After having a mechanically blessed and blunder-free rally in Idaho, prepping for Mendocino was seemingly a snap. I simply reorganized the already loaded trailer, rolled the car in, and was ready to go. My co-driver, Nick, showed up Wednesday night only to discover that he had left his helmet and HANS at home in Ridgecrest, three hours away (not sure why Mr. Hans likes Ridgecrest so much, but it seems he consistently decides to stay there when he is needed most). One of our crew members, Peter, volunteered to make a wild dash to retrieve these items while we slept. The problem was that Ridgecrest was a seven hour round trip from the shop and we were scheduled to leave in four hours. We engineered a plan in which we would meet up three hours north of the shop in order to buy Peter some extra time. To our dismay, our other teammates that were supposed to meet up with us at 6 A.M. and caravan up highway 101, decided to take the I-5 instead. We took advantage of this minor fluke and caught an extra three hours of sleep while we waited for Peter to return.

After the hard push to make High Desert Trails Rally, preparing the car for Idaho Rally was simple: fix the radiator fans, apply some vinyls, ziptie a few miscellaneous items, and reinstall the spare tire and floor jack. Loading the trailer, as always, took a few hours. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find a service crew in time for this event, which ended up being a bit of a pain ,since we had nobody to drive the service rig. We drove all day Thursday and made it just in time to finish registration. Friday morning, bright and early, we made our way to the service area in Placerville and were amazed by the beautiful scene into which we drove. Placerville is a picturesque town that was frozen in time, nestled in the woods outside of Boise and it was to be invaded by rally cars and action, all weekend long. The locals were some of the most cheerful and friendly folks I have ever encountered. It was like heaven up there.

As things go, building a project usually takes much longer than originally planned. With HDT set to be my first rally, I entered the week approaching May 3rd with a lot left to do on the car. The cage wasn't finished, there was no windshield, no intercom, no steering system, and the interior was completely disassembled, among other things. I went hard to work on the #73 Open Light rally car, getting only a few hours of sleep Monday and Tuesday night. There was no sleeping Wednesday night and the cage was finished around 5:30 AM on Thursday morning. The tech inspection was scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday at a location roughly three and a half hours from the shop, so there wasn't much time left. What remained of Thursday yielded seat brackets, an attached trunk lid, an intercom, and the seats were installed, but none of this went as smooth as it would seem. The seat brackets took forever, the trunk pins had to be adjusted countless times, and the seats had to be taken in and out several times. Luckily, $285 and two zipties later, the intercom was installed in under five minutes.

I started 2013 with only one goal and in mind and that was to compete for the full season and finish in the upper half of my class. Having unknowingly built a car that placed me in the most competitive class in my rookie season, I didn't have high expectations for this year. The beginning of the year was tough. It took a while to get the car dialed in, but once I did, things finally came together. I found myself ahead of drivers I thought I wouldn't be able to touch without a couple seasons of experience. I gave my full dedication to competing and it really paid off. I found myself among the top drivers and through consistency was able to bring home first place for the season in the CRS Championship. I also managed to make a trophy position in the Porterfield Rallycross Championship, win the SCCA Northern Pacific National Challenge, and the Santa Rosa Formula RallyX. I even managed to get some awards for co-driving with my good friend Ray Piloto. Together, Ray and I were nominated as the Most Inspirational Team in the Southwest Rally Series. With plans to step it up to stage rally in 2014, I can't wait to see where this takes me! I just want to leave you all with these few words: if you give something all that you've got and believe in yourself, you can accomplish great things.