TUMWATER, Wash. -- Rod Millen and R. Dale Kraushaar drove their 4wd Mazda RX-7 to its first win of the PRO Rally season at the Olympus International PRO Rally. For New Zealander Millen, it was a demonstration not only of driving skill but of technological achievement. The special 4wd Mazda was designed and built by his Huntington Beach, California shop and was making only its second start on the PRO Rally tour. The car, with this same team aboard, finished second a week ago at the Norwester PRO Rally also held in the Olympia area.
Second, some 15 minutes back in the 550 mile rally, was the Audi Quattro of John Buffum. Buffum and co-driver, Steve Fellows, a journalist from the English magazine Motoring News, made a brilliant comeback after Buffum rolled the German Wundercar on the third of the rally's 24 stages. After losing nearly 10 minutes, they got the car righted and charged on, moving into second place but not closing the gap on the Mazda. Third for the 3rd time this season was the Peugeot 504 Coupe of Jon Woodner and Ginny Reese. This team is clearly the best in America currently running conventional 2-wheel- drive.
The best news for Peugeot, however, was the great Production Class win of Gary and Carolyn Eaton in their Peugeot 505 Sedan, probably the most luxurious car ever to win PRO Rally Production Class. Eaton took over first place after early leader Gene Henderson retired with a blown engine in his AMC Eagle SX/4 and Doug Shepherd dropped back with a broken fue line in his Dodge Charger. Eaton then fought off challenges from Gene's son Garry Henderson in another SX/4; Erik Zenz in a Saab 99; and Shepherd's comeback attempt in the Charger. The win was the Michigan couple's first for Peugeot after 2 years of hard work and trying.
Besides Henderson, several major contenders fell off the pace in Production Class including; John Crawford, who first broke the shift linkage on his Shelby Charger and then a rear axle. Walter Boyce, whose Ford Escort suffered a broken fuel pump and Guy Light, whose Oldsmobile ate tires at an alarming rate. (In fact, BFGoodrich provided over 600 tires from their service truck for the rally teams and nearly ran out of several sizes!) Best private drive of the event had to go to Richey and Howard Watanabe who put their Toyota Corolla into fifth overall moving them into Seed 3 for future competition.
The Olympus International PRO Rally was the final event in the Rally Week Northwest celebration which had been going on since the Nor'wester PRO Rally a week ago. There were festivities all week and many local businesses from Olympia got deeply involved. Olympus started with a spectacular special stage racing through the closed off streets of downtown Olympia, the capital of Washington state. The cars then went to St. Martins College in nearby Lacey for another high speed run on the campus after being flagged off by "Brother John", complete in friar's habit, at the starting line. The tricky roads and mountains then began to take their toll as only 22 of the original 47 starters managed to finish the event.
The next event on the PRO Rally tour is the Michigan international April 28-30 which will feature a course of more than 1000 miles. Jean Todt of Peugeot-Talbot Sports will be on hand as an official observer for the Federation Internationale De L'Automobile to evaluate the event for possible future World Championship status.
EVENT: Olympus International EVENT CONDUCTED BY: Northwest Region, SCCA
LOCATION: Tumwater, Washington Rainier Auto Sports Club
DATE: April 16-17, 1983 LENGTH: 550 miles, 210 stage miles, 24 stages
ENTRANTS: 47 FINISHERS: 22 WEATHER: Warm & dry
TERRAIN: Mountains,forests
FIN. CHAMP. MFG.
POS. DRIVER/CO-DRIVER/HOMETOWN CAR SCORE POINTS POINTS
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1. Rod Millen, Costa Mesa, Calif. Mazda RX-7 230.95 20 20
R.Dale Kraushaar, Tigard, Oreg. 20
2. John Buffum, S. Burlington, Vt. Audi Quattro 246.28 15 15
Steve Fellows, London, England 15
3. Jon Woodner, Washington, D.C. Peugeot 504 251.20 12 12
Ginny Reese, Chelsea, Mich. Coupe 12
4.(1P) Gary Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Peugeot 505 265.65 10 10
Carolyn Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Sedan 10
5. Richey Watanabe, W. Covina, Calif. Toyota 266.21 8 8
Howard Watanabe, W. Covina, Calif. Corolla 8
6.(2P) Garry Henderson, Dearborn Heights, MI AMC Eagle 267.93 6 6
Mike Van Leo, Farmington Hills, MI SX/4 6
7.(3P) Erik Zenz, West Allis, Wis. Saab 99 268.73 4
Roger Blain, Des Moines, Wash. 4
8.(4P) Doug Shepherd, Livonia, Mich. Dodge Charger 269.94 3
Linda Wilcox, Jericho, Vt. 3
9.(5P) Guy Light, Midland, Mich. Oldsmobile 272.68 2
Terry Conklin, Midland, Mich. Omega 2
iO.(6P) Ken Nielsen, San Jose, Calif. Toyota 273.34 1
Bob Brandes, San Francisco, Calif. Corolla 1
PRODUCTION CLASS WINNERS
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1. Gary Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Peugeot 505 265.65 20 20
Carolyn Eaton, Ann Arbor, Mich. Sedan 20
2. Garry Henderson, Dearborn Hts., MI AMC Eagle 267.93 15 15
Mike Van Loo, Farmington Hills, MI SX/4 15
3. Erik Zenz, West Allis, Wis. Saab 99 268.73 12 12
Roger Blain, Des Moines, Wash. 12
SEED WINNERS
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FIA/SEED 1 - Millen/Kraushaar SEED 3- Eaton/Eaton SEED 5- Gooch/Gooch
SEED 2 - Henderson/Van Leo SEED 4- Watanabe/Watanabe SEED 6- McCullough/Randich
UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER FOUR EVENTS
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DRIVER (Current Car) PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
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1. John Buffum, Audi 75 1. Gene Henderson, AMC 43
2. Rod Millen, Mazda 50 2. Steve Nowicki, Plymouth 32
3. Jon Woodner, Peugeot 35 3. Calvin Landau, Plymouth 22
CO-DRIVER PRODUCTION CO-DRIVER
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1. Doug Shepherd 60 1. Jim Kloosterman 43
2. Ginny Reese 36 2. Karen Landau 2?
3. R. Dale Kraushaar 35 3. Bob Brandes 21
MANUFACTURER PRODUCTION MANUFACTURER
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1. Audi 75 1. AMC 58
2. Mazda 65 2. Plymouth 40
3. Peugeot 36 3. Dodge 30