Rally America Round 5, Stage vs Stadium Rally
Episode #25 - Recap of the winners from Round 5 of the 2010 Rally America Series, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. Also, Ryan Douthit has concerns about how this year is shaking out.
Photos provided by Rally America, WRS
| Rate Post: |
  Loading ... | Share it: |
| Tweet |
|
14 Responses »
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)
i dont know if stage events are on the brink of no longer existing persay but stadium events would definately bring more money because lets face it, people wanna see more than one or two turns in a race they wanna see the whole thing. I myself am a larger fan of staged rally but its from a competitive sort of view. its not exactly a spectator sport. just saying id rather drive a staged course because you dont have the visual of the people your racing around you your racing a clock the same clock someone else is racing and just hoping you can make a better stage time than the guy ahead of you
I agree - you've got it right.
After the Rally America "Euro Rallycross Press Release" - I knew it was over.
Highlights include:
*cancel all championship rounds after X-Games.
*try to come up with a new sport that no one in stage rally is interested in.
*snub and have a hand it killing rally colorado.
*piss off everyone associated with stage rally.
I'll still be rallying in the woods and having a great time with NRS.
See you on the stages!
Thanks for wearing our shirts Ryan and Aaron!! Keep up the great coverage!
The big names leaving won't keep us out of the woods if it happens, the privateers will still be there as they have before.
Interesting take. I don't think that Rally America would abandon rally. But if they did (IF), it CERTAINLY would not be the "end of rally in the United States." The sport would survive just as it has in other "down" periods. On the grassroots of the hardcore rallyheads across the country. We'd have smaller crowds of uninformed casual fans. But the core would still be there and find a way to drive their cars as fast as they can through the forest. There are some who think that would be better than what we have today. Certainly Subaru and Ford didn't TRY to fail this year in rally. And because they were there and and L'Estage and Billy did so well, I think they deserve EXTRA credit for kicking ass, not an asterisk because of the other teams' problems. Now. Watch what happens in MaxAttack! at NEFR and LSPR! There's the REAL story of American Rally.
@Lurch
Think anyone can beat Deplessis for the MaxAttack title?
Stadium rallying at the expense of real, proper, in-the-forest rallying? Could happen, but I wouldn't follow it. If you sacrificing back-road stages to the powers-that-be for the sake of marketing it's no longer *real* rallying.
However, make these stadium stages part of a real rally and you've got something worth making happen. Super Specials as the kick-off to each event, or the finale, are the norm in Europe... so why should we try to do it differently here.
What makes rallying appealing is the whole "real cars on real roads" aspect. Racing around an obstacle course on a closed circuit is fun, but it's not the substance of rallying.
If the manufacturers are on the bandwagon, so be it. Let them build cars and finance drivers to play in these stadiums. Let the passionate privateers stay in the forests, doing what they love. It might even level the playing field...
Why Pastrana missed the two events, costing him the title shows that he is not that serious anymore about rallying. Hopefully Ken Block & Ford will stick around in Rally America for a couple more years, and maybe Antione & Bacon can be a force for Mitsubishi for the forseeable future too- it's nice to see other cars challenge the Subaru's.
From a revenue standpoint, maybe Rally America thinks they NEED to do stadium racing to gather more cash to run the Rally Series; just don't call it rally, don't even compare it to rally. We have enough stadium racing in this country as it is. Rally Racing is in the forests, not in stadiums. I still don't understand why the Rally America Championship is not on ESPN-- good enough for X Games, (which is not rally), but not for the series? Will they televise the "Rally XC"?. If Ryan's fears do come true, I just hope rally continues in the US- have USRC take over! Once again, like Ryan said, we've been led to believe an organization would help further rally-- but, in the end, I'm not sure if it really has...
WRC has stadium rally at almost every event. I don't see stage rally going anywhere.
The first Rally I went to was LSPR and to have it killed off the national level broke my heart. I'd forgotten I had such beautiful country hours from home. Now Pastrana decides he wants to do something else mid season(I'd feel better about it had he ran a season then quit caring) I don't think stage rallying will ever "die" in the states. I am fine with a schedule that includes both "styles" of racing. I'd love to see them do well enough monetarily from the stadium stuff to be able to bring back the events that had been dropped and make it a year long series with random stadium stops in other towns between the staged events. I think the stadium stuff could be a really good thing to help the series.
I like the new format. This week you guys provided lots of video with minimal commentary.
Rally w/o Stages is not rally, call it x-games or whatever.
Sick T-shirts, Where can I get some?
Everyone I know says they would LOVE driving sports if they got rid of these guys. Especially the half bald guy he has terrible acting way OVER the top with his expressions. The other guy seems kinda girly. Everyone at our shop says driving sports would be much better without these two guys they are embarres the sport. Please consider replacement for improved rating. Good luck finding someone else!