05 Feb Summer Sno*Drift Joins the 2019 ARA East Region Championship

Article originally written for American Rally Association website here.

Speedway, Indiana (February 5, 2019)

American Rally Association (ARA) officials are happy to announce the addition of Summer Sno*Drift to the 2019 ARA calendar. The event will run August 3, 2019 as part of the ARA East Region Championship.

Organized by the same committee that put on last month’s successful Sno*Drift Rally, Summer Sno*Drift is a one-day regional rally for those who love the winter event’s roads, but wish it was 80-90 degrees warmer. The rally will use many of the same roads as its frigid counterpart and will cover around 45 stage miles near Atlanta and Lewiston, Michigan.

Now in it’s fifth year, Summer Sno*Drift continues to grow in popularity as the event typically sees strong attendance from both spectators and competitors alike. The rally benefits not only from support within the rally community, but also from the host towns of Atlanta and Lewiston. The spectator areas are expected to see a good fan turnout while the historic average of 25-30 competitive entries makes Summer Sno*Drift one of the largest one-day regional events on the calendar. The 2019 event entry list will be capped at 35 teams.

Both rally events on Michigan’s Lower Peninsula are designed to test rally teams, but do so in significantly different ways. January’s Sno*Drift Rally challenges drivers to slick conditions, but Summer Sno*Drift puts emphasis on the in-car dynamic between drivers and co-drivers. Reminiscent of the classic rallies from decades past, Summer Sno*Drift will be run with no recce and without provided pace notes.

Teams will only have access to Tulips, basic diagrams that describe separated junctions, hazards, and points of interest on rally stages. The described road junctions in Tulips can be separated by half a mile or more without providing information on intervening corners like modern rally pace notes do. Tulips create a different interpersonal dynamic within a rally car, where co-drivers act more like map-and chart navigators and drivers need to rely more on their eyes and intuition. Summer Sno*Drift is about adaptability.

“We’re happy to be back in Montmorency County for the summer and to put on another quality event,” said Summer Sno*Drift Chairperson Alex Berger. “We look forward to some great roads and warmer weather.”

The 2019 ARA calendar continues to grow, even as the season is already underway. 9 stops during the National Rally Championship Presented by AMSOIL, 2 super regional rallies, and now 6 one-day regional events see ARA active on 17 weekends this season. We hope you can join us at one of them.

More information on Summer Sno*Drift will be available in the coming months. Keep an eye on the ARA page and the Summer Sno*Drift website for more information as it becomes available.

For more information on ARA events, check out the 2019 ARA schedule. 

The updated 2019 ARA calendar is shown below:

2019 ARA National Rally Championship Presented by AMSOIL

Sno*Drift Rally

January 25 – 26, 2019
 

100 Acre Wood Rally

March 15 – 16, 2019
 

Olympus Rally

April 27 – 28, 2019
 

Oregon Trail Rally

May 31 – June 2, 2019

Idaho Rally International

June 22 – 23, 2019
 

New England Forest Rally

July 19 – 20, 2019
 

Ojibwe Forests Rally

August 23 – 24, 2019
 

Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally

September 13 – 14, 2019
 

Lake Superior Performance Rally

October 18 – 19, 2019

ARA Super Regional Events

Southern Ohio Forest Rally

May 16 – 18, 2019

Tour de Forest Rally

September 21, 2019

ARA One-Day Regional Events

Nemadji Trail Rally I

December 1, 2018

Missouri Ozark Rally

February 2, 2019

Headwaters Rally

TBA May, 2019

Summer Sno*Drift

August 3, 2019

Show-Me Rally

October 5, 2019

Nemadji Trail Rally II

December 7, 2019

Photo Credit: Ryan Stermer