Goodbye Old Friend - May You Rest in Pieces
By: Scott Harvey
Life is fleeting; life is short. There is but one inevitable outcome for every living being. So it is that I lost one of my best friends, a friend as trustworthy and dependable as Tonto, as heroic and gutsy as John Wayne. My friend and I have achieved many successes together. We scaled many heights and overcame extreme odds. In fact my friend and I were teammates and we worked together to win many competition events. But alas, my friend has succumbed to old age and a weak heart. I shall miss my friend.
My friend was not a human, nor even a pet. Nonetheless, I felt a friendship and bond with it. I named it “Eagle 1”. It was my first Eagle - an Eagle Talon. Not just any Eagle Talon either. It was the TSi, the one with the turbo motor and all-wheel-drive. Yeah – it’s got a Hemi!
I was approaching the point in my life where it became possible to afford a good car. I’d just graduated college and landed a decent job. I bought “Eagle 1” in the fall of 1991. I purchased the car from someone who evidently thought of cars as appliances. The previous owner had driven it for about a year and accumulated 20,000 miles. I didn’t even need to take the car for a drive; I knew this was the one for me. We came to an agreement on the cost and I collected my machine the following week. The high mileage (for one year’s use) was of little concern to me. I had my car. This was the machine of a dream - such a clean machine.
Ahh…. but that was about to change. You see, I like to compete in rallies and ice races and autocrosses and track days and time trials and…. The following year I began running every Road Rally I could in the Detroit area. I also competed in nearly every autocross in the area. It took a few years but my good friend and I became winners in nearly every form of competition we entered. Oh sure – there were navigators for the rallies that helped to bring the wins home – but there were also plenty of solo driving events where it was just the driver and the car. Among the many successes were a number of Fastest Time of Day wins at ice runs. The Michigan Sports Car Club put on these speed events on frozen lakes. Another high point early in our time together was a class win at the Sno*Drift rally in 1992. The win was shared with another friend, (navigator) Al Zifilippo, who helped to make it a memorable event. Many of the countries best navigators helped to build a reputation of success in whatever class we competed. There was Bryan Murphy, Jim Mickle, Rob Moran, Bob Martin, Joe Andreini, John Gingrich, Kent Gardam, Jim Fekete, and Greg Lester. There were also some lesser-known navigators – Dreux Jacques, Joe Browne and Mark Henderson. Through it all – we succeeded more times than not.
There were class championships claimed in the Detroit Region Council of Sports Car Clubs autocross series, there were overall championships in the Detroit SCCA and Central Division series of Road Rallies and there were out-right wins at Ice Runs. “Eagle 1” became a fixture at nearly every Road Rally in the Great Lakes area. There was a strong showing at the United States Road Rally Championship (USRRC) in 2000 and an overall win at the prestigious Press On Regardless Rally in 2004. In the later years it seemed every rally was a milestone in more ways than one. The miles and years continued to accumulate. For example, en route to winning POR, “Eagle 1” turned over 211,000 miles. As a testament to the strength and longevity of this faithful companion, it must be realized that fully one third (if not more) of the accumulated miles were to, from or during some form of competition event. The majority or them being rally miles on some of the roughest, twistiest, dirtiest roads the mid-west has to offer. Throw in a dozen ice races and another couple dozen autocrosses, and you might understand “Eagle 1” did not live a pampered life.
For all the difficult and extreme conditions thrown at it – “Eagle 1” survived. No - not just survived – but actually conquered. For 15 full seasons, “Eagle 1” fought like a warrior, absorbing the abuse and fighting on. That is until now. Now that I have asked the impossible, and expected my friend to live through 16 years of the most vile and hostile environments known to man or machine, I must claim responsibility for my friend’s ultimate demise. Yes – of course, I am referring to the corrosive forces of the salt thrown on Michigan roads during the winter months. The last couple of years have been painful. The signs were starting to show. There were the telltale rust holes. There were the power steering leaks, the extra oil consumption. It became apparent that my friend was not going to last forever. Now more recently there have been the chronic circulatory malfunctions. There was a heart attack a few months ago. I replaced the ECU. Now another one has failed. The electrical problems have become so acute; I can no longer stay on top of them.
I have decided to park my pal for good. Oh, my friend still runs. But I can’t count on it to get me back and forth to work any longer. The list of electrical problems is much longer than the list I have of possible solutions. I just spent a full weekend hot-wiring a number of critical functions just to get by. It turned out not to be sufficient. The ECU failed the next day.