Rally America on ESPN2

Not to speak for Mark, but because he's running the regional, rather than national (he was running dual at LSPR as part of the Max-Attack! series) championship, he still has one event left, which is Rallye de Paris in Paris, TX, this coming weekend.

That said, I believe that he will take the Central Region Group 5 driver's championship, and won't finish far out of the race for Overall driver either (behind a guy with an Open class WRX). Rob, his co-driver will likely win the championship in both G5 and Overall. That's with no points for the Northern Lights C2 rally either, because Mark didn't run it, he organized it.

I might add that Mark also just won the SCCA-LoL M4 (Modified 4WD) RallyCross championship in his 1999 2.5RS (while I slid to 3rd in M2). If there was an award for Overall driver in RallyCross, he would have won that too. Again.

 

Thanks for the props Mark. The only errors in your post is that we were NOT dual entered at LSPR. We couldn't afford it so we entered the national only. I have the G5 and 2WD central region championships sewn up. I am solidly in second overall in central region. On the flip side, Rob has the G5 and OA wrapped up but needs the Texas points to earn the 2WD championship.

It's been a VERY good year for Mayhem Racing.

Mark Utecht

 

Ahh, I even looked at the points breakdown and missed the lack of points for LSPR. So you'd really be nipping at Henry's heels for O/A if you had those too.

Adam and I just watched the show, and he's watching it again.

Did I mention that after seeing your die-cast rally car at the Chili fest that he started asking us for a rally car? I told him I've been asking for one for years...

But he got one.

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=4040&e=shakengoproduct&pcat=shakengo_racers&pid=32739

 

nice job mark
by the by, just to put a name with a face were you the one timing the dirty-jack-o-lantern?

 

Yup, that was me.

 

It is a lot of fun to watch my friends on ESPN. Jim Cox's rally truck, with Brent Carlson co-driving, also got some time on ESPN. The very same guys that were driving the truck at the RallyCross Sunday. Carrie and I had quick cameo appearences, if you had a wide screen t.v., we were sitting in our lawn chairs off to the left of the flying finish on stage 16. Look Ma, that blur was me!

Have a safe, fun trip to Texas Mark and all who are going!

Amy

 

It's a lot of fun to watch the show and go "I know that guy, and that guy, and that guy, and . . ."

 

Thank you very much.

Mark

 

now I don't feel bad losing to the rally truck. I'm considering doing the full rallycross season next year in M4 to see how close I can run my car to the rally cars.

 

Welcome to the sickness, you are among friends.

Some might chastise me for telling you but if you want to win in M4, I would recommend against using rally tires. Get an agressive DOT rated snow or mud street tire. I use Winterforce tires. The rally tires are too heavy and don't get up to temp to make the compound work. There are many options including Nokians and others. Feel free to contact me off forum if you wish for discussion or post your thoughts here.

Tires are the second biggest part of speed at rallycross. The driver is the biggest.

Mark Utecht

 

I autocross a lot, so its really the same thing vis a vis importance of the right tires, working on driving etc.

I used Blizzak revo 1s, the grip seemed fine to me. I'm not terribly concerned with winning a season championship, just like to see how my personal preferred setup and my driving does vs other people with more extreme cars and seat time to challenge myself a little. I want to keep my driving sharp on all surfaces.

 

Cool, the only thing I'll add is of the Blizzaks I've seen, the sidewalls are very thin. Be careful to minimize the slideways action.

Mark