Anybody else ready to puke if they hear “Auld Lang Syne” one more freaking time? Look, we’re all glad that 2019 is done and over with. At least, for sure, I am. The last twelve months can pack the hell up and get on, and I hope that Baby New Year’s first act was to shove the old man off of the cliff to the rocks and the waves below. It’s a new year, a fresh start, optimisim among the cold, gray days of January here in the northern half of Planet Earth. What kind of soundtrack shoud kick off a brand-new year?

Easy: rally racing. Rear-drive rally racing. Lancias, BMWs, Escorts, and more hanging the tail, roosting the dirt and putting on the kind of show that is always welcomed around here. Nothing against an all-wheel-drive turbocharged terror, but seeing somebody kick the ass end of a 3-series out in the middle of a corner just takes us back to some of our more illicit activities in the high school days…or maybe it reminds you of the drive home last night. Whatever…it’s one of those “if you know, you know” kind of situations. To run a rear-drive rally car fast, you had best be comfortable in the fine and fun art of controlling an uncontrolled car. Skid off of the asphalt? Run with it. Back-slide the car into a rock wall? Dump the clutch and get going again. It’s a great way to look at the upcoming year: to hell with the bad, work through it and push on for the greater good.