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Timo Rautiainen can laugh about it now, but when a metal rod pierced the undercarriage of his car and lodged under his rump for part of the Rally of Turkey on Saturday, it was a sticking point both personally and in his team's attempt to catch eventual winner Sebastien Loeb.
Rautiainen, the co-driver for Marcus Gronholm, was performing his normal duties calling out times and course information during the second leg when their Peugeot 307 struck a metal rod. The road was believed to be a support for plastic fences that bordered the gravel road. The rod jammed under Finn's seat before dislodging itself, causing Rautiainen, according to wrc.com, a "bruised backside."
"Actually, it was a very serious situation," he said. "I almost lost consciousness. It was a big pain. First I thought it was something from the car, but later we found out it was something from the road. The thing that had come in was still in the seat. I couldn't put my (rump) back, so I had to loosen my belts. Finally, after 1 kilometer, it went and I could sit normally in the seat."
Rally races are contested on rugged terrain; courses in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey are pocked with massive mud holes and softball-sized rocks.
"They absolutely must make sure there are no obstacles on the road," he said of organizer responsibilities. "We were not in a ditch. We were not jumping or landing. It was a normal driving situation on the straight part of the road. We found out last year that the organizers love to put steel pins on the road for plastic tapes or fences. This is never seen anywhere else in the world. I strictly recommend that they never ever do it again."
Rautiainen was named "Star of the Rally" because his team lost little time due to the incident and finished fifth in the stage, 16.5 seconds behind Loeb, and second overall Sunday.
Loeb's victory put him nine points ahead of 3 Petter Solberg - 10 points are awarded for a win - heading into the Argentina rally July 16-18.
HOT TIME: That 3 David Reutimann said so much spoke to how frustrated the Zephyrhills native was Friday night in the NASCAR truck series event at Milwaukee. Finally happy with the handling of his No. 17 Toyota after numerous early adjustments, the rookie was fighting for 15th place on Lap 139 of 205. That's when Jimmy Spencer, making his first start of the season, made contact, sending Reutimann into the wall and to an eventual 32nd-place finish.
"Mr. Excitement: Jimmy Spencer," Reutimann said. "You've got a guy out there that was running in the back who was probably aggravated. For whatever reason, he wrecked our new truck. He's not really running for points or anything, so he doesn't have anything to lose. Once we were involved in that wreck, it ended our night."
Reutimann fell two spots to 12th in the driver standings, 352 points behind leader Dennis Setzer with 16 races remaining. He leads the next-highest rookie, Shane Sieg, by 89 points. Spencer finished 16th.
NEAT: Kasey Kahne's 31st-place finish Sunday at Sonoma dropped him a spot to 12th in the Nextel Cup driver standings, 484 points behind leader 3 Jimmie Johnsonand out of the "Chase for the Championship" field for the moment. The top 10 in the standings and any within 400 points of the leader are eligible to race for a title in the final 10 races. Jeremy Mayfield passed Kahne in the standings with a runnerup finish Sunday. He is 483 behind Johnson, who finished fifth for his 11th top five in 16 races.
SPARK PLUGS: NASCAR will reduce the length of the spoiler on Nextel Cup cars by one inch for 2005 (to 41/2 inches) according to the Roanoke Times. NASCAR, said spokesman Mike Zizzo, will make the change next season because it is pleased with the current competition level and because an inseason move would be costly. ... Tony Stewart told the Indianapolis Star that contractual obligations to his Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR team will prevent him from attempting to race the 2005 Indy 500 or starting his own Indy Racing League team. Stewart was the center of attention at Bump Day this year when he arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the presumed intention of attempting to qualify an A.J. Foyt car. Legal commitments thwarted the scheme. Stewart, 33, is signed with Gibbs through 2009.