After a week of mayhem… we finally made it to our final stop: Trump Marina – Atlantic City, NJ
We had a final dinner at the casino, an awards ceremony in Chris’ suite, and just as fast as the rally began… it ended.
I stickered like… EVERYTHING along the way. The last thing I stickered on the trip… and thus, my last picture as well.
The AKA Rally was an amazing week. A tad on the stressful side for a "vacation"… but it was a riot. I met a lot of super-cool people, and everyone had a BLAST. I was barely able to squeeze enough time between drift events to run it, but it was definitely worth it! I hope I can rock it out with Hooman again next year!!!
Today we went to the ALMS race at Mid-Ohio. It was definitely nice to relax a li’l today, and watch some good racing.
Today we headed east through Chicago to Indianapolis. Trying to operate a Stage 3 clutch in Chicago rush hour was awful. Somehow we got lost in the hood… in a convoy of raced-out Vette’s and 350Z’s. It got hella sketched… and everyone’s GPS was telling different routes. BUT… I guess if I didn’t even have to use my AK…Some pics as we headed East:rn.
This is what best friends look like as they set interstates on fire, and leave cities in rubble:
A piece of plywood came flying up off the road, and lodged itself into Hooman’s intercooler.
Once we hit Indianapolis, we raced at a two-level go-kart track. 9HP karts, on 10-minute heats… it was gnarl. There were two championship heats… I placed 3rd in the 1st heat… but only 1st/2nd advanced to the 2nd heat. I was so exhausted after the race, I was actually glad I didn’t make the cut, lol. It was SO much fun!rn.
Dale (white Vette) got a police radio, and when headed to Columbus he picked up a call about a group of highway racers excessively speeding. We made a fast-break for the hotel in Columbus, and barely made it.
Day 2, we stopped in Billings, Montana… then it was off to Fargo, North Dakota for our 3rd night. The next morning it was a mad dash to Milwaukee. I didn’t do the best job of snapping photos the past few days. I got to do some driving, which was definitely rad. We spent a lot of time on back-roads running parallel to the interstates to avoid law contact.Here are a few random pics from the past few days:
85.5?
This Sunfire was sweet.
Hooman’s windsheild cracked… as did most of the other cars. It’s amazing how these cracks grow so fast.
This was our playbook. All our stops, the entire schedule, and all names/phone numbers. A cop in Idaho confiscated one of these books from a rallier… so they knew exactly where we were headed.
The guy who’s playbook got nabbed, got porn put on his Cayenne.
Today was the official start of the rally. Everyone was gathered outside our hotel in SLC. The entire group was ready to hit the road. We almost stopped traffic out in front of the hotel with all the cars.
After hours of anticipation, we hit the road with force. All the pent up energy waiting to leave showed… because when the rally hit the road, people were running 150mph, passing on the shoulder, passing between lanes, cutting people off… it was MADNESS!We were running in the front with the Infamous crew, and Chris… the founder of AKA (e39 M5).
Apparently, all the ruckus got the entire rally behind us pulled over at once. We managed to elude the stop. Once we crossed the state line into Idaho, we stopped at a gas station. We were soon followed by an Idaho state trooper. He told us he knew what we were doing in Utah… and not to do it in Idaho. He said they would have troopers every 10-15 miles. Sure enough – he was right.
After getting pulled over (sorry… no pix), having the car searched for NOS and drugs, we decided to take a back road that would take us up through Yellowstone Nat’l Park.
I’m calling this “Day 0”, because the rally hasn’t officially started yet. Today we hit Bonneville Speedway. It was AMAZING. Very VERY surreal. We didn’t get to run a top-speed run, because Hooman had a torn motor mount in the Evo VIII… but just being there was incredible! It was always a dream of mine to get out there… and the flats did nothing to disappoint me. It was simply amazing.
We left the speedway to head back to SLC to get the motor mount swapped at a local Mitsu dealer. Leaving the speedway… we snapped one of my favorite pictures:
We got the motor mount changed at a Mitsubishi dealer that probably had one service writer, and one technician. Once we left the dealer, we hit a K-Mart next door for some sweet pictures.
At that K-mart, I stumbled across a 1:24 scale that has been on the shelf since 2004…
and it cost me $2.13!
I was flying out to Salt Lake City to meet Hooman and the rest of the rally crew. When I got on the plane in Atlanta… Hooman called me and told me he was running late, and wouldn’t get to Salt Lake City in time to pick me up. He gave me his buddy Nick’s number so I could meet up with him. He was driving a new e60 M5:
He was with a lot of the other drivers in a parking garage putting graphics on all the cars:
After we left the garage, we headed to Wendover, which is a few miles from Bonneville Speedway. I wasn’t even off the plane an hour, and I was going 170mph in the Nick’s e60.
Tomorrow we head out to Bonneville Speedway for top-speed runs. I can’t wait!
Tomorrow I’m off to Salt Lake City today to begin the AKA Rally, co-driver for Hooman Mozaffari! He has some new goodies under the hood of his Evo VIII… so it’s going to be wild. The rally spans 6 days all the way to Atlantic City, NJ, with crazy stops along the way. I’m looking forward to running at the Bonneville Salt Flats!!!
