In 1973 stage rallying was truly born as the World Rally Championship, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) PRO Rally Championship and the California Rally Series were all born.

Prior to 1973 rallies in the United States were more sedate affairs with speeds at or below the posted speed limit either on pavement or dirt roads. These were Time, Speed and Distance events, known as TSD Rallies. As humans tend to do, they want to go faster so the term “brisk” TSD noted to entries that this would be a fast drive, usually in the middle of the night on unimproved roads.

Ken Adams, from Bakersfield, California, invited the leading organizers and competitors to his office for a meeting. The object was to form the California Rally Series (CRS). To the best of everyone’s memory these were the attendees at Ken’s real estate title company office; Ray Hocker, Pete Ruiz, Tom Sullivan, Mike Gibeault, Paula Ogilby (now Gibeault), Hendrik Blok, Ron Richardson, Erick Hauge and Randy Hensley.

From that meeting there were a set of rules concerning how a rally would run, and the safety equipment required (very little). There were no classes yet, everyone ran heads up.

That first year, 1973, there was one event, Ken Adams La Jornada Trabajosa, which was the penultimate event of the inaugural SCCA PRO Rally championship. It drew 17 entries from California, Washington, Texas, New Mexico, Michigan and Mexico. It was won by a Datsun 510, the hot car of the day, driven by Hendrick Blok and navigated by Ron Richardson.

In 1974 and 1975 there was steady growth of events as the Mojave 24 Hour Rally and High Desert Trails rallies were added. But in 1976 there was a split of sanctioning bodies in American Rally as the SCCA had a competitor, the North American Rally Association (NARA). The CRS was split as well as some events went with the SCCA and others NARA. This split persisted until 1980 when NARA folded and for the next 13 years SCCA ruled the rally scene in the US.

Events came and went throughout this period, and some went, but came back later. Legendary events like the Rim of the World (1976-1978) and High Desert Trails (1974) returned in the 1980s. But other events such as Mendocino Forest, 20 Mule Team Stages, Ortega Stages, the Nevada Rally, Forest Hill Divide and the Golden West 2000 came and went.

Legendary rally drivers like John Buffum, Rod Millen, Hendrik Blok, Gene Henderson and Jon Woodner were fixtures at many events through those early years. Even some off-road racers made the rally scene when their schedules allowed. It was not uncommon to see Ivan Stewart, Rod Hall, Malcolm Smith, David Bryan, Jean Calvin or Jerry MacDonald honing their driving style.

The entry list of stalwart cars like the Plymouth Arrow, Datsun 510, Dodge Colt, Toyota Corolla and the occasional mini pickup ran heads up until 1978 when the CRS formed the Stock Class. These vehicles would remain largely stock in drivetrain and body configuration. It was a more affordable way to rally by avoiding the expensive upgrades needed to run open class. In 1988 a GT class was added to give turbo and/or four-wheel-drive stock vehicles a place to play By 1994 a Performance Stock class was started to give stock two-wheel-drive vehicles with higher technology components like fuel injection and variable valvetrains a place to rally. Over the years the CRS has adjusted classes to match vehicle performance.
Headed into the mid-1980s rally was divided into National and Divisional level events. The CRS was composed of all divisional events until 1989. In 1984 the Rim of the World Rally reappeared on the schedule organized by the husband-and-wife super team of Mike and Paula Gibeault. Under their watch “Rim” as it was known grew to become the Super Bowl of the CRS, it was the must win event to complete your resume. By 1989 it was upgraded to National status and remained their until 2008 when encroaching civilization caused the event to stop running. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Rallies continued to come and go throughout the 1980s and 1990s as events like East of Indio, and the Treeline Rally were pushed out by environmental concerns or civilization encroachment. It only got worse in the 2000s as CRS events were getting run in Colorado and Oregon, further out than the usual Southwestern events. Several rallies were even run in Baja California.

Rally continues to survive today under the guise of the CRS. The tows are a little longer, there is only one rally left in California. Yet there remains rallysprint events all over California which started as a feeder system to proper stage rallies. But over time the rallysprint series has become a well-established series of its own.

The CRS has survived for over 50 years and there is no sign of stopping it despite the efforts of government and environmentalists.