Culture|Garage

You read about it via culture|garage earlier this weekend. But now we have the in-car video. Bambi decimated the car. A shame, as Pastrana was leading by a minute and 44 seconds.  For the rest of the Sno*Drift coverage see some of our other links:

c|g’s roadtrip to Sno*Drift, furry handcuffs included

Teaser pictures from Parc Expose and the first stage

near collision and pass, videos and pictures

Results of race 

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Firebird Raceway, Phoenix, AZ- John Force is back on track, running the fastest time of the session, a 4.782 1/4 mile time in NHRA time trials on Monday, beating out fellow racer Ron Capps by 0.004 second. At 327.51 MPH, it’s clear that the crash that sidelined Force during some of the 2007 season hasn’t changed his winning ways. “We didn’t know what we had,” Force said. “We thought the new car would be good, but we didn’t know. We still have a lot of work to do, but that was a good boost for this team.”

As proof of Force’s recovery, the NHRA-mandated safety rule requiring drivers to be able to exit their car through the roof hatch was satisfied. “It ain’t pretty, but I can do it,” Force said. The Castrol GTX Mustang Funny car sports a new Murf McKinney chassis this year, a big change from the heat-treated chassis from the old car, which is largely blamed for Force’s crash.

It’s good to have you back, Mr. Force.

via: AutoWeek, NHRA

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By now you have probably already read that Chip Ganassi’s team took first place, for the third consecutive year, at the Rolex-24.  If you haven’t, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas piloted the Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype to a first place finish, for the third consecutive year.

Something about Daytona Prototypes just don’t excite me.  It’s almost like NASCAR for the elite class.

Personally, I just prefer GT class cars, LeMans Prototype, etc.

But that isn’t what this is about.  This is about one of our readers, Ricky, who provided me some of the shots he took at the event.  Wow!  Some great photos.  Check out his flickr page for more pictures.

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Travis Pastrana was the assumed winner of Sno*Drift, until Bambi killed that opportunity. Antoine L’Estage, last year’s Canadian Rally Champion, took first place and the overall win at the first Rally America race of the season. He and his Open Class Hyundai were strong contenders from the get go, so the top finish doesn’t come as a surprise.

“I’m very happy for our win, but I’m speechless,” said L’Estage at the finish. “Travis was the designated winner, he beat everybody — until the end.”

Second place went to the Open Class Mitsubishi Evo driven by Andrew Comrie-Picard. Kyle Sarasin, last year’s Rookie of the Year, took third place overall — his first overall podium finish.

Visit Rally America for the full final standings and times.

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The second day of stages at Sno*Drift brought about some interesting and unfortunate events. By mid day, fans were fairly confident that Travis Pastrana was going to take the overall win. He was enjoying a over a minute full lead with only a few stages left.

Then, in fitting fashion, some “hostile snowmobilers” with a bonfire refused to leave where they had staked out. The stage was called off and the sheriff was called. Hundreds of pissed off fans, who had hiked over a mile in and stood in the cold for two hours, echoed boos and threatened to chase after the snowmobilers. This marks the second time, in as many years, that snowmobilers have interfered and caused a stage to be canceled.

Going into the second to last stage, Travis Pastrana’s STI met up with a deer. Thus requiring him to have to retire from the race.

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Subaru Rally Team driver, Travis Pastrana and his co-driver Edstrom are currently in the lead after a days worth of stages.  They have distanced themselves by 46 seconds over the second place Ken Block.

Antoine L’Estage, the 2007 Canadian Rally Champion, is well versed in snow and ice stages and will prove to be a top competitor at Sno*Drift.

L’Estage and his Open Class Tiburon were in second place, but as the night stages progressed, Block pulled ahead.

More updates to come, we are off to track through the snow to watch the final day’s worth of stages.  In the mean time, check out the videos and pictures in the below posts.

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Voiceover credit to Jon (Champ) and Andrew (ADouglas)

Stage one was an icecapade. Or at least at the area we were spectating from. Out of 40 plus cars, only three or four made this turn. Competitors would fly down the stage at 70-90mph and into a 90 degree turn. Only problem was, well, there was a ton of glare ice. We saw cars get stuck, cars go, 100 yards off track, etc. One of the highlights, was watching team Krolikowski in their 2000 Impreza, haul ass and then plow into a snow bank. Only problem was, the next competitor was quickly catching.

Of course he slid too. They nearly knocked each other out. But as the Krolikowskis broke free, team Hanson, in their PGT 2002 WRX slid past and then pulled in front.

More still shots, post jump

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All right, it has been a long day. It started out with a 40 mile drive to the practice stage. I was given a ride through in the triple zero Lancer Evo VI. My driver gave me the basics of what it takes to be a co-driver and how to interpret the log book. Taking the stage at even half speed really opened my eyes to the talent required by both the driver and the co-driver.

From there, Jon, Andrew and I headed over to Parc Expose to meet up with drivers and the crews. Then on to the first stage, which was an icy disaster, which allowed us to view many offs, cars getting stuck, cars PASSING other cars, etc.

Then back to service, where teams worked to prepare their cars for the night stages.

More detail to come and some more teaser pictures after the jump…

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