Los Angeles – The California Rally Series (CRS) continues to maintain its place as the premier rally and rallycross championship in the Southwest with a full calendar of events in both categories. New for 2017, the CRS will also add a Side by Side (SxS) rally championship aimed at opening up the sport to enthusiasts of the increasingly popular sport vehicles. Selected rally events will host the SxS vehicles alongside prepped rally cars. With this first of its kind in the United States championship, the CRS continues its tradition of innovation and inclusiveness.

The 2017 season starts off with the traditional CRS Rally School on February 11 in Ridgecrest, CA. The school is a cost-effective way for people interested in getting started in rally or rallycross to learn more about the sport and get some hands on instruction behind the wheel or, for budding co-drivers, reading pacenotes on a rally stage. Students alternate between classroom lessons and one-on-one hands-on instruction with nationally recognized competitors. In addition to driving and co-driving skills, there are seminars focused on the nuts and bolts of rally, for example team management and logistics, car preparation, and a complete “what to expect at your first rally”, including how rally controls work and emergency procedures. Students interested in rallycross can opt to skip these sessions for even more time tossing their car around in the dirt with additional driving exercises.

The rallycross season kicks off the day after the Rally School with the first Ridgecrest rallycross event of the year on February 12. Students can apply the skills they learned immediately and see how they stack up against their teachers! This event will be followed up by a rallycross at Prairie City in Northern California in March, and then moving back to Southern California at Glen Helen in April. Competitors can expect more rallycross action at Santa Rosa, CA in late April, a return to Prairie City in May, and then more Glen Helen events in September and December.

The rally season kicks off on May 6th with High Desert Trails (HDT) based in Ridgecrest, CA. Competitors can expect more of the eclectic terrain that makes HDT distinctive – from high-speed blasts through the Joshua Tree lined desert to tight and twisty stages dodging Sequoia trees, with a water splash thrown in for good measure. HDT will continue with its marathon C3 and C2 in one day schedule.

From the high desert the CRS season shifts to the high mountains with the Frazier Mountain Rally on May 20th in Frazier Park, CA. This event debuted last year as a tight and twisty compact event that marked rally’s return to the National Forest in Southern California after a ten year hiatus. For 2017 the event kicks off the CRS SxS championship.

The next stop on the rally calendar is the Idaho Rally on June 10-11 in Boise, ID. Despite being the most distant event from the CRS competitor base on the calendar, Idaho is popular. Competitors continually praise the flowing and smooth stage roads as being worth the long tow. This year we can expect the usual coefficient 3 Saturday and coefficient 2 Sunday schedule.

The Gorman Ridge Rally holds its usual late August date again in 2017. Also based in Frazier Park, CA, this compact and beginner friendly event takes place within the Hungry Valley off-road vehicle park. This year the rally will run as a single coefficient 3 event featuring tight and twisty stages with minimal transits, running during the day and night.

Finishing off the season is the Prescott Rally in Prescott, Arizona in early October. Featuring some of the most scenic rally roads in the country, the stages take competitors on a high-speed run through picturesque red-rock southwest desert landscape.

The California Rally Series is the premier performance rally championship in the southwestern United States. The Series incorporates events from various sanctioning bodies in order to create a meaningful regional championship for its members. The Series celebrates more than 40 continuous years of performance rally, making it the longest running rally series in the United States. For more information on the California Rally Series Rally School check out http://crsrallyschool.com/. To learn more about the California Rally Series visit www.californiarallyseries.com and follow @crspress on twitter.