About
Quick Stats:
The High Desert Trails Rally
Ridgecrest, California
Saturday, May 12, 2012!
California Rally Series Championship Event
NASA RallySport sanctioned event!
Organized by competitors Kristopher Marciniak & Christine Marciniak
Contact the organizers – rally (at) highdeserttrails.com
* One day – coefficient 3 – compact rally
* Organizer supplied stage notes
We want the High Desert Trails to be one of the best rallies in California. Great for beginners, and challenging for experienced competitors to win.
History:
The rally was originally run in 1973 by Mike Gibeault & Gary Potts. It used roads South East and West of Ridgecrest that are now mostly part of an OHV trail system or paved. In the seventies, performance rallies were setup much like brisk TSD’s (a time speed distance rally with a high or unobtainable average speed on twisty dirt roads) and the rally was scored by checkpoints along the route. These rallies would run for hundreds of miles and usually all night. Sometimes workers didn’t make it to the control and there have been many stories of getting to the finish and not having anyone there to check you in, workers asleep, etc. Roads were not closed and on-coming traffic was a general problem. It is unknown to us at this time the complete number of times and years High Desert Trails has run.
In 2008 the High Desert Trails rally was resurrected by Ray Hocker (who competed in the 1974 event and ran the event for several years in the 1980′s). A small motorsport facility outside of Ridgecrest had raised the funds to cut over six miles of stages into their property. Ray & Donna Hocker organized the 2008 event as a ‘shakedown’ for not only the cars, but the new roads.
Seeing an opportunity to keep the rally alive in 2009, Kristopher & Christine Marciniak organized their first event using the motorsports facility outside of Ridgecrest for the 2009 and 2010 events. In 2011 the rally was expanded to use roads that had originally been part of High Desert Trails and several other events in the past (20 Mule Team Stages, La Journada Trebajosa, Borax Bill Memorial Stages, and Piute Moutain Trials). The rally continues to run today!
If anyone has additional information and would like to contribute to expanding our knowledge with details about the history of the High Desert Trails Rally (or the other events mentioned above), please send us an email: rally (at) highdeserttrails.com
Here is a quick Google Map of Ridgecrest. We’ve highlighted our locations in town and some local spots for gas and rally needs.
