Raleigh, North Carolina — As fall settles in to 2012, NASA Rally Sport begins its tenth year of sanctioning rallies in the United States of America. As the oldest operating sanctioning body for rally in America, NASA Rally Sport principles ushered in the modern, stage notes focused style of rally, when they first appeared at Cherokee Trails, and today the organization remains focused on supporting and developing grassroots rally racers.

"It actually seems like it's getting easier as we go," says Anders Green of NASA Rally Sport. "We've boiled down the mission to some pretty key elements: make sure things work for the grassroots guy, build new technology to make organizing rallies easier, and don't spend money on pie in the sky frivolities that don't deliver results. In a nutshell, that's how we've stayed in the black for going on ten years. It's a simple strategy based on just having fun and doing this because we love it, not because we want to turn rally into an industry or profit center."

It was the middle of August, back in 2003, when Ray Hocker, then and now a NASA Rally Sport Director, organized the first event under the NASA Rally Sport banner, which was the Gorman Ridge Rally in Frazier Park, California. Some of the racers from that first rally are well known today within rally circles: Mark Tabor, Rhys Millen, Paul Eklund, Mustafa Samli, George Plsek, Jeff Price, and Ole Holter.

NASA Rally Sport has been an innovator from the very beginning, inventing the naturally aspirated all-wheel-drive class that, a decade later, has become very popular choice for grassroots racers. Five years ago, it began the RallyMoto program, allowing motorcycles to compete, which has gone on to become the most verifiably successful program in American rally history at bringing new racers out to the stages. RallySolo, rally racing without the benefit of a codriver, is still in its infancy, but opens interesting doors with the possibility of new venues.

Technologically, NASA Rally Sport is the only rally sanctioning body where all of the races now have scores updated online during the event. A whole slew of online management tools for the organizers have been built over the years, to cover registration, financials, tasks, volunteer management, and scoring. The fans haven't been forgotten either, NASA Rally Sport developed a smart phone app just for them, available for Android. The racers have access to advanced tools like instant virtual licenses and press release distribution systems.

"I'd really like to thank all the volunteers who have helped us with the nearly one hundred rallies we've done," says Green. "There have been thousands of great people who have helped marshal an intersection, or filled out time cards, or kept the spectators informed and happy. Really, we have to recognize that this sport wouldn't exist without volunteers. The folks who give freely of their time to make these rallies happen, hours and hours of work just because they love the sport, that spirit is fantastic. And in the long run, it's the most viable and sustainable way."

The 2013 schedule is still being firmed up, so keep an eye on NASARallySport.com as the events' dates are finalized. The web site is also a great reference for those looking for rules on how to build a new rally car.