Nor'wester PRO Rally 1982


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 12, 1982

BUFFUM'S BACK---QUATTRO'S A WINNER

BELLEVUE, Washington -- For the first time in more than a year, an American has won a PRO Rally. John Buffum broke the foreign stranglehold on the SCCA series by driving a brand-new Audi Quattro to a 15-second victory at the Nor'wester PRO Rally in western Washington state. The former five time PRO Rally Champion and his co-driver, Doug Shepherd, had not won an event in 14 months making this victory all the more sweet. In addition they had only driven the Quattro a few miles before the start of the rally.

Second in the 165-mile (275 kilometer) event were Rod Millen and R. Dale Kraushaar in their Mazda RX-7. The current U.S. champions had trouble early on in the event when the car wouldn't start, and they got behind some slower competitors. In the dust they lost valuable time until they could get around. A stage later they had a puncture dropping them back even further. In the final few stages they came roaring back and, had the event been longer, they may well have caught the Quattro. Buffum said that he was driving his own rally and was not going to speed up just because Rod was closing in.

The Peugeot 504 Coupe of John Woolf and Grant Whittaker was third in a nearly perfect run. The Kiwi team stayed right with the Audi and Mazda and ended up about a minute back. Taisto Heinonen and Martin Headland were fourth in their Toyota Corolla after beating Jon Woodner and Ginny Reese by 12 seconds on the last stage. Woodner's Datsun was tied with the Toyota, to the second, going into the last stage. A flat tire toward the end of the stage was probably the difference.

Another winner from last season returned to his winning ways in the Production Class when Jon Davis drove his new Ford Escort to a 1 3/4 minute win in the Class. It was the second outing for the new Escort, and it looks like Ford, Davis, and co-driver Harry Ward will once again be a team to contend with. Guy Light and partner Jim Brandt were second in Production with their Oldsmobile Firenza and the new Audi Coupe of Bill Brooks and Bill Banger was third.

It looks like the tire war is heating up. BF Goodrich won the rally with the Audi and Buffum; and Firestone took Production with the Escort and Davis. This one is just starting.

Most of the major PRO Rally teams will be staying in the Seattle area this week because the next event on the calendar is only a few days away in nearby Olympia. The Olympus PRO Rally is set for April 16-18 in the mountains south of here.


                                    1982 PRO RALLY SERIES
                                         for the
                              UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP


    DATE                      NAME                         LOCATION
    April 16-18               Olympus                      Tumwater, Washington
    April 30, May 1-2         Northern Lights              Houghton Lake. Michigan
    May 29-31                 Chisum Trail                 Paris, Texas
    June 11-13                Susquehannock Trail          Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
    August 27-29              Sunriser 400                 Chillicothe, Ohio
    September 17-19           Centennial                   Monument, Colorado
    October 1-3               Tour de Forest               Olympia, Washington
    November 4-7              Press On Regardless          Houghton, Michigan
    November 19-21            Mendocino Forest             Clear Lake, California
    December 3-5              Sno*Drift                    Grayling, Michigan
    December 10-12            Reno International           Reno, Nevada


SCCA NATIONAL PRO RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP



EVENT: Nor'wester                              			EVENT CONDUCTED BY: Northwest Region, SCCA
LOCATiON: Bellevue, Washington                 			LENGTH: 165 miles, 11 stages, 83 stage miles
DATE: April 10-11, 1982                        			WEATHER: Clear, cool
ENTRANTS: 54 FINISHERS: 41                   			TERRAIN: Forest, low mountains





                                                                                 
FIN.                                                            			CHAMP. MFG.
POS.	DRIVER/CO-DRIVER/HOMETOWN		CAR			SCORE		POINTS POINTS
 1.     John Buffum, S. Burlington, VT       	Audi Quattro    	 81.95   	20    20
        Doug Shepherd, Livonia, MI                                      		20

 2.     Rod Millen, Costa Mesa, CA           	Mazda RX-7      	 82.33   	15    15
        R.Dale Kraushaar, Tigard, OR                                   			15

 3.     John Woolf, Livonia, MI              	Peugeot 504     	 83.12   	12    12
        Grant Whittaker, Livonia, MI                                    		12

 4.     Taisto Heinonen, Surrey, B.C.        	Toyota Corolla  	 84.93   	10    10
        Martin Headland, Surrey, B.C.                                   		10

 5.     Jon Woodner, Washington, D.C.        	Datsun 510      	 85.12   	 8     8
        Ginny Reese, Chelsea, MI                                        		 8

 6.     Topi Hynynen, North Hollywood, CA    	Volvo 142       	 90.54   	 6     6
        Adrian Crane, Palo Alto, CA                                     		 6

 7.     Ken Smith, North Ridge, CA           	Plymouth Arrow  	 92.37   	 4
        Rex Lewis, North Ridge, CA                                      		 4

 8.(1P) Jon Davis, Houghton, MI              	Ford Escort     	 95.01   	 3 
        Harry Ward, Toledo, OH                                          		 3           

 9.     Pete Morley, Bellevue, WA            	Mazda RX-3      	 95.64   	 2
        Brian Nelson, Bellevue, WA                                      		 2

10.     Steve Parker, Redmond, WA            	Mazda RX-3      	 95.68   	 1
        Roger Blain, Des Moines, WA                                     		 1

                                PRODUCTION CLASS WINNERS    

 1.     Jon Davis, Houghton, MI              	Ford Escort     	 95.01   	20    20
        Harry Ward, Toledo, OH                                          		20

 2.     Guy Light, Midland, MI               	Oldsmobile      	 96.46   	15    15
        Jim Brandt, Lake Odessa, Mi           	Firenza                  		15

 3.     Bill Brooks, Olympia, WA             	Audi Coupe       	 96.85   	12    12
        Bill Banger, Toeur D'Alene, ID                                  		12


                      UNITED STATES RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER THREE EVENTS         


DRIVER (Current Car)                                 	PRODUCTION DRIVER (Current Car)
1. Rod Millen, Mazda             55                	1. Gene Henderson, AMC    32
2. John Woolf, Peugeot           27                	2. Guy Light, Oldsmobile  23
3. Jon Woodner, Datsun           23                	3. Jon Davis, Ford        21

CO-DRIVER                                            	PRODUCTION CO-DRIVER
1. R. Dale Kraushaar             55                	1. Jim Kloosterman        32
2. Grant Whittaker               27                	2. Jim Brandt             23
3. Doug Shepherd                 20                	3. Harry Ward             21

MANUFACTURER                                         	PRODUCTION MANUFACTURER
1. Mazda                         55                	1. Saab                   35
2. Peugeot                       27                	2. AMC                    32
3. Datsun                        23                	3. Ford                   20


Results 82
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