Fun Fun XG Giant Super Rally photos from Carl Decker

Here are some bonus pics from X16, courtesy of my girlfriend, Tina, who played Team Mascot for the weekend.

---

08.20.10 Here are some bonus pics from X16, courtesy of my girlfriend, Tina, who played Team Mascot for the weekend.

As Seen on TV! X Games Super Rally Race Report, X Games Sixteen

I was nervous when I answered the phone that day in late June. JB Niday, my contact at Rally America was calling, and he had news for me, good or bad. What made me nervous was that I didnt really know which was which.

Youre in would mean that Id have to spend thousands of dollars to fix up my car, and then trailer it 1000 miles, where I would probably destroy it and need to use a forklift to get it on the trailer for the return drive. Of 1000 miles.

Youre out would mean that Id drive the car to the Deschutes Brewery to watch the race on cable. Id take more naps for the next 6 weeks instead of working on the car. Id save a lot of money. But Id wish that I had made the cut. Id wish JB had said youre in! And maybe I'd wonder what could have been for the rest of my life.

I picked up my phone, I pressed the green button, and JB said how would you feel about being the alternate for SuperRally? And honestly, I had no idea how I felt about it. Four cars at a time, on the same course? Seventy-Five foot gap jump? Against 12 of the worlds best Drift champions, rally icons, and door to door racers? In the Wheels of Teal? I said Id call him back. He said I know you want it, its the X-Games! and I agreed. I told him Im in and hung up. Shit.

So I called my crew/Crew Chief/Dad and told him the good/bad news. And since it was a 2000 mile round trip in an old Dodge truck, it was all good news to him. Hes funny that way. So it was agreed. Id get the Wheels of Teal in fighting shape, and wed go to the LA Coliseum, hoping to come back with an intact car. And prepared to come home with scrap.

There was a lot of work to do. The X-Games rules allow for a 45mm turbo restrictor instead of the usual 34mm, so I enlisted the help of Mike Olsen to make a new metal donut. I set up an appointment for the Wizards at Surgeline Tuning to dyno-tune the car for the new restrictor and some other widgets. I called about some fancy used Ohlins struts Id found online for less than an arm and leg (how much does a kidney cost?) and had those sent out. I bought an expensive new seat that protects my neck from lateral impacts from things like trees or Ken Block. I got in touch with BF Goodrich, who generously donated the same G-force tires that went 1-2-3 at last years X-Games to the cause. And I fretted over all kinds of little stuff. When the car was as ready as its gonna get we loaded her up.

After a long drive, punctuated by a day at the Laguna Seca MotoGP, my Dad and I were in Castaic, CA, having the WOT wrapped in the new Giant Livery. The folks at Giant were in to it! They took care of arranging the cars wrapper, as well as having tee-shirts made, and even securing a deal with MTVs Nitro Circus crew to use their RV for our pit area. Andrew, Tabetha, and Jake were even gonna help man the pits at the event. All of a sudden, we were starting to look pretty professional, kinda sorta! After an evening MTB beer loop with the usual suspects (and my Dad!) from the Giant headquarters, we did a quick photo shoot, and were ready to roll to the LA Coliseum.

Once at LAC, wed get a practice session on Friday afternoon, and a practice session Saturday afternoon before that evening's races. Once the pits were set up and the pleasantries exchanged with fellow racers, we pushed the car to the stadium (funny rules, those) and I did the first practice. The course was entirely inside the Coliseum, a place I only remember seeing in the 1984 Olympics, and it was rough! The square edged G-outs and jumps going up into the turnstiles were square and awful, but I had some new suspension, and I reckoned I better get used to the abuse. Before my last go-round, another driver told me I was jumping further than anybody else was in practice! And that made me feel kinda proud, but mostly stupid, because I really didnt have the resources to fix what Id break out there. So I took it a little easier on the next lap. And that's when I broke a rear drive axle in half.

So we spent the rest of the day trying to find parts and people who could weld them together, because the axles were some custom jobbies that Mike O. and I had engineered and fabricated. Theyd worked flawlessly for 5 weekends of stage rallies, but with the newfound power (470+lb ft of torque!), perhaps they were the weakest link. By dinnertime, we had both a source for the part we needed (Subaru parts arent as ubiquitous in the LA basin as they are in Bend for some reason) and a welder who was up to the task. Before the next practice session on Saturday, the part would be fabricated and installed, and again, everything would be right in the world.

After that short last practice session of three laps, it was off to the pits for the Giant rally team to watch all the teams with blown engines and crumpled cars try to fix everything before the 7:15pm race start. Potential non-starters were everywhere! Broken suspensions, body damage, and several blown engines were being repaired feverishly by the armies of techs for each team. It was fun to watch. We washed the Wheels of Teals windshield again and waited to see whod show up to the remote pits at the stadium entrance.

With 15 minutes till rollout, I asked Travis Pastrana, whos pit was adjacent to ours, where his car was, as it was the only car missing. TP claimed his engine (his fourth of the weekend) was running and the car would be there any minute. And sure enough, it drove right into his pits a few moments later. And then it promptly caught fire. Thus began the most dramatic 12 minutes Ive ever lived. No less than 15 Subaru mechanics converged on his car, put out the fire, tore it apart, put it back together, and did some stuff with a laptop that didnt appear to be playing Tetris. The car ran and then didnt again. And I told TP good luck out there, and then he told me good luck out there and then vice-versa. And there were TV cameras everywhere. With a minute to go before the grid, the Head Honcho Dude (Im unsure of his official title) took TPs start lane card off of his dash. And he put it on mine. And he pointed at the stadium. Ill be darned. I was in.

The start grid was surreal. The start ramp was so steep you couldnt see half of the stadium from the top. But I could see tens of thousands of fans. And I could see the other three drivers, all looking very serious. They did not see me. I was grinning like a loon.

I got smoked off the line. Id broken another driveshaft! The WOT was gonna have to get by with front wheel drive for the race. This was not ideal. I hadnt practiced The Jump, and I really didnt know if 2wd would be enough to get me out of a tight 2nd gear corner with enough heat to get over the hump, so to speak. On the 3rd of four laps, I lined it up and (dont miss that shift to third gear!) sent it. Big view of the sky, big view of the ground, perfect backside landing. Sweet! By then I was in a distant 3rd behind some fast dudes in faster cars and I had a lap to go. As soon as Id landed, I knew I wanted to do the jump again. What the hell. Second verse, same as the first. It was like butter.

I finished 3rd. Deegan was first, then Rooney, then Yours Truly, and then Kenny Brack, last years XG champ and Indy 500 winner, who crashed out in the first corner in 4th. After the checkered flag, I rolled down the windows to cool the cabin as I transited through the rest of the course. The crowd of 30,000+ made so much noise as I drove by, I actually looked out the other side of the car to see if the Rockstar umbrella girls were taking their tops off or something. Turns out they were cheering for me! I guess they noticed Id snuck an extra jump. For lack of a better salute, I gave them the thumbs up. Id stolen TPs start spot, why stop there? Big thumbs up.

An hour later, and after lots of high-fives, we were loaded up and headed back north. I had a flight to catch to get to Giants Dealer Link in Park City Utah. Good thing my Dad likes driving old Dodge pickups. Id been run ragged ever since I talked to JB back in June and needed a nap. Finally, I could sleep easy, knowing I wasnt gonna die wondering what could have been at the X-Games.

Thanks for riding shotgun

Carl Decker
Giant Factory MTB Team
Giant Rally Team AC/CD

Here's a little XG video that Jake Orness put together. It includes a couple laps of the in-car footy. Sweet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqTyuA-k9pE

Here's the ESPN coverage, via cell phone at the pub:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD2uW3K23Dc

Random fan footage shows the WOT in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79z44DFyHp8

---