Quick Chat: Nasa Rally Sport's Anders Green
If you ask anybody under thirty years of age about the sport of Rally, you’d be hard pressed to get an answer that’s doesn't include something about Ken Block. Thanks to his not-quite-rally-and-not-quite-autocross online videos, he’s mashed the two most esoteric motorsports into something that doesn’t really exist, but is now “Rally” to the masses.
Ken Block's Gymkhana videos aren't neccesarily rally. But that doesn't mean he doesn't do serious rally driving either—but cool cars and videos are only going to help Rally so much. Good organization is key to the sport's future. So while Mr. Block might be the “face” of Rally to its fans on the sideline, there’s another guy that’s been busting his hump for nearly a decade making rallies happen here in the United States, bringing it back from the brink of extinction with NASA Rally Sport.
Anders Green, the man with the megaphone and a plan to bring Rally back from the brink in America.Anders Green is a Director for Nasa RallySport and has been organizing events for the group since 2006. With the help of his wife, Amy Feistel, his work on the Sandblast Rally, Rally Tennessee and Rally West Virginia (among others) have allowed the group to maintain a presence and expand into new territories. They have even started bolstering events with Dakar-style motorcycles and even Side by Side utility vehicles competing on the same Stages as the cars.
MotoIQ: With 100+ cars at Sandblast, We'd say the death of Rally isn't going to happen anytime soon—and you seem to be rocket surgeon that’s keeping it alive. What do you have to say for yourself?
Anders: For clarity, that is 100+ ENTRANTS, as half are motorcycles, and there are old timers who get their panties in a super huge bunch about that.
Participant numbers are up thanks in large part to the inclusion of motorcycles to the Rally Sport umbrella.MotoIQ: Understood, but after years of rallies with low turnouts, Nasa Rally Sport has made the turn from “struggling” to “succeeding” quite well. We know that the success of Rally isn't some hot new car or driver—it's going to depend on the organization that makes the events happen. What are three things that are helping rally now?
Anders: The first thing is new custom software. I can do way more in less time than I used to. The first rally I organized was over 400 hours of labor. That's equivalent to 2.5 MONTHS of full time 8 hour days. Now we have more and more events taking advantage of this to get more people organized, better, and faster.
