Day 2 - Veracruz to Puebla

We apologize for not updating the blog for the past couple of days. Evidently someone cut the Internet wire going to Veracruz because most of the town has been without service for the past several days. Everyone is doing fine and we have not had any crashes (except for the Van incident yesterday and Juliens 180 spin out).

Today we raced from Totula down to Tehucan and then back-up to Puebla, about 380 km. No crashes today, that we know of, but the road was a lot less technical and there were only 2 speed sections. No results as of 11 pm.

The pictures above are from a fiesta in Tehucan that was thrown for the rally. Everywhere we have gone the people are universally friendly and go out of their way to help us. There must have been at least 20,000 people packed into the town square to look at all the cars and join in the festivities. Our drivers and navigators have developed carpal tunnel from signing so many autographs.

Freddy is feeling a little ill and keeps running a temperature. Doctor Todd worked on him tonight and hopefully he will be feeling better in the morning.

Tomorrow we leave a 7 am for Mexico City. Hopefully Freddy Van Buren will be in attendance and sign the Freddy car.

Today

Day 1 - Veracruz

Day 1 started like the Qualifying round with several crashes and mechanical breakdowns. The race took place between El Carrizal to Huatusco and back for a total of about 300 km.

The Lincoln above had an engine fire that Todd and Al Hagen were able to put out before the car blew up. We have some really good video of that one. At least 6 cars crashed although several were able to get back in the race later in the day. Unfortunately the Studebaker at the bottom of the ditch was not one of them.

What an exciting day. Betsy did a 180 turn in the middle of a speed section. Luckily her skilled driver and navigator were able to get the car turned around and only lost a small amout of time. Later in the day the support van, driven by Mr. Todd Landon, crashed into the back of a cargo pick-up who in turn had hit a small car. The van and passengers were unscathed but the other two vehicles did not fare so well. A not so small amount of pesos was exchanged and we went on our way. Definately a better alternative to trying to explain our side of the story to the local police while sitting in a jail cell. For the record Todd was innocent in the entire affair.

Freddy and Betsy continue to run strong with a #9 and #34 finish respectively.

Day 0 - Qualifying Round

Besty finally appeared today dressed as a pirate and covered in skulls and demons. What has happened to our sweet innocent Cow Car)? Freddy is not sure what to think about his cousins new image.

The qualifying round of the race took place between El Carrizal and Jalcomulco about 50 km outside of Veracruz. The 11 km stretch was trecherous and poorly marked in the route books. Freddy finished in the number 7 spot and Betsy the Pirate finished in the top 25 for the day. The Studebaker above suffered a tremendous crash and is out of the race. A Mini Cooper crashed into the Studebaker and rolled.

This could be a very long week with these roads.