Recollections of a Titan of US Rallying

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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Big Battles and Massive Entry List for Rally America Finale

One could easily forget that with the recent drama leading up to next season that the national championship has another rally to contest this season.  LSPR, the Lake Superior Performance Rally, takes place Friday and Saturday in the forest tracks surrounding Houghton, Michigan and it is going to be awesome! This year’s LSPR should be a memorable one with an entry list tipping the scales with a last count of 75 entries with 25 of those entered as National or combined Regional/National, a number not seen in years.  Some of the…

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Op-Ed: American Rally Championships Expected to be a 5 to 4 Split for 2017

After yesterday’s announcement that the Oregon Trail Rally will switch to the newly formed American Rally Association, there was a quick response from the organizers of the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood that they would remain under the existing Rally America sanctioning. We would like to announce that Rally in the 100 Acre Wood will be March 17-18, 2017 and will be Round 2 of the Rally America Championship. The 100AW group is starting its planning now and hopes the sanction has little bearing on who can come to…

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BREAKING NEWS: Oregon Trail Rally joins American Rally Association for 2017

Another domino falls in the USA rallying sanctioning body saga as the Oregon Trail Rally announced this morning that they are switching from Rally America to the newly formed American Rally Association for 2017.  Rallying in the USA has had peaks and valleys over the years, but recently has been gaining popularity.  The new sanctioning offers a number of potential opportunities for continued growth, and we at Open Paddock are excited to see how it develops.   Full press release below.         Oregon Trail Rally Announce 2017…

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New American Rally Association Coup Apparently Not Yet Complete

Yesterday one of the biggest bombshells in American rally racing was dropped with the announcement of the new American Rally Association as a new sanctioning body.  Admittedly we’ve seen this before when just a year ago the formation of the US Rally Association threatened to replace the often criticized Rally America Championship Series, but it never came to fruition.  So what’s different this time, and will ARA be successful?   As stated in the press release below from the American Rally Association and Team O’Neil, the ARA already has 4 of the…

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STPR 2016 – Review & Photo Gallery

By Andrew Pascarella   We were hoping the 2016 Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally would provide a continuation of the close battles at the front we saw from the previous rounds that included Subaru Rally Team USA Teammates David Higgins and Travis Pastrana.  Coming into the event, Travis had won 100 Acre Wood while David won the Oregon Trail Rally.  They had one victory each with the two trading stage wins and gaps so close that each event was only decided on the final stages.  Unfortunately before STPR began the gap between Travis and David…

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STPR Starts Today! – Links to Follow Round 5 of the Rally America National Championship!

Bouncing back across to the eastern side of the country after the west coast swing of Oregon Trail Rally and Olympus Rally we’ve now reached the halfway point in the Rally America National Championship.  The Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally is round 5 and it is set to be a barnstormer of an event.   At the top Open Class we have the returning battle between Subaru Rally Team USA teammates David Higgins and Craig Drew vs. Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom.  So far the score is one win apiece, so who will…

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2016 Olympus Rally Review

As we get ready for this weekend’s Waste Management Susquahannock Trail Performance Rally, let’s review what took place a couple of weeks ago at the Olympus Rally.   Whereas the Oregon Trail Rally was more about the drivers and battles going down to the final stage, the 2016 Olympus Rally was the complete opposite where the battle was against attrition and simply finishing was a challenge in and of itself. The Olympus Rally consisted of 125 competitive miles over 12 challenging twisty stages in the forests near Shelton, Washington.  Most notable was the Wildcat Pass…

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Rally America Champion Enters Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy

It isn’t often we see American rally drivers cross the pond to compete in any rally, let alone a round of the WRC.  Starting today with a short super-special around Lousada, Portugal 2014 Rally America Super Production Champion Dillon Van Way and his British co-driver Andrew Edwards fired up their M-Sport built Ford Fiesta R2 1.0L along with 9 other teams from around the globe for what is considered the best prize in rallying.  Here’s DMACK’s description of the rewards on hand this season. Widely considered as the most affordable…

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Olympus Rally 2016 Preview

The much famed Olympus Rally kicks off this weekend outside of Shelton, Washington.  Regional and National competitors will take to the same classic forest roads once used in the WRC during the much lauded Group B era.  In fact this year marks the 30th anniversary since the end of that most exciting and yet dangerous time in rally history.  It was in fact here at the Olympus Rally in November 1986 when the last of the beastly Lancia Delta S4s, Audi Quattro’s, and Peugeot 205 T16s took to the forests…

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