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Press Release

NASA National Rally Championship Wild Card Picks Revealed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Long Beach, California (August 14, 2014)

For 2014 the ultimate rally event of the NASA Rally Sport season is the Black River Stages in upper New York. On the weekend of September 20 and 21, the rally will host this year's NASA National Rally Championship and crown both All Wheel Drive and Two Wheel Drive national champions. Simultaneously, Black River Stages is the final round of the Atlantic Rally Cup presented by RallyPro at The FIRM. With just over six weeks until the rally takes place, the list of national qualifiers moves closer to being cemented with this announcement of the Wild Card drivers.

The NASA National Rally Championship philosophy works similarly to the Olympics: first you qualify, then a winner takes all battle for the title takes place in a single venue where all comers have a decent shot. There are a variety of methods of qualification, all designed to identify fast rally drivers. In short, you can win the final stage of a rally, you can win a rally, or you can win a regional series. All of these are excellent indicators that the driver is fast and has the potential to be a national champion. This method prioritizes driver speed over driver budget. And finally, there is the Wild Card. Each NASA Rally Sport director, in the Western part of the country, Kris Marciniak, and for the Eastern part, Anders Green, chooses a racer who they believe has the capability to take the crown but for some reason didn't otherwise qualify.

"My Wild Card choice is Matt Brandenburg." revealed Director Anders Green. "He had a tough start to the season, a penalty that kept him off the podium at the Sandblast Rally which would have qualified him for Nationals. But what really impressed me is how he picked himself back up after that event, kept at the grindstone, worked on his car and team and kept pushing through the rest of the season. It's a perfect trifecta: he loves rear wheel drive, I love promoting two wheel drive, and the fans love his ridiculously yellow sideways BMW."

"When it came to my Wild Card choice, I went with history." started Director Kris Marciniak. "Jason Smith's first rally as a driver was Black River Stages, way back in 2009. He worked his way up from Dead Last But Finished at that rally to multiple event wins and winning the All Wheel Drive Atlantic Rally Cup in just two short years. And doing it in an Open AWD Light car with no turbo speaks to the skill he has behind the wheel."

The rally is always looking for passionate fans who want to get closer to the action by volunteering. Special access combined with great perks like free camping, food, and clothing makes volunteering the best way to meet up with a whole new group of rally fanatics in your area. Go to BlackRiverStages.com for more information on all aspects of the rally.

NASA Rally Sport, the grassroots rally sanctioning body of the US, focuses on competitor fun and providing support for rally organizers. Providing tools, technology, and systems to the organizers, racers, and fans to increase their enjoyment of rally is a core mission of NASA Rally Sport. Making sure that rally remains a sustainable and affordable passion for the drivers and organizers while building the family of racers and volunteers that make rally happen goes hand in hand with that mission.
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FOR EDITORS:
Media Contact:
Kris Marciniak
kris@NASARallySport.com
919.697.5282

The event is sanctioned by NASA Rally Sport:
http://www.nasarallysport.com/

The Atlantic Rally Cup is presented by RallyPro at The Firm:
http://gorally.com

Matt Brandenburg, photo credit Jeremy Bloyd
http://photos.nasarallysport.com/Event/2014-Magnum-Opus-Rally/Ulterior-Motors/i-d42c9rz/A

Jason Smith, photo credit Adam Jordan
http://photos.nasarallysport.com/Event/2013SandblastRally/New-Adam-Jordan-Spec/i-mmdWt6f/0/X2/IMG_1998-X2.jpg

More information for the Series is available at:
http://www.nasarallysport.com/main/NASA-National-Rally-Championship

NASA Rally Sport logos:
http://www.nasarallysport.com/graphics/NASA-National-Rally-Championship-600x170.png
http://www.nasarallysport.com/graphics/NASA-Rally-Sport-Logo-Square-500.png

Black River Stages logo:
http://blackriverstages.linaracing.com/images-logo/BRS-Logo-400x159.gif

Galleries with images from recent events:
http://photos.nasarallysport.com/Event/2013BlackRiverStages
http://photos.nasarallysport.com/Event/2012BlackRiverStages
Any photo can be used as long as it is properly credited with the photographer's name. Crediting the photographer is mandatory.