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Personal
Name:	Dave Kean
Age:	33
Marital status:	Married to Cara
Children:	4 cats, does that count?
Occupation:	Avionics Engineer with Boeing
Place of birth:	Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Country or county where you live:	Everett, Washington, USA
Does your spouse / partner like rallying?	Tolerates rallying - would be the best way of putting it
Any other hobbies?	Sailing and cooking
Your opinions
Favourite food:	Indian
Favourite drink:	Malt whiskey
Favourite motorsport paper / magazine:	Motoring News when I can find it
Favourite sports person (other than rallying):	Steve Redgrave
Favourite film star:	Paul Newman
Favourite holiday destination:	Las Vegas for a long weekend, Australia for a longer trip
Which TV sports programmes do you watch?	WRC and Premier League football
Starting out
How did you start out?	A friend asked me to sit with him on a road rally in 1986 and it all went from there; did my first stage rally the following summer
First driver you sat with:	On a stage rally it was Ian Perry in a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, complete with a vinyl roof
First event:	First stage rally was a single stage event at Goodwood put on by Southsea MC in 1987
Rallying background
Type of licence held:	Pro-Rally ** and FIA
Which motor club do you belong to?	No club structure in the US. Used to be Thame MC in the UK
Do you contribute towards your rallying?	Yes, my travel expenses
Have you ever driven on a rally?	Yes, a couple, about 10 years ago - the less said about that the better
Did you ever marshal on events? When and where?	Yes, mainly in the UK when I was first getting into the sport
How many events do you get to watch? (e.g. per year)	Almost none, unless you count sitting on the side of the road after a DNF
How many rallies do you take part in? (e.g. per year)	10 or 12 weekend-long events
Have you competed abroad? Where and when?	When I was living in the UK I got the chance to rally in Ireland and Belgium quite a bit.
Your opinions (rallying)
Favourite rally car:	Anything with rear-wheel drive being driven hard
Favourite rally driver:	First professional driver I ever met, Jimmy McRae
Favourite rally co-driver:	Mike Kidd, always ready with help and a nice guy. Kevin Gormley for the same reasons
Favourite bit of road or forest:	Some of the Prescott Forest Rally roads in Arizona are just awesome. In the UK it has to be Grizedale
Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?	Both. I like the challenge of maps on blind events (co-drivers using maps is almost unknown in the US), but notes increase the pace and that is ultimately what matters.
Things you dislike about rallying?	Politics and a governing body that does not understand or care about the competitors.
Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2002?	Marcus Gronholm
... and in 2003?	** Gronholm, again
Rallying history
Drivers you have sat with:	Too many to mention in 16 years of rallying, around 30 in total
Best driver you have ever sat with?	There are a number. Recently Chris Havas has stood out; a little wild but very fast
Best result:	A few class wins. The overall 2WD win this year in Maine with Chris was particularly good with it being the first outing of the new car and Chris’s first time on stage notes
Worst result:	Crashing out at Oregon while leading the class by 59 seconds with 2 stages left to go. The resulting concussion caused me to miss Rim of the World Pro-Rally as well (Doctors laughing when you ask them if you could race again in 10 days - not a good sign)
Championships contested:	For 2002 most of the Pro-rally events. When living in the UK the BTRDA Goldstar, Belgium and Irish Tarmac are the big ones I’ve contested
Best Championship result:	** 2002 Northern Pacific Divisional Champion
Best rally memory:	Belgium roads and the people I’ve met
Strangest incident on a rally:	Finishing a stage to find the front bodywork, grill and front lights missing and neither of us having any idea where we lost it, the stage was so rough.
Biggest accident:	End-over-end roll in an Audi in Kielder; fractured my neck
Achievements gained from rallying:	Making so many friends who understand the obsession. Getting to see some beautiful parts of the world
Your current performance
Your current driver(s) and events or Championships being contested in 2002	Chris Havas and Bill Malik in the US Pro Rally championship.
.... and in 2003?	** Chris Havas in the US Pro Rally championship
How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?	Spend some time in the gym
How could you improve your current driver’s performance?	Proper funding to do the job right.
If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do?	Do some Asia Pacific championship events
Your future in rallying
Where would you most like to compete (in the world):	Belgium again; I miss tarmac events.
Which rally would you most like to compete in?	Safari or Sweden
Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for?	Any works team would be nice
Ambition in rallying for the future:	Return to rally in Europe occasionally
What would you like to put back into rallying?	Working with new co-drivers and passing on my bad habits
The future of rallying
Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend?	** Pat Richard
What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers?	Get as much seat time with as many drivers as you can. You will learn something from every one of them.
Any other comments	The US series seems to be on the verge of something great. It has reached the critical point in its growth and the actions of the SCCA and organizers in meeting the demands of the competitors will determine where rallying in the US goes next. The SCCA and some of the organizers (though not all) are a little way behind the factory teams in putting on a truly professional series. Click here for my own guide on how to get started co-driving in ProRally - http://www.davekean.com
posted 22/8/02 updated 21/12/02 (items marked **) click here for 2003 SCCA ProRally Series calendar and information