Pastrana flew through the woods in a #199 Alpinestars/SoBe/Thor/Vermont SportsCar-backed 2002 Subaru WRX. And while the mercurial motorcycle racing star was thrown right into the deep end in Michigan, he drove quite well, taking the first step toward his dream of one day competing in the World Rally Championship. Here, in Travis’ own words, is how it all went down.
“The Sno*Drift rally went way better than I could have hoped for,” he said this morning. “I was running first in class, and was somewhere inside the top ten overall, when I got stuck behind a super-slow car for what seemed like forever. On day one they started me in 53rd, where the roads had turned to a sheer sheet of ice, and I was forced to pass at least one car on every stage, which wasn't an easy task on narrow roads. When I finally got around the car, I overshot my next corner by making a total rookie move, trying to make back the time I lost. We lost 30 minutes on that stage digging the car out. On day two, I was ninth on the road, and with better road conditions and not having to pass people on stage, I finished every stage on day two without going off the course once, and was consistently 20 seconds faster than anyone in my class. We ran about fifth or sixth overall against cars with more than 200 more horsepower than mine. I finished the rally well, and feel very capable of competing at a top level, which was a great feeling after coming off the Porsche Cup [at the Indianapolis Formula 1 race last October], where my confidence took a nose dive.” |
