Rally car drivers in the same dilemma as soccer

CARSON, California – The American drivers of rally car racing face what might be called the soccer problem: How to make a sport that much of the world is nuts for catch on in the United States. “It really never had any momentum in the US whatsoever," said Tanner Foust, the defending gold medalist in the event that is a recent addition to the X Games and will be held for the third time Sunday. “Kind of like soccer was 10, 15 years ago." The sport, in which small stock cars weave wildly through street courses, over bumps, dirt gravel and even at times ice and snow. The terrain so can be so treacherous, and the changes so quick, that a “co-driver" rides along in the passenger seat to shout out directions and warnings. But even auto racing fans in the United States often know nothing of its existence. “It’s an ultimately cool sport," Foust said, not comprehending why the sport with its flash and speed has not caught on. “It’s probably like drag racing is in England. It’s one of those things where there’s a cultural gap." The X Games, as it has for most motorsports, has tweaked rally racing for its own purposes, adding jumps far larger than the drivers are accustomed to, mixing in more dirt a la supercross, and making the final a head-to-head, 1-on-1 competition in a sport that is usually run over several longer stages. The sport had a heady debut two years ago when Travis Pastrana, who had already wowed those X Games with two gold medals and an unprecedented double-backflip on a motorcycle, was the surprise winner of the event over European rally giant Colin McRae, who rolled his car but still finished the race. “The X Games is one of those formats where you can take a sport that’s in the shadows in the US and put a spotlight on it in away that you couldn’t possibly have imagined," Foust said. “Other action sports sponsors have found their way into this sport." Those new sponsors, mainly the energy drinks whose logos are plastered on every hat and bumper at the X Games, have proved essential with cars that cost several hundred thousand dollars to build and take constant terrible beatings as they travel over gravel instead of tarmac. Foust, 35, who has worked as a stunt driver on “The Dukes of Hazzard" movie and the Matt Damon “Bourne" films, didn’t try the sport until about five years ago. He had been a formula car driver and worked as an ice driving instructor teaching members of the military and others how to control the car driving over ice. Ice driving proved the perfect prep for rally racing. There is so much sliding it feels like driving on ice even when it’s on asphalt. Even though just one race a year on the American circuit is on ice, the car virtually always feels like it’s on ice. As much time is spent fishtailing and horizontally sliding as moving forward on wheels. Pastrana’s teammate Ken Block, who finished second to Foust last year, had been a rally car fan since he saw it on “Wide World of Sports" as a kid. “I never liked cars that drove in circles," he said over the radio in his Subaru, popping the car into gear as he took an Associated Press reporter on a ride-along. Rally is anything but driving in circles. The asphalt layout is more like a maze than a race course, with constant swerving in this direction then that, and not a straightaway or a simple turn in sight. Block yanked the wheel one way and another, virtually never holding it straight. “These tires are made to take on gravel," he said as he started a sideways slide. “It feels like driving on gummy bears." Block said after the practice run that even though he had been a fan since he was a kid, he hadn’t known about US rally racing until 2004 when his motocross teammate Pastrana got a chance to drive. “I never realized that there was a championship here in the states," he said. “It had never been on my radar." Foust said that kind of oblivion is not uncommon. “Rally racing has been going full seasons for decades and decades in the US, for 30, 40 plus years. Some of my driving heroes like Rod Millen could compete in rally racing here in the US There were some factory teams back then ... but those sort of went away. Subaru has been kicking that back in recently, and of course X Games has added a big boost." – AP