Welcome to RallyBrat.com!
...because AlexKihurani.com is too hard to spell.
Welcome to the co-driving website for up and coming American co-driver, Alex Kihurani. Here you will find information on Alex as well as co-driving tips, pictures, and videos.
20 August 2007 - The Left Side
Ironically, my first article on my co-driving website is an article about driving, oh well.
So for my dad's 50th birthday I decided I'd rent a racecar for the two of us to run the Duryea Hillclimb in Reading, PA father-son.
When I was real young, we always talked about how the two of us would run the hillclimb together once I turned 16, but unfortunately at that time
my dad lost his job and the finances were in terrible shape, so the rather ambitious hillclimb project had to be abandoned. I ran the hillclimb
with Rob Bergstrom in his Mazda 323GTX in 2004 while my dad had run the hillclimb 1995-2000. We never ran it
together. However, with the money situation better, he's been looking to find a car and start running again, but wouldn't have anything together for
this year. I decided to speed up the process a little bit, despite the idea being a little pricey. Although, after all, how often can you actually
think of a good idea for your dad's birthday? After 20 years of getting dad trite cards, socket wrenches, and various other that's-very-nice-thank-you
gifts that go straight to depths dusty back corner of the closet, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
After 2 months of looking and 2 weeks until the event, an old friend of an old friend got me in touch with Mike Ancas who runs a little store called SpeedNation. He had a Showroom Stock
class Dodge Neon ACR he was willing to rent for $495 delivered. Perfect! (nothing we'd get into too much trouble in) So dad got a real arrive and drive deal, and we'd finally get to race
with (against) each other.
Ok, time for the first run and I haven't driven a racecar in 3 years to the day. The old man starts trying to play head games with his own son. "Oh, I'm just going to go slow" "I'm old now, you'll beat me" "Every 15 years is worth 1 second" etc. etc.
He's too competitive to play fair! Knowing myself and how "Alex, go slow" would kill me on the inside, I decided I'd try to find the limits of the car through the hairpins,
as there was the least risk there, and then be a complete pansy with my braking points. The strategy works. I'm 3 seconds ahead of dad, 10 seconds ahead of third in class,
and the car is still in one piece, good. The second run I can't get the car into 3rd gear on the backstretch and set a crappy time, now my dad's fastest run is a second and half
faster than mine (hillclimbs go by best run, not by cumulitive time). Now he starts talking a little trash and gloating his experience...so I beat his best time by 2.4 seconds on
the next and final run for the day. Dad is quieter, and any thoughts of anyone believing I'm a good son have disappeared by now. I did tell him I wasn't
just going to let him win...he'd have to EARN it...and it's his fault for raising me that way!
Day 2 and it's cloudy and cold. My dad decides he wants to switch and have me go first on the cold track/cold tires because he "didn't have his coffee and can't drive without
having it first." I let it slide no problem. My first run is a little slower than my best, and so is his. My 2nd run I take another second off my time, and Dad is
sets a slower time over-driving the car and scrubbing off speed through the hairpins (the puny little Neon can't pull out of the smallest error). On the 3rd run we both make
mistakes and set worse times, then the rain comes, and in blatent betrayal of rally spirit, we call it a weekend. We won't be able to set a better time in the rain, and
at this point, we're just happy the car isn't wrecked in the midst of our little father-son battle, which is even fierce on the concession go-kart track. I win the
class and dad gets second in a one-two sweep for the family. Not bad. Also, I defend my reputation as the biggest jerk at the Duryea Hillclimb, first in 2004 beating
Rob by a mere .16 in his own car after he was nice enough to tow the car up from Virginia so that we could run together, and now beating the old man for his 50th
birthday present. Hmm...I should probably be a little more sensitive with my driving, if there was such a thing.
After three straight years of working exclusively from the co-driver's seat, it was interesting to get the perspective from the other side of the car again. It was actually
rather stressful for me. I even had trouble sleeping at night because I knew any off or mistake I would be directly financially responsible for, and as a college
student running on limited funds, that could basically ruin my year financially. I'm so used to hopping in the car, running the event, and if the car breaks
or we crash, I just kind of shake my head and tell them to give me a call back whenever they recover from the loss, while I go hop into a new car the next
week. It's fun, but it's harsh to be a driver. I'm not sure I could ever put $3k into a weekend, wreck on the first stage and put another $5k into the car and just
keep going. I have a hard enough time retiring on the first stage when there's no expense to myself! However, at the same time, I still recognize why so many people
would absolutely hate my job. I guess I just have no problem trading control for dollars.
So now I'm back in Philly and trying to figure out how to pack for school and for Ojibwe at the same time, both this weekend. Currently my plan is to have everything packed
for school prior to leaving my house at 4:30 Thursday morning for Ojibwe. Then, I'll run the rally and upon finishing Saturday, call NWA at midnight to rebook my flight from
the 7:05am MSP flight I can't possible make to either the 10am flight, or the 1pm flight. Then I'll land in Philly, load up my car, drive 200 miles to State College, move into my apartment,
and get to bed because Monday I'll have to go to class, buy my books, and go to a job interview. Notice, this is the itinerary if everything goes precisely to plan. Well, at least I'll have something to write on here...right?
Oh, and Happy Birthday Dad!
-Alex