2008 DooWop Rallies
The twentieth anniversary of the DooWop Rally Series saw a total of 32 teams enjoying the challenging roads of the Quinault Indian Reservation, as well as municipal and county roads around Montesano and Brooklyn, Washington. Weather is always a factor, and indeed it was in 2008. The Crane Creek stage, a challenge to teams at the best of times, was unavailable due to deep snow and wind blowdown. But the rally weather was absolutely fabulous, with warm sunshine on both Saturday and Sunday, a true DooWop rarity. As usual there was a good number of new teams and new cars.
Saturday's DooWop 1 rally was won overall by Peter VanBogart and Mike Barber in the brand-new Cascade Autosport PGT WRX. A scorching second stage time proved to be the difference. Mark Tabor/Ben Bradley just edged out the Subaru 2.5RS of Brian Svedin/Tracy Manspeaker for second in PGT. Jay Woodward/Jason Grahn had a great run in their Mazda Protege to second overall, edging the Legacy of Mark Mager/Miller Dumaoal by just 13 seconds. A storming drive was put in by brothers Tom and Don Burress, who finished an excellent third overall in a Volkswagen Rabbit! They beat the second place Group 2 team, the Subaru of Carl Decker/Adam Craig, by almost two minutes. John Lane and Ray Damitio handily won the Group 5 class. The sole Production class entrant, the Toyota MR2 of Ian McPherson and Mark Nelson, had a suspension piece break resulting in the weekend's sole rollover. The occupants were fine, but the same cannot be said for the car. Pre-event favorites Dave Hintz and John Ford were forced to retire with mechanical problems.
Sunday's DooWop 2 rally is the most popular rally for drivers in the Pacific Northwest. Starting with the paved Blue Slough stage, the event then heads to the tricky Pico stages, and concludes with the legendary Brooklyn and Smith Creek stages. Most of the Day 1 DNFs were able to return, and an addition to the field was the Eagle Talon TSi of Malcolm Davis and Bruce Parker. Dave Hintz/John Ford returned to take a comfortable overall win, the margin of victory being 1:34. Woodward and Grahn broke the Protege and weren't able to finish, so second in Open were Mark Mager and Miller Dumaoal. John Lane and Ray Damitio finished an excellent second overall, and the Volvo crew even recorded fastest stage times on both runnings of Smith Creek. Despite not officially finishing the rally due to a faulty fuel pump, the Burress brothers made a stunning run over Brooklyn in their VW Rabbit, turning in a time of 7:02, which was beaten only by the Hintz/Ford WRX. This is the fastest 2wd Brooklyn time not set by Carl Jardevall; truly a stellar accomplishment for this young team. PGT finished the same order as the day before, with VanBogart/Barber, Tabor/Bradley, and Svedin/Manspeaker. This time, however, the margin between VanBogart and Tabor was just 12 seconds. In Group 2, Carl Decker and Adam Craig took the class win.
The top finishing novice team both days was the VW Golf GTi of Josh VonAhlefeld and Tim Wright.