Midwest Rally Media

Rally Minnesota

2011-05-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

By: Adam Schreiner

Hello Rally Enthusiasts!!

Its almost that time for rally rally rally.

Remember!!

May 20-21
Park Rapids, Minnesota

The Rally Headquarters for this event will be based at the following address.

C'mon Inn (Rally Headquarters)
1009 First Street East

FYI, the C'mon Inn Hotel is in fact booked to capacity. If you have not figured out you're sleeping situation, may god be with you ;) No No, you can check out the following hotels here.

AmericInn

Park Rapids Super8

For all other info, as far as check in times for competitors/workers/spectators, please visit:
Rally Minnesota

Have a fun time and get out there!!

Land O' Lakes Annual Tech Day and Open House

2011-04-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

By: Adam Schreiner

As posted by Carrie Carlson via Facebook:

TIME: Sunday, April 17 · 9:00am - 2:00pm

PLACE: Westside VW
2370 Minnesota 100
St. Louis Park, MN 55416-1684
(952) 377-4100

INFO: "At this event you can:

Get an Annual Tech for your Race car.

Get a technical inspection for your Time Trial car.

Talk to tech inspectors about running your Chump Car in SCCA events.

Learn about participating in race, time trial, solo, rally and rallycross events happening within our region.

Learn about volunteer opportunities at LOL and Snow States events. Representitives from several areas will be available to explain their area of expertise: Flagging, Tech inspection, Timing and Scoring and Rescue to name a few. Our rescue chief will be demonstrating our new rescue equipment.

Learn about the 2011 Land O' Lakes Championship Series for Road Racing and Time Trials.

Get details about the BIR SCCA accredited Competition school.

Questions or suggestions?

Contact Tom Fuehrer @ racer_tom_95@yahoo.com"

Be sure to check this event out on FACEBOOK

Tax Brake RallyX

2011-04-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

By: Adam Schreiner

Hello everyone!
Some of you may be asking yourselves, where have the updates been!? I've been asking this myself. I took a two month hiatus. New job has me relocated, and has been making it difficult to cover events. I did make it home to cover the SCCA Land 'O Lakes RallyX!

Cannon Falls, Minnesota was the location of the Tax Brake RallyX. This rally was about as rock solid as they come. It was a great turnout, great competition. The weather was fair, party cloudy, winds at 5-10mph. At times very windy, with a temp around 55 degrees. The mood of the day was energetic! Most of the competitors are Minnesota residents, the warm spring breeze was keeping people in high spirits! 80% of the snow from the winter months had melted, leaving the track muddy underneath a few inches of tacky top soil that the warm sun had created. Course changes had to be made mid day due to the mud. Surprisingly, after ruts were created, the mud below was sticky, but very thick. Causing cars to, at times get too much traction. In some cases it was ballet on two wheels!

Here I have a photo I captured from the event. Be sure to click the image to visit the Flickr Gallery posted.

MNSubaru.com - 2010 Toys for Tots Drive

2010-11-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

By: Adam Schreiner

Now, you know the holidays are upon us when the wind is blowing snow, and the sun sets at 3:30 in the afternoon. Another way you know, is when MnSubaru.com does their Toys for Tots Drive!! Come join the members of MnSubaru, when they meet at the television studios of Kare11. Donating unwrapped toys for less fortunate children.

Here is the info!

When: December 18th, Saturday A.M. broadcast
Where: Kare11, (8811 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley)

Click HERE for more INFO

Connect with people who are attending on FACEBOOK

MaxAttack! Championship Helps to Revive “Oldest, Toughest, Meanest” Lake Superior Performance Rally

2010-11-26T19:17:00.000-08:00

Story by Jerry Winker

The rally tradition lives on in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as last year there were concerns over the fate of the Lake Superior Performance Rally, the infamous “Oldest, toughest, meanest” rally in the U.S. At the close of Rally-America’s season last year it was announced that three events would be cut from the 2010 Rally-America national schedule (Ojibwe Forests Rally in Minnesota, Rally Colorado and the Lake Superior Performance Rally) partially as a cost-cutting measure, but also as a way to have the series end prior to the X Games where many of the four-wheel drive Subaru WRXs, Mitsubishi Evos and Ford Fiestas compete. In years past, as many teams decided to run the first half of the season in an attempt to qualify for X Games in July, typically the numbers were reduced once August rolled around.

Ojibwe Forests Rally was run, but as a small two-day event using the same three stages in both directions all done in the late afternoon or evening. The Rally Colorado group threw in the towel as they chose not to attempt to run their event as a regional. The Lake Superior rally organizers made the decision to continue on with the tradition, but were concerned about whether this might have an impact on spectators and general business to the city of Houghton.

Enter Eric Burmeister, the head of the MaxAttack! Championship for two-wheel drive rally cars. Eric has been a long-time friend of the U.S. rally scene who loves rallying in the U.P. and used to crew for his dad (when the rally was known as the Press On Regardless) before becoming a driver himself back in 1996. Eric DID NOT want to see the fate of a historic rally fall by the wayside and get relegated to regional status, so he chose to have it as the final event of three for the MaxAttack! Championship. With the help from sponsorship from Danza del Sol Winery in Temecula Valley, California, the series had $15,000 to be divided amongst the top drivers in the U.S. for this round. The first two events were held in Oregon and Maine with the final round, and Championship, happening at LSPR in conjunction with the regular regional event. This helped boost the field to over 40 cars for an event that otherwise may have had only half that number of entries. The Ojibwe Forests Rally, which normally boasted large fields when it was a regular Rally-America national event, only had 21 starters this year.

A number of stages that are normally run on day two of the event were cancelled weeks before the event due to landowner issues over a non-rally related lawsuit. This put a damper on running some of the usual stages like Burma and Gratiot Lake and the reasoning to still run Delaware Mine and Brockway Mountain just wasn’t there. Therefore the rally was scaled back to a one day, ten stage event. In most cases, this didn’t deter the number of entries. (Hey, after all this is LSPR, right?)

The master of the Lake Superior Performance Rally is Doug Shepherd who had lead the event overall on a regular basis in the 90’s always to be thwarted with troubles late in the second day on three occasions. He had never won the event after some fierce driving. Doug was back and running in his very fast Dodge SRT-4. Last year, as you may recall, Lauchlin O’Sullivan borrowed Doug’s car to win the MaxAttack! Championship when the final round was run at Ojibwe. This year Lauchlin rented the 2007 Group 5 Championship winning Dodge SRT-4 of Cary Kendall to drive. Eric Burmeister himself entered his Mazda Speed 3 and was there to lurk if the first two made mistakes. The nice thing about LSPR is it’s not a horsepower race as there are twisty sections which can keep the usually slower Group 2 cars at an even pace. Canada’s Jan Zedril runs rapid in his Misubishi Lancer ES, as does Chris Greenhouse (Dodge Neon), Cody Crane (Honda CRX), Brian Gottleib (Toyota FX-16) and Silas Himes (Honda Civic).

Stages one and two were run on the outer edge of Houghton in the Moyle gravel pit. After those stages only eight seconds separated the SRT-4s of O’Sullivan and Shepherd with Burmeister only another second back. Greenhouse, Crane, Zedril and Himes were all seconds apart in that order. Jim Scray and his ageless Datsun 510 put together two clean runs to end up eighth with Colin McCleery (Merkur XR4Ti) and Brian Gottleib (Toyota FX-16) right behind. A sadly notable DNF was the Chevy S10 of Jim Cox who snapped the left-front suspension just a mile into stage one. After those two stages, less than a half minute separated the top ten before they headed out to the forest sections!

On stage three, the fast but rough Herman stage, Silas Himes caught a little too much air and the car started to rotate before the landing. When it came down the left front suspension got bent and dug into the soft mud at the edge of the road causing the car to spin backwards. Himes’ run for a top ten finish was pretty much almost all but over as the car limped through the next stage and a half before the next service.

After four stages, the cars were reseeded at L’Anse service. Shepherd now had grabbed the lead from O’Sullivan who was now evenly tied for second with Greenhouse. Zedril continued to pick off his competitors and had just made his way past Crane and Burmeister on stage four. Matt Bushore showed his dominance by making up many positions on the forest roads and was now in seventh in his VW Jetta. Scray and McCleery held onto their positions with the freshly-built BMW 325i of Scott Sanford now up to tenth.

Sadly, Sanford’s rapid rise up the leader board ended with a fast off on the next stage. The car was allowed to continue, but was scored as a DNF for the remainder of the event. Also, on that same stage Cody Crane’s CRX was out with a blown tranny and the Ford Escort of Paul Donlin had major electrical issues after fording a huge water-puddle near the stage’s end. On stage six, Greenhouse lost two positions moving Zedril into third and Burmeister into fourth.
After seven stages, the order was now Shepherd, O’Sullivan (fifty-two seconds back), Zedril, Burmeister and Greenhouse for the top five. Bushore was now up to sixth with Scray in seventh and McCleery in eighth. Mike Merbach was now in ninth in his VW Jetta with the VW Beetle of John Huebbe in tenth. Next up was the Bob Lake stage which hadn’t been run in a few years but is a favorite of many of the regulars who had run here in years past.

Near the midpoint of the stage, while still leading, Shepherd had a big off that smashed the left rear corner of the car. Shepherd lost about a half-minute extracting himself, but still managed to lose just one second to O’Sullivan on that particular stage.

In the end Shepherd won the race with O’Sullivan taking second. However, O’Sullivan won the MaxAttack! Championship based on overall points combined from all three events. Zedril, Burmeister and Greenhouse held onto their positions for the top five. Bushore, Scray and Merbach all maintained their positions as well. Moving up two positions on the final stage was Silas Himes whose broad slide amused the hordes of fans at the last spectator location. Colin McCleery had important duties to attend to back home and had to miss the final two stages, however a rarely-used rule was used and Mike Hurst was able to fill in the spot so the team could finish.

The final point standings for the series had O’Sullivan at the top with 57 points. Eric Burmeister, who took second with 46 points, did a gentlemanly thing by donating his winnings back to the series to see the MaxAttack! Series grow for 2011 and beyond. Though Shepherd had only competed in one MA! event all year he still had enough points (35 points) for third. Brian Gottleib, who struggled with his new car in the late going at LSPR was fourth (32 points) and Jan Zedril (30 points) took fifth.

At the time of this writing in mid-November, the 2011 MaxAttack! Series schedule had not been set, however it’s looking somewhat positive that next year’s final event will hopefully be LSPR with discussions on the other events still up in the air.

LSPR was also a regionally run Rally-America event and the overall event winner was Roman Pakos in his Subaru WRX with Shepherd taking second with O’Sullivan in third. It was also the Regional Rally Championship Runoffs. That portion of the event was won by Jan Zedril in his Mistubishi Lancer, with David Allen’s Subaru WRX taking third and Matt Bushore’s VW Jetta taking third.

The status of next year’s LSPR is still in the air as it is not on the 2011 National schedule again for Rally-America. Organizers are debating whether to continue at this point as several have decided to throw in the towel. Others have been coming forward at this point to volunteer to keep the event alive, however next year’s rally is still eleven months away. Some interest has been noted at looking into a different sanctioning body for 2011. Otherwise with the declining number of old stages that can be run, due to the non-rally related lawsuit mentioned earlier, will new sections be used by the new organizers or is it just time to let the rally go by the wayside.

Hopefully, things will stay on the positive side to keep America’s “oldest, toughest, meanest” rally going on and on. The late Jon Davis, a former competitor, sponsor and organizer who passed away this past January, would definitely want it that way.

O/A Driver / CoDriver Car Time

1 Doug Shepherd / Karen Wagner 2003 Dodge SRT 4 1:25:43.2
2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan / Scott Putnam 2004 Dodge SRT 4 1:26:40.2
3 Jan Zedril / Jody Zedril 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer ES 4B11 1:27:58.4
4 Eric Burmeister / Dave Shindle 2007 Mazda MAZDASPEED3 1:29:13.9
5 Chris Greenhouse / Brian Johnson 1995 Plymouth Neon 1:29:40.3
6 Matt Bushore / Andrew Bushore 1985 Volkswagen Jetta 1:31:00.7
7 Jim Scray / Colin Vickman 1972 Datsun 510 1:33:32.6
8 Michael Merbach / Benjamin Slocum 1996 Volkswagen Jetta 1:35:32.5
9 Silas Himes / Matt Himes 1992 Honda Civic 1:36:40.2
10 Colin McCleery / Jimmy Brandt 1985 Sierra Pikes Peak Special 1:36:58.8

Get to know Jerry Winker

2010-11-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

photo source: Tim Williams

Here's a quick bio. How's this? :

The first race I went to was the Donnybrooke Trans-Am back in 1970 at age 5. Yep, that was THEE year of the classic pony car wars and I immediately got addicted to the sport thanks to my dad. In the next few years, between the ages of 5 and 7, I got a chance to see absolute LEGENDS of the sport: Rodriguez, Cevert, Donohue, Siffert, Revson, Jones, Follmer, Elford, Hulme, etc., so you could say I got a decent intro right away to auto racing. I got my first camera at the age of seven, a Kodak Brownie Starmite, and started shooting at age 7.

In 1979 at the age of 14, I finally purchased my first 35mm camera, a Pentax KX for $150, with some paper route money. I used to borrow my dad's doubler to increase the focal length to get better shots from the front straight, or from corners 4 or 10 at Brainerd. Two years later, just after I received my driver's permit, I became SCCA member 85750. I kept shooting at more events: ice racing, autocross, rally, etc. and got better at photography over time.

I took a number of camera classes in both junior high and high school and when I went to the U of Minnesota later on, I'd been trying for a photojournalism degree before the funds just flat ran out. I did get a two-year degree at Hennepin Technical College and soon after was working at the largest photographic slide company in the Twin Cities, until they went belly-up in 1995.

I started making slideshow presentations of my racing and rally shots for the Land O' Lakes division of the SCCA just to get my name "out there". Then, in 1997, I got my first shots published in Dusty Times magazine where I still regularly have my rally reports and photos published. The next year, with the help of the head of the old Rallysport website, I had one of the first two U.S. rally photo websites online. Things suddenly took off, I started getting photos published internationally and the majority of my racing weekends were paid for from either being published or from photo sales after the event.

The cool thing about all of this is that I kept ALL of my negatives and slides from the start in boxes in my folks' basement. At present, everything from 1972 to 1987, and also 2005 to 2010, is online currently at comicozzie.com with loads more to scan. I estimate that I have 100,000+ racing images total. Yep, I'm only 45, but I've seen hundreds of racing events in my lifetime and shot the majority of them.

I'm REALLY glad that Adam took the time to get a locally based website to show sports car racing activity (auto racing, rally, ice racing, auto/rally cross, etc.) in the midwest. It's been needed and I'm happy that he's enthusiastic about promoting these events with online articles and photos.

MRM Welcomes Jerry Winker!

2010-11-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

Im pleased to announce, Jerry Winker, will be playing a big part in helping/contributing to Midwest Rally Media!

I am super excited, and I hope you are too! Jerry will be sharing his work, posting blogs, and whatever he feels is necessary. So stay tuned. :)

To contact: Jerry@MidwestRallyMedia.com

T-Shirts!!

2010-11-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

By: Adam Schreiner

MRM is getting T-shirts made! If you would like to get one for yourself or a friend. Contact me at Adam@MidwestRallyMedia.com .... OR click the 'DONATE' button to purchase. (right-side of page) T-shirts will run $15.00, which will include shipping to anyone in Minnesota. Add $5.00 for shipping outside of Minnesota please!

It will be a beautiful black shirt, with a white MRM logo on the front! Deadline is Monday, Nov 22nd, so I can put the order in for the shirts!

~Thank You

Adam

Rallycross Party - Nov 11th

2010-11-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

Video by: Adam Schreiner

Big thanks to Morries Minnetonka Subaru for hosting!

WEATHER UPDATE FOR NOV 14th RALLYX

2010-11-13T09:06:00.001-08:00

By: Adam Schreiner

As most of you know, Minnesota has just been dumped on with snow. Make sure to drive safe and stay warm!

Cannon Falls, MN has reported 7" of snow as of 9:00am on Saturday Nov.13th. And expected to receive more!!!

HIGH
37°F

Precip
60%

Wind:	From W at 16 mph
Humidity:	78%
UV Index:	1 Low


Sunrise:	7:07 AM CT
Avg. High:	40°F
Record High:	72°F (1990)

2°F (1990)

Be sure to dress warm.

Dirty Jack-O-Lantern Give-Away

2010-11-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

By: Adam Schreiner

Oh yes, HUUGE give-away! ;) During the Dirty Jack-O-Lantern Rallycross, I will be raffling off this Midwest Rally Media ballcap.

To win, find the MRM booth, there will be a big jar, paper, and pens. Write you're name down, throw it in, and hope you get picked!

See you there!
Rally Rally Rally
-Adam

PS, if you want to buy one. Email me at Adam@midwestrallymedia.com

IIRA Ice Race Schedule Released

2010-11-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

By: Adam Schreiner

As Posted On: iira-icerace.org/

"IIRA is a group for sports car enthusiasts that like speed, wheel-to-wheel competition and the ultimate drifting experience. IIRA provides low cost seat time for drivers in a wheel-to-wheel environment on road courses in built sports cars for both a rubber-to-ice and studded tire configuration."

Season Schedule

January 8 – 9th, 2011 Garrison, Minnesota, Lake Mille Lacs

January 15 – 16th, 2011 Mankato, Minnesota, Lake Washington

January 29th – 30th, 2011 Lindstrom, Minnesota, lake is TBD

February 12 – 13th, 2011 Mankato, Minnesota, Lake Washington

February 19th – 20th, 2011 saved for Thunderbay, Ontario, Lake Superior

February 26th – 27th, 2011 Garrison, Minnesota, Lake Mille Lacs

March 19th, Banquet, TBD

If you have any questions regarding IIRA Ice Racing, contact: IIRAIceRace@gmail.com

Hope to see you out there!

Morries Minnetonka Subaru Rally Cross Party

2010-11-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

By: Adam Schreiner

As Posted on MnSubaru.com

"Morries Minnetonka Subaru is proud to sponsor our last event of the season “Dirty Jack-O-Lantern” and we’re throwing on party to celebrate!

The party will be held on November 11th, 2010 at Morries Minnetonka Subaru starting at 6:30PM

We will be highlighting our first “Spirit of Rally Cross” awards! Three competitors will be awarded with “Morries Bucks certificates” that will be given away in the amount of $100, $75, and $25.

How does it work? We would like to honor three competitors from the 2010 season that have gone above and beyond by showing enthusiasm towards the sport.

Date: 11/11/10
Time: Starts at 6:30PM
Location: Morries Minnetonka Subaru
12550 Wayzata Blvd.
Minnetonka, MN55305

Schedule:
6:30-7:30PM Social hour

7:15PM- Grilled food provided by Morries Minnetonka Subaru!

8:00PM One of the “Spirit of Rally Cross“awards will be given out. The other two will be presented during the awards after the Rally Cross on November 14th

Discounts? Morries Minnetonka Subaru is offering up to 25% discount on genuine oem parts purchased during event hours!

New car questions? Please contact Scott Putnam, Fleet Sales Manager @ Morries Minnetonka Subaru by dialing 952-797-1319. www.subaru.net"

Inquiries? Please contact Event Coordinator Scott Putnam, Fleet Sales Manager @ Morries Minnetonka Subaru 952-797-1319 OR Dave Goodman, SCCA Land O’ Lakes Rally Cross Coordinator 612-408-1704

The 2010 Ojibwe Forest Rally Chili-Off

2010-11-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Ojibwe Forest Rally Chili-Off will be held in the Crane-Ordway building in Lowertown St. Paul. November 13th! 7:00PM - 11PM

281 E 5th St
St Paul, Minnesota 55101
(651) 224-4710

Entrance is on Wall St.

As stated, The Ojibwe Forest Rally committee will pay for parking, up to $4 per car. It's on the honor system, so if you park in the $2 lot behind the building, please ask for that amount.

Click the link for, MORE INFO.

I will be there, so you best be as well! Don't forget that Dirty Jack-O-Lantern RallyCross is being held the following day on November 14th in Cannon Falls!

Car 45/92 RallyCross Video!

2010-10-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

This footage was captured the day of the Oktoberfest Rallycross in Cannon Falls, MN.

-Drivers: Jesse Lang, and Brian Robin

-Car: Honda Civic Hatch, But very well could be a Subaru. ;)

Dirty Jack-O-Lantern RallyCross

2010-10-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

Coming up November 14th is the Dirty Jack-O-Lantern Rallycross. Ill be there handing out MidwestRallyMedia vinyl stickers for free! So I hope to see you there spectating, or racing!

Address of Event-
Cannon Falls

3830 325th St

Cannon Falls, MN

If you would like to enter the Rallycross, you can find info/registration at the following link.
Rallycross Info

News

2010-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed. I have added a "Donate" button to the right of the page under my Twitter Feed.

Reasoning

-To help cut cost down when traveling to rally events

-20% will be donated to MS Society

Please, Do not feel obligated to donate, but if you enjoy MRM, and you want to give to charity, it would be greatly appreciated!

-Adam

Adam@MidwestRallyMedia.com

Customer Photos

2010-10-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

I uploaded a couple new photos from the Oktoberfest RallyX last week. I will keep uploading through the week, so bookmark the Flickr Gallery!!

Oktoberfest Rallycross!

2010-10-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

Rallycross Photos!

2010-10-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Check out the new Flickr Gallery HERE!

Plus HD video of RallyCross on the way!

Oktoberfest RallyCross

2010-10-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Second to the last Rallycross this year. I will be in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on Sunday Oct. 24th. Stay tuned for new photos/videos!

-Adam

LSPR 2010

2010-10-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

New

2010-10-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

I posted a few new photos to the Flickr Gallery. Kill some time and check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midwestrally/

If you have any questions make sure to email me at:

Adam@MidwestRallyMedia.com

Have a great day!

Carl Siegler Interiew

2010-10-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

LSPR 2010 Practice

2010-10-21T16:47:00.001-07:00