Will WRC return to America?

A long-awaited WRC round in the US looked like it might finally become a reality, with officials confirming last summer an aspirational timeline that could see racing in Tennessee as soon as 2026. But rally insiders aren’t so sure.

“There is nothing I can say to a timeline right now,” American Rally Association series manager Preston Osborn says. “There’s still a lot of boxes to check both with ACCUS [the national sporting authority of the FIA for the US] and also the FIA. With that, I’m not able to give any firm or speculative time for when it could come to the USA.”

A standalone Rally USA Tennessee last summer was officially cast as an exhibition event focused on volunteer training ahead of an eventual WRC bid. But many who attended agreed that it was not ready for primetime.

The region is not known for its ties to rallying and while Rally USA Tennessee, led by Stuart Wood, has been working with Rally Mexico organisers Patrick Suberville and Gilles Spitalier, they are not well known among rally enthusiasts. The last time the US hosted a round of WRC was the Olympus Rally in 1988.

Rallying has struggled for decades to gain traction in the States. The high transport costs of contesting a championship, coupled with challenging insurance requirements for rally’s street-legal race cars have all proven barriers. It is largely an amateur motor sport, with most teams cobbling together funding from their own pockets and a limited pool of sponsors.

Rally USA Tennessee organisers called their 2024 event a learning opportunity, but its website shows no date for a 2025 event. The commercial possibilities for a global motor sport series in the US are clear, with Formula 1 painting a compelling picture of what success can look like. But American rally does not appear ready to step up to the global stage.

Amid the rumours surrounding WRC comes word that the domestic series has received a boost as Vermont SportsCar principal Lance Smith will take over promotional rights for the domestic American Rally Association series under a company called RallyForward.

Accompanying the announcement was news that construction equipment giant Kubota had signed to the series as a major sponsor – the first such partner in some time.

Smith, a stalwart of the US rally scene, says that as he contemplated his retirement, he took stock and decided it was time to give back, posing a question that had been preoccupying him: “I have all the trophies, but what did I really do?”

“The last time the US hosted a round of WRC was the Olympus Rally in 1988”

Series sanctioning and promotion have passed through multiple players over the past 20 years, none of whom have been able to secure the sport’s commercial viability in the US. Smith has led the single, stable factory team for the past two decades. His Subaru team has been dominant, winning more than 100 rally and rallycross events and 18 of the last 24 rally championships. In addition to Subaru, manufacturers Mitsubishi, Ford and Toyota have all tested the waters in that time, but none with a significant investment, and the sport remains niche. Despite efforts to bring the series regular television coverage, logistical hurdles and costs have proven insurmountable. The most consistent source of coverage is YouTube series Launch Control, introduced as a Subaru marketing channel in 2013.

The most recent heyday for US rallying came in the mid-2000s. Then, the championship had grown to a dozen or so teams to a level capable of challenging for podiums. Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and Bucky Lasek joined, bringing with them new audiences excited about an emerging motor sport genre. I was a competitor and reporter at the time and shared the excitement as X Games put a short-course rally event on network television and brought to the masses the thrills of dirt racing.

But as the 2008 financial crisis pushed budgets, many privateer teams floundered and the series was unable to capitalise on the momentum. Smith says now he hopes to help create a competition ecosystem that supports commercial growth for multiple professional teams and drives better competition for fans to enjoy. “If I can give back in the US with more businesses making a living from rally and more people enjoying rally, that’s my goal.”

The eight-stop 2025 ARA National Championship kicks off with the Sno*Drift Rally, February 7-8 in Atlanta, Michigan.

America lost a legend in November. Pioneering racer Mary McGee died in Gardnerville, Nevada from complications of a stroke at 87. Among the first women to race motorcycles in the US, McGee is the subject of 2024 documentary short Motorcycle Mary, executive produced by Lewis Hamilton.

McGee started competing in auto races in the 1950s and learned to ride motorcycles after buying a 200cc Triumph Tiger Cub. She started her off-road career on a 1962 250cc Honda Scrambler in an AMA District 37 enduro and began riding Baja events in 1967. Persuaded by Steve McQueen, she became the first person to ride the Baja 500 solo in 1975. She was known for her mentorship of other women in racing and continued competing in vintage races.

Shortly after her family announced her death, Hamilton paid tribute on Instagram: “I’m deeply saddened to hear that Mary McGee, the first woman to road race motorcycles in the US and the first person to solo the Baja 500 has passed on. My condolences to her family and everyone who she’s inspired. Her legacy will live on as a trailblazer in the world of motor sports and beyond.”

Los Angeles-based Jen Horsey is one of the founders of Global Rallycross in the US and is a former motor sport analyst for ESPN. She also takes part in motor sport as a rally co-driver