Stage Notes Radio

In this episode we cover the latest rally news, including the two rallies that started the summer of Max Attack!: the Idaho Rally and the New England Forest Rally, as well as rally at the X-Games.  Our featured guest this episode is Josh Wimpey. Josh drove his 1987 VW to a second place finish in Max Attack! at Idaho and missed out on an overall podium spot by mere seconds to a Subaru WRX.  We ask Josh what it takes to beat monster V8’s and turbo Subaru’s in what might be considered an underdog four cylinder front wheel drive car.  Finally, we preview upcoming rally events in the U.S., including Black River Stages, Gorman and the much anticipated Max Attack! finale at Ojibwe.

Our featured guest this episode is Tim O’Neil. Tim is the founder of the Team O’Neil Rally School and Car Control Center as well as winner of multiple national championships in the 1980’s and 1990’s. We talk to Tim about his own rally history and get his take on the current state of the sport.

Also in this episode we go through the recently announced X Games invites and recap the last rounds of the Rally America and USRC championship. Finally, we preview the two events that have everyone talking two-wheel drive - Rally Idaho and the New England Forest Rally - as the summer of Max Attack! kicks off!

The 2009 Oregon Trail Rally is complete. Here is the conclusion of the Stage Notes Radio coverage of OTR09.

Correction: Dave Mirra was docked one place due to the lack of rear power window switches and wiring.  The Keeney’s took the win and Dave placed 2nd. The accouncment was made after we published the show so the info in the show on SP results is in error.

OTR09 is coming to a close. Just three stages are left for the teams to improve their positions.  Here is the SNR update for Day 3 service.

Day 2 of Oregon Trail 2009 is in the books.  The leaderboard starts to spread out a bit as Travis Pastrana pulls ahead from the competiton for the overall lead.  Meanwhile in the Super Production class, attrition is the main story as several competitors fall victims to today’s stages.  Finally, we talk to some of the winners of today’s Shunpiker Stages Regional Rally.

The cars are back from the stages for their second service and the competition is tight. Travis Pastrana holds on to the lead but not without ACP applying the pressure. In SP, Wiktorczyk is trading top times with Mirra meanwhile Dillon Van Way is pulling ever ahead in two wheel drive.

With one stage down the leaderboard has been shuffled quite a bit.  Travis Pastrana put 6 seconds on Tanner Foust to move into the lead, while Travis’s teammate Ken Block set the fastest time to move into third place.  We catch up with the top drivers and co-drivers to get the scoop behind the first forest stage of the event.

Friday stages at OTR09 have ended with Tanner Foust in the lead over Travis Pastrana. We caught up with many of the current  leaders and the winners of the regional rally. Here our recap of the top stories and the days events from the drivers and codrivers in their own words.

It’s a warm and sunny Friday afternoon as the 2009 Oregon Trail Rallyis set to get underway at Portland International Raceway.  We catch up with some of the top teams at Parc Expose and get the scoop on what they expect this weekend.  

Tune in to find out how they anticipate the new roads and dry weather will affect their chances for victory this weekend.

This is the first in a series of podcast covering the 2009 Oregon Trail Rally. The Stage Notes Radio team is hitting the road to cover the event on the spot.  In this preview show we set the stage for Oregon Trail and speak with Doug Heredos, one of the organizers of the rally.