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OREGON TRAIL RALLY

May 15 - 16, 2010
Hood River, The Dalles, Dufur, OR

PORTLAND, OREGON (May 10, 2010) – Tighten the belts and hold on! Round 4 of the Rally America Championship, is about to go full throttle. Teams from across North America have begun arriving in Portland to contest the Oregon Trail Rally, May 14-16. The Oregon Trail Rally is a 3 day extreme motorsport event that tests driver’s skill and vehicle reliability to the limit. Competitors will face the challenge of northwest Oregon gravel roads over a course that is 115 miles in length. With 65 entries registered for the event, this is expected to be one of the most spectacular events organized by the local Oregon Rally Group. 

Prior to the start of competition on Friday evening at Portland International Raceway, there are a number of fan events planned in the Portland/Vancouver area. Early Thursday morning look for local and national rally competitors to appear on the KGW Northwest News Channel 8 morning show from 5 -7 am with Drew Carney. Oregon Trail Rally Fan Appreciation Show on Thursday from 11 am – 1 pm in Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. Subaru Rally Team USA driver Dave Mirra will sign autographs and shows his rally car on Thursday from 6:00 – 7:30 pm at Dick Hannah in the Vancouver Auto Mall. Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block and his Ford Fiesta will appear on Thursday from 6 – 8 pm at Courtesy Ford on 122nd Ave in Portland.

The Friday Fan Spectacular at Portland International Raceway (PIR) begins at 6 pm with a Parc Expose (car display) where fans can view the competition cars up close and talk with the drivers. It is followed by a series of timed competitive special stages specifically designed for spectator viewing.

Saturday morning starts with another Parc Expose at 10 am in The Dalles (2600 W. 6th St., immediately off of I-84 exit 83). At 11 am the cars will leave at one minute intervals and head out to the forest stages which includes the spectator favorite at Fir Mountain. Rally fans in Oregon are familiar with this Hood River site, and 1000 fans packed the hillside last year. Special parking and shuttles are being implemented this year so that fans don't have to hike a mile to the spectator location. Oregon Trail Rally sponsor, Dick Hannah Subaru, is graciously providing free hot dogs to fans at spectator locations over the weekend. After a service stop back in The Dalles the show moves out to the Dufur area (15 miles south of The Dalles). A rally car service area will be set up in the City Park, with spectating venues nearby.

At the service areas, teams refuel and make necessary repairs to their cars. The service areas are open to the public and are similar to being in the pits at a circuit track race. Take a walk through the service area and you will see the mechanics work on the cars under time restrictions. The top teams can change a transmission and get a car back on the road within 20 minutes.

Saturday's action concludes in downtown Dufur at 7:30 pm with a “Rally Street Party & Barbeque” in the city park open to all rally fans.

On Sunday, teams return to Dufur, with breakfast at the high school on Court St. from 7:30 to 10:30 am, which will benefit the Dufur Schools Activity Fund. The breakfast is open to the public to come meet the rally teams and enjoy a warm morning meal, while raising money for a great cause. The motorsport action continues around the Dufur area all day, with the champions taking the podium on Dufur's Main Street around 4 pm. Spectator

Information: Detailed spectator information, including viewing locations and times, is now available on the events web site http://www.OregonTrailRally.com.

Event Schedule:
Thursday, May 13 11:00 – 13:00 Rally Fan Appreciation Pioneer Courthouse Square Show Downtown Portland

Friday, May 14 18:00 – 20:45 Fan Spectacular Portland International Raceway -Competition Stages

Saturday, May 15
10:00 – 12:00 Parc Expose Shop n’ Kart, The Dalles
11:00 First Car starts Day Two Shop n’ Kart, The Dalles
12:00 – 16:00 Competition Stages Hood River
16:00 – 20:00 Competition Stages Dufur
19:30 First Car Finishes Day Two Main St., Dufur
20:00 – 22:00 Rally Street Party & BBQ Main St., Dufur

Sunday, May 16
10:00 – 11:00 Parc Expose Main St., Dufur
11:00 First Car starts Day Three Main St., Dufur
09:00 – 15:30 Competition Stages Dufur
16:00 First Car Finishes Event Main St. Dufur

Rally Headquarters: Shilo Inn-The Dalles. Phone: 541-298-5502 Become a fan of the Oregon Trail Rally on Facebook for the most up to date information. --30-- About Rally Racing Rally racing is one of the world’s most challenging and popular motorsports. It is considered by many as the extreme sport of automobile racing and it’s often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” Unlike any other type of car racing, rally teams compete in any weather, on challenging forest, mountain or desert roads. Racing takes place only on "special stages," using demanding back roads temporarily closed by local authorities for the event. "Transits", driven at normal highway speeds with teams fully subject to all traffic laws, connect the "special stage" sections together speeds. Vehicles can only be serviced and repaired at designated “service” locations and for set periods of time. Rally vehicles are production-based cars and trucks from manufacturers around the world. All competition vehicles are installed with mandatory safety features to protect the competitors. They compete both for the overall victory and wins within a class structure that groups together vehicles with similar performance. Each vehicle carries a driver and a co-driver/navigator. Using a detailed route book and a sophisticated rally computer, the co-driver keeps the team on-course and advises the driver of any hazards ahead. This role is as critical as the driver's skill, since the team is traveling at full racing speeds over roads they have never before seen, in any type of weather. About Rally America Based in Golden Valley, Minnesota, Rally America sanctions the premier rally racing series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series. In 2009, Rally America will conduct nine National Championship rally events at venues across the country, from Portland, Oregon, to Bethel, Maine. Rally America competitors reach speeds of well over 100 mph in modified street-legal cars on natural-terrain courses of gravel, dirt or snow. Additionally, through a partnership with ESPN, qualifying Rally America drivers are invited to compete in the Summer X Games, the annual leading action-sport event that is broadcast worldwide live on ABC and ESPN. For more information, visit www.rally-america.com. For further information contact: Oregon Trail Rally Chairman: Matt Tabor, 503-638-7373 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Oregon Trail Rally Media Officer: Robert Mahony, 503-987-0323 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Rally America Director: J.B Niday, 763-553-2742 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Rally America Marketing/Media: Ananda Siverts, 206-302-8289 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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