Rally America drivers pleased by Rangely course, community

By Pat Turner
[email protected]
RANGELY | Rally America, “the premier rally championship in the United States,” was in Rangely July 20-22
According to their website, “The eight-event Rally America National Championship stops at venues across the country, from Portland, Ore., to Newry, Maine. Rally America competitors can reach speeds of well over 100 mph in modified street cars on natural-terrain courses consisting of gravel, dirt or snow over a course covering hundreds of miles.”
The Rally has not been in Colorado since 2009 but Konnie Billgren, Rangely Chamber director, contacted them and orchestrated the Rangely event.
“The town is awesome and the people were awesome,” one of the drivers said. One hundred sixteen local volunteers helped make the race a success.
Some drivers said the course was more rocky than other places they’ve raced, but “good once you got up to speed.”
Another driver remarked, “This course has some of the best stages I’ve seen.”
David Brown of Littleton, Colo., and his co-driver Michael Brown from Lonetree, Colo., were the race winners. (See the video at theheraldtimes.com)
The teammates are brothers and the younger one is the driver. They have been rally racing for about a year and a half now. A couple of years ago the brothers decided to strip down Michael’s daily driver Subaru and turn it into a rally race car. Now David has been crowned “the new king of Rally Colorado” and his name will be added to the cup. The previous winners of Rally Colorado were Andrew Comrie Picard, 2009 (Canada); Travis Pastrana, 2008 (USA); Ken Block, 2007 (USA), Travis Pastrana, 2006 (USA); and Pat Richard, 2005 (Canada). You can find more information about them @4racerdave on Facebook, where Dave wrote, “First place overall!!! Holy cow! Mike and I are amazed by the whole experience and we’re still just letting it all sink in. What an amazing experience. Thanks Flatirons Tuning, Advanced Clutch Technology, GFB, BA Ingenuity LLC and my awesome crew! Shonali, Melissa, Heather and Gregg, you guys are awesome!”
Rally America will be returning to Rangely next year, and the event organizer said, “they will start planning that next week.”