martininsocal writes. "right now, the american rally scene, to them, is a bunch of crusty old guys trying to..""
Martin must have been referring to offroad racing, that until recently had crusty old prehistoric drivers, who didnt know when it was time to hang up their goggles. Offroad racing has been full of old codgers. When you look at the buyers of the manufacturers entry level pick up trucks, such as Ford Rangers, Toyota MiniTrucks and Chevy Blazers, it certainly doesnt make much sense to have grand dads driving these brands and trying to promote these brands to an audience that is 30 years younger. WRC is appealing to a fresh generation of US TV viewers and fans because it offers several things; including cars that they can relate to, several manufacturers who participate, a selection of international drivers who are all heroes in their own respective countries, an international race schedule, a TV package that is supported by all the manufacturers that brings the best images to the fans, a professional organisation that runs the series, only one premier series, instead of a bunch of competing series, rules stability, only 3 classes to promote, Group A, Group N and Super1600, plus 40 years of organisational and marketing skills that has converted a series of local rallies, into a series of global autosports events. Effectively the US desert races and promoters are at a level of where World Rally was 40 years ago. Comparing WRC and Desert Offroad is like comparing apples to alligators. Desert offroad racing currently is a club level, family and friends hobby. WRC is built on a series of local, regional, national and world class events. The success of a desert race and the success of a promoter is driven by the number of entries that they attract. Not by the quality of the entries, not by commercial sponsorship support, not by factory participation, and not by a commercial TV package. As a comparison WRC derives it funds from commercial sponsorship and TV revenues. The number of entries are strictly limited ( Rally Australia has a limit of 35 entries ), manufacturers are obliged to pay in order to participate, all of the teams are professional, and each event in the series has a fulltime and volunteer staff who administer and organize their particular round.
If you didn't see it on TV, did it really happen?
