Driving Sports

Driving Sports TV brings you all the action from Sno*Drift, Round 1 of the 2010 Rally America Championship, featuring Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, Dave Mirra, Antoine L'Estage and more. Who won, who lost and who crashed. Plus, we talk to Scott Brown from Chrysler about the future of the Dodge Viper.

Welcome to The Driving Sports Extra, for the first week of February, 2010.

This week Ken Block breaks-in his new Fiesta – make that, breaks his new Fiesta – a classic Volkswagen kicks some ass, and will we really see a new Viper in 2012?

It was a cold, icy weekend in Michigan. Sounds like perfect weather for Sno*Drift - Round 1 of the Rally American Championship. The only official snow rally on the calendar, this year’s event proved particularly challenging. Why? We’ll let Mitsubishi driver Antoine L’Estage explain:

“They got a lot of rain here, turns out it’s like an ice rink. Just a little, thin layer of snow on top of it and, um, yeah, it’s glare ice… you need skates!”

So that’s the backdrop. Bitter cold and slick ice. When faced with a challenge like this, what car would you want to drive? Oh! That’s going to leave a mark.

How about a 20-year old Volkswagen GTI? O’Neil driving instructor Chris Du-pless-y and co-driver Catherine Woods dominated the 2-wheel drive class, rocking technology from the George H. W. Bush era.

Even more astounding was their 11^th place finish overall… that’s in front of Mancin’s Mitsubishi Evo, Moro’s Subaru STI and many, many other cars that by all rights should spanked the little Volkswagen. The closest two-wheel drive car was another GTI... a staggering 35 minutes behind them! Cheers to you my good man.

Father and Son team of Travis and Terry Hanson won Super Production, and fifth overall in a 2007 Subaru STI. The Hanson team put in a consistent performance over two days and 130 miles of slick stages. Way to go guys! I don’t know about you, but my dad and I couldn’t make it past the first stage without killing each other.

Finally, there’s the top dogs in Open Class.

Finishing third in Open and overall was the privateer team of Bill Bacon and Peter Watt in a Mitsubishi EVO 9. It’s unfortunate this team doesn’t plan on doing the entire series, they obviously have what it takes to mix it up with the factory players, even beating out Subaru Rally Team driver Dave Mirra, who fell all the way to sixth after running into a tree with his Open Class STI… on the final stage.

Second was the Canadian team of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard (ree shard) in the Rock Star Mitsubishi Evolution X. By the second day of competition, they started to gain on the leader, but it was already too late.

Travis Pastrana of the Subaru Rally Team USA was just too far ahead, finishing the event more than a minute and a half ahead of L’Estage and taking first overall for the second year in a row. Keep in mind: Pastrana did this after breaking his collar bone just last week. Following the win he remarked that the pain made him drive smoother than the other competitors, which he believes was actually a benefit in the slippery conditions.

What about Ken Block? Glad you asked. After winning the first stage of the first day and then falling back to third after several stages, “Flat out” Kenny from the Block and his new Monster Ford Fiesta were settling into a conservative groove, then disaster struck – suspension gave out at about 110mph. Ken was able to stop the car, but his rally was done.

The next stop for the Rally America Championship is 100 Acre Wood in Salem Missouri, starting February 26. This is an event that Ken Block dominated for the past four years when he drove for the Subaru Rally Team USA. Can he keep the streak alive now that he’s driving a Ford?

Stay tuned to Driving Sports TV for all the action.

Dodge has an on-again off-again relationship with its Viper supercar. First, the brand was for sale, then it wasn’t. Last we heard, they were going to make a final 500 limited edition models, then call it kaput until 2012, when a whole new model would be introduced.

Recently, we caught up with Chrysler PR man Scott Brown, and asked him if anything had changed since last Thanksgiving. Would we really see a new Viper in 2012? Scott also answers a bonus question.