Olympia, WA -- After an 18-year absence, the Olympus Rally returns this weekend. Of course, a lot of things change in eighteen years and such is the case with Olympus. It is now a round of the USAC United States Rally Championship (USRC) and takes place on roads a little north of the historic Olympus roads.

The rally starts with reconnaisance on Friday. Leg 1 is held on Saturday and consists of 68.74 stage miles in 10 stages. Leg 2 is held on Sunday and consists of 65.36 stage miles in 6 stages. The stages are a mix of tight, twisty roads and long, straight, fast roads to the west and southwest of the city of Shelton. If the competitors had time to look, the stages offer spectacular views of Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound.

The competition is tight in the USRC Open 4WD class. Local favorites Dave Hintz, Gary Cavett and Paul Eklund will be fighting it out against fast southern California drivers Wolfgang Hoeck, Blake Yoon and Ralph Kosmides as well as Colorado-based Wyeth Gubelmann. All of these drivers have shown themselves capable of similar stage times in recent events, so the battle to lead the rally should be close.

The other USRC classes do not have as many entrants, but there is still various championships to consider. Open 2WD (and Overall 2WD) points leader Bruce Davis will be running at Olympus to consolidate his position at the top, as is Stock points leader Kristopher Marciniak.

Held concurrently with the Olympus Rally are two NASA Rally Sport regional rallies, the John Nagel Memorial Rally (Leg 1) and the Gene Nielson Memorial Stages (Leg 2), both of which are part of the 2006 Pacific Rally Group Championship. The Gene Nielsen Memorial Stages are also a points-paying round of the 2006 Western States Rally Championship. Most of the USRC competitors are also entered in the regional rallies. Some of the regional competitors will be trying to show that the only difference between them and the USRC competitors is the entry fee paid.

The Olympus Rally was first run in 1973 and was previously run until 1988. During those last three years, it was a round of the FIA World Rally Championship. It was also previously rounds of the now defunct SCCA Pro Rally and NARRA Championships.

Live scoring information for the Olympus Rally is available at http://www.olympusrally.com/results.html.