Posted Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 2:16am
ATLANTA, MI. (January 28, 2012) There is nothing in the Rally America Championship even remotely like the Sno*Drift Rally based in Atlanta, Michigan January 27-28. At Sno*Drift there’s usually snow on top of ice with slushy mud underneath all of that to make matters even more treacherous. In these conditions, there’s a motor racing competition. However, even with this uncertain footing, the Lucas Oil Rally team of Lauchlin O’Sullivan and co-driver Scott Putnam managed to battle the conditions, a faulty car and early season changes to finish second in the Super Production category and seventh overall in the 2012 Rally America season opener. “It was very hairy at times,” said co-driver Putnam. “We spun out three times on the first stage of the rally. You would at one moment have a bit of grip and then it would suddenly all go away in a heartbeat. Saturday morning on the first stage we hit a patch of ice, and the sensation is that the car accelerates toward the snow banks and trees. It seems like eternity, as you know what is going on and pucker up and brace for the impact. In this case we hit the bank doing maybe 30 MPH sideways, and it was enough to take the beads off both tires on that side of the car. We finished on two flat tires and changed both at the end of the stage.”
