A weekend with the FJ Bruisers

We pass a white checkpoint sign less than half a mile from the starting line. For me, it's an omen that we're on the right track. For my cousin and driver, Doug Dobrynski, it's cause for uncertainty.

"They wouldn't put a sign that close to the start," he says.

"Yeah, they would,” I reply more harshly than intended. “They don't expect us to be looking for one this early on. They're hoping we blow right by it."

Three minutes into the first ever FJ Bruiser Tri-State Rally and we've already had two reasons to doubt each other. At the starting line, I confused the area code and the zip code on the Green Ridge State Forest data sheet and now we can't agree on the validity of a checkpoint that's sitting in front of us as plain as day. There's brilliance at work in the set-up, but it’s hard to see past the inhuman cruelty of making us question each other’s judgment at such an early stage in the game.