The third and final day of racing took us east from Chihuahua City to Ojinaga. This route is a drastic change of scenery from the pine trees and cooler weather from days 1 & 2, but it was still beautiful. Into the high desert we went.
We raced 5 back-to-back sections on the way to servicio and had a little break to walk to the lookout and see this vast view:
It was a fast day of racing meaning the sections were more open than the first two days with more straights so the cars reach higher speeds. We also had a very long section (29.65 kms is a LONG time to be calling turns) that we ran twice - out and on the way back. It was a full day of racing and it was quite warm so we were much relieved to make it back to town and be finished! One piece, the car running well, and having had a fantastic day racing. It was time to celebrate! There was a little celebration in a mall parking lot and then we headed back to the hotel to break open the tequila.
 |
| photo by CNRM - Comisión Nacional de Rallies México |
Time for some Fortaleza!
 |
| Enjoying some crisp tequila with our good amigos Renee Rodriguez, Geezer and Vance Stewart |
Time for celebrating! Chacho and the race organizers hosted a lovely dinner and awards ceremony. It is always a fun time because the racers and crews finally get to relax and enjoy their winnings. It is so much fun to cheer for our friends as they are announced day and over all class winners. It's also nice to pick up some hardware for ourselves, too.
 |
| Our very good amigos in the Historic C class. Jack Rogers and CJ Strupp were the overall winners (we raced with them in Targa Newfoundland, also), followed by Gerie Bledsoe and Fernando "El Fer" "Zorro" Garcia and the Gregory family - John, Chrislana and Matt. |
 |
| Overall results for Original Pan Am: US! followed closely by Jake "The Most Interesting Man in Mexico" Shuttlesworth and The Swede Ralf Christensson. This was extra special for us and for Jake because this was Jake's first time racing his '54 Ford (same year as ours, slightly different model). This was a long-time coming for Jake to race in Original Pan Am and it was so much fun. I'm sure his red '54 and our white '54 Vicky will duel again. |
Aaand...we won our class and placed 17th overall (results here)! It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to have raced every day, finished every state, combined with great times for an Original Pan Am car. I am still processing the ups and downs while getting back to reality. I'm in the post-race-depression mode: no police escorts through traffic, no one cheering me on in my daily commute, no smells of exhaust/cigar/fuel (what better to wake up the senses), and no racing amigos to swap stories with at the end of the day.
I'll follow up with another blog with some more thoughts, photo and video. For now, here are a few must-watches:
By Graham Maddock for Chihuahua Express (phenomenal drone footage):
Day 1 (we roll up to A (green flag) at :14)
Ruta Norte interviewed Chrislana and me (we didn't know what for at the time). We're at 3:16 here.
MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS to our generous sponsors!
No comments:
Post a Comment