X Games Rally

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:10 pm

Just talked to Matthew Johnson (BTW, he's old now- he turned 30 on Tues!), who's in LA for the X Games. He gave me some good scoop which I want to pass along:

The X Games is a complete madhouse, he said, with some sort of activity or feature crammed in every little space, and people everywhere.
Security is super-tight. You can't go anywhere without proper credentials, as they're checking them at every turn. He had to have some VIP at ESPN's help in getting his. He said, "it's got to be easier to break out of some prisons than it is to get into here."
When I talked to him, he just got down to trackside for the rally cars' parade through the super-special. He said the stage was about a mile long, with most of it on jersey barrier bounded tarmac outside the stadium. But then they enter the stadium at the top, jumping as they enter, then down a steep dirt ramp to the stadium floor. Then from there they slide around a bit, then do a dirt ramp-to-ramp gap jump (only about 20' gap, he said), slide around some more, then up and out of the stadium again, jumping at the top. From there they'll finish with some
more racing around in the parking lot.
There were regular special stages run yesterday in the Gorman area. The big news: Travis was ahead of Colin McRae all day, by a handful of seconds, on the stages! Then, on the 2nd-to-last stage, Colin took it back to pull ahead of Travis by 0.5 seconds. On the final stage they tied to the tenth!
To really put the emphasis on the Super Special, they're taking the total Wednesday stage times and dividing them by 5. So, for example, if Driver A had a 30 second lead on Driver B after the stages, that would be cut to 6 seconds, so there would be an actual chance to make it up on the SS. So that means Colin is only leading Travis by 0.1 second!
Coverage of the SS will be live on ABC for 1 hour Saturday afternoon, and they'll be interspersing footage from the Wednesday stages during that broadcast. As far as he knows, that's the only rally coverage during the Games, though he says they're running preview clips all during the games.

More details if I get any!
Carl

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:29 pm

WOW, that sounds cool, I'll have to set the DVR. There is nothing like watching McCrash.

Damn you, now Im missing watching WRC :cry:

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:01 pm

update: MJ called, he was on his way to a DC Shoes/Subaru party in Hollywood. He gave a report on today's practice for the Super Special: "The course is tricky. The majority of the course is paved, but the cars are running on gravel tires, so there will be a lot of sliding around, and drivers need to be very careful. Colin looked really really tidy. He was tucking into some corners with the front bumper hanging over the curb but the wheels on the pavement. Matt Iorio had the biggest jump but broke a control arm. He seems to have dynamite under his car because it's always 6 feet in the air. It's crazy!"

Pete Guthrie · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:24 pm

hi all, d oyo uknow if the rallyvw tdi golf, will eb at hte x games, it does nto appear on the schedule for his site

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:49 pm

"Live" updates on the Rally America website:

http://www.rally-america.com/Update/day/day_index.html

New updates get tacked onto the end when they're available.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Aug 04, 2006 7:36 am

Hi Pete,

As far as I know there will only be 3 2WD cars/drivers present at XG12: Doug Shepherd in a Group 5 SRT-4 (BTW he rolled on Wed and is trying to make repairs to run on Sat), Jon Nichols in a Group 2 Golf, and Cowboy Kenny Bartram in (I believe) a Production Class VW Beetle. They are running as an "exhibition" only, and not part of the scored event.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:55 pm

Talked to MJ a couple times this evening.

First thing he said was that Colin McRae reportedly has pink eye. I don't know how much that'll affect his vision, but at least he'll have a ready excuse if Travis beats him.

He also told me a little about today's practice for Saturday's Super Special:

Some of you may know that Cowboy Kenny came up a bit short on a 115 foot bike jump and hurt his wrist. The word today is that he may dope himself up with painkillers on Saturday and take over the codriver's seat and have his codriver Dennis Hotson do the driving. Dennis was seen doing practice runs today with Scott Crouch (Tanner Foust's codriver) in the right seat.
MJ said the gap jump in the arena is taking a toll on those who don't land it right. He said the jump itself looks to be 3-4 feet high, but it's a rough landing for those who don't land on the downslope. Colin McRae looked great out there but lost a bumper cover on the landing.
Doug Shepherd and Pete Gladysz, who rolled on the rally stages on Wednesday, got their car together in time for practice today. But they came up short on the gap jump, landing on the upside. It smashed their front end, and they're now out for good.
Andrew Comrie-Picard (aka ACP) got a little out of shape coming into the gap jump, but instead of juicing it and figuring it out in the air (like MJ would have done... ), he slowed down at the last minute and shot to the left into a big mound of dirt. It damaged his suspension and transmission, and they're working hard tonight to get it all fixed for tomorrow's action.

More tomorrow I hope- but it'll be live tomorrow at 5PM on ABC, WTVD (I think this is right). RallyX school people, set up your VCRs and Tivos in case we can't get you home in time to see it!

Emmie Fisher · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:30 am

I think Carl might have meant 3:00 today (Sat).

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

If Pastrana does nothing else the rest of the X-Games I don't think it will matter. After his double last night in the free style jump... Absolutely awesome!!!

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:52 pm

For those of you who missed it, the Super Special final stage action was about the best you could imagine. They were running the competitors in reverse order, slowest to fastest, so not surprisingly each succeeding driver took the lead as they finished.

So finally it's down to Travis Pastrana and Colin McRae, separated going in to the final stage by 0.1 seconds. Travis goes and pulls out a great run, the fastest lap anyone's turned on the course all week. Now all he can do is stand back and watch Colin.

Colin starts, and he's picture perfect, super tidy, and holding about a 1 second advantage on Travis in all the split times. He comes back into the stadium for the last few turns, hits the gap jump and rolls the car! But it's not over, because before the dust clears he's off and moving again! Clearly a little hampered with his new configuration, he crosses the finish line less than 1 second back from Travis, so he takes the silver while Travis wins! So between the roll and the damaged car Colin lost less than 2 seconds- unbelieveable. You could not have written a more exciting ending than that.

Very cool!

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

Mark and Rob stuck around and watched it at my house. We were cheering both of those last two runs. Pastrana was really running good lines, unlike most of the other guys. Colin was almost perfect until that last jump. As soon as I saw it rotating on the jump I knew it was going to be ugly - but it was the perfect finish. Pastrana gets the win (deservedly), Colin rolls the car and takes second place, the crowd goes crazy, we go crazy, etc. :lol:

Loeb would've owned everyone, though. :wink:

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:41 pm

Kevin Allen wrote:

Mark and Rob stuck around and watched it at my house. We were cheering both of those last two runs. Pastrana was really running good lines, unlike most of the other guys. Colin was almost perfect until that last jump. As soon as I saw it rotating on the jump I knew it was going to be ugly - but it was the perfect finish. Pastrana gets the win (deservedly), Colin rolls the car and takes second place, the crowd goes crazy, we go crazy, etc. :lol:

Loeb would've owned everyone, though. :wink:

McRash.

Loeb does not have enough experience using a manual shifter.

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