Rally Story

 

For grades at PSC

 

            Boys like their toys, and when they get older the toys just get bigger. For this group of boys their toy was a 1985 Dodge Aries K, turned into a rally car.  It all started during the month of July 2002.  Ben bought the Aries off of a friend whom he works with.  Jeff, his friend, sold him the car for one dollar.

            Jeff’s dad was looking to get rid of the car and when Jeff and Ben came to him with the offer of Ben taking it off his hands he agreed quickly.  With the bill of sale in his hand Ben, Jeff and Jason (the cinematographer for the future rally days) proceeded to bring the car to Ben’s house so that it could be “fixed up”.  Fixed up- A 7 dollar paint job consisting of spray paint and hand made decals, also a 2x4 lift kit was also installed.

            The trip home was a daring task.  The Aries was not registered nor did it have license plates.  On top of that the breaks were practically non-existent, the radiator didn’t work, and the exhaust was almost dragging on the ground.  The boys didn’t mind at all though.  Jason took the lead in Ben’s car followed by Ben in the Aries and finally Jeff took up the rear in his car. There was only one obstacle for the boys to overcome, or actually go down.  Near Ben’s house there is a steep hill, well think of it this way when you go up it, it feels like you’re going up a roller coaster and almost expect to hear the click-click as your driving up the steep climb.

            Ben, Jeff, and Jason did quite well; they made it with out a hitch.  Once home they went right to work.  They painted the doors red, and everything else black using paint found at their houses.  They needed a lift kit, how else would they be able to traverse the trails behind Ben’s house with serious damage on the first run?  A 2x4 lift kit was called for in case.  So with some blocks cut the car was jacked up the boys stretched the shocks and inserted the blocks so that they would remain expanded.  Ben being the smart intellect everyone knows him to be decided that it didn’t matter where the jack was placed, and crushed the fuel line.

            The mechanically inclined member of the crew, Jeff, fixed the line with some zip ties, they seemed to work nicely.  After that was rigged up Ben and Jeff took the car out for a spin, Jason had to see the wife so he was a pussy and left.  Ben and Jeff only took it around the cul-de-sac that Ben lives on.

            The car sat for weeks until Ben, Jason, Todd (Ben’s brother and soon to be declared paint technician), Jeff and Matt (the muscle and ballast of the crew) decided they would make their toy into a “Subaru” rally car.  So spending seven dollars on blue and yellow spray paint the boys got to work. With a print out of an actual Subaru rally car the Aries was model to look similar to it.  Using cardboard boxes and the yellow spray paint the Subaru symbols were made and painted on the car, which already had a fresh coat of blue paint, right over the previous one.   There was a problem besides it getting dark when the painting was complete, the fuel line was leaking again, and it couldn’t be fixed!  Everyone searched everywhere for a replacement but none was found.  So everyone eventually trickled out and left unsatisfied with the days work all for nothing.

            Ben, Todd, and Jason took it upon themselves to get a new fuel line for the rally car. Jeff was soon over Ben’s house installing the fuel line.  The boys all decked out in skate helmets and safety goggles hopped in the car as it was jump-started by Ben; once it started they were off.

            With dirt flying everywhere as the Aries peeled out in the driveway they started their rally journey.  With the radio blasting classic rock the boys flew down the trails, rocks and dirt flying everywhere.  Not noticing a rock that was a little too big in the middle of the road Ben went over it and the car bottomed out very loudly.  They didn’t care they just kept going. A little further down the trail they stopped so that Jason and Todd could break out the back windows so they could see, and glass in a rally car is a bad idea, incase you decide to hit trees and whatnot, who wants glass flying all over them.

            Coming up was a bridge made for ATVs not cars, but they were going to try it anyway. I mean who cares if it breaks?!  The boys came to the top of the knoll right before the bridge and stopped.  Then Ben gunned it and sent it over the bridge.  No problem at all and they even got a little air.  A sand pit was just after the bridge, followed by the trail they had planned on using for the main part of the rally.

            The hill to the trail was all loose gravel, it seemed as if the car wasn’t going to make it, it was sliding all over the place, it was like trying to drive up an ice hill with bald tires on, but with some weaving they made it.  Once on the trail the speed of the rally quickly increased to near 40 mph on some parts.  This pace quickly slowed once big rocks started to appear on the trail, sometimes slowing it down to a mere crawl just to get over them.

            Jason wanted to get some footage of the rally car while outside of it.  So they found a place in the trail with a Y where one side was over-grown. Ben and Todd were going to go down the Y and then cut back into the main trail.  Jeff didn’t want to be part of it so he watched as Jason taped Ben and Todd.

            Ben and Todd went for it going nearly 20 mph through overgrown road covered with moss and small trees.  Taking a sharp corner Ben pulled back onto the main trail and threw it in reverse and went back to where Jason and Jeff were watching. Jason and Jeff were laughing hysterically when Ben and Todd got back.  Ben and Todd looked puzzled at each other and Jason motioned them to watch the video he had recorded.  On the video was the part when the Aries had come out onto the main trail again, the exhaust totally fell off and rolled out along side the car as it turned.  It was worth a chuckle, not side splitting laughter, but oh well.

            After picking up the exhaust off the ground they put it in the trunk of the Aries and were back on their way.  Up ahead there was a clearing, well the trail widened some, but someone had put a rock in the middle of the trail, guess someone didn’t want people going through.  With a unanimous vote they tried to go around the rock and did so with probably more speed than they should have.

            With a loud crash and some whiplash to go along with it the Aries stopped dead.  Jeff and Todd quickly jumped out of the car and looked to see the problem.  A huge stump roughly 4 feet in diameter was hidden in the long grass.  Todd and Jeff pushed and Ben tried to get the car out.  No luck, but Ben cut the wheel for some unknown reason and the Aries sank into the ditch and ended up on 2 wheels. Jeff and Todd backed up and started cracking up; Todd went as far as to fall down laughing so hard.

            The car stalled as Ben got out and they had no way to start it again. They tried to push it out of the ditch at least, but being the lazy kids they are they soon gave up.  So being the considerate person Ben is he scratched, “We’ll be back soon” on the driver’s side door with the key.

            It was a long hike back to Ben and Todd’s house, but the boys laughed and talked about their ordeal and tried to figure out how to solve the problem.  On the walk home they found three other pieces to the exhaust of the Aries on various parts of the trail. There must not have been much let if three parts of it were found on the trail.

            Ben, Jeff, Jason and Todd walked into the yard empty handed with smirks on their faces as Ben and Todd’s dad gave them an inquisitive look.  The boys smiled and headed inside to call some people to tow them out.

            Once the car was towed out of the ditch the boys jumped it and headed off back to Ben’s house via the trail.  Feeling destructive like people do at times the started opening the doors and hitting trees with them.  Todd decided to do this when Ben was doing around 30 mph on a straight stretch on the trail.  But Todd had forgotten to break the little part of the window that doesn’t roll down but is glass.  So as the tree collided with the door glass showered the car, covering both Jason and Todd, giving small nicks to each.  Laughing and bleeding the 2 cleaned the seat off as best they could in the moving car.

            Coming up on the bridge Ben went slow for some reason, it was all going good but on the middle of the bridge the car died, and stopped right there.  It was too far to push the car home, so they just pushed it on the side of the road into the woods the trail goes through.  They left it there and walked back to the house empty handed again.

            Once there, Ben and Todd’s dad saw them walk in again empty handed, and this time asked where the car was.  They explained what had happened, he shook his head and said, “At least it’s out of my yard.”