Category: American Rally Association

Recollections of a Titan of US Rallying

Mike Shaw

Recollections of a Titan of US Rallying By Jon Scoltock The ARA series is a different place in 2020. Getting back underway at the Southern Ohio Forest Rally was awesome and it’s great to see the series growing, but it still feels like a very different championship without David Higgins. David is a force that has dominated US rallying for many years, racking up 10 titles since 2002 so, while he is absent from the series this year, it still seemed a good enough excuse to use my second article…

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Southern Ohio Heat Took its Toll on More than Just the Cars

Mike Shaw

The Southern Ohio Forest Rally had a lot of attrition, and most of it was the same we see at every rally.  New car builds with technical problems for instance, or a small off breaking a component and there is no spare.  It’s rally, and these things happen.  What was different this year though was the amount of retirements due to illness, specifically heat exhaustion, that affected drivers and co-drivers alike.

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A Fathers and Sons Rally Story

Mike Shaw

One of the special stories from this year’s Southern Ohio Forest Rally was that of Go SPEED Racing’s two entries, one made up of fathers and the other made up of their sons, and it happened almost by accident. The fathers were Robert Sanders and Boyd Smith running in the Limited 4WD Subaru WRX STI. While the sons were Ryan Sanders and Oliver Smith running in Rob’s previous car, a Limited 2WD Ford Fiesta.   Robert normally has Karen Jankowski calling the notes, but she was ill and not able…

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2020 ARA Southern Ohio Forest Rally Part 2 – The Regionals

Mike Shaw

  Photos courtesy Ben Newburn Once again, in collaboration with iHeartFast we bring you more of our Southern Ohio Forest Rally coverage!     Part 2: Regional Competition Rally is back! After months without rally due to the Covid pandemic, the American Rally Association Southern Ohio Forest Rally was the first national event since Sno*Drift way back in January. Well we’ve talked about the National competition over in part 1, so let’s jump right into the Regional competition which featured a healthy field of 29 entries. It would be a…

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2020 ARA Southern Ohio Forest Rally

Mike Shaw

In collaboration with iHeartFast, we bring you Part 1 of our 2020 Southern Ohio Forest Rally Review       Part 1: National Competition     Hello and welcome back! It’s been awhile and we’ve missed you all. Rally is back and what a welcome back it was at the American Rally Association Southern Ohio Forest Rally. Initially set to run in early June, the event was postponed until this last weekend, the middle of July, right as the heat and humidity of the midwestern summer hit its peak. With…

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This Weekend in Rally

Jonathan Viehe

This weekend in rally we have several major events we’ll be following:   The big one in the US is Oregon Trail Rally, one of our favorites. Held every year around Dufur, Oregon, this years rally will feature top battles between Subaru drivers David Higgins and Travis Pastrana, with Barry McKenna and Piotr Fetela looking to upset them with their Open class Fiestas. You can track the cars and see times as they come by following along at http://live.americanrallyassociation.org/live.html as well as following Oregon Trail Rally on Facebook. Another big…

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In The Paddock – Episode 2 Featuring Erick Nelson of the ARA

Mike Shaw

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode Mike Shaw chats with Erick Nelson the Competition Director of the American Rally Association.  Erick tells us about his background, how the inaugural season is going so far, and goes into detail about the recently announced Junior Championship set to start in 2018.   Official ARA Junior Championship Press Release    

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Subaru of America Partners with ARA for 2017 Championship Season

Mike Shaw

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE American Rally Association, Inc.   NATIONAL LEVEL SPONSOR ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2017 AMERICAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Subaru of America to Sponsor American Rally Association 2017 Championship Season     Plymouth, NH– The American Rally Association (ARA) is excited to announce Subaru of America as the first national level sponsor for the 2017 ARA National Championship. As the inaugural year for ARA, the support and sponsorship of automotive industry icon Subaru of America is a key development for the new series. ARA, an organization of experienced volunteers, is…

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