Ozark Event: 100 Acre Wood Rally

Performance rally racing is the among the most impressive and demanding of all sports, and every year the Ozarks host one of the biggest rallies in the country. Sanctioned by Rally America, the annual 100 Acre Wood event in Missouri follows the same premise as the rest of the rally calendar. Rather than making laps on a permanent track, racecars are flung through nature at intervals, one at a time, with the goal of finishing unrehearsed routes between checkpoints in the shortest time. A navigator in the passenger seat barks a non-stop stream of pace notes to the driver, who completes the stage with unflinching speed.

[In-car footage from 100 Acre Wood Rally 2009 winner Ken Block]



It may look undramatic from the comfort of your computer desk, but the reality is a frenzy. Drivers are sliding sideways inches from ditches and trees with smooth precision, at speeds that would get you arrested on most highways. For this event, all on narrow gravel roads. The cars are production sedans modified to perform at speed on all surfaces and in all conditions, yet they're required to remain street legal for transit between stages on public roads.



To watch a rally, you don't buy a grandstand seat and drain cups of beer. You get up close and personal at roadside, which requires some work. While the rally cars are knifing through the woods at competition speeds, meeting them at spectator stages means carrying on your own rally. The 100 Acre Wood race weekend demands hours of navigating curvy, rolling backroads in near-total isolation, then hiking up fire roads and into the woods to camp for a prime viewing location. In 2009, the weather factor added six inches of snow for the final evening.



The mix of driving thrills and physical toil rewards with an intense display of performance cars and driving talent. Rally fandom means dedication, and it affords a grassroots-level experience rare in any sport. You'll often eat breakfast in a country diner with the team, follow their exploits throughout the day, and retire to the service areas where they prepare the vehicles for upcoming stages.



The rally also demonstrates how much of the Northeastern Ozarks remain beautiful frontier, densely wooded hill country unmarred by population. Spectacular roads such as MO-DD, MO-P, MO-Y, and Highways 32 and 49 become vocabulary over the course of a weekend, themselves worth the travel from home. The terrain mapped below gives a hint of the excitement for both competitors and spectators.

[Google Maps Sample route between Salem, MO, and Potosi, MO]

Part race, part outdoor adventure, the 100 Acre Wood Rally is a must for Ozark driving enthusiasts. See my pictures below if you need further convincing.

[2009 100 Acre Wood gallery]