Pastrana, Menzies both crash in 2013 Global RallyCross opener

The Dodge Dart rally team headed into the X Games Brazil for the first stop in the 2013 Global RallyCross season with two full time teams but both teams would fall well short of their expectations for the start of the GRC season.

As unfortunate result of the seeding procedure, both Bryce Menzies and Travis Pastrana competed in the second heat race of the day in the X Games Brazil RallyCross event against Ford driver (and 2012 X Games gold medalist) Brian Deegan and NASCAR driver Nelson Piquet Jr.  The upside to having both team cars in one race is that they each have an “ally” but the downside is that only two cars from each heat advanced to the GRC final.  This means that the two Dodge drivers would have to finish 1-2 in order to both go through to the finals and that includes beating 2012 X Games GRC champ Brian Deegan.  On the start of the heat race, Nelson Piquet Jr. jumped out to an early lead but he did so illegally and he would be forced to serve a stop and go penalty.  With Piquet out of the way, Deegan took the lead with his Ford Fiesta while Pastrana sat in a comfortable 2^nd with his Dart.  Those two would finish there so advance to the finals while Menzies finished last – forcing him to rely on the Last Chance Qualifier to make it to the final race of the event.

Bryce Menzies started on the second row behind Liam Doran and while starting on the second row is usually a huge disadvantage, at least Menzies was behind Doran – a driver who had been one of the fastest cars in the field leading up to the LCQ.  Unfortunately, Doran blew the launch as Menzies launched well and the blue Dodge Dart slammed into the back of the black Citroen.  Because of that, Menzies finished last in the LCQ and last in the event overall.

Travis Pastrana started on the outside of row 2 for the 201 X Games Brazil GRC event behind rock’em sock’em racer Toomas Heikkinen.  As the race began, Heikkinen dove hard to the inside much like he did in his heat race and as was the case in Heikkinen’s heat race – he caused a gigantic crash.  As Toomas jammed his Ford Fiesta to the inside of the turn 1, all of the cars behind him were forced to run into each other or slow way down.  The result was a huge crash that knocked many expected front runners to the rear of the field.  Luckily, Travis Pastrana predicted Heikkinen’s aggressive dive to the inside and he kept the #199 Dart to the outside but he got a touch too far wide and hit the soft outside back.  This sent him back quite a bit in the field and on the next lap around, Pastrana lost the brakes in his car and ran into Tanner Foust as the two entered a turn.  That was the end of the day for Pastrana and with it came the end of hopeful Dodge fans racing day.  Pastrana ended up finishing 7^th overall a restart brought about by the high number of early wrecks.

After the red flag in the GRC final, just six cars restarted on a run for the X Games gold medal and in a dramatic last turn pass – NASCAR driver Scott Speed passed Toomas Heikkinen for his first win in the Global RallyCross ranks.

Round 2 of the 2013 Global RallyCross season comes on May 19^th, when the GRC racers travel with the X Gamers to Barcelona Spain.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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