(By Gonzalo “Gonzo” San Miguel, SCCA® RallyCross® Board (RXB) Chair)

This month I’d like to talk about the 2025 SCCA® National Convention that took place in January, along with what SCCA RallyCross® has going on for 2025. I know the RallyCross Board is excited for what’s to come this year, so let’s get to it.

With the SCCA National Convention, RallyCross had three dedicated sessions along with a shared session presenting yearly RallyCross awards. The first session was the RallyCross Town Hall where the upcoming truck class was the primary conversation. Next was the shared awards session where the RallyCross Board presented the Region (Arizona), Division (Central), Dirty Cup (ZB Lorenc), and Spark Plug (Jennifer Samardak) awards. A couple of days later, we had the “Future Classing Discussion” session where we got a bit more in depth with the truck class. Finally, the session for “Best Practices for a Divisional Challenge” was on the final day of the Convention. I quickly went through an outline of the differences between a Regional event and what is needed for a Divisional Challenge.

The RallyCross Board has items on its agenda that most people know about, although there are a few behind-the-scenes items that are being worked on for 2025. As you hopefully know by now, we are having five Divisional Challenges this year. Feb. 22-23 saw the Southern Pacific Divisional Challenge in Camp Verde, AZ. Then there’s the June 14-15 event, which is the Midwest Divisional Challenge, in Billings, OK; June 28-29 is the Southeast Divisional Challenge in Hollytree, AL; Aug. 30-31 is the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge in Cottageville, WV; and Nov. 8-9 is the Central Divisional Challenge in Shullsburg, WI.

Here's one of the items that people might not be aware of: As a bonus, class winners of a Divisional Challenge will be eligible for Tier 1 entry into the RallyCross National Championship. Winners from any Divisional Challenge held after the National Championship event will be eligible for Tier 1 registration for the following year’s National Championship. So, if a Divisional Challenge is held in November of 2025 (which one is), the winners will be eligible for Tier 1 registration at the 2026 RallyCross National Championship. The exception to this is the 2025 Great Lakes Divisional Challenge – that event takes place after registration for the RallyCross National Championship opens on July 23, so event winners from the Great Lakes event will receive Tier 1 registration priority for the 2026 National Championship event.  

Another big change in 2025 for RallyCross is the letter system used to make inquiries, change requests, and new rule requests. Solo® has been using this system for years, so if you’ve used it for Solo, it will be the same for RallyCross. Under the RallyCross rules page on SCCA.com, there’s a link to the rules making process that will explain the procedure for submitting your requests.

Truck, Event Supps, and More

The truck class rules are another big endeavor. The idea for the truck class is to increase RallyCross participation by targeting a new class of popular vehicles that has largely been excluded from competition. The current rule set has been taken from multiple sanctioning bodies and the Tennessee Valley Region to try to create what we’re looking for. We’re trying to be mindful to make the rules work as intended and not make the class too costly or extreme.

Taking the opinions from the public is a very important part of this process as the RallyCross Board is making the class for you, not us. Trucks can run in any of the current classes, so this is looking to be an exhibition class for 2025 and a full class in 2026.

The supplemental rules used for Divisional Challenges and the RallyCross National Championship will be added into the main rules for 2026, as a separate section, so that the supps will mostly just cover rules for the event venue. Also on the Divisional Challenges, the competition committee will be working on a master planning spreadsheet that will offer a full view of how to run a National event from start to finish. The idea behind this is to make all National events flow the same no matter which Region is hosting.

I’m probably missing a few things, but the RallyCross Board would like you all to know that we are working hard to make your RallyCross experience the best that it can be.

Remember that you’re always welcome to send us feedback or new ideas at RXB@scca.com. With your help, we can make this fantastic sport even better.

 Photo by Langlee King Clark