Posted Monday, August 15, 2022 at 10:36pm
In 2004 I traveled with Doug Havir to Helsinki, Finland, for advanced rally training. Upon traveling halfway across the planet and arriving at Jakke Honkanen’s Rally School, we discovered, “Hey, this is just like northern Minnesota with different road signs!” I guess that explains the large Finnish population in northern Minnesota. The state of Minnesota boasts the biggest percentage of people with Finnish ancestry in the country. The terrain is similar. There are sandy roads that aren’t car breakers, lots of lakes and hills, and yumps galore. It’s a glorious dance through the woods, a roller coaster ride of epic proportions as you wind your way through the woods. In Finland, the classic stages have names such as Ruuhimäki and Ouninpohja. In Minnesota, they are Crossroads, Height O’Land, and Strawberry Mountain. Following, I will describe a few of the Minnesota stages from the viewpoint inside the car. If one is not familiar with stage notes and the language therein, please take a look at this Motor Trend article. Just a footnote: the last image in the article, car #90, is Lauchlin O’Sullivan and me.
Tuesday: Crossroads
Wednesday: Heart O’Land
Thursday: Otterkill
