STPR was OK. I went expecting the "circus" and silly anal retentive rules, and reluctantly ate pancakes at midnight when what I wanted was greasy slices of pizza and some cold beer (well, I took care of that part later). The whole loss of stages, people whining about not fueling for the last stage under the presumption that it was canceled was annoying. I didn't KNOW the answer, so the cars I was with got their full complement of fuel. One of them happened to be LEADED race gas, but it didn't matter for that car (except for the disposable CAT on it).
I went there with low expectations for enjoyment. I think they could start an hour earlier, cut the lunch break in half, and we would have more time to maybe see a stage and contribute to the local economy (the Gaslight) Saturday evening.
New England Forest was a bigger disappointment. Maybe I was wound too tight, maybe I'm whining too much, but I felt like I just wasn't wanted there because I wasn't part of the SRT Circus. I had two incidents with officials that made me wonder if I was at STPR.
Friday at the Mexico Rec Park we had two vehicles, just in case we needed ice or something in town. We left a car out with the spectators for the first two stages and then moved it in closer to service later after they were gone. There are two choices of where to park, one is an area with a whole bunch of other cars fairly tightly parked and a lot of people walking around.
The other spot is where we're servicing -- in the back part of the Rec. area. Since there were only about 35 entries, not the historic 80 plus, we literally have an ACRE of land to ourselves. So, being the logical person that I am, I elect not to squeeze into a tight area and instead park nearby the service vehicle -- some 200 feet from anybody else.
Despite this, some official comes up to us and whines that we don't have the correct color parking pass on the car to park there. I explain that I could smoosh in over with the others and dodge people while trying to park, or I can cause great trauma upon the rally and park in the vast expanse of land we have here.
Nope, have to have the right color pass. Allegedly organizers' rules.
Well, turns out they gave us two of the correct color pass, so we swap it out and he makes sure it's not the one out of the service vehicle, and then leaves. Apparently the RV, 3 trucks, tents, video game stations and 26 rental cars that the other teams had weren't a problem, but one car 200 feet from anything else was. Go figure.
Incident 2:
My wife and baby son arrived Friday evening, so they tagged along for Saturday, same as she's done several times. We get to the service in Berlin and set up. Half the town is puttering around the service area looking for Travis, and my wife and son are under the E-Z Up tent with us while we wait for the first service. Since our baby son is there, it's pretty obvious that my wife's attention is directed at him, so she can't work on the car. Nonetheless, one of the technical staff comes up to us and asks if she's with the team. She answers that I'm crewing and she's my wife.
"Well, we can fine you $100 for not having a wristband!" Gee how considerate and pleasant. In the meantime, lots of locals are walking all over the place, making it an open service park. The official does have a waiver and wristbands (thankfully trying to provide a solution instead of a revenue stream for RA), so she signs in and gets banded, but the threatening tone and attitude still annoy me. Seems to me that if the public is all around, if you're not working on the car, you don't need a wristband. Maybe the person was having a bad day, but the confrontational tone was really off-putting.
Even if you do, it would be much more pleasant and polite to say, "Excuse me, could you do me a favor? If you're going to be in the service park, could you please sign the waiver and wear a wristband? You know how it is with insurance these days. Thanks!"
I understand that signing the form is important from a liability standpoint. Seems to me, every stage captain, every service park official, and all the stewards should have bands and waivers on hand at any and all times and make it EASY AND PLEASANT to sign in.
It was just such a change from years past, from when we've arrived late and worked controls without wristbands. I was just really disappointed that the rally with the motto "We always enjoy ourselves" wasn't particularly enjoyable for me this year. I've made it to every Maine Forest since winter 1997, and it's normally a highlight of the year.
I'm sure I'm getting all worked up over trivial things, but I never have these problems in Canada, and also usually get to see at least one stage while servicing (and have received VIP treatment when they see the service sticker on the car!).
And since this is now longer than Alice's Restaurant, I'll stop before I get banned from RA for life.
Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY
