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The cross promotion of Rally in the modern Motorsports world.
As a background in the last month I have attended a Colorado Hill Climb Association event, an AMA Motocross, and while on vacation stumbled upon a KTM adventure ride/rally raid. At the two motorcycle events I did spend a considerable amount of time talking with other spectators and competitors about their sport, the event, and the sport of rally.
A couple things became very evident during these discussions.
1) Most motor crossers were very un aware about rally or that there was in fact rallying in North America outside of Rally Mexico.
2) The motor crossers that did know about rally generally speaking thought rally was kind of boring, when I showed them some pictures and video clips from US events they all quickly changed their tune and thought it was the greatest thing ever after motor cross.
3) At the adventure ride/rally raid almost every single person there knew about the WRC, BRC, Baja 1000 (there were factory supported Baja competitors there), and Cross Country Rally Raid (the factory Dakar bikes where on display). Almost every single person had no idea that rallies were held in the US. There was a group of riders from Maine all hailing from the Rumford area in addition to a group from Lancaster CA that claimed to be regular riders in the Angeles Forests that had no idea about rallies and closed our conversations with questions about the events and how to get involved and/or attending them.
These guys rode or towed motorcycles across the country to ride for 8 hours to pay KTM money they would disclose to me. This deal was big enough for 5 count them 5 KTM box trucks or semi?s to be onsite.
From just brief discussions there seems to be a huge amount of cross application of interest and a huge potential for cross promotion of sport (how many rally enthusiasts are into dirt biking or cycle racing?). As both NASA and Rally America try to further promote and grow their respective series in addition to the sport of Rally it seems as though a large segment of people that could be readily won over to rally are being overlooked. These are passionate people and represent a highly desirable demographic that could certainly bring in more competitors but help elevate the profile and marketability of rally to help fund the growing of the sport.
Discuss as you see fit.
The cross promotion of Rally in the modern Motorsports world.
As a background in the last month I have attended a Colorado Hill Climb Association event, an AMA Motocross, and while on vacation stumbled upon a KTM adventure ride/rally raid. At the two motorcycle events I did spend a considerable amount of time talking with other spectators and competitors about their sport, the event, and the sport of rally.
A couple things became very evident during these discussions.
1) Most motor crossers were very un aware about rally or that there was in fact rallying in North America outside of Rally Mexico.
2) The motor crossers that did know about rally generally speaking thought rally was kind of boring, when I showed them some pictures and video clips from US events they all quickly changed their tune and thought it was the greatest thing ever after motor cross.
3) At the adventure ride/rally raid almost every single person there knew about the WRC, BRC, Baja 1000 (there were factory supported Baja competitors there), and Cross Country Rally Raid (the factory Dakar bikes where on display). Almost every single person had no idea that rallies were held in the US. There was a group of riders from Maine all hailing from the Rumford area in addition to a group from Lancaster CA that claimed to be regular riders in the Angeles Forests that had no idea about rallies and closed our conversations with questions about the events and how to get involved and/or attending them.
These guys rode or towed motorcycles across the country to ride for 8 hours to pay KTM money they would disclose to me. This deal was big enough for 5 count them 5 KTM box trucks or semi?s to be onsite.
From just brief discussions there seems to be a huge amount of cross application of interest and a huge potential for cross promotion of sport (how many rally enthusiasts are into dirt biking or cycle racing?). As both NASA and Rally America try to further promote and grow their respective series in addition to the sport of Rally it seems as though a large segment of people that could be readily won over to rally are being overlooked. These are passionate people and represent a highly desirable demographic that could certainly bring in more competitors but help elevate the profile and marketability of rally to help fund the growing of the sport.
Discuss as you see fit.