Mechanical failure ruled out as cause of trail rally wreck
07/14/03
JERRY F. BOONE
TILLAMOOK -- Mark Lovell began the Oregon Trail Rally on Saturday morning with his accelerator foot planted hard against the floor.
The roar of the turbocharged engine echoed off the trees in Tillamook State Forest as the 2001 North American rally champion went through the gears and the tires fought for grip on the gravel forest road in western Washington County.
Suddenly, the forest was silent.
Less than a quarter-mile into the first stage of the rally, Lovell lost control of his electric-blue modified Subaru Impreza WRX at what police estimated to be 80 to 120 mph. It slammed driver-side-first into a 3-foot-wide tree, skidded across the road and landed in a ditch.
Lovell, 43, of Axbridge, Somerset, England, and co-driver Roger Freeman, 51, of Runcom, England, died of head, neck and chest injuries, said Gene Jacobus, Washington County chief deputy medical examiner.
Sgt. Marlene Gaskins of the Washington County Sheriff's Office said Sunday it will probably take about two weeks for members of the Oregon State Police and the Washington County Interagency Crash Analysis and Reconstruction Team to complete their report on the crash.
Police have recovered the car's black box, which records engine information.
Saturday's driver fatalities were the first at a Sports Car Club of America ProRally event in Oregon and the first in four years for U.S. ProRally competitions, according to SCCA officials.
In the rallies, drivers navigate through stages they have never seen with the help of a co-driver, who has a route book filled with directions and warnings about the course. The team with the lowest cumulative time for all stages wins.
On Sunday morning, drivers gathered at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds to prepare for the event's second day.
"It makes you think about the dangers of the sport," said driver Mark Tabor of West Linn. "If a guy like Lovell can have that type of an accident, it makes all of us realize -- even those of us at the lower levels of competition -- that it can happen to us, too."
Lovell began competing in performance rallies in England, where they are second to soccer in popularity. He raced in the international FIA World Rally Series before coming to the United States three years ago to compete in the SCCA series.
"He was a great guy to work with," said Clint Fast, a crew member on Lovell's championship-winning 2001 team. "He'd get out of the car and tell you exactly what he needed. And you knew he would get out of the car everything there was to get."
The SCCA isn't releasing information about the accident. Kurt Spitzner, director of SCCA Pro-Rally, said the accident was not caused by a mechanical failure.
But Tigard rally driver Paul Ecklund said he is familiar with the section of road where the accident took place because he has driven it at previous rallies and thinks he may know what went wrong.
Some may never be back "It's got a really high crown with lots of gravel on both sides," he said. "It would be easy to set up for the corner on the wrong side of the crown and really get into trouble."
A few teams withdrew after the accident. Lovell's Subaru teammates pulled out, as did another front-running team with a co-driver who recently worked with Lovell. A few local teams also declined to participate.
"Some folks may never be back," Tabor said. "For others, something like this can be so unsettling that they can't concentrate and do the job properly. They shouldn't be there. It would be too dangerous."
Tabor said he and his co-driver never considered not resuming the Oregon Trail event.
"It's a racing accident," he said. "It could happen to any of us. You know that when you buckle into the car. It is a risk we agree to take."
Ecklund also said not finishing was not an option.
"If I couldn't get back in the car today, then I probably couldn't get back into it a week from now or a month from now."
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