This may be kind of a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway.
I know I have seen pictures of your jeep before (with the light bar and traveling at speed) at these rally events. What exactly is it that you do? Do you do recoveries when the cars get a little out of control or tipped over? You probably have the lift, tires, lockers, bumpers, etc. already but what of that stuff is necessary for the rallys? How did you get involved? Looks like fun and I really like how the Cherokee sits.
Chris
I am in a good mood so I am going to go into depth here that I probably really don't need to in order to answer your question.
We are what is referred to as Sweep and/or E-Crew (E-Crew is the collective of us and the medical staff combined).
Basically, as the cars are released onto stage in 1 minute intervals (usually) we are the last car out. It is our job to chase the last car through in order to clear the stage.
As we travel along (and we usually know in advance because of radio comm's) we will pull cars from ditches so they may continue downstage, roll them over, flat tow them, whatever needs to be done to clear all cars of the stage. This means clearing parts/debris as well. You'll load up quite a few exhaust parts and bumpers into your rig at events, heh.
In more worse case scenarios (red cross) we will shut down a stage and we expedite the transport of medical staff onto scene, and handle any securing of the vehicle that may be necessary be it instability of where the car is, or fire issues. None of our crew will hesitate to throw on gloves to assist our EMT's or Paramedics either.
We are intended to be able to travel at about the speeds of a middle of the pack production class car in emergency situations, which is probably around 60% of the speed of the fast open class guys (I am estimating). At the same time of being fast to an emergency, you've also got to know that you can't help anyone if you put your own rig in a ditch on the way, so you have to be safe and smart. That's just part of knowing yourself and your vehicle.
As far as getting involved, be ready to spend alot in fuel, a ton in vehicle maintenance (wheeling was never as hard on my Jeep as rally), and have an extremely good head on your shoulders and know you and your vehicles abilities. As E-Crew you are a race official in charge of safety and protocol, and that needs to be on your mind 100% of the time.
Other than that, be as equipped as you can. Trauma bags, fire bottles, chem bottles, spill kits are all supplied by the rally group in most cases, but tools, straps, winches, shackles, gloves, tarps, shovels, axes, and any safety gear you might like to have is at your expense. Be ready for it to be an insane addiction as well, I was hooked from my first event. You should also recruit a reliable, responsible friend to be your co-driver. You'll need one just as much as a competitor needs one.
I got involved through a friend who has been doing it for the last 11 years (I am 1 event away from 2 years in this). Our crew is pretty tight knit and basically someone would have to die for another person to get invited in, and even then it takes quite a bit to get that invite.
I would suggest to you to get involved through any local rally groups if you have any. I personally don't know of any rally racing going on in Ohio, but that'd be for you to find out I suppose. I work with two states (Oregon/Washington) and travel to 6 events a year. I'm looking into a 7th event which is the North Nevada Rally, but that may fall under budget constraints.
