Anyone who has witnessed a stage rally race in person will never forget the experience of cars careening by at break-neck speed on the edge of often tree-lined roads—both paved and dirt—as they stir up pebbles, leaves, and dust—lots of dust. The rush of air carries with it the scent of exhilaration.

While a stalwart on the European racing schedule, American stage rally events are more covert. Except for those who are closely aligned with the sport, events can be difficult to find, and sadly, a television presence is virtually non-existent.

Twenty years ago, it appeared rally was on an upswing with the American audience. “In the middle of the 2000s, we had Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust, these fairly well-known X-Games competitors rallying and racing,” observed Chris Cyr of Team O’Neil, Dalton, New Hampshire. “We were all surprised that we didn’t get a bigger bump in support or greater longevity of the series.”

To garner more interest, he continued, “we have to attract fun drivers with fun stories and some sort of marketing. But there’s a lot of chicken-and-egg problem with our sport, like, who’s going to make the investment to get people like that involved? And how are we going to make sure we monetize that to ensure more people will support it? We still have Travis Pastrana rallying in the United States. And that really is a good resource to try to get more sponsors and spectators. But he’s one person who can only do so much.”

With so much promise not so long ago, why hasn’t American rally racing reached the same notoriety as its counterpart across the Atlantic? We polled industry decisionmakers to find out if this exciting sport will ever pick up stateside, what is being done to improve its future trajectory, and how motorsports businesses can get involved to ride the tide.

Overcoming Obstacles

“European rally has just existed way longer than American rally,” stated Cyr about what he believes is the main reason stage rally is much more popular overseas. “European rally can be traced back to some of the founding manufacturers testing their vehicles against each other.”

A second reason Cyr cited is the fact that America’s infrastructure was based on a grid, “so we were able to build everything on straight lines,” which is more conducive to America’s love affair with drag racing. “But if you look at European roads, a lot of them followed the Roman chariot trails. And back in the day when you had to build trails, you didn’t modify the land, you just followed the land. So you have left and right turns and crests and corners and all the things that make a road exciting to drive, especially in a rally environment.

“The last big thing that we can attribute is that you can’t watch rally from a stand,” he continued. “You can’t have a hot dog and a beer and sit there and watch rally cars go by. You have to put in a ton of effort as a spectator to get out in the woods and actually see the cars go by.”

And regarding the lack of broadcast coverage? “In Europe you can watch this from the comfort of your own home. But they can do that only because they have the sponsors and the revenue to justify the cost that it takes to get out in the middle of rural Europe or these other countries that have rallies and stream all that video service live into the video network that they have. You could pay five bucks a month to sit there and watch it from your home,” said Cyr, adding, “I think our sport is just as exciting as Europe, but the money doesn’t exist right now.”

“Obviously in Europe, there’s a big cultural head start,” observed Perry Seaman of NASA Rally Sport, Industry, Pennsylvania. “European rally is really ingrained in their motorsports culture. They have top rally competitors as household names. They have a lot of World Rally Championship (WRC) events. So naturally you have much more awareness of the sport, which builds grassroots efforts. People want to race and be like their heroes in the sport. They already have that whole infrastructure built out. They have race series that you can step your way up through to progress in the sport.”

The physical vastness of the US has definitely influenced the limited growth of stage rally racing, according to Chris Heikkuri of the Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR) in Marquette, Michigan. “No matter where you are in Europe, there are one or two events within a day’s drive with multiple series below the top level,” he said, pointing to the European Rally Championship, Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, and British Rally Championship, among others. “There is just way more rally going on, and much closer!”

In the US, events are much more spread out. American Rally Association (ARA) national events are held in Michigan, Missouri, Washington, Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota, and Tennessee, while NASA Rally Sport’s national events are held in South Carolina, Kentucky, and Michigan, with plentiful regional events for both series scattered from coast to coast.

To read the rest of this article for free, sign up for a digital subscription to PRI Magazine on Zinio here.    

Once you download the Zinio mobile app or are logged into Zinio on a desktop browser, you will gain immediate access to more than a year's worth of content, including " Rally On: America's Best Kept Motorsports Secret?" here and additional coverage in the September 2025 issue here.