1997 SCCA Maine Winter Forest Rally

One for my fellow club members. Once upon a time, we used to sanction stage rally. Hyundai thought it was important enough to buy time on ESPN2 for a bit. Didn't care that it was a commercial then, even less so now. I still marvel that any of it was ever on TV. So here we go!

John F'ing Buffum on the announce team. Paul Choiniere leads the Hyundai effort. Wasn't he VSC's (Buffum's shop) chosen successor back then?

Carl Merrill's here too, and is ready to rock. And the Sprongls! Bruce Newey, too. If memory serves, he's the only guy I ever personally raced (OK, co-drove) against down here in the Southeastern US. He had an RX-7 at that event.

MOOSE! No, not a nickname...a real moose! Damn, y'all got big animals to steer around up north.

Another name I recognize is Steve Gingras. Eagle Talon?

And to my subscribers from overseas: Yeah. stage rally was a bit of a mess here. Catching folks on a stage was pretty common, even in a National Championship event. Not a lot of us do stage rally over here, it's a crazy mix of cars/seeds. That being said, those of us in the US who love it do so like anyone else anywhere else in the world. Only trophy I have after all this time is from co-driving a 'regional' rallysprint. :D