MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- The premiere national rally series in the United States has grown to nine events, with two new additions. The 2006 Rally America calendar will include Missouri’s 100 Acre Wood early in the year and Nevada’s Reno Rally will close the series, extending the season into December.

The 100 Acre Wood rally now stands as the second event of the year, taking place in February as early spring ripples through the Ozark foothills of Missouri. "The roads at this event are fantastic," says Rally America spokesman J.B. Niday.

Series organizers say they were looking to add a race to close a long gap between races at the beginning of the season and this flagship regional rally was an obvious choice. Previously, there were nearly four months between the winter season opener in Michigan, Sno*Drift, and the next event, Oregon Trail.

The other welcome addition to the series is the Reno Rally, which takes place on the high desert roads of Nevada in early December. "Reno is one of those events that has been just sitting there waiting to happen for several years," Niday says.

The championship will also bid farewell to Pikes Peak, an event that hasn’t been a good fit with the rally series. Organizers working with the famed hill climb have tried to expand the event into a rally with the addition of traditional stage miles, but it has not been a success. "Pikes Peak just isn't a rally. Period," says Niday. "The truth of the matter is all any of us really want to do is drive up the mountain."

Although the hill climb won’t count for points in the series, Niday says he expects some rally competitors will continue to take on the challenge.

2006 Rally America Championship:

Sno*Drift: January 27-28
100 Acre Wood: February 24-25
Oregon Trail: April 21-23
Susquehannock Trail Rally: June 3
Maine Forest Rally: July 28-29
Ojibwe Forests Rally: August 25-26
Colorado Cog: September 23-24
Lake Superior Rally: October 20-21
Reno Rally: December 1-2

Minneapolis-based Rally America, Inc. holds the sanctioning and marketing rights to the Rally America Championship.

For further information:
J.B. Niday, Managing Director, Rally America, Inc. Tel: +1.763.553.2742, jbniday@rally-america.com www.rally-america.com