Year 1996

The race for the Production Class national championship during the 1996 SCCA PRO Rally season was one of the most exciting in Jim’s career. The driver's championship remained undecided until the final stage of the final rally of the year.

The success came to Jim at the first event of the year (Sandhills Sandblast Pro Rally). The first three stages went really well. The car and the team were performing perfectly. Then the rain began. Just like the year before, the roads turned into oatmeal. Everyone's stage times dropped by about a third. There was a tornado watch over the course for the rest of the rally. They ended up calling off the last 2 stages because conditions were so bad. However Jim ended up leading the production-class wire-to-wire and finishing 10th overall, well ahead of the next production-class car (Trepetin's Prelude).

The next three events were on the west coast and Jim Anderson frankly did not have the resources to compete there. Lon Peterson did a great job at those events: he won both the Washington state rallies but DNFd at the Rim of the World rally near Los Angeles. Those events gave him a 24-point lead over Jim after the first 4 events.

The second outing was successful for Jim’s Honda Prelude too. The Susquehannock Trial Pro Rally was also our first chance to compete head-to-head with Lon Peterson. The first stage went well including the traditional ending where the cars splash through Stony Fork Creek. The first stage was only 6 miles long but Jim’s Honda Prelude came out 6 seconds ahead of everyone else. By the end of stage two, Peterson was leading by 9 seconds. The next two stages were long and relatively smooth. Peterson extended his lead to almost 14 seconds by the end of stage 4. On the stage 5 Anderson was quicker that the Kia by over 27 seconds putting him the lead back. Stage 6 was 15 miles long and he increased our lead to almost 2 minutes. Lon whittled 20 seconds off of our lead on stage 7. Eleven and a half minutes later they had won the rally!

The next event Maine Forest summer rally was disappointment. Jim was DNFd because of the broken suspension arm.

The first day of the Ojibwe Forest Rally was perfect of r Jim Anderson. The Honda Prelude VTEC really maximized its power during the long smooth sections. It ended the day with a 72 second lead over Al Kaumeheiwa's Dodge Neon ASR who was 2 seconds ahead of Lon Peterson. The second day Jim lost 20 precious seconds due to going off road but came first after all.

Next up was another exotic rally – Sunriser 400 Pro Rally. This event also was won by Jim Anderson by a wide more then two minutes margin over Jay Kowalik and his Honda Civic. Lon Peterson was third and gave up the lead by 2 points but claimed 12 points at the Prescott Forest Rally while Jim was skipping this event.

The next face-to-face meeting was held at a Lake Superior Pro Rally. Lon Peterson was very serious about winning that race. He had huge 45 seconds lead over Jim Anderson’s Honda Prelude during the rally. Jim Anderson also has had problems with the VSS sensor so he was left without speedometer, tachometer and rev-limiter. By the end of the race Kia’s shift linkage started misbehaving so in result newcomer Al Kaumeheiwa took the first place, Lon Peterson was second and Jim Anderson third.

Before the last event at Pacific Forest Rally Jim Anderson was trailing by 7 points. Right after the start the combination of Lon Peterson’s lighter Kia and his familiarity with the roads allowed him to build a 30 second lead during first 5 stages. The Honda Prelude VTEC engine really proved it’s worth next day as roads became smoother. The Kia developed rear break problem and Anderson caught and passed Peterson at stage 8. Jim ended up winning by over 5 minutes.