Johnson wins class and scores 6th place overall in Lake Superior ProRally
Houghton, Michigan (Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004)

"This was the hardest rally I've ever driven" says Johnson after having to cope with torrential downpours, downed trees and a flat tire in what was, yet again, the "Hardest, Longest, Meanest event on the ProRally calendar".

"I was going a good bit faster down the stages than in the VW with about half as much control as I'm accustomed," says Johnson looking back on the rally. The weather for the weekend was much warmer than usual with temps mostly in the 50ûF range with off and on rain. Several stages became very tricky after the soaking rain and many rally cars fell victim to mother nature.

The Johnson/Goldfarb duo started the rally and encountered a front flat tire only 4 miles into the first 7 mile stage. "I didn't even see the rock we hit but it was a big enough hit to jerk the wheel out of my hands. We slowed a bit until the tire came off the wheel then I was able to speed back up for the last mile or so, I don't think it cost us much time."

Stage 4 had to be restarted almost an hour behind schedule as a large tree had fallen across the stage due to the passing thunderstorms. Johnson/Goldfarb drove the first 5 miles of the 17 mile long stage in such downpour Johnson couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of the car and had to use low beam headlights instead of the high power auxiliary driving lights.

By the end of Friday's stages after 2am Johnson stated, "I'm just glad to be in the rally still, these stages were very tricky and always seemed to stick a super slippery corner in there when I was gaining a rhythm. Also, I really expected to be a college level learner in this all-wheel-drive car. In these conditions I feel more like I'm back in kindergarten; very few of my driving techniques for 2-wheel drive work effectively in this new car. I've learned a tremendous amount already in just surviving tonight's stages."

After a long transit back to Houghton and a 4am bed time, which was better than a lot of other teams enjoyed, Saturday morning looked to be more of the same. Parc Expose at the Quincy Mine Shaft was covered in persistent rain and muck. Throughout Saturday the stages were more consistent compared with Friday and Johnson was able to put in some top 5 times on the overall leader board. "With the experience I have on pavement I really enjoyed the couple hard packed stages we had today which had a nice grippy surface and allowed me to push a bit more. We also made a suspension adjustment which gave me more confidence today."

Starting back in February Johnson declared that he'd be at this event in the new car and that he'd win the class. "I'm super excited that it turned out this way! I knew what my plan was and what I thought it'd take to accomplish the goal but even that was a huge underestimation. This was the biggest project I've ever tackled in my life and it's such a great feeling to have it all turn out just as planned! There must be 30 people who helped in many ways to get me here today. I want to send a huge Thank You out to them. It wasn't until a day or two before the rally that I had any confidence that we'd make it up here to Houghton with a car that was capable of completing a rally and to learn as much as I did and win the class with very little damage to the car is just plain awesome."

TV broadcast is scheduled for Speed TV in approximately 4 weeks, we'll send out additional notice when the programming time is confirmed. Photos from the event are available on the website. Please stop by and have a look, and don't forget to show your support by signing the guestbook.