OpenPaddock RallyCast

As most of you know, I’ve been around rallying for over a decade, but oddly it wasn’t until last month that I competed in my first ever TSD rally. Fellow Oregon Trail Rally organizer Mike Nagle wrangled me into joining him for the iconic Nor’Wester Auto Rally put on by the Rainier Auto Sports Club. Although I had a general understanding of TSDs, I had no idea just how challenging and enjoyable the...

This is part 2 of our stories from the 2021 Ojibwe Forests Rally. After the event we caught up with Mark Piatkowski who explains his crazy 1.8 second win over Ele Bardha and his hopes for a national championship. We then chatted with co-driver Steven Harrell about his 3rd place in the hotly contested regional overall, as well as his earlier adventure in the desert with Ryan Millen. Finally we brin...

This is Part 1 of our chats from the Ojibwe Forests Rally 2021, and in this episode we caught up with Stephen and Katie Gingras about their close fight for the regional overall, and we get a taste of what LSPR is going to look like. I also introduce you to Derek Johnson Love, a longtime supporter of Open Paddock, and now taking  on a larger role behind the scenes to make the RallyCast sound better...

In this episode we chat with driver Dylan Gondyke. Dylan started out crewing, but that was short lived as once he saw stage rallying with his own eyes, he needed to do it himself. He tells us about learning AWD and crashing his co-driver’s car, his dramatic first event at NEFR 2019 that defined everything we love about the rally community, and how just two years later he and Ben Chuong are regular...

In this nearly two months late episode, I chatted with Danny Norkus who’s had a fantastic season so far including his first ever overall win at Colorado earlier this year with Travis Nease as well as a 2nd in class at SOFR with Chris Greenhouse. I also caught up with reigning Eastern Regional Limited 2WD class champion Santiago Iglesias right after his Southern Ohio win, and it turns out he's got...

We bring back our good friends Alex and Rhianon Gelsomino which is now an all Subaru family.  In this episode we discuss their recent vacation travels, review their experiences from the Olympus Rally, and delve into what to expect as challenges at SOFR this weekend. We also take a tangent into the WRC which was in Sardegna last weekend, where Rhianon shares the humorous tale of a long ride on, not...

We caught up with Krista Skucas after a dominant win at the Mike Nagle Regional Rally co-driving for Derik Nelson in the Nordic Motorsports BRZ. We chatted about the event and it's new stages, a dramatic moment that almost ended it all, as well as how she got started co-driving. 

Part 3 of the 100 Acre Wood review, it's all about NA4WD.  We kick it off with regional overall winners Ryan and Rachel Rethy who had a fabulous run with some extremely close competition. Then it's Co-Driver Katie Gingras  who with driver Chuck Surdyke was battling the Rethy's until they got a little over ambitious into a fast left hander. And finally it's a chat with Arek Bialobrzeski about his k...

It's our 100th episode! We start our chat with current ARA champion Barry McKenna who gives us all the details on his World Rally Car and all the changes they did to have it meet ARA regulations.  It's always a treat to be joined by Martin Brady.  100 Acre Wood didn't go so well for he and Seamus, but their speed was remarkable. Then it's co-driver Cameron Carr with some stories about recce and wh...

In this show we chatted with a bevy of 2WD competitors including National 2WD winners Michael Hooper and Kevin Allen, 2nd in National Limited 2WD Ryan Sanders, 2nd overall Regional and 2WD class winner Steve Olona, and 3rd overall Regional 2nd in 2WD Al Dantes Jr.     Be sure to follow these competitors at their social media links below: River City Rally Team Tower City Race Team Verve Racing GoSP...

In this episode we chatted with Dr. "Koz" - Michele Kozimor, Dr. Barbara Prince, and Emalie Rell about a study they're doing about the culture of rally racing in North America. A long time Subaru fan, Michele had never been to a rally until a friend called about a bunch of Subarus running around Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.  That visit to STPR and her interaction with teams, fans, and volunteers inspi...

In this last segment from Sno*Drift 2021 we chatted with Limited 4WD competitor Travis Nease, Co-Drivers Alex and Rhianon Gelsomino, and finish off with a talk with American Rally Association's Competition Director Preston Osborn about the choice to use RallySafe and how different it is running an event with this new tool.

In this episode we chatted with three of the youngest talents that competed at SnoDrift and all of them had podium results. Cian McCormack comes from a family with a strong rallying history and SnoDrift was his first national event. The youngest of the three at 17, Patrick Gruszka is the son of well known privateer Art Gruszka and is beginning to blaze his own path. We also had Patrick's co-driver...

Okay, maybe Winners and Binners is a bit harsh, but indeed that's what happened with the guests in part 1 of our Sno*Drift rally review.  The father daughter team of Stephen and Katie Gingras have shown impressive performance at other events, but unfortunately the icy conditions caught out the #12 NA4WD Subaru.  If it was slick for 4WD machinery, just imagine what it was like for a RWD Subaru BRZ!...

In this episode we speak with the Marketing Director of ARA Jeremy Meyer about their new changes including the addition of RallySafe and their media partnership with Dirtfish.  We also chat with Dirtfish Media's Trevor Wert about their new role, and with Kelsey Steven's of Cooper Autoworks who's also going to be at Sno*Drift with a small media team.  This is looking to be one of the best covered S...

In this episode we talk to a couple of grassroots competitors. Brothers James and Ryan Pryzbylkowski are newer to the sport from the competition side, but have been spectating rallies for several years until they had the opportunity and means to finally build cars of their own.   It's a fun chat about how they first learned about rallying and what it's like to do that first event.   Follow Vilko M...

In this episode we chat with one of our favorite WRC reporters, Colin Clark.  Colin gives us his thoughts on the upcoming Monte Carlo Rally, what it's like to ride in one of the newest generation Hyundai i20 WRC's at speed, and the upcoming 2022 regulations.  Be sure to also stick around for the end where we introduce a new segment we're calling "The View From the Right Seat" where this time we ha...

Happy New Year listeners!  In this episode Co-Driver Alex Kihurani chats with us about the challenges of their condensed 2020 WRC3 season, working with the FIA's new Rally Star driver program and how sim racing plays a part, getting used to the speeds of Rally2 machinery, and the exciting plans he and Sean have for the 2021 season which starts in just a few weeks.  After what we heard, you'll defi...

In this show Alex and Rhianon discuss their pandemic shortened 2020 season and how what started out as quite the blow to their business and livelihood, suddenly opened a new opportunity when Rhianon got the call co-driver for Travis Pastrana in the #199 Subaru. We also talk about how American rally rules encourage good sportsmanship vs. other places in the world, and how Alex and Ken used that to...

In Part 2 of our Olympus review show, we conclude our interview with Regional overall winner Dave Clark, and then provide some thoughts and insight from our commentary crew which includes our host Mike Shaw, rally photographer Tedrick Mealy, and recently announced 2020 Eastern Regional Open 2WD champion co-driver, Kelsey Stephens of Cooper Autoworks.  

In this episode we welcome a man who's smile we didn't think could get any bigger, but then he won the overall regional in his BMW E36 M3.  It isn't often a 2WD car can make it to an overall podium, let alone an all out win, especially in the dumping rain and slippery conditions that Olympus 2020 had on offer.  Mike Shaw and guests hosts Kelsey Stephens and Tedrick Mealy find out how he was able t...

In this episode we welcome back friend of the RallyCast Preston Osborn. After toasting to his new role as ARA's new Series Competition Director, we chat about what interested him in taking up the new position, areas he plans on focusing first, and what his recent skills as a team manager and competitor at O.D.D. Racing can bring to the sanctioning body's management team. From there  we delve deep...

With Rally Colorado this weekend we wanted to get a quick preview out to all of you so you'll know what these competitors will be facing.  We called up Travis Nease and Dan Norkus to give us an idea of what the roads are like, what they think of the hefty entry list of competitors, and what their plan of attack is being 3rd on the road in a new car.

We didn't have any special guests this week, although we think we're all a little bit special in our own way.  In this episode Mike, Ian, Kelsey, and Calvin chat about numerous subjects including socially distanced rallying, dealing with high temps, and what we think of one day rallies for national championship rounds. We also chat about the rest of the world starting to rally again, WRC cars runn...

It's rally week!! With the American Rally Association's national championship restarting, we caught up with event Chairman Jeremiah Johnson and ARA Marketing and Media Director Jeremy Meyer.  We get a quick preview of the roads, weather, competition, ways to follow, and how they'll be running a socially distanced championship event. 📸 by iHeartfast