Internal Links: JPIII Lake Superior Press Release
External Links: 1996 Prescott Forest Press Notes |
Gremlins of
Jim: We never factored the 60% event at Prescott Forest into our planning so I wasn't too worried. Lon went down there and did what he had to do which was win. He boosted his total by 12 points but that was only temporary - because they only count your top 6 finishes, those twelve points probably would not help him at the end of the season. Sounded like he had a fun time though!
Q: The Lake Superior PRO Rally in Houghton, MI was next. Yet another co-driver for this one right? Jim: Yeah, Martin was busy again so this time I got Tad Ohtake to sit beside me. Tad was last year's production-class champion but he was having problems getting parts for his Ford Escort GT during the 1996 season so he agreed to ride with me and did a very good job. Crewing resources continued to be slim - this time we enlisted volunteers from Michigan Tech University to help. The weather on Michigan's Upper Peninsula was chilly but otherwise good. The blinding sunshine was actually a factor late in the day and leaves on the road camouflaged several corners quite effectively! Going into the evening, I could tell that Lon was very serious about winning this race - he had a 45 second lead over us - his biggest of the year. We planned on attacking during the night stages when the roads were smoother. Unfortunately, we never got the chance... On SS6, the vehicle speed sensor (VSS) sheared in half - wiping out the speedometer, the rally computer and, critically, confusing the engine computer (ECU). Without the VSS, the ECU thought the car was standing still and refused to engage the VTEC's high-performance cam shafts robbing us of almost 80 horses. It also screwed up the rev-limiter. Arrrrrggggggggg!!!!! The problem could not be fixed during a service stop, so we just had to tough it out and finish the rally with one hand tied behind our back. We ended up in third place. Fortunately for us, Lon didn't win either! The Kia's shift linkage started misbehaving towards the end of the rally. Good ol' Al Kaumeheiwa and his Dodge Neon snuck by and finished 10 seconds in front of Peterson's Sephia.
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