New Names Keep Winning!

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

Last week I talked about the championship names in racing from 22 years ago. The champions we were talking about when The Freak Nation was launched.

Nearly every motor racing category has new names stepping forward and winning today.

Even in the obscurity of world rallying there’s a new name we should be remembering: Kalle Rovanpera. He won the brutally difficult Safari Rally this weekend in Kenya and leads the World Championship points..

Among those chasing the 21-year-old Finnish driver were two Frenchmen. One had eight championships. Another had nine in a row on his resume.

But there were two more further down the line. Sean Johnston and co-driver Alex Kihurani are two Americans competing in the WRC2 class. They finished second in class despite surrendering ten minutes to a penalty because their engine needed to be repaired Saturday.

Sean won a SIM racing competition eleven years ago to get his shot at rallying. Alex’s Dad, a Kenyan, dreamed of being a co-driver in world rallying. He got a chance to watch his son live out both their dreams this weekend.

New names. New dreams, New champions. A new anniversary in The Freak Nation. Here’s to year 23.

Peace.