Are there any Rally's int he USA, or Midwest where anatuers can try out? Or take lessons?

 

check out www.rally-america.com or www.nasarallysport.com for the two national championships.

there are also local championships, but I don't know about the midwest.

 

What America needs is some European style Autocross or Rallycross (I haven't figured out the difference), wheel-to-wheel racing.

Sometime after I retire (in about 5 yrs), I'm going to build a track that looks like this:


It will have sections that are dirt:



...and sections that are tarmac:


Checkout the cool vid (I guess there are two classifications, D1 and D3. The first part of the vid is D3 - karts, then there's some good D1 action):
http://www.msc-schluechtern.de/video...cross-slue.wmv
[Right click/save as]


I wonder why there isn't anything like this in the states (that I've heard of)?

 

Thanks for the leads....I'll let you know what I find....


- G

 

Sorry, I didn't realize I had some sort of restriction on the pics above.

 

I believe the SCCA is working on wheel to wheel closed circut rallycross style racing.

 

and in doing so they are finding the answer to the question "what if you put on a racing format and nobody came".

The majority of "Rally racers" in the US run on a really tight budget and can barely afford to deal with the damage they inflict on their cars running by themselves- putting lots of cars side by side makes for great spectating, but only if you can find cars and people to enter, and it opens the door to dirt track style pushes and bumps, again-great for spectators, but almost zero interest to those building and maintaining Rally cars.

Then there is the matter of venues, how many unpaved road courses do you know of?

I can think of umm....... zero?

In Europe and for that matter most of the rest of the world, Rally racing is huge, with more spectators and more events than anyone here can imagine, it makes economic sense to build circuits and put these types of sprints on- but only if you have an audience willing to pay for it.

But here in the US we'd much rather sit in grandstands and drink beer while good ole boys go roundy-round in cookie cutter cars that can only be distinguished from one another by the sponsor colors and "grille" and "headlight" decals

 

You retire in ONLY 5 YEARS!!!!???????? How long have you been in old man?

 

Can't Can't Can't...blah blah blah
Since 1987, but I ETS'd in 91, did USAR then SMP until 96 when I got my commission.

Who you callin old, punk? Have you even got your railroad trax yet?

 

Negative sir. The Captain is always the "ole man". I'm due for my 1LT in about 6 months though. I'd be a CPT if I hadn't done any prior enlisted.

 

I'd be a LTC!

Actually if you knew me, you'd know that I'd have been kicked out by now if I started as a 2LT at 22yrs old instead of enlisting first.

 

HAHA I can't complain. I'm still pretty damn young for an LT and got pretty mucha all my hooah schools out of the way but thank God for enlisted time or SSGs and SFCs would have my ***. My dad being enlisted for almost 30 years helps a little too.

 

I didn't say "Can't", you can spend your money however you'd like, but whether you can break even or make a profit on it is going to impact the success of such a venture.

Actually I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the country- much less the bay area who is more enthusiastic about Rally than I am, I work on the organizing committees for Rim of the World and the Ramada Express International rally, I went and worked controls at the WRC round in Mexico, I am the SFR SCCA Rally chief, as well as the VP of TRC, so I know all too well the realities behind the position I put forth.

Heck I've even been putting on road rallies for I-club for the last 4 years, I spend most of my time away from my day job up to my eyeballs in all kinds of rally stuff.

I'd like nothing more than to see Rally get a little more respect and awareness in this country- sometimes I feel like a lost voice in the wilderness when I opine that we really should have a WRC round here, despite that- I will be leaning on folks to see that happen until it does.

It would be great to have a big fan base and eager participants- I really do hope that happens sometime.

But if you do build the venue with all of that fortune you've aquired during your years of service, and you don't have the support to make it viable and profitable, don't say I didn't warn you.....

 

I'd only be doing it for me and my friends and anyone who wants to come.

I know nothing about liability and operating costs or ....well, much of anything. All I know is that it looks fun as hell. Also, I'm kinda bolstered by the fact that it shares a lot of similarities with dirt oval anyhow, so it's would only be a matter of bridging the gap from one to the other.

 

I can think of a lot: SBC Park, Angel Stadium, Bank One Ballpark, Qualcomm Stadium, Qwest Field, RCA Dome, Georgia Dome, Ford Field, etc...

Check out an AMA Supercross for grandstands full of beer drinkin' fans. It's a pretty similar concept, isn't it? Temporary dirt tracks are set up in all kinds of facilities. Considering the amount of dirt required for SX, rally should be easier to set up. A lot of people thought SX would fail too. I give SCCA props for innovation and the courage to think big.