People have raced one another in vehicles for sport for millennia and rally driving stands as a modern example of the persistence of that human impulse to be faster and better. The Greeks and Romans famously raced chariots. Later, horse racing developed into a well-respected pastime. In the early twentieth century, with the advent of that wonderful contraption known as the automobile, car racing was a natural progression.
“Auto racing began five minutes after the second car was built,” Henry Ford famously said. It wasn’t long before there were dozens of different racing categories from track racing to drag racing, etc.
Rally driving remains, as it always has, as a race on real roads.
“Rally is the form of racing that never changed,” said Mike Hurst who has been involved with road rallies for more than 40 years and is also well-known as an event organizer. Hurst was a three-time regional champion driver in 1992-1995 and the Sports Car Club of America national champion driver in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He was also the 2019 NASA Rallysport National 2WD champion. Hurst also served as rally mechanic for factory-supported teams in the 1980s before being hired by NASCAR legend David Pearson to work on his racing team in South Carolina. For a time, he was the Technical Director of Rally America after serving as the SCCA Club Rally Series Manager.
In March of 2012 the SFI Foundation hired him as their technical manager, but he remains an active rally driver and also assists with the organization of rallies and rallycross events. He is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the International Council of Motorsports Science (ICMS).
Kyle Williams will be Hurst’s co-driver/navigator this year. Williams said that he’s excited to see such an experienced racer work firsthand.
“It’s not like it’s the fastest car in the event,” said Hurst of his 1974 Lincoln-Mercury Capri, but it is the oldest. “Which makes it a bit of a fan favorite,” he said. Not to mention popular among the other drivers.
Rally may not have changed that much from its inception other than seeing speed increases with faster cars but if you talk to the people who love it, you would find that rallying has a real impact on their hearts and souls of the people who continue the tradition.
For example, Hurst’s love of the sport led him to be heavily involved in organizing rally events. After Rally America, Hurst became the sport organizer for the ESPN X Games rally car competition in 2006. From 2005 to 2015 Hurst was a part of the sanctioning body and has since been getting back to being able to compete.
“It’s probably the most popular rally race in the country,” said Al Dantes. With 92 cars participating, Dantes said that he expects it to be the largest race this year.
“I’m not jealous of the organizers,” said Dantes. “It’s a little bit of cat herding for them, I think.”
The 1987 Mazda LSRX-7 with a Chevy engine that Al Dantes will be running in the 100AW rally this weekend.
“It’s way more fun to be a competitor—it’s still a lot of work, but it’s way more fun,” said Hurst. Hurst compared competing to watching a duck glide across the water and organizing the events makes you aware of just how furiously that duck’s little feet are paddling under the water in order to achieve that elegant glide.
“You have to do a lot more of what’s underneath,” said Hurst.
What’s underneath is exactly what Curt Faigle who chairs the sanctioning committee, Rob Benowitz and other 100 Acre Wood Road Rally organizers have been dealing with over the months leading up to the rally. Organizers and volunteers have been bouncing around to commission meetings in Dent and Washington county as well as preparing all of the moving parts for when the racers come to town—many drivers from out of state and out of the country.
“People always feel welcome here,” said Benowitz. Not to mention it’s one of the most centrally located races on the circuit. Dantes said that he loves coming to the area because of the immense local support the rally receives each year.
“Volunteers are some of our most important resources,” said Benowitz, who also voiced his love for the pure simplicity of racing on real roads and the additional challenge that it is to only go over each hill and around each curve once during the race. “You get what you get one time down the stage,” he said. That being in contrast to track driving when drivers take the same turn numerous times.
“It is a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun,” said Benowitz.
“We have a reputation of being one of the best rallies in the United States,” said Benowitz.
“100AW has some of the fastest and most flowing roads in the championship,” said star rally driver Travis Pastrana, who has won the race multiple times, including in 2016 and 2021.
“It’s always near the top of everybody’s to-do list in the rally community,” said Benowitz.
“100AW is a great event for the ARA calendar. There is a good variety of fast flowing and technical stages. The water crossings are always the thing to watch out for,” said Brandon Semenuk, who is also competing this year.
Both Pastrana and Semenuk are competing on Subaru’s team.
“Ken Block is coming into this rally with a new team and a new car. He is always good on these roads and it’s by far his best rally on the circuit. My Subaru teammate, Brandon Semenuk, came off a win here in 2020 and Barry Mckenna was leading last year when a flat tire took him back to third.”
Dantes said that he will be watching his “arch-nemesis,” Mike Hurst, closely this year.
“The car I run is a 1987 Mazda LSRX-7 with a Chevy engine,” said Dantes. He also said that his vehicle is often a crowd favorite because it’s a small car with a V8 in it. Dantes told The Salem News that they recently had a Trans Am logo put on the front in honor of Smokey and the Bandit.
In contrast to the more experienced professional drivers, Dave Matheson and Adam Brock out of Tennessee will be competing in their first rally race together. Matheson has been a co-driver/navigator in past races, but this is the first time at the helm from the start of the race. This will be Brock’s first time competing.
“[Brock] built the cage in my car,” said Matheson. Matheson said that he has a lot of confidence that the cage will hold up if necessary because the man who built it trusts it well enough to ride shotgun for Matheson.
“[Brock] is one of the best cage builders in the business,” said Matheson.
Matheson points out that speed isn’t the only factor to rally racing.
“Just because you can drive fast doesn't mean you can drive the course,” said Matheson. Matheson spoke proudly of the rally car drivers he knows, most of whom build their own cars. “Those are the kind of people who can do anything,” he said. There’s a lot of mechanic work in the sport. Matheson also spoke fondly of rallying’s heritage as a sport. “It’s one of the only forms of racing that hasn’t been neutered of most of the danger,” he said.
“It’s all encompassing and it’s the best sport in the world,” said Matheson.
It almost suffices to say that Matheson loves rally racing. Almost.
“Saying I love the sport is an understatement. It has consumed my last four years. Once the rally bug bites you, you’re stuck with it for life.”
A statement that seems to ring true with each of the competitors, organizers and volunteers who bring the race to life each year.
