Spring had arrived in the Pacific Northwest for the Oregon Trail Rally,near Portland, Ore. Fans from around the region and 75 rally teams convened at Portland International Raceway on April 20, Friday afternoon, for the start of the three-day competition, which moved out of town Saturday and Sunday to logging roads west of the city, near Hillsboro.

The rally, now in its eleventh year, got off to a great start under warm, sunny skies at the track—unless you were Rally America points leader and fan favorite, Travis Pastrana, and his navigator Christian Edstrom. Their Open Class 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi threw a piston through the block during the second stage of the competition, less then five miles into the race.Another top contender, Andrew "ACP" Comrie-Picard, almost didn't make it across the starting line. Determined not to miss the green flag, his team pushed the car across the line to the cheers of fans.

Though Pastrana and ACP were forced to drop out of the race on the first day, with 100 miles of back roads left untouched, most teams remained conservative through the evening. The Rockstar Energy Drink Subaru, of Tanner Foust and co-driver Christine Beavis, had taken an early lead in the Open Class by the end of the first day.

HIGH RACE OF ATTRITION
The second day was less kind, and more in keeping with Oregon's reputation. Rain pelted the cars as they slalomed through the trees about an hour from Portland's city center, near Hillsboro and Vernonia. "Our rally features a lot of tight, technical, and twisty roads at various elevations," says Kristen Tabor, president of the Oregon Rally Group, which produced the event. "The slippery mud made this a test of the drivers' fortitude as well as skills."

By mid-day, trees and technical failures eliminated about 20 cars, including that of former champion, Pat Richard of British Columbia, who was forced out by brake failure.

Andrew Pinker and teammate, Patrick Walsh, in the Jack Daniels Subaru, took the lead from Subaru Rally Team USA driver, Ken Block, and navigator Alex Gelsomino. Friday's leader, Tanner Foust, suffered a minor setback when a flat tire cost him one minute.

Sunday morning brought more clouds, but the rain held off as the racers lined up for the final day of the competition. Pinker almost missed the start. He had forgotten to shut off the heat on his windshield Saturday night, and by morning the battery was completely drained. The team had to push-start it from the parc exposé to the starting line.

By the end of the final day's four stages, only 44 racers remained to cross the finish line. First among these was the Australian, Pinker, who took his first North American win last year at the Oregon Trail Rally. Second place went to Block, who had won the previous Rally America race in Missouri, and third to Foust, for a Subaru sweep on the Open Class podium.

X GAMES MEETS NASCAR
In the past decade, rally races have seen a steady increase in the number of spectators. "The hype and exposure before, during, and after this year's race was much greater than we have ever experienced," says Tabor. "The increased numbers of spectators at our events in Portland, Vernonia, and the stages out in the forest, seem to bear out the fact that the Rally is beginning to be known outside of the small circle of enthusiasts."

In the past two years, that growth in interest has taken a sharp upward turn across the country, largely due to the X Games. Travis Pastrana has been a big part of rallying's crossover success. The freestyle moto-cross champion's first full rally season in 2005 included multiple podium finishes, and led Subaru Rally Team USA to sign Pastrana on for the Rally America National Championship.

In 2006, rallying was introduced to the X Games, and Pastrana took the inaugural checkered flag. The games are broadcast live to millions on ESPN and ABC, taking the sport to a new audience.

Like the stock cars of the NASCAR circuit, the X Games is an auto event that regular people with regular cars can relate to. Several classes of cars compete, with varying levels of modification allowed. The only changes allowed in the Production classes, for example, are for adding safety equipment. Even the Open Class cars, where most of the big names and funded teams compete, start with cars off the showroom floor, which they modify for safety and speed.

All cars must be street-legal, though, no matter what class they compete in. Unlike the big boys of NASCAR, these racers have working windshield wipers and headlights, and sport license plates. This is where the hobbyist gets the most bang for the buck—the car he drives to work can be the car he races on the weekend.

In any parc exposé (rallying is very popular in France, thus the term for the lineup of cars before the start of the race), the top ten or so contenders will be factory teams with cars worth anything between 50,000 and 200,000 dollars. "Beyond that," says Chris Yandell of Vermont SportsCar, the outfit that preps Pastrana's ride, "people use their own money and vacation days to compete. Non-sponsored teams make up about 80 percent of the sport." These men and women may not race a full season in sanctioned events—like the nine Rally America races—but they will take on most of the rallying events in their area.

HITTING THE OREGON TRAIL
The Oregon Trail Rally provides teams with a fresh challenge every year. The stages depend on the permissions organizers can get each year from local authorities to run 70-plus race cars on the old logging roads of western Oregon.

But Rally America wouldn't have it any other way. The race is "run blind", meaning the teams may have the maps in hand, but not the territory. Routes are changed each year, so that teams who have participated multiple times cannot use notes from previous years.

"All our forest stages this year were based out of the Vernonia area," says Tabor. "In 2006, we had one day based out of the Trask River area of Tillamook, and one day in Vernonia. However, the winter storms were particularly brutal in the Trask area and it just wasn't feasible to use those roads given the condition they ended up in."

Track events are a big part of rallies in Europe, unlike the United States. Since most rallies take place 250-odd miles away from a metropolitan area, to have a day devoted to fans, when they can meet drivers and see the cars, is impractical.At PIR, an Euro-style track day was added only because the city was close.

Rally America took further advantage of the almost-metropolitan setting. The Thursday before the official start, cars were lined up at Pioneer Courthouse Square, smack-dab in the middle of downtown Portland, where racers signed autographs while fans, and office workers on their lunch breaks, milled about. Fans got a chance to meet their favorite drivers, and to take pictures with their favorite cars before they were caked with mud.

The Oregon Trail Rally was voted Rally America's 2006 Rally of the Year. New blood in both organizing and operations offices last year brought fresh ideas and a better understanding of what people want. The result was happy spectators, and a lot of energy, which the organizers hope will carry into the future.

TOP 10 – RALLY AMERICA STANDINGS
1. Travis Pastrana
2. Ken Block
3. Tanner Foust
4. Andrew Comrie-Picard
5. Lauchlin O'Sullivan
6. Andrew Pinker
7. Paul Choiniere II
7. Matthew Iorio
9. Jonathan Bottoms
10. Otis Dimiters

MORE INFORMATION
Rally America
www.rally-america.com

Oregon Rally Group
www.oregonrally.com

Oregon Trail Rally
www.oregontrailrally.com

X Games
expn.go.com