The 24th annual United States RoadRally Challenge (USRRC) is at hand as SCCA members gather together for the Oct. 4–7 event in St. Louis and participate in all or part of the weekend. This year’s event is organized by the St. Louis Region with help from the Southern Illinois Region. The weekend includes two divisional rallies—Tulips by Night, a nighttime Touring rally Thursday, Oct. 4, and Monopoly Redux, a Sunday morning, Oct. 7, GTA (gimmick rally). Sandwiched between the two divisionals are a pair of national rallies: the Kaskaskia Trails National Course Rally, Friday, Oct. 5, and Le Petit Rallye du Rocher, a national Touring rally, Saturday, Oct. 6.

“This is the 24th edition of the USRRC, and we are the first SCCA Region to host it four times,” says Peter Zekert , SCCA St. Louis Region President. “We last hosted it in 2005. We were selected again for 2018 because of our central location and because teams that run the SCCA’s National RoadRally series, of which the USRRC is a part, enjoy coming to St. Louis.”

In addition to the SCCA’s regular RoadRally classes—Equipped, Limited, and Stock—this year’s USRRC also offers classes for Rookie and Historic teams that may run all four events or, through the Gateway Historic Cup and Gateway Regional Cup options, run just the Saturday and Sunday rallies.

“Our goal is to provide road-rally opportunities, not only for regular national teams, but also for novice or occasional rally teams, or teams from other SCCA disciplines that might enjoy participating in the USRRC,” says Ron Ferris, St. Louis Region rally chairman and rallymaster for the Kaskaskia Trails rally. “That’s the reason for the Rookie and Historic classes, and the Gateway Cup opportunities. We believe they’re a good addition to the weekend.”

The Hampton Inn in Columbia, Ill. (suburban St. Louis), is serving as the headquarters for the 2018 USRRC. Last year, the SCCA’s Arctic Alaska Region played host to the annual event, with Anchorage, Alaska, serving as the headquarters city. In 2016, the USRRC, under the guidance of the SCCA’s New England Region , showcased the rural roads and fall colors of Vermont. Other USRRC locations have included Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.; Santa Maria, California; La Crosse, Wisconsin.; Portland, Oregon.; and Fredericksburg, Virginia.

For more information about the 2018 USRRC, visit http://msreg.com/usrrc2018.

Photo Credit: James Heine