Chillicothe — If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to ramp Back Road at Borland’s Crossing, you can watch that tonight…repeatedly
The 2024 “Southern Ohio Forest Rally” starts in Chillicothe’s Yoctangee Park, continues in Shawnee State Forest on Friday, and in McArthur and Zaleski State Forest on Saturday.
Brent Short, who does public relations and news media for the rally, says 61 teams will race on park streets from Baseball Diamond No. 1 to Back Road near Kopp Street. He says drivers will kick off the weekend race by zooming through the one-mile “stage” in only 30 to 40 seconds.
He says the hump in the road is tempting, but some drivers won’t risk damage in the “send” at Borland’s Crossing, and will instead race faster through the rest of the rally.
That involves park roads in Scioto County Friday, another exposé in McArthur on Saturday, and then finishes on park roads in Vinton County.
The events starts calmly at 5:30pm tonight off Yoctangee Boulevard in Chillicothe with an “exposé” in the Chillicothe High School north parking lot, to allow a close look at the cars – and to possibly get inside them.
Then the actual racing starts at 8pm, running about an hour. Food and merchandise will be available.
Short says most of the rally members are local, so they work for the benefit of local counties and promote the rally style of racing, which is different from the typical American stadium racing.
Hear him in his own words in the below video interview.
The Southern Ohio Forest Rally has a Facebook page, and a website with a downloadable “spectator guide.”
