Olympus Rally

The Olympus Rally is an event in the motorsport of rallying. While it has usually been run as a national rally, in 1986–1988, it was a round in the FIA World Rally Championship, the most recent time a WRC rally has been run in the United States but the last in North America until Rally Mexico in 2004.

World Rally Championship

After being observed by the FIA for WRC status in 1985, from 1986–1988, the Olympus was a round of the World Rally Championship. From 1985–1987, the rally was sponsored by Toyota.

The 1985 Olympus “World Championship Prototype” event was won by Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz in a Group B Audi Quattro S1.

Markku Alen emerged on top of the results as the 1986 Olympus first gained full World Championship status, taking a Lancia Delta S4 and co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki to victory.

In 1987, the Olympus was attended by a number of top international teams, including Nissan, Toyota, and Suzuki. Juha Kankkunen won overall, as his and other Lancia Delta HF 4WD’s dominated the podium.

Massimo “Miki” Biasion won the fourth and final Olympus World Championship Rally in 1988 – his fourth of the season for Lancia, on his way to being the first Italian FIA World Rally Champion.

Winners
Year Driver Codriver Car
1985 Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz Audi Sport Quattro S1
1986 Markku Alén Ilkka Kivimäki Lancia Delta S4
1987 Juha Kankkunen Juha Piironen Lancia Delta HF 4WD
1988 Miki Biasion Tiziano Siviero Lancia Delta Integrale

National Rally

The first Olympus Rally was held in 1973. It was headquartered in Shelton, WA and was part of the SCCA Pro Rally Championship. It continued to be part of that championship through 1975. In 1976, it became part of the NARA (North American Rally Association) championship (which later changed its name to NARRA (North American Rally Racing Association)). It was part of that championship through 1979. In 1980, it switched back to the SCCA ProRally Championship and remained in that championship through 1987.

While the name was used for a regional rally supporting the 2001 Wild West SCCA Pro Rally, the Olympus Rally was not held from 1989 through 2005.

The Olympus Rally returned as national rally in 2006 and was part of the United States Rally Championship. In 2007, it switched to the Rally America National Championship and was part of that championship through 2012. After a dispute with Rally America, the rally was cancelled in 2013. It was originally scheduled to return as a NASA Rally Sport National qualifier round in 2014, however the issues with Rally America were resolved and the rally ran as a Rally America regional rally. In 2015, it will return to the Rally America National Championship. In 2017 it became sanctioned by the American Rally Association.

Winners
Year Driver Codriver Car Rally HQ
1973 Gene Henderson Ken Pogue AMC Jeep Shelton, WA
1974 Gene Henderson Ken Pogue AMC Jeep Shelton, WA
1975 John Buffum Vicki Dykema Ford Escort Tumwater, WA
1976 John Buffum Vicki Dykema Porsche Carrera Olympia, WA
1977 Ron Richardson Ray Hocker Plymouth Arrow Tacoma, WA
1978 John Buffum Doug Shepherd Triumph TR7 Olympia, WA
1979 Hendrik Blok Damon Trimble Plymouth Arrow Olympia, WA
1980 Rod Millen Dave Weiman Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
1981 Rod Millen Bob Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Olympia, WA
1982 John Buffum Doug Shepherd Audi Quattro Tumwater, WA
1983 Rod Millen R. Dale Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
1984 Rod Millen R. Dale Kraushaar Mazda RX-7 Tumwater, WA
2006 Wyeth Gubelmann Cindy Krolikowski Subaru Impreza WRX STI Shelton, WA
2007 Ramana Lagemann Mark Williams Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Shelton, WA
2008 Ken Block Alessandro Gelsomino Subaru Impreza WRX STI Pomeroy, WA
2009 Travis Pastrana Christian Edstrom Subaru Impreza WRX STI Aberdeen, WA
2010 Travis Pastrana Christian Edstrom Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ocean Shores, WA
2011 David Higgins Craig Drew Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ocean Shores, WA
2012 Ken Block Alessandro Gelsomino Ford Fiesta Ocean Shores, WA
2014 Hardy Schmidtke Chris Kremer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Shelton, WA
2015 David Higgins Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2016 David Higgins Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2017 David Higgins Craig Drew Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2018 Patrik Sandell Per Almkvist Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
2019 Oliver Solberg Denis Giraudet Subaru WRX STI Shelton, WA
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