RallyCross Nationals Turn 20 and Head West to Arizona
SCCA RallyCross Nationals turns 20 this year, and the championship is heading west to Camp Verde, Arizona.
The event week runs October 15-18 at Camp Verde Equestrian Center. SCCA has the entry cap set at 120 drivers, with no more than 30 in a class.
That is a big national field for a discipline that still gets misunderstood by people who think “rallycross” only means door-to-door stadium cars.
SCCA RallyCross is a different animal.
One car at a time. Loose surface. Cones. Time penalties. Multiple runs. No co-driver. No pace notes. No wall to hide behind when you throw away a run with one stupid cone.
The surface changes while you are competing on it
This is the thing people coming from autocross or track days underestimate.
The course you see on the first run is not necessarily the course you get later.
Ruts form. Loose material gets swept away. Holes grow. Edges break down. Grip moves.
The driver has to adjust without turning every run into a completely different experiment.
That is a skill.
RallyCross setup needs compliance
A car that is beautifully stiff on smooth pavement can be a nightmare on loose ground.
The tire needs to follow the surface.
Too much spring, too much low-speed compression or not enough usable travel can make the car skate over the top instead of letting the tire stay connected.
That does not mean “soft is always fast.”
It means the suspension has to absorb surface variation without letting the chassis move so much that the driver loses control of weight transfer.
Ride height is insurance
People lower cars because low center of gravity is good.
Then RallyCross puts a hole in the exact place where the exhaust, control arm or oil pan used to have clearance.
Camp Verde is not the place to prove your car can sit on the ground in the paddock.
Use enough ride height to keep the car out of the dirt and enough bump travel that the suspension can actually do suspension things.
Tire choice is the entire conversation some days
Loose-surface traction is wildly sensitive to tire design, compound, tread and pressure.
The “fast tire” on one surface can be wrong when the course dries or digs up.
SCCA class rules matter here, so the first step is always knowing what the class actually allows.
Then test pressure rather than guessing.
The sidewall needs to work without folding over. The tread needs to bite without overheating or skating.
Cones are still expensive
The funny part about RallyCross is that the dirt makes everything look dramatic, but the scoring can still come down to very boring discipline.
One cone can wreck a run.
A giant four-wheel drift that looks great in a photo is not useful if it adds a penalty or sends the car ten feet past the next gate.
The fastest drivers look aggressive because they are close to the limit, not because they are constantly beyond it.
Two-driver cars add another layer
SCCA specifically accounts for two-driver vehicles in the numbering system, which is common in RallyCross because sharing a car is one of the best ways to make the sport affordable.
That also means the car gets more runs, more heat and more abuse.
Service between drivers needs to be fast and consistent.
Tire pressure. Lug torque. Fluid leaks. Debris around the brakes. Anything hanging underneath the car.
Do not hand the car to the second driver like the first driver was only doing a warm-up.
National events reward boring preparation
Battery secured. Seat mounted correctly. Harness or factory restraint correct for the class. No loose junk in the car. Wheel bearings tight. Steering free. Brake pedal consistent.
SCCA publishes a current RallyCross rulebook, supplemental rules and self-tech material for a reason.
Read it before the trailer leaves.
Nationals is a terrible place to discover that the car you built around local assumptions does not meet the national requirement.
Arizona gives the western half of the country a real shot
Taking the 20th anniversary championship to Camp Verde matters.
There are RallyCross communities all over the West that do not need another national event 2,000 miles away to prove they exist.
Arizona puts the championship within reach of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and the broader western scene in a way that should create a pretty interesting mix of cars and drivers.
This category is not going to treat RallyCross like a novelty
It is cheap enough to be accessible, technical enough to teach real car control and competitive enough that national-level drivers can spend years finding hundredths in the dirt.
That is exactly the kind of motorsport Race Club should be covering.
We will be watching Camp Verde.
Sources: SCCA 2026 RallyCross National Championship event page; SCCA RallyCross cars and rules; SCCA RallyCross Nationals registration announcement.
Image credit: Sports Car Club of America official event graphic.
