As the news doesn't sound good.
As the news doesn't sound good.
As of right now, what I've seen indicates Rallycross will be largely left alone but that the level 1 and 2 Rallysprints (aka the ones more like rally stages) are suspended with no indication that they'll return.
I'm pretty sure both ARA and NASA have Rallysprint sanctioning arrangements available, I think they may just not be priced quite as reasonably as the SCCA was.
Just when I was getting excited because Detroit region was starting up rallysprints next year.
For those of us apparently not in the know, any source for the news in question?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
picture of what's on the other end of the link, important paragraph towards the bottom:
Thank you.
I can tell you that it's tough to run a rallycross style event without a sanctioning body. K&K Insurance (who insures pretty much all amateur motorsports when you dig down to who's really underwriting the event) won't do it. You pretty much have to have NASA or SCCA behind you.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
If Anders were still the point person with NASA rallysport East, the home would already be made.
I've heard internal rumblings from the SCCA regarding their confidence in scrutineering at the regional level. And I know of rumblings at the regional event organizer level with regards to use of funds and the amount of support, or lack there of, given by the SCCA. It's bad enough that a separation wouldn't be the worst course of action for either party or the sport as a whole.
SCCA should just give up anything with 'rally' in the name. Or, if they really cared, they'd put one person in charge of Rally and one in charge of Solo events. The two really aren't similar except with rallycross (sorta). They've done little but treat rally like a red-headed step-child since the 1970s.
None of this is a surprise, frankly. The sprints that are closer to stage rally (i.e Level 1/2) were not generally well-attended (partially thanks to a complete lack of publicity from big SCCA), there was a lot of confusion about rules and "Levels" and what was applicable to what venues, setting up these events takes an immense amount of work from the local clubs, and SCCA is, at the core, an organization centered around autocross and track. Putting a Solo director in charge of Rallycross......psh.....well, maybe they'll still toss rallycross the dirty/broken cones onces Solo is done with them (also, that is an actual thing that happens........)
lol at the idea that "Anders Would Save Rally(sprint)."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
picture of what's on the other end of the link, important paragraph towards the bottom:
I vote for SuperChampio to take over rallycross ;)
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Putting a Solo director in charge of Rallycross......psh.....well, maybe they'll still toss rallycross the dirty/broken cones onces Solo is done with them (also, that is an actual thing that happens........)
Not that I'm necessarily suggesting it's the best idea, but at least in semi-recent history it's always been one person in charge of both, so this isn't anything new. And if it makes anyone feel better, Rick is one of the few national office staff that I genuinely respect and, at this point, maybe the only one with any amount of rallycross experience. He's probably the best person for the job, though it would probably be a better situation to have a distinct leader for each program.
It's been under one umbrella/person since the 1980s and probably before. Rally and Solo are two very different animals, even moreso when ProRally still existed before they mismanaged that out of the SCCA. Unfortunately, the rally community hasn't really had great leaders through history to take the reins.
Regular old 'rally', like TSD and the stuff your grandparents did, is also treated mostly as an afterthought. At least when I was still in the club it had some enthusiastic people running events.
dps214 said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Putting a Solo director in charge of Rallycross......psh.....well, maybe they'll still toss rallycross the dirty/broken cones onces Solo is done with them (also, that is an actual thing that happens........)
Not that I'm necessarily suggesting it's the best idea, but at least in semi-recent history it's always been one person in charge of both, so this isn't anything new. And if it makes anyone feel better, Rick is one of the few national office staff that I genuinely respect and, at this point, maybe the only one with any amount of rallycross experience. He's probably the best person for the job, though it would probably be a better situation to have a distinct leader for each program.
It's not about Rick (I don't know him and don't have any reason to not respect him personally). . But regardless of how good of a guy he is, the fact is that 99% of his attention will (rightfully) be focused on Solo, since it's the bread and butter of SCCA and has tens of thousands of participants nationally. RallyCross is and always will be a relatively niche motorsport and a tiny piece of SCCA's overall interests, regardless of how cool some of us think it is, with a very different group of people doing it and with (I assume) a very minimal financial benefit to SCCA. For RallyCross to survive and prosper, it needs a dedicated advocate who can devote the necessary time to growing the program (and one who actually participates in it, not sure if Rick does or not...).
As a metaphor....I work for the Navy. It would be like having the Admiral in charge of buying aircraft carriers also have a side gig as the guy in charge of buying Zodiac boats for the Coast Guard. Ok, not a great metaphor, but you get the picture lol....
Side note: I can't say I closely follow SCCA's organizational structure, but I thought Steve Hyatt was previously the national rallycross director (and not Solo)?
In reply to ddavidv :
SCCA Rally went away because of the Lovell Freeman Fatalities. After those the insurance rates for all SCCA programs were set to significantly increase and SCCA cut stage rally in response.
As a person who was organizing a stage rally at the time it was deeply disappointing but understandable but we worked with ARA thereafter.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Just to be clear, in general I agree with the point you're making. I'm just saying the current situation could be better but isn't any worse than it has been four most of its life. I'm not exactly sure what the situation was over the last couple of years, but before that I'm pretty sure it was Howard as head of rally/solo for a long time.
Tom1200 said:In reply to ddavidv :
SCCA Rally went away because of the Lovell Freeman Fatalities. After those the insurance rates for all SCCA programs were set to significantly increase and SCCA cut stage rally in response.
As a person who was organizing a stage rally at the time it was deeply disappointing but understandable but we worked with ARA thereafter.
That was a big piece of the puzzle, but not the only reason. If you were involved in stage rally back then I'm sure you knew how disinterested Denver was in the whole ProRally program. My belief is they breathed a sigh of relief when they had a good reason to dump it entirely.
The subsequent RallyAmerica and NASA takeovers never really developed the sport. It's even more of a secret sport now than it was under SCCA, so much so that I haven't followed it for years. I attended events in MI, OH, TN, PA, ME in the heydays.
hell of a game of a telephone from "we're stopping our rallysprint program" to "RALLYCROSS IS DEAD!"
misinformation spreads fast!
So from what I've read to now, rallycross is unchanged and rally sprint is temporarily stopped while they muck a bit with rules. The title made me think the sky was falling.
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Side note: I can't say I closely follow SCCA's organizational structure, but I thought Steve Hyatt was previously the national rallycross director (and not Solo)?
Steve was not part of the national office. He was chair of the rallycross board.
Jerry said:So from what I've read to now, rallycross is unchanged and rally sprint is temporarily stopped while they muck a bit with rules. The title made me think the sky was falling.
I thought my reading comprehension had gone out the window trying to equate the post with the title. Glad to see it hasn't.
moxnix said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Side note: I can't say I closely follow SCCA's organizational structure, but I thought Steve Hyatt was previously the national rallycross director (and not Solo)?
Steve was not part of the national office. He was chair of the rallycross board.
That's kind of what I thought, but I had no idea how to go about figuring it out for sure. So does that mean that there just wasn't an official head of the program recently?
Keith Tanner said:Thank you.
I can tell you that it's tough to run a rallycross style event without a sanctioning body. K&K Insurance (who insures pretty much all amateur motorsports when you dig down to who's really underwriting the event) won't do it. You pretty much have to have NASA or SCCA behind you.
how does hooptieX do it? Northwest rally association?
EvanB said:Just when I was getting excited because Detroit region was starting up rallysprints next year.
I wonder what will happen with the cage requirements.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Part of the problem with trying to "grow the sport" (makes me think of the backyard garden) is it usually ends up annoying the people you do have and fails to attract new blood.
How enthusiastic were old-guard rallycrossers about UTV/SxS classing? And then, how has it translated to increased entrances? As an example.
dps214 said:moxnix said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:Side note: I can't say I closely follow SCCA's organizational structure, but I thought Steve Hyatt was previously the national rallycross director (and not Solo)?
Steve was not part of the national office. He was chair of the rallycross board.
That's kind of what I thought, but I had no idea how to go about figuring it out for sure. So does that mean that there just wasn't an official head of the program recently?
It seems like it is normally under the solo director. I have not kept track of who in the national office was actually responsible for it lately.
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