Rally racing event held in Lawrence County

Lawrence County hosted the last rally of the season for the NASA Rally sanctioning body Nov. 11-13.

LOUISA — The last rally of the season for NASA Rally sanctioning body was held in Lawrence County Nov. 11-13.

The event kicked off Friday with a demonstration run at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Town Hill Road, where a course was constructed using straw bales and cones. Each of the 15 competitors made two laps to test their cars and give people an opportunity to see what rally racing is all about.

An opportunity to meet the drivers and their crews from Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New York,was setup in the fair barn. All the Rage, a local rock band, provided entertainment for the evening. Randy’s Red, White and Blue Backyard BBQ was setup to give those attending a place to purchase dinner.

On Saturday, the event was moved to a stretch of county roads where the competing cars ran one at a time on a closed course and were timed.

The after party and awards presentation was held at Stars and Stripes in Louisa on Saturday night.

“ On Sunday, the group swept the course where they picked up everything along the route, mostly stuff that was there before they came,” Lawrence County Tourism Chairman Wes Kingsmore said.

Tourism officials said the event would not have been possible without the support of local ham radio operators and thanked Fred Jones and Virgil Ferguson for taking the lead on that aspect of it. Local fire and rescue departments were also involved and used the event as a training session, with the help former EMS director Chris Cox, current director Travis Hughes, and Search and Rescue director Denver Chaffin, whom tourism officials said

spent many hours preparing for the event through meetings and discussions.

The course itself took many volunteers, and Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) “graciously provided” them from its transitional staff, tourism officials said, adding that none of this would have been possible without the support of the Lawrence County Fiscal Court.

The event was organized by Tenny Rally Consulting, Backroads of Appalachia and Lawrence County Tourism.