| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 12, 1982 |
BELLEVUE, Washington -- For the first time in more than a year, an American has won a PRO Rally. John Buffum broke the foreign stranglehold on the SCCA series by driving a brand-new Audi Quattro to a 15-second victory at the Nor'wester PRO Rally in western Washington state. The former five time PRO Rally Champion and his co-driver, Doug Shepherd, had not won an event in 14 months making this victory all the more sweet. In addition they had only driven the Quattro a few miles before the start of the rally.
Second in the 165-mile (275 kilometer) event were Rod Millen and R. Dale Kraushaar in their Mazda RX-7. The current U.S. champions had trouble early on in the event when the car wouldn't start, and they got behind some slower competitors. In the dust they lost valuable time until they could get around. A stage later they had a puncture dropping them back even further. In the final few stages they came roaring back and, had the event been longer, they may well have caught the Quattro. Buffum said that he was driving his own rally and was not going to speed up just because Rod was closing in.
The Peugeot 504 Coupe of John Woolf and Grant Whittaker was third in a nearly perfect run. The Kiwi team stayed right with the Audi and Mazda and ended up about a minute back. Taisto Heinonen and Martin Headland were fourth in their Toyota Corolla after beating Jon Woodner and Ginny Reese by 12 seconds on the last stage. Woodner's Datsun was tied with the Toyota, to the second, going into the last stage. A flat tire toward the end of the stage was probably the difference.
Another winner from last season returned to his winning ways in the Production Class when Jon Davis drove his new Ford Escort to a 1 3/4 minute win in the Class. It was the second outing for the new Escort, and it looks like Ford, Davis, and co-driver Harry Ward will once again be a team to contend with. Guy Light and partner Jim Brandt were second in Production with their Oldsmobile Firenza and the new Audi Coupe of Bill Brooks and Bill Banger was third.
It looks like the tire war is heating up. BF Goodrich won the rally with the Audi and Buffum; and Firestone took Production with the Escort and Davis. This one is just starting.
Most of the major PRO Rally teams will be staying in the Seattle area this week because the next event on the calendar is only a few days away in nearby Olympia. The Olympus PRO Rally is set for April 16-18 in the mountains south of here.
1982 PRO RALLY SERIES
for the
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
DATE NAME LOCATION
April 16-18 Olympus Tumwater, Washington
April 30, May 1-2 Northern Lights Houghton Lake. Michigan
May 29-31 Chisum Trail Paris, Texas
June 11-13 Susquehannock Trail Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
August 27-29 Sunriser 400 Chillicothe, Ohio
September 17-19 Centennial Monument, Colorado
October 1-3 Tour de Forest Olympia, Washington
November 4-7 Press On Regardless Houghton, Michigan
November 19-21 Mendocino Forest Clear Lake, California
December 3-5 Sno*Drift Grayling, Michigan
December 10-12 Reno International Reno, Nevada
EVENT: Nor'wester EVENT CONDUCTED BY: Northwest Region, SCCA
LOCATiON: Bellevue, Washington LENGTH: 165 miles, 11 stages, 83 stage miles
DATE: April 10-11, 1982 WEATHER: Clear, cool
ENTRANTS: 54 FINISHERS: 41 TERRAIN: Forest, low mountains
FIN. CHAMP. MFG.
POS. DRIVER/CO-DRIVER/HOMETOWN CAR SCORE POINTS POINTS
1. John Buffum, S. Burlington, VT Audi Quattro 81.95 20 20
Doug Shepherd, Livonia, MI 20
2. Rod Millen, Costa Mesa, CA Mazda RX-7 82.33 15 15
R.Dale Kraushaar, Tigard, OR 15
3. John Woolf, Livonia, MI Peugeot 504 83.12 12 12
Grant Whittaker, Livonia, MI 12
4. Taisto Heinonen, Surrey, B.C. Toyota Corolla 84.93 10 10
Martin Headland, Surrey, B.C. 10
5. Jon Woodner, Washington, D.C. Datsun 510 85.12 8 8
Ginny Reese, Chelsea, MI 8
6. Topi Hynynen, North Hollywood, CA Volvo 142 90.54 6 6
Adrian Crane, Palo Alto, CA 6
7. Ken Smith, North Ridge, CA Plymouth Arrow 92.37 4
Rex Lewis, North Ridge, CA 4
8.(1P) Jon Davis, Houghton, MI Ford Escort 95.01 3
Harry Ward, Toledo, OH 3
9. Pete Morley, Bellevue, WA Mazda RX-3 95.64 2
Brian Nelson, Bellevue, WA 2
10. Steve Parker, Redmond, WA Mazda RX-3 95.68 1
Roger Blain, Des Moines, WA 1
PRODUCTION CLASS WINNERS
1. Jon Davis, Houghton, MI Ford Escort 95.01 20 20
Harry Ward, Toledo, OH 20
2. Guy Light, Midland, MI Oldsmobile 96.46 15 15
Jim Brandt, Lake Odessa, Mi Firenza 15
3. Bill Brooks, Olympia, WA Audi Coupe 96.85 12 12
Bill Banger, Toeur D'Alene, ID 12
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER THREE EVENTS
DRIVER (Current Car) PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
1. Rod Millen, Mazda 55 1. Gene Henderson, AMC 32
2. John Woolf, Peugeot 27 2. Guy Light, Oldsmobile 23
3. Jon Woodner, Datsun 23 3. Jon Davis, Ford 21
CO-DRIVER PRODUCTION CO-DRIVER
1. R. Dale Kraushaar 55 1. Jim Kloosterman 32
2. Grant Whittaker 27 2. Jim Brandt 23
3. Doug Shepherd 20 3. Harry Ward 21
MANUFACTURER PRODUCTION MANUFACTURER
1. Mazda 55 1. Saab 35
2. Peugeot 27 2. AMC 32
3. Datsun 23 3. Ford 20