An Eagle Eye View of POR ‘04

September 10th and 11th, 2004 would bring the 56th running of the prestigious Press On Regardless Rally to Gaylord, Michigan. This would be the 10th anniversary of its return to its endurance TSD roots. In 1992 and 1993 this rally was called the Silver Anniversary POR and ran a few weeks in advance of the POR Pro Rally (run out of Houghton, Michigan in the upper peninsula). I have been a competitor in all twelve of these battles and tasted class victory many times while running in the Vintage class. In fact in 1998, Bryan Murphy and I were fortunate enough to take second overall in one of the toughest, most demanding TSD rallies ever in this area.

For 2004 things would be a little different. I would not be using the vintage Colt, as it has not been repaired since we put it on its side in 2002. We didn’t need to shake down the Pro Rally Talon as it is seemingly in good shape and ready for the next stage rally. So that leaves the aging 1991 Talon (Eagle 1). This car has seen plenty of duty as a (Road) rally machine. In fact during POR ’04, we turned over 211,000 miles! I have estimated that about 33% of those miles have been to, from, and during some sort of rally, ice run or autocross. You can do the math... that's a lot of "competition" miles. It is amazing how well this car has held up over all these years and all those miles.

Now all I needed was a navigator. All my previous co-pilots have found other things to do. It was with great fortune that I was able to get hooked-up with Jim Fekete. Jim’s normal teammate, Jim Shaffer, had a work commitment that prevented him from running. The two Jims won POR overall in 1996, from the Limited class. At that time Fekete drove and Shaffer navigated. They seem to alternate between driver and navigator every other year. With no appreciable drop in effectiveness, I might add.

By virtue of the fact that a previous winner was in the car (Fekete) we drew car #1 for the rally. The entry list was short but the competition level was high. Mr. Fekete seemed to have a quiet confidence about our chances. I think he had in his mind, going in, that we could win overall. All I was hoping for was edging out Smiskol/Ward for the class win. I figured we could run close to the guys in E (Johnstonbaugh/von Kaenel, Coughnour/Andreini and Henderson/Harkcom), but I tried not to think in terms of an overall win.

The rally itself was run without issue from the competitors’ perspective. Bruce Fisher and his army of workers did a great job again this year. All controls were ably staffed. The driving to break ratio was just right. There were no route mistakes to speak of. The roads selected were outstanding. A great many of them were from previous Pro Rally events.

We had a great time. I really enjoyed the roads. Many were of the two-track variety, but most were just good fun, twisty, forest roads. The speeds were just right too. There were several places where if you got behind – it was nearly impossible to get back on time.

We had a little extra excitement thrown our way on the first night when we hit a deer! It had to be close to midnight. The deer was standing on the left side of the road. As we approached, I honked the horn hoping to get the critter to move. Instead the deer waited until we were basically along side and decided to run down the road with us. At the last instant it darted right in front of the car. I was able to take some of our speed off, but we still hit at 25 or 30 mph. The lights were pointed up at the sky, but they all seemed to be working. We didn't stop to mess with the lights until the next control. That was a difficult 10 - 15 miles switching back and forth from low beams (with fog lights) to fairly ineffective driving lights.

Several teams park on the side of the road while waiting to start the competitive sections. This is early on day one. Smiskol/Ward park their Nissan in front of the Harvey/Fekete Talon.

Other than that, our run was mostly trouble free. We did leave an outmarker with the "box" in reverse once and got caught behind a local for a couple of miles once. Both times we purchased the appropriate amount of time.

It wasn't until day two that I actually thought we might win overall. Ron and Jack got hit with a 200-point max when they got buried in the sand on day one. Had it not been for their misfortune - the final scores would have been very close. In the end, we finished up the 600-plus mile route with a total score of 49 points. This was for 62 scored controls. Smiskol/Ward took second place with a total of 100. Third overall and first in E were Henderson/Harkcom with 138.

It probably seems cliché, but as we started winding down the last 20 to 30 miles of the rally - I could feel every vibration and hear every odd noise coming from the car. At that time I knew the only thing that could stop us was if the car broke. I told Jim while we were headed back to Gaylord after the last control – if the car breaks, he’s going to have to hitch a ride to the finish with our scorecard. Fortunately, everything held together and we even made the long drive home. A few weeks later, the huge vibration we felt on the way home was diagnosed as a worn out CV joint.

In all, it was a great event. It was very challenging and in perfect harmony with its history and reputation. Though the number of entrants was not that high - the level of competition was still strong. This is a very satisfying victory and one that shall be looked back upon proudly. I am particularly proud of the fact that my name now appears on the grand trophy that has an individual plaque of the winning driver, navigator and model of car for each year. Interestingly, my name will now go on the plaque for 2004, which will be directly adjacent to the one with my father’s name on it for winning in 1994. It will take a little catching-up on my part to match his totals. He won POR 4 times!

Mid-way through day two - Jim Fekete mugs for the camera while we prepare to start one of the last sections of POR ’04. Visible behind the Team Harco Talon are the MGB of Jones/Potvin and the Subaru of Henderson/Harkcom.

More details on POR ’04 can be found here:
http://www.detroit-scca.org/newsdetail.asp?NewsID=239