ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It was Mikkola, Buffum, Kreibich - Quattro, Quattro, Quattro on the leader board of Carson City International PRO Rally last weekend. This second place for John Buffum was all he needed to earn another U.S. Champion Rally Driver Award. Rod Millen, who led in the point standings going into this event failed to finish when his gear box seized mid-way through the event. That was merely the last problem on the day's list for the New Zealander who has been making such a determined charge at Buffum this year. He and co-driver R. Dale Kraushaar took a wrong turn on the way to the 1st stage and lost two minutes. Undauntedly, he put the bit in his teeth and won the first 4 stages. However, on stage 7 he had two punctures and came into the service area with the rear end of the car dragging on the ground. His crew changed the entire rear end and suspension in less than 20 minutes, and he was off in anger. On the next stage, with Mikkola just a stone's throw in front, the back of the gear box came off, and Millen's rally ended with a cloud of smoke and a big bang. It was the first time in two years Millen had failed to finish due to mechanical problems. Bruno Kreibich was third in the other Quattro.

It was a rough rally with only 29 cars of the 63 starters finishing. Of those 29 survivors, 3 were in the Production GT Class, where Richard Kelsey held off a challenge by Steve Nowicki to win not only this event but the year-end award as well. Nowicki started at mid-season and racked up 3 straight wins. He would have had Driver and Manufacturer Championships in the GT Class if he had won this event. However, the desert is a cruel master, and he lost much time repairing broken suspension parts. Richard Dunham, from Sacramento, Calif., driving for the Gemini team, was 3rd.

In Standard Production there was a new name on the roster. Malcom Smith, well-known off road racer, drove and won the class in Doug Shepherd's Dodge. Shepherd was busy co-driving for Hannu Mikkola and had already clinched the year- end Production Driver and Manufacturer Championships. Linda Wilcox, 1984 Champion Production co-driver, sat in the right seat for Smith. Kevin Gordham, Northern Pacific Division Champion, finished 2nd, and Ed Curran of Sparks, Nev., was 3rd.

The Divisional Runoff was won by Mike Whitman from the Southern Pacific Division of SCCA. This was the first year of a program in which the divisional champions competed against each other on one final rally for the National Divisional Champion Award. Nearly all of the divisional champions attended, and the program is off to a good start.

Rallying resumes on April 12th and 13th, 1985, with Nor'wester Rally in Washington.