The Oregon Trail Rally is the home of one of the best rally events in the US. This year it is based in Portland and the Dalles, Oregon.  Starting on Thursday, May 13, the Fan Appreciation Day is happening at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Downtown Portland. Our latest rally build, a 2006 Madza3 Group 2 car will be on display downtown, and at the press stage at PIR later that day. Please come down and check it out! The Evil Eye Motorsports team of Dave Henderson  and Terry McDowell will be out challenging for a Max Attack podium, as well a Group 2 podium. This will be their 2nd event in the new car, and after a pair of 1st place Group 2 finishes, and 2nd 2wd OA at their Olympus Rally debut, they will be a team to watch.

Friday’s stages happen at Portland Int’l Raceway starting at 6pm. This is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with all of your favorite rally cars and teams. Every year the PIR stages get more and more exciting, and are filled with spectators. There were close to 10,000 out there last year. The best part about the PIR stages is that you can get to see much of the stages run from the spectator locations, and it’s right in Portland. Many times, in the woods, you get to see a few turns, not most of the stage. With that said, the flying gravel in the woods is what gets many people hooked on the sport of rally.

Saturday and Sundays stages will be run outside of The Dalles and Dufur, Oregon, on Wasco County Roads. There are some old and new stages that will be run this year. There will be spectating opportunities on both days. Go to www.oregontrailrally.com for more spectator info or if you want to volunteer.  The back drop of Mt Hood makes these stages some of the prettiest in the nation, and offer great photo and video opportunities as well. If you can’t get out to the stages, feel free to drop by the service area and say “Hi”. We’ll have at least 5 cars in the All Wheels Driven service area, so there will at least be several cars to come check out.. hopefully not to many “antics” though.

Very much looking forward to seeing some old and new rally friends at the 2010 Oregon Trail Rally. Rally On! B-

The Mt. Hood Rally, this year, as usual, was one of the best events of the season. Initially, I was planning on crewing for the 4 car Tabor Rally Team, similar to 2008. I was still going to crew for them, but we would wind up needing another bay in service.. Just several days before the event, a new team, Dave Henderson & Terry McDowell of Hood River, contacted me about running the GTI. The wheels were set in motion , as the days were ticking off quickly to the event. Fortunately there wasn’t much to do on the prep end for the GTI. Checking fluids, a good detail, new numbers, flags, and names, and the car was good to go. Recce was mucky and wet, so we opted to run the mud tires instead of gravel tires. Fortunately, the weather got nicer on Saturday.. The muds wound up being a good choice.. The guys started in 26th place, at the end of the pack. By the end of stage one (Gilhouly, +-6mi), they moved up to 17th, and 4th in G2. They drove a steady, clean race, finishing 14th OA, 2nd in G2 their first time on stage.. a stellar debut. But it’s not Hendo’s first time in a gravel car. He normally runs a Modified 4 ‘06 STi in the local rally crosses, which helped him build a sollid foundation that carried over well to the stages.. We are looking foward to working with the Henderson/McDowell team  in 2010. These guys have been bitten hard by the rally bug..:)

All of the Tabor’s finished on the podium in their respective classes, free of _too much_ drama. Mark Tabor and Ben Bradley had a bit of an offroad excursion that “modified” the rear subframe towards the end of the event. To spite the car “crabwalking” on fast straights, they pressed on to the end, still finishing in the top 10 and 2nd in PGT. Matt Tabor and Jeff Zurschmeide finished up 3rd PGT in the ‘99 2.5 RS. Bruce “Papa” Tabor and John Elkin’s Nissan Sentra SE-R  would up ahead of the Tabor Ladies’ Acura RSX Type S in the production battle. The “Tabor Cup” has switched hands yet again, after the Ladies’ victory at WIld West Rally In Pomeroy, Wa. Congrats to the Tabor’s once again, for starting and finishing all 4 cars.

Back to the grind after a long weekend at the Chump Car 24 hour race. Great fun on the track and off. Many old friends and new were there, and lots of antics in service. The car was very quick when it was happy, and everyone got a good chunk of track time. We didn’t finish last either The Miyagi Do (Corolla) finished the best out of the Drifter teams. The FX16 got a motor swap, the CSX got some rockers swapped, new axle and other stuff, and the Corolla got a tranny swap and 2 fuel pumps, which wound up the best of the bunch. Got the fastest lap on our team with the car stuck in 3rd gear, before a terminal clutch issue occured… Special thanks to everyone that made it possible.

Never a dull moment at 24hr race, much like rally. To finish first, you must first finish.