Chuck Wilson grabs a little air at the 2012 Gorman Ridge Rally / credit: Motorsport Memories
National Auto Sport Association (NASA)
is excited to announce the formation of a new national rally championship for the 2013 The season. It will be the first NASA National Rally Championship and will introduce a new format for determining overall national champions. The structure of the series is designed to determine the fastest rally drivers in the nation while still remaining accessible to grassroots racers by minimizing travel costs and entry fees.
The structure of the championship is inspired by the NASA’s very successful annual road racing championship event, the NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires. Rallyists around the country will compete in various National Qualifier events and series in order to be eligible for the National Championship. Those who qualify, via a variety of methods, will go head-to-head with each other at a winner-takes-all finale event. The two teams that win their respective classes, Two Wheel Drive and All Wheel Drive, will be crowned the National Champions.
NASA Rally Sport (NRS), the rally arm of NASA’s organization, will also offer Atlantic and Pacific Cup series along with significant incentives to help potential competitors get to the national championship finale. The venue for the championship event will change each year so competitors and organizers can all have a shot at participating in the big event.
“The creation of this series follows NASA’s customer-centric model. We looked at what both competitors and organizers need, which is a reasonably priced program with creative freedom for organizers so they can get the job done right,” said NASA Chief Divisional Director John Lindsey. “We have already locked in some great events for our 2013 schedule, but we’re now in an ‘open invite’ period, where other events who are interested in being part of the championship are welcome to contact us to discuss participating in the program.”
Ray Hocker and Anders Green of NASA Rally Sport (NRS) are also excited about the new championship and its objectives.
“All of the directors and event promoters involved with NRS actually organize and compete in rallies,” Hocker said. “When you know every competitor personally, you get a pretty good idea of what they are looking for, and for 98 percent of the rallyists in the country, that hasn’t changed. They’re looking for good competition at well-organized, safe events. But perhaps one of the most important factors these days is affordable entry fees and travel costs.”
“I’m super excited about the format,” Green said. “The last thing rally needs in a country as large as America is a towing championship. The championship shouldn’t go to the guy with the highest limit on his credit card. I’ll feel great seeing our national trophies go to the team that wins comes out on top in a single head to head contest.”
Green added that anyone involved in the sport during the past five years couldn’t help but notice the “energy and intensity” when the final round was held each year.
“When you toss out the conservative ‘finish for the points’ attitude, every team will be pushing on every stage,” Green added.
The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) was formed in 1991 to deliver high quality motorsports events to enthusiasts at major racing venues throughout the nation. It annually sanctions over 200 motorsport events. NASA Rally Sport was founded in 2003 and coordinates the organizations rally events including stage rally, Rallymoto™, rally sprints, rallycross (rally-x), and hybrid time-speed-distance events.
The mission of NASA Rally Sport (NRS) is to encourage the growth of stage rallying in the United States by providing a customer driven organization offering safe, fair competition, and affordable events for the stage rally competitor, volunteer, organizer, and sponsor. The key to growth is sustainable events that operate within budget, with support from their local communities, and in building programs that create new racers. NRS is operated under a contract of association between NASA Rally Sport and the National Auto Sport Association and is totally controlled by the NRS Management Board. The organization recognizes the sportsman racer, the grassroots competitor, is the heart of the sport in the U.S. All Directors have been both competitors and have a long history of organizing events giving them a unique understanding of what makes both events and competitors successful.
