soomcraft Racing

In the back room of this site I have a “Long Time, No Post” draft that’s been simmering since mid-2008. It started off very detailed, with a play-by-play of event after event, and I hoped to someday catch up. But with every passing month — and every event I attend — it gets more and more out of date, and harder to write. So with the start of a new decade, why not throw sensibility out the window and just start fresh?!

A lot has happened in the last few years, and someday I may go back through and fill in the void with stories about some of these things, here in reverse chronological order, such as:

some scenic drives with the BuffaloScooby crew

my first trip to Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska

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I should have known something was up when everyone was parked at Burger King.

This was the last event in the winter rally series, Cory and Dana were the rallymasters. It was originally supposed to be in January, but it got pushed back. By the end of March there was little snow left, in fact, it had been raining all day. That may have been the reason for the relatively low turnout — for both competitors and workers. Cassie and I had planned on running, but we ended up working instead!

After a quick crash course on using the timing equipment, we were handed a pile of maps and sent on our way to checkpoint #2. You know what’s nice about working? You don’t have to go 40 MPH! A lot of the roads were familiar, and the sun didn’t set until we were almost to the halfway point.

Overall it was still a lot of fun working, we could drive faster but still had the challenges of making it to our checkpoints before the competitors, staying on course, keeping everyone’s times straight, and talking the sheriff into not ticketing anyone. Plus, I think we still had enough points to win the Novice class for the winter series.

Sorry, no pictures this time, but for the rest of the details, you can read Cory’s event report here: http://www.flr-scca.com/rally/2007/WinterEvent5-Report.html

Can’t wait until next season — but autocross starts up soon!

Last night we competed in the Ides of March rally. The event went very smoothly with no major crises and only one 2.5 minute time allowance! The real excitement actually happened the day before the event, as I snapped an axle on the way in to work on Friday. I completely destroyed the outer CV joint, there are parts of it all over the road near RIT. Cory was kind enough to swap it out on Friday night. This wouldn’t have made it through the rally.

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Once in a while I look back at the day’s photos and say to myself, “What is wrong with us?” This RallyCross was one of those times.

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The third event in the winter rally series was called “A Relaxing Country Drive.” Jake “Guardrail” Massey took us on a 180-mile tour starting in Bloomfield and heading south through Bristol, Naples, Cohocton, Avoca, Kanona (I think — we never really know where we are) and back. Cassie navigated again, Jim rode along to witness the insanity. We had 17 cars competing, including a few first-time novices.

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This was my first RallyCross in the snow. We had about two feet of snow this week, and huge drifts formed across the field. Bruce and Mark had to cut a path to the starting line.

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Saturday night was the second event in the FLR SCCA winter road rally series. Cassie and I just started this season, so we’re still getting the hang of things. Unlike the last event we did, this one actually had “winter” conditions. We started in Piffard (near Leicester/Geneseo) with rumors of heading west around Batavia and back, for a total of over 160 miles.

The competition included:

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