 Mitsubishi Evo 4 Car 25, Burke / Bradley - Open - 2003 Mitsubishi Evo 8 Please note that they are informational at this time.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:12	Tire choice seems to have been a big factor, Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb, who is leading at this point, made a good choice with their Yokohama Advan 034's. Car 54, Richard / Maxwell was making a last minute tire change to Blizzak's at service
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:17	Crews spent some time cleaning the packed snow out of wheels and wheel wells
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:31	Car 199, Pastrana / Edstrom had an off 5.4 miles into Special Stage 4. The team went off after a downhill left after cresting a hill, they ended up going about 15 feet into the deep snow . Pastrana and Edstrom, with the help of some spectators, dug themselves out and then got a little tug from a white WRX (possibly 547). They got back on the road and finished the stage losing about 20 minutes.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:42	The team of Car 52, Shepherd / Gladysz is trying to be careful and stay off the banks at all costs, their strategy seems to be working very well...they are leading Group 5 by 48 seconds.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:43	Car 25, Burke / Bradley are playing it safe in their new TAD built Evo 8. They tell us the roads are very slippy.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:48	Special Stage 5 is underway and reports that Car 614, Wiktorczyk / McAllister is off and OK.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:53	Special Stage 6 is ready to run with the first car set to start at 7:56. The teams will run Special Stage 7 before returning to Lewiston to finish the Friday portion of the rally.
Fri 30-Jan-04 19:58	We apologiize for the lack of pictures in the updates, the camera keeps freezing! We will have more of Morgans pictures from the stages up in the gallery soon.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:01	Special Stage 5 reports that Car 74 is off with "broken steering" 1.2 miles into the stage. The team is OK and is requesting their crew.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:20	Car 103, Gubelmann / Pace is reported off approximately 1 mile before the finish on Special Stage 6.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:39	The cars are arriving at the final MTC of the night. We should have scores in just a little while.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:43	Car 712, Stempler / Amato is off and OK on Special Stage 6, Car 573, Wesley / Ehrenberg has also been reported off and OK about one mile from the end of the stage.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:44	As you may have noticed stage scores have not been posting to the web page, we are working on fixing that problem at the moment.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:52	Car 573, Wesley / Ehrenberg is back on stage again and continuing.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:57	Special Stage 7 reports that Car 83, Utecht / Secor is off in their stage. I'm sure Mark will let us know what happened when he gets in.
Fri 30-Jan-04 20:59	Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb may have had a problem out on the stages, he just arrived back in Lewiston about 20 cars later than he should have.
Fri 30-Jan-04 21:19	Stage scores from stages 1-4 are now posted. Stay tuned for more
Fri 30-Jan-04 21:39	Car 103, Gubelmann / Pace have made their way back to Lewiston, unfortunately they look to be time-barred. We also got the story on Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb, he lost his serpentine belt on Special Stage 6. They were able to fix it on the transit but they lost quite a bit of time.
Fri 30-Jan-04 21:48	Pictures from the stages are now up in the gallery. Scores are also updated, you may need to refresh your browser.
Fri 30-Jan-04 22:32	All the cars that finished today have checked into the final MTC of the night. Auditing is proceding and scores will be posted when that's finished.
Fri 30-Jan-04 23:19	The Friday night ProRally scores and the final scores for the Sno ClubRally are finished and posted. The first car will be starting at 8:31 tomorrow morning from Atlanta, please check back for all the latest information.
Fri 30-Jan-04 23:20	Here is the start order for Saturday morning. Car 54, Richard / Maxwell Car 25, Burke / Bradley Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly Car 122, Martin / DeMotte Car 80 Car 91, Bottoms / Bosley Car 44, Krolikowski / Krolikowski Car 199, Pastrana / Edstrom Car 52, Shepherd / Gladysz Car 614, Wiktorczyk / McAllister Car 143, Whiteman / Paulin Car 536, Drozd / Malik Car 508, Ottey / McGarvey Car 565, Hodges / Rossey Car 774, Dimiters / Monin Car 374, Styles / Dillon Car 519, Harvey Jr / Gardam Car 544, Malott / Malott Car 59 Car 53, Jankowski / Nowak Car 940, Donnelly / McGeough Car 66, Mendham / Mendham Car 60, Davis / Brandt Car 591, S Cizmas / Sturm Car 566, Huuki / Huuki Car 523, Kendall / Friberg Car 547, Dondzik / Szela Car 589, Cienkosz / Cienkosz Car 626 Car 93, Olson / Ketelsen Car 72, Hamilton / Sabo Car 724, Korpal / Schleicher Car 622, Parker / Wells Car 653 Car 540 Car 535, Himes / Himes Car 712, Stempler / Amato Car 515, Boullion / Boullion Car 516, Huntington / Heidcamp Car 546, Irwin / Schmidt Car 101, Brown / Holter Car 594 Car 590, Sanford / Sanford Car 553, Brownell / Windsor Car 587, Johnston / Zoepf Car 38, Suddard / Wintle Car 595, Cirisan / Hamacher Car 573, Wesley / Ehrenberg Car 598, Hascher / Rhoades Car 617, Mozer / Efting Car 624, Purzycki / Pierce
Sat 31-Jan-04 08:45	Good morning. The sun is just coming up and the cars are arriving here at the Atlanta High School which will be the site of all three services today. The field will consist of 53 cars with the first one starting at 8:31am. It is still cold out but the wind seems to have died down and it has stopped snowing. We are looking forward to a great day of rally.
Sat 31-Jan-04 08:49	Service crews are getting the cars ready to start
Sat 31-Jan-04 08:52	Cars have started from Atlanta and are headed off to run Special Stage 8, Special Stage 9, and Special Stage 10 before returning for a service that will be a minimum of 20 minutes.
Sat 31-Jan-04 08:56	Car 54, Richard / Maxwell started Special Stage 8 at 8:53.
Sat 31-Jan-04 09:24	Karen Purzycki , an 18 year old High School Senior from Fenton, MI, is excited to be starting the Drift ClubRally today. Her dad, Mike Purzycki got her started in rally and this is her fifth rally and her third event driving. Karen tells us that she loves the challenge and excitement of running in the snow and can't wait to get going. The team is looking forward to another sucessful event.
Sat 31-Jan-04 09:49	53 cars have started Special Stage 8, we had some late additions and one team withdraw. Car 650 started 48th on the road and Car 99, Iorio / Ho started last as a club only entry after their DNF last night due to accumulated lateness. Car 712, Stempler / Amato did not continue in the Drift ClubRally today after their DNF last night on Special Stage 5 of the Sno ClubRally.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:00	Car 374, Styles / Dillon gave us an update from their first night on the snow and ice. The team was dealing with an engine misfire on the first couple of stages which cost them some time. They were fortunate to have new satellite phones (provided by WCCLP.com) that allowed them to be in contact with their crew and give them a heads up. Frank Brown , the crew chief for the team, had pleanty of time to adjust the engine mapping before they even arrived back in service. They were happy to get back to the Alpine Lodge in Gaylord (where everyone is very friendly) and get some sleep before getting back at it today.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:05	Car 143, Whiteman / Paulin was apparently stuck in the bank just before the flying finish of Special Stage 9, the team ihas extricated themselves and finished the stage.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:32	The cars are arriving back at the high school for service, they are waiting to enter the regrouping control
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:36	Car 52, Shepherd / Gladysz tells us things are going well. Mark Utecht and crew chat with Doug and Pete as they wait to check in
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:39	Car 199, Pastrana / Edstrom are running very well today and are having fun doing it. Travis tells us that his road position today has made a huge difference in grip
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:46	Car 122, Martin / DeMotte spun twice on Special Stage 9. One of the spins they were able to grab second and continue only losing a few seconds the other resulted in a 9 point turn. At this point they are driving to finish ahead of Car 80 .
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:49	Special Stage 9 is reporting Car 523, Kendall / Friberg off about 4.5 miles into the stage and OK, Car 653 was also reported off and OK but trying to dig out near the finish. Special Stage 10 reports Car 93, Olson / Ketelsen is off and OK about a mile from the finish.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:51	The car and the tires are working well for the team of Car 374, Styles / Dillon, the only thing they need to do at service is clean the windows and add fuel.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:55	Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly are running very well in their Group N Subaru. They are having a good time and just focusing on finishing the event, but a top five would be nice.
Sat 31-Jan-04 10:58	Tires seemed to be a big concern today, Car 25, Burke / Bradley were not thrilled with their choice this morning. Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb and Car 54, Richard / Maxwell seemed to be a little happier with their tires but reported the stages were still pretty slippery.
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:00	The first cars have completed their service and are leaving to run Special Stage 11 and Special Stage 12. The teams will be back in for a 60 minute service break after stage 12.
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:02	Service at Atlanta High Scool
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:19	Special Stage 10 reports that Car 624, Purzycki / Pierce is off, they are changing a tire and will be able to drive out of the stage.
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:37	Sweep has reported pulling out the following cars: Car 590, Sanford / Sanford Car 553, Brownell / Windsor Car 650 Car 594 All were reported OK.
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:43	Lesley Suddard is thinking of a new career in rally as a sweep car. Car 38, Suddard / Wintle has stopped to try and help a number of competitors this event. Leslely says the record isn't very good, it stands at "Subaru 3, Focus 0". At least she's trying to help!
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:46
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:48	We would like to thank the Atlanta Community Schools, they were kind enough to help us out while were rebooting our satellite. THANK YOU!!!!
Sat 31-Jan-04 11:51	Car 624, Purzycki / Pierce is checking out of service and heading off to Special Stage 11, she lost some time but is still pressing on!
Sat 31-Jan-04 12:28	Special Stage 12 is now underway and Special Stage 11 has started 48 cars.
Sat 31-Jan-04 12:34	The scores for the Sno ClubRally are official.
Sat 31-Jan-04 12:46	The team of Car 83, Utecht / Secor stopped by to tell us their story from Special Stage 7 last night. They were four miles into the stage, just after a downhill medium left, when they came accross a "big white marshmallow and they ate it". That's Jeff's story and he's sticking to it!
Sat 31-Jan-04 12:48	Car 54, Richard / Maxwell has just arrived to the regroup control and they are waiting to check in for the 60 minute service.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:03	Car 536, Drozd / Malik is off 1 mile from the finish of 11, everyone is OK.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:14	Car 52, Shepherd / Gladysz are having a great time out there! Doug tells us the car is wonderful and they are having a great drive.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:16	We have a correction and some good news for those of you following Car 536, Drozd / Malik. They were actually off on Special Stage 12 but they have extricated themselves and finished.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:18	Car 91, Bottoms / Bosley had a right front flat on Special Stage 11, they drove it out and lost about 2 minutes and 30 seconds on the stage.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:28	Car 44, Krolikowski / Krolikowski fiinaly had the spin that Cindy told us was inevitable for the conditions out there. They didn't hit anything and only lost about 15-20 seconds with their 6 point turn to get them pointed the right way.
Sat 31-Jan-04 13:48	Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly's two second lead that they had over Car 25, Burke / Bradley at the first service break has disappeared. Mitchell / Donnelly have choosen to drive a little more conservatively and Burke / Bradley made a different tire choice that they seem to be happy with. The race at the front of the pack is very close, they have been swapping positions throughout the day. Keep checking the scores section for the latest.
Sat 31-Jan-04 14:05	Car 589, Cienkosz / Cienkosz must have a story for us...
Sat 31-Jan-04 14:10	Crews are working hard at service
Sat 31-Jan-04 14:14	The teams of Car 54, Richard / Maxwell and Car 25, Burke / Bradley take a minute to relax in the school cafeteria...maybe they're talking tires?
Sat 31-Jan-04 14:17	Waiting for the car to come in
Sat 31-Jan-04 14:19	The cars are leaving to go run the next set of stages. They will run Special Stage 13, Special Stage 14, and Special Stage 15 before returning to Atlanta for their last service.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:04	Special Stage 14 will be starting at 15:03.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:07	Reports of Car 565, Hodges / Rossey off on Special Stage 13 about 7.8 miles into the stage. Everyone reported OK.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:18	Morgan has dropped off some more pictures in the gallery section.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:37	Special Stage 13 reports Car 565, Hodges / Rossey off 7.8 miles into the stage and Car 624, Purzycki / Pierce is off at the midpoint of the stage. Both teams are OK.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:38	Car 54, Richard / Maxwell has started Special Stage 15 at 3:34pm.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:55	Cars are back for their final service of the rally. The teams will have a twenty minute service before they complete the final four stages and transit to the finish in Hillman.
Sat 31-Jan-04 15:56	Transmission problems have forced Car 80 to retire from the rally here at service, Car 940, Donnelly / McGeough has also retired.
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:00	Here are a few more images from service
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:27	Turns out there is something wrong with the upload of entry information and the web links from a drivers name are pointing to the wrong web site links. I won't have that fixed today. Sorry everyone.
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:30	The missing bumper in the earlier photo of Car 589, Cienkosz / Cienkosz was due to an encounter with a bank, turns out they've also lost two lights off the front of the car in seperate brushes with the bank.
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:33	Car 20, Comrie-Picard / Goldfarb ended up on a bank on Special Stage 13 just sitting there "watching the world go by" untill the team of Car 199, Pastrana / Edstrom was kind enough to stop and pull them off. They lost about 6 minutes on that stage.
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:54	Car 38, Suddard / Wintle were finally sucessful as a sweep car! After two more tries they were able to help Car 53, Jankowski / Nowak out of a bank...score 1 for the Focus.
Sat 31-Jan-04 16:58	The cars are leaving Atlanta for the final stages then on to Hillman, which is where we are off to as well. We will have final scores and updates from the finish.
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:24	The town of Lewiston and the Atlanta High School were excellent hosts to the Rally. Many Lewiston businesses stayed open late to accomodate our needs. In Atlanta the Senior Class of Atlanta High School provided concessions for the rallyists in the cafeteria. It was a great treat to have hot food and drink available at the service areas. Thank you!
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:42	Now that's a service vehicle!
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:49
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:51
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:52	Just a few more service photos from Atlanta service
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:55	Special Stage 17 reports Car 617, Mozer / Efting is highcentered on the stage, everyone is OK and it sounds like sweep will be assisting them out.
Sat 31-Jan-04 17:55	Special Stage 18 has started at 5:48pm.
Sat 31-Jan-04 18:48	We are waiting in Hillman for the first car to finish the 2004 Sno*Drift ProRally.
Sat 31-Jan-04 18:52	Car 54, Richard / Maxwell and Car 25, Burke / Bradley have just arrived at the finish, we should have scores up soon
Sat 31-Jan-04 18:55	The party has started in the Hillman Community Center
Sat 31-Jan-04 19:14	The last car just entered Special Stage 19.
Sat 31-Jan-04 19:28	The champagne has been sprayed, here are the provisional top three. Car 54, Richard / Maxwell Car 45, Mitchell / Donnelly Car 25, Burke / Bradley
Sat 31-Jan-04 19:29	Some more of the finishers at Hillman
Sat 31-Jan-04 19:35	We have just heard that sweep has finished Special Stage 19, we should have the last competitor in shortly.
Sat 31-Jan-04 19:53	Another batch of pictures from Morgan has been posted to the gallery section
Sat 31-Jan-04 20:39	The scores became officially provisional at 8:15 and will become official at 8:45 barring any inquires or protests.
Sat 31-Jan-04 21:21	Scores are official, awards are being given. Goodnight from Rally America and SnoDrift ProRally. We'll see you again in April at OregonTrails.
Mon 02-Feb-04 16:32	***** Late Breaking News from the SnoDrift Rally ***** Turns out the competitors aren't the only ones who can DNF the event. On the drive home the Rally America truck DNF'd and had to be swept off the transit (home) due to a bad wheel bearing.