Nor'Wester Pro Rally 1978

ISSAQUAH, Washington -- Top seed Hendrik Blok of Los Angeles took the course
first and finished there while John Buffum sported better than second-place
smiles Sunday in the Sports Car Club of America's Nor'Wester Pro Rally here.

Blok, the 1976 National Champion who used a Nor'Wester victory to
help him to that title and followed with a repeat in 1977, won his third in
a row with 10,734 points as he and co-driver Damon Trimble piloted the swift
Mikuni Plymouth Arrow to victory.

Buffum, last year's National champ and one of the strongest performance
rally drivers in the country, wrapped up the 1978 SCCA title by coming in
second, a scant 22 points behind Blok in one of the closest Pro Rally finishes
of the year.

He and co-driver Doug Shepherd took the immaculate British Leyland Triumph
TR7 to 10,756 penalty points despite losing nearly four minutes while
changing tires during stages. He made up most of the difference and escaped
without further undue penalty points, unlike two weeks ago at the Sunriser
400 in Chillicothe, Ohio where the multi-titled champ drew points for
arriving late at a start point, not for speeding in a transit zone as
incorrectly reported previously. Blok, too, was not guilty of speeding but
of arriving late at Sunriser.

In third was John Smiskol and Walt Krafft with 11,440 points in a Datsun 260Z.

The Nor'Wester, in its 12th running, proved hard on entries as of the
31-car starting field just 16 finished over tough, dry logging trails in the
rain forest territory just east of Seattle. Driver/co-driver teams, when
they had time to look, were treated to some of the most impressive scenery in
the Northwest as the 140-mile, 23-stage event wound through beautiful logging
and salmon stream country.

Competition was tough. The 31-team field included five former winners as
one of the country's oldest events, in its sixth year as a Pro Rally, drew a
sterling field from all parts of the nation.

Fourth went to Ron Boeck and Tom Walters in a Mazda RX3, fifth to Pat
Stiles and Russ Kennedy in a Datsun 510 and sixth to Roy Donison and Charles
Lowrey in another Mazda.

Next SCCA Pro Rally will be beld Oct. 14 when the Valvoline 20 Mule
Team Stages marks the return of SCCA events to Bakersfield, Calif. as the
1978 season winds down to its final three events.