Olympus International PRO Rally

April 16-17, 1983


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.


SCCA NATIONAL PRO RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP


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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 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
				  ------------------------

 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
					 ------------

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
		------------------------------------------------------------

DRIVER (Current Car)                            		PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
-------------------						--------------------------------
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
---------							---------------------
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
-------------							-----------------------
1. Audi                       75              			1. AMC                           58
2. Mazda                      65              			2. Plymouth                      40
3. Peugeot                    36              			3. Dodge                         30


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