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Wild West ProRally
Friday, September 7th, 2001
8:00am
I headed up with Hairpin Racing to the 8th event of the USA ProRally events; the Wild West ProRally. This rally has been known for its high speeds, dusty conditions and beautiful scenery, but most of all for being a car breaker. The Hairpin Racing Team and I followed each other north on I-5 and then north on Hwy 101 to the Wild West ProRally headquarters located at the West Coast Olympia Hotel. Once there we were greeted by many fellow competitors and then checked into the event. Next we had to go to scrutineering at the Corvette and High Performance shop for the safety inspection and ProRally qualifications of the Hairpin Racing Team car. Once everything was cleared, we headed back to the hotel for our final preparations before heading to the Park Expose in Shelton.
Approx. 4:30pm
We took the car to downtown Shelton for the Park Expose where the crowd could view the rally cars and take pictures of the cars and the drivers. With the large crowds there, it was evident that the Subaru USA Rally Team had the pressures and expectations for a great showing. This was also a great opportunity to really show that Hairpin Racing had high expectations to also do well at the event.
Approx. 5:30pm
Once we knew that the ProRally Teams were on their way, the Hairpin Racing service crew found their way to Friday’s service area. This service area was located on the border of the Shelton airport and evidently there was a circus going on at the same time due to the picketers protesting the cruelty to circus animals. Little did they know that we were there to service the rally cars.
First Service
Driver Lee Shadbolt and co-driver Bob Sherman entered into the service area and it was evident that this was going to be a very dust and dirty event. With dust covering the car from top to bottom and from front to back, cleaning the windows was a high priority. Lee felt that the car was feeling great and that we needed to do our standard maintenance to keep the car in great working order. We did check all tire pressures, re-torqued the lug nuts, checked all fluids and inspected all body panels and suspension. As dusk was upon us at this point, we checked all driving lights to make sure that they were in great working order for the night stages that lay ahead. After all was checked and cleared with Lee, they were off again for another stage of the Wild West.
Second Service
As before, the dust seemed to be a problem, even after the sun had set. Cleaning the windows was a high priority again. This time we needed to check the wheels and suspension on the driver’s rear section. Apparently, Lee had hit a pretty big rock and was concerned that there was some damage. However, all looked good. To be on the safe side though, we replaced the wheel with a good one. Next we needed to check all fluids and we also felt that we needed to bleed the brakes. Once this was done, Lee felt more confidence in the car.
Third Service
So far everything looked great and since this was a short service all the service crew check the consistency of the car and made sure that it was in great working order. After this service the service crew would pack up and head out for the evening by going to the West Coast Hotel (Wild West Headquarters) to see Hairpin Racing complete their final leg.
West Coast Hotel
Once we got to the hotel, the Subaru of America representatives greeted us to have a complementary dinner put on by Subaru. However, we started to worry when we found that there were cars that were coming into the finish line that had started after the Hairpin Racing car. Soon before midnight, we get a call from Lee, “Piggy one to Piggy two”.
“Go ahead” said Tamara Shadbolt, Service Crew Chief.
“We are having exhaust problems. Be ready!” Lee said.
We knew then that we would have a very busy night.
The other issue that caused them to be late was in the middle of the last stage; fellow competitor Patrick Richard and his co-driver Ben Bradley were frozen in the middle of the road with a transmission problem. This was a very unsafe situation for the Rocket Racing team because it was in a section of the road that was most narrow and other competitors had almost hit them. Thanks to Hairpin Racing, Lee and Bob pulled them out of that section of the road and towed them to a safe area where they would not risk the chance of getting hit by fellow competitors. Later Patrick would thank Lee for helping him.
The Hairpin Racing car came into the finish louder than normal but still running. Finishing the first leg, it was our next goal to find a welder and the right tools to fix this problem before it would become a terminal issue. We made our way back to the Corvette and High Performance shop where we were greeted by one of the other ClubRally teams, Andy Sharples. Fortunately Andy did have a welder and we were able to continue with making the repairs to proceed onto Saturday’s Leg. Working in the cold, damp and dusty conditions till approximately 2:30am we finally finished with our repairs and headed back to the hotel for a short nights rest before our early stage in the morning.
Saturday, September 8th, 2001
7:40am
We gathered in room 204 of our hotel with fellow team compatriots Richard Buckner and Jason Grahn for breakfast and exchanged stories here and there about the previous day’s events.
8:00am
While most of the other crew went out for day two of the Park Expose, it was my goal to find and exhaust repair kit with a couple of very large hose clamps. After finding a couple that would take a few hours to mold, I found one that would work right away. Once those were purchased I was off to the Park Expose to make sure that they would fit and then I would be off to service once again, but this time it would be about 10-miles east of the Park Expose, on the Simpson Tree farm plantation. Trying to find a good place to park, halfway down the road I found our team truck parked on the right side of the road getting ready to setup their service area. After spending some time preparing the for the Hairpin Racing car to come in, some of the crew traveled up the road to see our team take off from the start. After we saw the green and white striped car take off, we then ventured to one of the spectator spots and watched the cars go by from a long straight to a long hairpin right. It was very exciting to see the other cars tackle the corner. Then the Hairpin Racing car came through executing a great pendulum turn and flinging the back end around for an all-wheel-drift for the long hairpin right. With the excitement in the air, the crowds cheered and we knew that the repairs done on the previous night had been successful.
First Service:
Lee called in, he forewarned us that we needed to check the exhaust system to make sure that we install that exhaust repair kit as well as inspect all of the suspension. While Brian (fellow service technician) and I worked on the exhaust system, everyone else checked the normal things that needed to be checked during the event. So far everything checked out to be okay and it looked that the event was starting to look stronger for the Hairpin Racing team. Lee was under strict orders from Team Captain and Service Crew Chief, Tamara Shadbolt that he and Bob were to finish the race at all cost!
Second Service:
Lee called in again when he was with distance to let us know that there were going to be some problems with the car and to be prepared to bleed the brakes and to check the drivers side rear wheel again, because he felt that he hit an embankment or rock that could have thrown it out causing suspension damage. After close inspection of that area, everything looked fine. But as we started to look at the rest of the car, we knew that our service time would need to be utilized to the maximum. When I pulled the front passenger wheel off, I noticed that there was about an eight-inch section that was completely missing from the rim and that wheel had to be replaced or that would be the end of our rally. While we had the wheels off we needed to bleed the brakes because the pedal seemed really soft. When we were bleeding the brakes we noticed that there were a lot of bubbles within the brake lines. Once we completed that operation, the brakes seemed more solid. While inspecting the fluids, we found that we were losing oil somehow. We had to replenish the oil by adding two-quarts. This was a very big concern for us, because usually, when you are losing oil, there could be a terminal problem and this was something that we were going to have to keep a close eye on.
Third Service:
The Hairpin Racing car came in once again with the instructions that we needed to replace the brake pads and bleed the brakes for both the front and rear wheels. When removing the wheels, we noticed that the tires on the front had the treed completely demolished in areas and the wheels needed to be replaced. This is usually the result of very aggressive driving by Lee. This was a good thing because it meant that Lee and Bob were pushing hard to try and make up time for the time they had lost from the previous nights events. Upon the removal of the wheels, Lee and I worked hard to remove the front brake pads and replaced them with the Metal Master pads. During the removal we noticed that he had not pads left on the car! He was down to sheer metal! Good thing we had backups. After we replaced the pads we then had to bleed the brakes. While bleeding the brakes I noticed that the driver side mirror had been shattered. “Tamara” I said, “was this here before?” showing her the mirror.
“Lee?” Tamara asked, “what did you do?”
“What?” he said.
“What happened to your mirror?” she asked.
“Oh, that”, he said nonchalantly, “I hit a small tree”
“WHAT?!?!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, I hit a small tree. I didn’t event notice it though. I didn’t think that it actually broke.” Again as if it was no big deal. “Did I tell you that I almost hit a deer?” trying to change the subject (I think).
“There were deer on the stage? That’s strange.”
Later we found out that there were deer on the stage that had cause a commotion for the Hairpin Racing Team while out on the stage. It was quite funny how Lee played it off as not big deal. I still laugh about it now. It was also explained to me that this last stage that Lee and Bob had just completed was a “car breaker”. During this stage there had been seven cars that did not finish the event, including the Subaru Rally Team car of Mark Lovell.
Fourth Service:
This was the last service for this section before heading into the ORV Park for the remainder of the stages. At this service, we checked all of the tires again and made sure that our oil was maintaining a level that was reasonable. In fact we had not lost any oil on the stage and was feeling more comfortable about finishing the event. This service was a little longer and we had more time to inspect things. Brian and I had checked the exhaust repair kit and it didn’t hold very well. It was okay though, because the car was driving well. During this time, Lee relaxed a little bit and had time for a quick Powerbar and adjusted the DMS suspension for the ORV Park’s course. Once our standard maintenance was complete, we started to pack up and head out to the ORV Park while Lee and Bob continued to the next stages before making it to the ORV Park.
Fifth Service:
The fifth service was canceled due to the cancellation of 3 stages. Apparently, there was an ambulance call and the event cannot run without an ambulance. With that, the next three stages had to be cancelled, automatically canceling the fifth service.
Sixth Service:
During the last service all we had to do was check all of our normal things on the check list and then bleed the brakes. Lee and Bob, as well as Tamara and the rest of the service crew felt confident in the car and thinking that it had a chance to finish and finish well considering the exhaust problem that had caused them to suffer to last place.
Finish!
After all the problems from the previous day and the final day, the Hairpin Racing team worked their way back up to 22nd place overall and 9th in the OPEN class. For more information on Hairpin Racing’s Press Release, go to: http://www.hairpinracing.com/wildwest01.htm and for more information on the results go to http://www.nwr-scca.org/rally/wildwest/01_AllScores.htm
Written By: Bernie Russnogle, SPEC Co-Founder
The following events are how I remember them. They may not be as accurate as they happened.