Tennessee Could Host a WRC Race in 2024
Two exhibition events will be held near Chattanooga this year. If successful, it could lead to the first U.S. WRC race since 1988.
The World Rally Championship could return to the United States in 2024 with an event in Tennessee, reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The race's fate will be decided by test events held later this year, so you know what that means: Get those air horns ready.
What could turn into the first U.S. WRC race since the 1988 Olympus Rally in Washington is intended to be held in the Cherokee National Forest, and based out of Chattanooga. It'd also be the largest sporting event ever held in the city where Volkswagen also houses most of its U.S. vehicle manufacturing. The WRC will test the waters with an exhibition event on April 7 and 8, and later an official test race in September. If the events satisfy the WRC, it could lead to a slot on the 2024 WRC calendar.
The prospective rally stems from a prolonged campaign to bring the WRC to Tennessee by the Chattanooga Tourism Company, which reportedly plans to invest $200,000 into this year's promotional events.
"The WRC has been looking to get back to the U.S., and we've been working with them for the past year and a half," said the Chattanooga Tourism Company's president, Barry White, to the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday. "We want to reintroduce international rally racing ... and we need to get the U.S. back in this competition."
"There is a lot pent-up for an international rally event in the United States, and we know these events draw people from all over the globe," added the company's chief sports officer, Tim Morgan. "There is a significant interest and demand for this type of adventure race that I never knew about until we started looking into this. It's amazing."
White estimates the WRC visit would add $34 million to the local economy. More broadly, the race would reestablish the WRC's presence in the U.S. after 36 years, and fertilize a grassroots rally community that's strong and growing in some parts of the country. The "Bonfire Alley" stage of the Sno*drift Rally in Michigan is a visual spectacle without parallel, and the former WRC event the Olympus Rally remains a mainstay of racing culture in the Pacific Northwest. The WRC coming to Tennessee could finally be the event that makes this form of motorsport mainstream in the States—though it's a shame Ken Block won't be around to see the U.S. WRC race he always wanted.
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