’25 USRRC Sneak Peek: Urban Alleys and Winding Buckeye Lanes Beckon

If you’ve ever paused while motoring through Ohio to consider its communities and its landscape, especially in the state’s eastern and southeastern Allegheny Plateau region, you will realize that adventures await once you leave the world of suburban arteries and Interstate highways.

By hosting the 2025 United States RoadRally Challenge® on Oct. 10-12, the SCCA’s Neohio Region has just that kind of adventure planned for you: a pair of well-received National Touring rallies that explore the undulating, serpentine Buckeye State roads between Canton and Marietta, OH (and then back again, eventually, to Montrose, OH) before sending you on a fun urban adventure highlighting Cleveland and its historic waterfront, relics of its Rust Belt manufacturing past, its ethnic, and turn-of-the-century neighborhoods, and its modern landmarks.

As organized by a trio of veteran Neohio rallyists, Greg Lester, Ron Johnstonbaugh, and Jeff Arendas, the weekend’s three rallies – Johnny Appleseed Oct. 10, the Ohio Milk Run Oct. 11, and the Cleveland Alley Rallye Oct. 12 – all boast long histories, with Johnny Appleseed first being run as a national event on Sept. 19-20, 1959, according to SCCA archival material at the International Motor Racing Research Center.

Before we dive in to the details, the 2025 USRRC is open for anyone to register, so sign up and join the fun.

Catching Up

“It’s a legacy event for us,” explains Lester, who is both the rally’s current organizer as well as steward of its long history.

“It’s been run as a National trap rally, a National touring rally, and a Regional rally. The name has stuck, but it’s changed format several times,” Lester says.

For Johnstonbaugh, the Ohio Milk Run “is a continuation of the event I started back in the early 2000s. It is named after a long-running dirt-bike race I competed in back in the ’70s and ’80s, and is still run today after 75-plus years. Along with the fact that the rally passes by a lot of cows, I just thought it was a fitting name.”

Like Johnny Appleseed, the Cleveland Alley Rally traces its origins to the 1950s.

“The Alley Rallye has been run off and on since the 1950s,” explains Arendas. “It was originally a Cleveland Sport Car Club event and then, eventually, an MG Car Club, Lake Erie Centre event.”

Back then, Arendas says, there was a lot of membership crossover among the various Cleveland car clubs. “It also ran as a Neohio event a number of times, but it’s been dormant now for 10 or 15 years.

He was the last Cleveland Alley rallymaster, Arendas adds. “I’ve always intended to bring it back, and finally, this year, I have an excuse to do it.”

The Draw

Historically, Arendas, notes, the Alley Rally has drawn between 30 and 50 cars. “It’s totally different from Friday and Saturday’s rallies,” he says, adding that, in addition to some of Cleveland’s well-known landmarks, the rally will include “a whole bunch of narrow, fabulous alleys you don’t even realize are there if you drive past normal speed.”

What you will realize on Johnny Appleseed and the Ohio Milk Run is the picturesque nature of Ohio’s Allegheny Plateau and the fun offered by its rural roads, Lester and Johnstonbaugh say. Both rallies run, in a broad sense, parallel to Interstate 77, Johnstonbaugh notes, with Lester’s rally running to the east of I-77 and his own to the west of the Interstate.

“The landscape for both Johnny Appleseed and the Ohio Milk Run is quite hilly – a lot of narrow, well-groomed, smooth, twisty gravel roads,” Lester says. “We’re going through the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District on the northern portion of Johnny Appleseed and the Wayne National Forest in the southern part of the route.”

Anyone’s Game

Expect moderate average speeds, route instructions that are easy to follow, and, as an important aid for teams with limited timekeeping experience, parenthetical “perfect” departure times will be included in many route instructions, Lester and Johnstonbaugh explain.

“We want to emphasize that these events are suitable for novices,” Lester adds. “Teams of ALL experience levels are encouraged to enter.”

For Johnstonbaugh, the two-day combination of Johnny Appleseed and the Ohio Milk Run is something he’s been thinking about for several years.

“When Greg told me he was thinking about hosting the USRRC, I thought this would be perfect for it. Although we’re both using portions of our former Ohio Milk Run and Johnny Appleseed routes, the bulk of it is new to both of us. I’ve run my route several times now, and modified it each time to keep us out of traffic and on the most interesting roads, and so far, so good.”

For Arendas, the addition of the Cleveland Alley Rallye to the USRRC weekend is a perfect fit. Not only is it a fundraiser for a local Cleveland charity, Slow Roll Cleveland, an organization that promotes community engagement through inclusive social bike rides, it also is an opportunity to introduce new people to the sport, Arendas explains. “The goal is to build a following for future rallies. We want to get out as many newbies as we can, and for them to enjoy themselves. It’s going to be a real hoot touring through the nooks and crannies of the city. We want people to see the city with a different pair of eyes and get them to come back [to rallying] another day.”

That, in a sense, is the goal of the entire weekend, according to Arendas, Johnstonbaugh, and Lester: to get people to enjoy themselves and come back another day.

Join the Fun

Additional information about all three 2025 USRRC rallies can be found on the USRRC homepage on SCCA.com. you can also register using the direct motorsportreg.com links below: