April 22, 2021
It’s time to have some fun in the dirt as the 2021 SCCA RallyCross National Tour gets going this weekend, April 23-25, near World Wide Technology Raceway in Granite City, Illinois, during an event hosted by SCCA’s St. Louis Region.
This event will take place in a grass field off Big Bend Road just north of World Wide Technology Raceway. Weather for the weekend looks to have temperatures in the low to uppers 60s with rain predicted Friday and Saturday, so be sure to bring wet-weather gear and have smartphone cameras ready to catch muddy rooster tails as competitors try to set their best times on course both Saturday and Sunday. The 44-car field features six National Champions, raising the level of competition across the classes.
In 2021, the RallyCross National Tour schedule consists of four events around the country. After this weekend’s excitement near St. Louis, next up is the June 12-13 East Tennessee Region weekend taking place at Frazier Motorsports Park in Tazwell, Tennessee. With an exact date yet to be determined, the RallyCross National Tour then makes a swing out west in August for competition at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California; an event hosted by the San Francisco Region. The “regular” season then concludes September 3-5 at Byron Motorsports Park in Illinois at an event hosted by Milwaukee Region.
For those planning to attend any RallyCross National Tour events this year, now is a good time to check in on contingency registration instructions from partners such as Hoosier Racing Tire and Hawk Performance.
Sports Car Club of America RallyCross competition is a scaled-down version of a rally stage laid out on a non-paved plot of land where the course is delineated by traffic cones instead of trees or rocks. Participation requirements are considerably less than those associated with other forms of performance rally, so drivers usually only need a mechanically sound, hardtop vehicle and a helmet to come play.
National Tour events mimic the RallyCross National Championship. However, there is room for local organizers to insert local “flavor” to an event, with the objective being to allow for some experimentation of new concepts/procedures. The exact degree of variance is coordinated with the RXB and National Office. All 11 official RallyCross national classes may compete at National Tour events, but there is also the potential to include a limited number of local classes to bolster attendance and interest.
For additional information on SCCA RallyCross, click here.
Photo by: Rupert Berrington