Sno*Drift is a rally race that they run on the dirt roads of Atlanta Michigan that is free to all spectators. They have set-up spectator areas. You can get a spectator guide that has a map that shows where you can go.
The cars are street legal, so they drive on main roads to the start of the stage. A stage is a section of closed roads that they are allowed to race on and are timed.
At the spectator areas there are volunteer marshals that are wearing assigned orange vests so that you know who they are. They will tell you where you can be to watch. You can ask the marshals anything about rally racing, but make sure to stay behind the yellow tape. Be nice to the volunteers, they are there to make sure that everyone is having fun and staying safe. If a person does not follow the rules, that could mess up a race time and maybe even the whole stage could get thrown out and that could affect the race results.
Sno-Drift is a timed racing event, timed racing means that one car goes out on the stage and then the starter waits an assigned amount of time (usually 1-3 minutes) before they send out the next car. The cars are timed from the start of the stage to the finish. Each team has to check into their start time on the exact minute and they have a card that the volunteer starter has to sign and time stamp. If they don’t check in their time they will get a penalty, so you will see cars waiting in line to check in on their minute.
Each car has two people, a driver and a navigator and they have to work as a team.
If a car has a problem on the stage, it is a rule that the other racers have to stop and help unless the team has put up their “OK” sign.
Each race day starts with the cars at Parc Expose where fans can see the cars and meet the drivers and navigators.
Mike Cessna (driver) and Jamie Lambert (navigator) of the #36 BMW were signing and passing out posters, I was taking a picture of them smiling and talking with the fans and they asked if I wanted to sit in the rally car. I felt it was so safe and was so exciting to see the normal dash and yet a lot of race stuff. I could have stayed there looking at stuff for hours.
I also got to visit with Alex Berger who is the Sno*Drift Rally Chair (Alex is a rally driver too. He was the first team I cheered for when I was two and went to Summer Sno-Drift).
Alex introduced me to Corrina Roshea. She is the navigator for the #98 and is so cool. Besides rally she is an actress and professional stunt person. She was a stunt driver in the Ant-Man and Wasp movies and a stunt double in the Avengers Endgame movie.
It was so nice seeing and getting to talk to Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame inductee Doug Shepherd. (I watched Doug get inducted into the Hall of Fame a couple of years ago) and his navigator Cindy Krolikowski. They were in the #552 Dodge Neon, Cindy used to navigate the Su-Ba-Ru #44 which Cindy says is still in her garage. I always loved watching her and her husband Henry race.
At the start I got to talk to super nice guy Gordon Green who has been volunteering a very long time. He explained a lot to me about rally scoring.
I also got to meet Travis Pastrana who is such a nice and happy guy. His navigator in the #199 is Rhianon Gelsomino. Her husband Alex is also a navigator. He was navigating for Alastair Scully in the #191. They are both some of the best in the world and really nice people. The navigators’ job is very important because they have to keep the team on schedule and tell the driver how to get to the start of a stage and they give step by step directions of the road layout during the race like, “left 90 degree curve in 0.1 miles”. They are in charge of keeping the driver on track…literally.
One of the fun parts of Parc Expose is looking at all the country flags that have to be displayed behind the front windows with the driver and navigator names. Alex Gelsomino is from Italy, but there were teams from nations whose flags I had to look up in my dictionary because I had never even seen them before. It is so cool that all these people came from all over the world to race here in Michigan.
One of my favorite teams to cheer for all day was Tayler Hoevenaar and Steven Stewart in the #880 Subaru Forrester.
The car is so cool and different looking being a little bigger and boxier than the others. I called it the “confetti car” because of the stickers. I learned that this was the first race using this car and that driver Tayler Hoevenaar and his team built it and they are from right here in Michigan (by Grand Rapids). I got to watch them and talk to them during the service. They had to work hard to get all the mud and slush out of the wheels and brakes.
Sno-Drift was a lot of fun and I want to say a big thank you to all of the volunteers, Alex Berger and Chris Heikkuri for helping me have the best experience.
See you at the races!
DeLayna Dubie
PitSide... Online 