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features :: stories
By David Gee
Paul Choiniere has had lots of success at the motorsports event known as the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally, or just plain STPR as most people refer to it as. And yes, we know what religion the Pope is and what bears do in the woods.
He won the event an astonishing FIVE TIMES IN A ROW! in three different makes of cars from 1992 – 1996. And then he added two more victories in 1999 and 2005. So the dude knows of what he speaks when the subject turns to rallying in general, and STPR, specifically.
Last year I had the pleasure of speaking to Choiniere on the eve of the 2008 running of STPR, and liked it so much, decided to run it again. For the latest updates on all the action at this year’s STPR, we invite you to go to www.rally-america.com. Enjoy the reprised interview and the rally!
 There's an old racer's axiom that answers the somewhat rhetorical question how fast do you want to go with how much money do you have. Though horsepower and dollars go together in rallying as well as in any other form of motorsport, the truth is the size of your cajones may be even more important than the size of your bank account at the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally.
So climb in...strap yourself down...and pucker up...as we talk about the fastest event on the Rally America Championship Series with Paul Choiniere, a rally veteran who first contested it old-school style back in 1984, a time before pace notes and One-lap Reconnaissance actually gave drivers a clue about what lies beyond that next 80 miles an hour corner.
"It's not only fast, it's not just the speed, but it's the immovable objects...things such as the trees that actually grow right into the side of the road. As you're driving down the road at a very high speed, it makes you feel like you're on an edge with no room for error at all. The trees are big enough that you can't disregard them, or simply ignore them. Your eyes see them and the mind knows they're there, and that makes it even more difficult to keep your right foot down."
Read on>>>>>>>
 Drone On
Tanner Foust takes an imaginary friend – actually foe – along with him in his rally drives
By David Gee
Rallying and video games – and video gamers – have been good friends now for nearly a decade. The relationship began when Colin McRae Rally was released for the PC and PlayStation platforms in late 1998 in the United Kingdom and in early 2000 in the United States.
The original game featured real cars and drivers from the 1998 World Rally Championship, and the late, great rally champion Colin McRae's now familiar blue Subaru was featured on the game's cover.
There are plenty of gamers who have never been to a real rally in person, but who were nevertheless introduced to the sport via video. And there are plenty of people in the rally community – both fans and competitors – who satisfy their need for speed in-between events through their various rally games.
Read on to meet Tanner's imaginary foe..
03/04
“Pat the Parts Guy”
 Subaru Super Production rally driver and team owner Pat Moro knows his local Subaru parts dealer all too well
“We impacted the tree pretty good. It took the radiator and the front core support out. The hood, the grille, the lights, they all had to be replaced. That’s rallying for you though.”
Yes that is rallying. And as the 2008 Rally America Production GT champion Pat Moro knows, sometimes you have to keep writing checks well after a rally event has ended.
3/02/09
"I
Gotta Be Me"
Rally
driver Matt Johnson says this is who he is and what he
does
"What the #*%&…slow down dude!"
Rally
driver Matthew Johnson isn't talking to me, or his co-driver.
He is instead mostly talking to himself as I try to interview
him when he is hurtling down a steep, mountainous section
of I-70 outside of Denver in his race hauler with his rally
car behind him.
Of
course I can't see how he's handling his rig, but at least
on my end he is doing a pretty good coming up with quotes,
beginning with a debrief about Sno*Drift.
"Oh
man, I'll tell you what, Sno*Drift was probably the biggest
character-building motorsports event I have ever been involved
in," says Johnson in his native North Carolina and Georgia-infused
accent. "It was just major frustrating."
Particularly
given the fact he thought he was well prepared.
"I
made every effort to have the perfect car at that event this
year. I had the perfect tires, the perfect springs, the suspension
we had was set up the way I wanted it, I thought we were ready
to go."
Seize
the Joystick: CPD Racing Team Got on the
Rally Trail in Unorthodox Fashion
President Ronald Reagan
once famously said tomorrow's fighter pilots
might come from the ranks of video game
players, and maybe Doug Havir's life would
be different had he taken up a different
joystick.
As it was, Havir's tastes in PlayStation
video found him battling four wheeled opponents
in Gran Turismo -- and catching the Rally
bug...
Read
more...
What
is Rally?
Like soccer, it’s big in Europe. Unlike
soccer, it’s exciting.
It’s called Rally, a motorsport that
pits seasoned professional drivers against
garage mechanics, takes place in dirt, snow,
gravel and mud and places an emphasis on
driver skill over flat-out speed in ever-changing
conditions...
Read
more...
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