An Old Team Arises With A New Team Member

An old team arises with a new team member out of the California Rally Series Group 2 division. Team Old Dirty Racing headed up by Chuck Wilson signs on with a new co-driver, Drew Brashler, for the 2007 season.  Wilson, the driver, placed 3rd overall in the Group 2 division of the California Rally Series in 2006 and as Wilson states “I want to step it up a notch this year.”  Brashler is a 21 year old novice co-driver with rally cross driving experience is currently attending Northern Arizona University.  Brashler states, “I am looking forward to racing with Chuck and finishing my first rally series as a co-driver.”  Team Old Dirty races a rally prepped 1991 Nissan Truck with a complete engine and train swap of a 1991 240 SX . Wilson states Drew has great passion and knowledge of rally and can hold his lunch when it counts.

After a grueling rally stricken in problems for the team, they finished 6th in their class at Seed 9 Rally.  From electrical failure, to the rally computer not working to even their hood flying up on their windshield at speed on stage, the team endured a lot of different challenges.  “I think it was a good first rally for Chuck and me” Says Brashler continuing on to say “I think that the challenges we faced at Seed 9 were a good test of our ability to work together as a team.”

The 2nd rally for the team, Desert Storm, brought some better luck on Friday, but left the team stranded on the side of stage 4.  After leaving the rally truck with Tom Lang, the teams service crew chief, all the problems faced at Seed 9 were worked out.  All electrical systems were put back into working order and most important the rally computer was fixed.

Friday’s finish of 4th in their class came with a price.  The team lost two tires in the first stages of the day.  Their flat tires not only cost them stage times, but it also brought them 2 minutes of road points for showing up to service late.  Saturday the team was starting out fresh with a whole new day of rallying.  Wilson placed a time of 13:48 on stage 1 and 4:54 on stage 2.  Both times were faster than the average time posted on those stages from other competitors.  The team was very pleased with their competitive times and was looking forward to a good day of rallying.  “The truck was feeling great, the notes and turns were flowing well; we were in the zone.” Says Wilson   However, stage 4 left them stranded on the side of the road with a clutch failure.  The team received their first DNF (did not finish) of the year for Saturday’s part of the Desert Storm rally.

As you can see Rally Racing is hard on all systems of a race car as well as both drivers. Depending on how rough the roads are up to half of the field may not finish.

April brings the Rim of the World rally located in Lancaster, California.  A weekend packed full of super-special stages and jumps makes it a perfect playground for the team and the truck.

“Its Not How Fast... It's How You Finish”