Katinger.com

We ran another rally yesterday, Rally New York 2005. This was a critical race for me since, after the "experience" in Tennessee, I was going to give this little hobby a permanent rest if I was still unable to keep my lunch down while in the race car.

I enlisted the help of some prescription anti-motion sickness medication instead of continuing to use the Bonine that failed me so spectacularly in TN. Well it worked. I put the patch on the night before the race and I didn't feel the least bit queasy all day. 12 special stages and 7 services. It might have also helped that I didn't eat any breakfast and was very hydrated before the start of the race and kept myself that way at each service stop. The prescription medication wasn't without side effects: extreme cotton mouth and a feeling of "spacy-ness" in the morning that wore off as competition started. It was kind of like waking up with a hang over, minus the headache.

Hamp and I were calling this a "regrouping" event (like a "rebuilding year" for a pro sports team) for us to mentally come back from my vomit fest and his flipping the car in Tennessee...not to mention the engine blow out in South Carolina. We both just wanted to finish the race in as clean a manner as possible (clean meaning few mistakes/penalties...and in my case a clean fire suit). Our only trouble for the day was a tire blow out at the end of stage 8. Even with a less-than-stellar tire change routine on the transit, we didn't incur any penalties.

I wish we did a little better in our class, but hey - we made it. I'm again confident in my ability to co-drive without losing my breakfast and I think Hamp has even more confidence in handling the car.

And to make it even better, Allison and the Guinner stopped by the service area to say hi before we left for stage 8.

All-in-all a good race.

RallyNewYork.com: Race Results

Pix of the Celica in action



The next NASA race isn't until September...but we might do a Rally America race in Maine or a Canadian event.

If you have an appreciation for anything remotely related to flying, remote control stuff, or kids and the amazing stuff they can do...take a look at the video linked below (opens in Windows Media Player). Apparently this is a 9-year-old kid flying his remote control helicopter. Even if you have no clue about flying this will impress you...

HeliFreak.com: Kyle Stacy

Thought this was funny too...but you have to know flying to get it.