GOLDEN VALLEY, MN -- With the opening stage set to run on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 in arid Palmdale, California — located in Southern California's Antelope Valley in the far northeastern reaches of Los Angeles County — final preparations are being made to the rally machines that will take to gravel sweeping the roads of the high desert community and, a few days later, invade the 35,000-seat Home Depot Center in West Los Angeles as part of the 2006 Summer X Games.

The first form of auto motorsport to be invited to be a part of the X Games, the Rally America-sanctioned event has drawn a fantastic field of drivers and machinery. Amongst the marquise names of the inaugural event will be 1995 World Rally Champion Colin McRae and his co-driver, Nicky Grist. The duo will enter the fray in a 24-karat gold-colored Subaru WRX Sti backed by SoBe/No Fear/Gold. McRae and Grist will also receive assistance from Subaru USA, Vermont SportsCar and B.F. Goodrich in their quest to snag the Summer X gold medal.

While a series of natural terrain stages will be held at an off-site location in the aforementioned Palmdale, California, the X Games rally contingent will then pull up stakes, drive south, and set up its big top at the Home Depot Center in L.A. Normally a soccer stadium, the infield and parking lots of the Home Deport Center will be transformed into a sinuous racetrack comprised of 4,690 feet of asphalt, 1000 feet of dirt and two 160-foot dirt ramps (one leaving and the other entering the stadium). All things considered, the rally circuit will be 5850 feet in total. The Summer X Games Rally finale will be held — and aired on live national television on the ABC TV Network — on Saturday afternoon, August 5.

“I’m really excited about coming over to the U.S. to participate in the Summer X-Games,” says McRae. "To be part of the first X-Games that includes a rally element will be special and I’m looking forward to matching myself against the Rally America regulars. For sure the format of this one-off event will be different to anything I have been involved with before, but I’m keen to do everything possible to raise the profile of rallying in the US and with the guarantee of large crowds and live TV coverage, this is an ideal opportunity to do just that.”