With approximately 85 cars starting-beginning at 8:00 a.m. on October 24th-and with what must have been the entire population of the city waving us on, we were off to Oaxaca City. The first day consisted of the usual transit sections and five great speed sections through tight winding mountain roads. Several cars blew engines in the first speed section, and a few cars crashed badly enough that they were out of the rally. We were fortunate enough to arrive without incident later that day in Oaxaca to huge cheering crowds. The Mexican people love this race! After downing the mandatory Corona beer given to us by beautiful Corona girls, we signed autographs and had our pictures taken with fans for over an hour. Afterwards, a lot of teams had servicing and repairs to do on their race vehicles before the next morning's start. I checked the tires and oil on the Vette and was ready to go racing, again.
Day 2, from Oaxaca to Puebla, was fairly straightforward. Day 3 was another matter. Driving from Puebla to Morelia requires going right through the center of Mexico City. To say this city of 22 million people is huge is an understatement. It was a real challenge just following the route book, but my navigator Karl did not miss one turn. The Vette was proving to be very reliable and had not missed a beat. We arrived in Morelia very tired.
Day 4 was Morelia to Aguascalientes. A number of cars were starting to have problems. The hard running of mostly 40-plus-year-old cars was taking its toll. This was also the day we were going to get to run on a closed racetrack. The Vette's power and suspension were great, but the tires were not. Most teams had a much larger budget than I and multiple sets of race compound tires. I was running more of a touring tire that would last the whole race. This kept expenses down but made times suffer. I was still in the race, and approximately 17 cars were out by this point. Just finishing the rally is an accomplishment. Plus, I still hadn't made any repairs to the Vette at all. Almost. During this day, we were in a mountain pass at a very high altitude. Clouds and fog rolled in. Hurricane-like rain came down. At this point, Murphy's Law took over, and my wipers failed. Imagine trying to drive through a tight mountain pass for 30 minutes at 5 mph with your head stuck out the window and you can still barely see the front of your car! This cost us major time and penalties.
Day 5 was a short one. After another run on a track, it was on to Zacatecas for the best party during the whole race. We were welcomed with open arms. It was a very late night. Luckily, the organizers of the event know what goes on every year in Zacatecas, and we were not scheduled to start until noon the next day.
Day 6 was another short day. It's the day we race around the famously dangerous "La Bufa." La Bufa is a mountain within the city, and its roads (which run very close to sharp drop-offs with no guardrails) have claimed many lives. Knowing this in advance, I drove very conservatively. Two competitors died here in the 1999 race. At the end of the day, it was time for a party at the Corona beer brewery. Corona, the main sponsor of the event, holds a party every year for the competitors. It was a good thing that it was at the end of the day since it's an all-you-can-drink free Corona!