Richfield, MINNESOTA -- Niday Rallysport was a bit disappointed with their result in the first event of this year’s Sports Car Club of America ProRally series, Sno*Drift, held in Atlanta, Michigan. Driver J. B. Niday (of Richfield, Minnesota) and co-driver Allan Kintigh (of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota) finished 6th in the Group 2 category in their 1986 Volkswagen GTI, 28th overall.

"We are disappointed with our results", said Niday, "but we stuck to our plan and stayed out of the snowbanks. Given that there were many more entries at Sno*Drift this year, we feel that we did better than our previous attempts at this event. Last year we were 27th overall and 4th in Group 2 but with fewer cars in our class, and in 1999 we barely finished at all after rolling the Ford Fiesta".

"The roads were glare ice, almost like driving on a hockey rink", said Kintigh. "With 36 cars starting ahead of us, the ice was pretty well polished by the time we reached the stage roads. We did manage to stay out of the snowbanks this year, however".

Niday continued, "The VW worked great all weekend; no repairs are necessary before Al drives it at the Headwaters ClubRally in May".

In the meantime, Niday Rallysport will put their effort to finishing off their new car, another 1986 VW GTI, but more highly modified to meet the rigors of rally-racing. The new car, which should be ready for the Oregon Trail ProRally in early April, will have considerable engine modifications, aimed primarily at low end torque so the car will be able to accelerate quicker out of corners. The suspension is also getting an upgrade, going from off-the-shelf shock absorbers to a custom-tuned spring and shock combination.

The new GTI will make its public debut at the Greater Minneapolis and St. Paul Auto Show in March. The team hopes to introduce a new sponsor for the car at the show at that time. The Niday Rallysport VW will be part of the Land O’ Lakes Region SCCA display. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Auto Show will be held from March 3rd through 11th at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Last year, Niday and Kintigh ran their first full season in the Sports Car Club of America’s ProRally series. They were able to get familiar with their car and with some of the courses around the United States where ProRallies are held. They did not expect to be in a four way battle to take the National Championship in Group 2, a class for two-wheel drive cars with engines under 2.4 liters. When all the points were tallied after the D&N Bank Lake Superior ProRally in October, the final event of the season, Niday and Kintigh finished second in the Group 2 category. They were especially pleased because their VW was fairly stock, with only safety and suspension modifications.

Niday was presented with another award recently (January 19th) by members of the Land O’ Lakes Region of the SCCA. He was chosen for the Skogmo Memorial Award, given to the "Most Improved Driver" in the region. It was the first time that the award, named for race driver Don Skogmo who died in a racing accident, has been presented to a rally driver.

More details on the SCCA ProRally series may be found at the SCCA web site: http://www.sccaprorally.org

Details on Niday Rallysport may be found at:
http://www.NidayRallysport.com