Dead Man's Curve

**Dead Man's Curve** is a race track located in a remote area in Western Australia. It hosts the final event of the season for the Utica Rallycross Series and Utica Arenacross Series.

 Time zone
 Capacity
 Owner
 Broke ground
 Opened
 Closed
 Events Held
Utica Rallycross Series Season 2, Race 20
 Surface
 Turns
 Lap record

## Pre-URCS

Dead Man's Curve is a mountain located on the outskirts of the indigenous village of Kaltukatjara. Little information of the mountain's history is known, but some locals say it was formerly used for hiking.

Utica Rallycross Series LLC. made several considerations for the final race of the schedule. Among the options were holding a second event in Yuma, running an event in South America, and running an event in Townsville. However, while talking with Townsville representatives, Utica Rallycross LLC officials noticed hefty tracks of land for sale at a cheap price. The mountainous area was not considered resource-valuable and it's remote location was not economically viable. Seeing an opportunity, Utica Rallycross LLC. bought the land and began work on the race track.

Ground broke on the site in December 2011 and a massive construction effort began. Crews had less than a year to Terra-form the mountain into a racing surface, along with setting up facilities to cater to fans and crews.

Along with the tight time frame, the construction crew was met with resistance by the local indigenous population, who were upset by the massive construction effort.

Despite these setbacks, the track was finished two weeks before the event, while facilities continued to be worked on during the race weekend.

## URCS Season 1

Fan turnout was higher than expected on opening day, as many Australians made the trek to the speedway to witness the event. This resulted in facilities that were unfit to cater to the crowds, resulting in shortages in concessions and large distances between restrooms and viewing structures.

The event started in the morning and stretched across two days. Estavas Cortez was the first driver to tackle the course, but ended up wrecking out early. The following car, Alex Tanker, was the first to complete the course, albeit with a lackluster time. Championship favorites Ray Davis and Michael Aurelio both floundered, wrecking out and ending their title chances.

The race lead cycled between Alex Tanker, Matt Evans, and Chris Aurelio, before Brandon Bayne ran the fastest lap with six cars to go. Seth Cole made a spirited effort as the last car on track, but missed Bayne times by two seconds, finishing second and giving Bayne his first and only career win in his final start.

With several competitors struggling, and a boost from a third place finish and bonus point, Chris Aurelio won the title following the event.

## URCS Season 2

After many complaints from fans the previous season, the experience was revamped during the off-season. New grandstands were added at the finish and a large structure was added to cater to patron needs.The garage was expanded to hold twenty-six cars and the track was modified to add additional challenge.

Another major change was the construction of a small village for homeless Australians at the top of the mountain. This was done to ease complaints from the indigenous locals that the mountain would be wasted during the off-season. This program was only mildly successful, as many homeless persons preferred to stay near the cities.

Opposed to last season, the event was held over the course of the night. The field was also expanded to add the twenty-sixth car of Kyle Corbett. Alex DiMarco was the first car to attempt the course, but wrecked after the first jump, resulting in last place finish. Tyler Benoit was the second car on track and the first to complete the course, acquiring the slowest time of finishing drivers.

The course proved treacherous, with only eleven drivers completing the course. After DiMarco and Benoit, Colin Bartell and Stephen Carter took turns at the top of the leader-boards, before being beaten by Matt Evans with seven cars to go. Much like season one, the final car to take the track, Dillon Young, ran a fast lap, but ended up finishing second. Matt Evans would win the event, making it his third win of the season and his fourth win overall.

Adam Dunlap had the championship locked going into the event and only had to start the event. Not only did Dunlap finish the event, he defeated his nearest competitor in points, teammate Tyler Benoit, by one position, completely locking the championship up.

## URCS Season 3

The track was completely overhauled once more and the concessions area and grandstand were expanded. The bridge jumped was revamped to make it even more treacherous.

The track fielded the Utica Arenacross Series finale on a short circuit comprised of the final two straightaways. The event doubled as a qualifying event where forty drivers will compete for the twenty spots in the main event.

Notable championship contenders William Duncan and previous-year-winner Matt Evans missed the show, leaving a tight battle between Tyler Kulesa and Tyler Benoit, with Kulesa getting the fastest time in the session.

The first car up was Betty Johnson, an Arenacross driver making her series debut. She wrecked on the initial jump, which set the course for the day, as most of the drivers struggled with the first obstacle. Tyler Kulesa was the fourth car up, completing the course and finishing well overall. However, Tyler Benoit was able to defeat him on track as the last car up, tying the championship and winning it via tiebreaker. The overall race winner was Anthony McCrury, as a surprise returning driver. McCrury received the record of largest margin of victory.

## URCS Season 4

Going into the final race of the season, several changes were made to the opening section of the course. A longer ramp was put on the first jump and the broken bridge was adjusted to make it easier to complete.

Eight drivers had a shot at the championship going into the event. Chris Dodd had a lead of five points over Stephen Carter and eight over Robbert Pieete. The remaining five had double-digit deficits to make up, and their championship depended on a mistake by Dodd. Zachary Fitzwater Sr., sitting eighth in points, needed to not only win the race, but for Chris Dodd to finish last with no bonus points to have a shot, similar to Alex Hawkins' championship requirements the previous year.

Title competitor Chris Aurelio was the first car to take to the track, guaranteeing the Season One champion a bonus point. Aurelio ran a fast lap that would have been second quickest in Season Three. The second DHL-Aurelio car of Conrad Wilsson was next to take to the course. Wilsson won the qualifier race, but wrecked exiting the bridge and flipped the car, ending his run tragically short.

Mark Holbert, who had two wins under his belt and had started the season strong, dropped off in the weeks coming to Dead Man's Curve. However, Holbert was still mathematically eligible and, as the third car up, nearly broke Anthony McCrury's track record from the year before. Holbert was nearly surpassed by one-off journeyman racer Jeffery Finguy, who ran a stellar pace, but hit one of the pylons just in front of the finish line, dropping his time to second fastest.

The two Benoit Motorsports entries were next, with Tyler Benoit getting the third fastest time and rookie Cody Smart wrecking out mid-way through the course. Also failing to finish was Seth Cole, who was fourth in the championship hunt, but flipped exiting the double-jump, ending his title hopes.

After a troubled run by Qualifier standout Scott Roush and a speedy time by TEAM Motorsports development driver Alex Giannatelli, Stephen Carter made his lap time. However, several mistakes cost the Allen Racing Family machine time on track, and Carter slotted in with the second-slowest finishing time of the bunch. He would need a mistake by Dodd to recover.

Chris Dodd took to the course three runs later and spoiled the show by running a near perfect lap. Dodd ended up usurping the track record by seven seconds, took the lead, and officially locked the championship up for himself, as there were not enough cars left to give Pieete, Davis, and Fitzwater Sr. a chance.

Ray Davis followed Dodd on track, but Ray Davis' tumultuous history with Dead Man's Curve appeared yet again, netting him the second slowest completed time, only being Neal Evans, who would slide down the mountain the next run.

It was a bad race for local drivers, as Annie Thomas wrecked out at the circuit early for the second time in her career and Zachary Fitzwater Sr, who needed to win to be champion, saw the opposite result, and finished last overall following an early wreck. Following a wreck by Canadian Ryan Reso, Robbert Pieete had his eyes set on Stephen Carter in an attempt to better his points position. However. Pieete came up just short.

Estavas Cortez was the final car to take to the track, but misfortune struck Cortez once gain as he flipped his vehicle on the double-jump, ending the race early for him.

Chris Dodd won both the race and the title as well as rookie of the year. The win was very popular amongst fans, as Dodd had a large fanbase that showed up to the track.

## Concerts

Since 2017, the Dead Man's Curve event has hosted a concert on the same day (usually it happens 90 minutes before the event starts taping). In 2017, Austin Ogo was listed to perform for the event. For the 2018 event, Rei Takita will perform at the event.

## Trivia

* Dead Man's Curve is the longest track on the Utica Rallycross Series schedule and also has the highest elevation shift.
* The track is named after the American nickname for a curve in a roadway that is infamous for causing fatal accidents.
* The population of the village atop Dead Man's Curve is fifteen.
* The track has the record for largest Utica Rallycross Series field, at twenty-six.
* Despite being billed as the most dangerous track on the Utica Rallycross Series schedule, no fatal accidents or injuries have occurred, and the track has only the second highest vehicle attrition rate (the Amursk Challenge Course in Russia has the record, with only six cars finishing).