Sandblast Rally
Encyclopedia
Chesterfield, South Carolina
Chesterfield is a town in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1472 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chesterfield County...
, Cheraw
Cheraw, South Carolina
Cheraw is a town on the Pee Dee River in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,524 at the 2000 census and center of an urban cluster with a total population of 9,069. It has been nicknamed "The Prettiest Town in Dixie." The harbor tub USS Cheraw was named in the...
and Patrick
Patrick, South Carolina
Patrick is a town in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 354 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Patrick is located at ....
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, USA. Recently, the events have been held February of each year. The 2008 event was the largest rally in the United States.
Unusual Attributes
The rally takes place within the Sand Hills State Forest, part of the Sandhills regionSandhills (Carolina)
The Sandhills is a region in the interior of the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is a strip of ancient beach dunes which generally divides the Piedmont from the coastal plain, and is the evidence of a former coastline when the ocean level was higher, or the land lower. The...
of the Carolinas. Traditionally, rallies take place on closed tarmac
Tarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
or gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
roads. Sandblast rally roads are almost entirely sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
. Some of the roads are compacted by heavy trucks, some of the more infrequently used roads are quite soft. This presents an unusual challenge to rally cars, as the constant drag of the sand increases the wear and drag on the transmissions
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
. The driving technique is also different than other rallies, as the soft sand on the side of the road can be similar to a snowbank, while the braking ability exceeds that of tarmac with slick tire
Slick tire
A slick tyre is a type of tyre that has no tread pattern, used mostly in auto racing. The first production "slick tyre" was developed by a company called M&H Tires in the early 1950s for use in drag racing...
s.
History
Long named “Sandhills Sandblast” after the region, the event was first organized by Greg Healey in the early nineties. In only the second year of running, the event was tapped to become part of the SCCA ProRallySCCA ProRally
SCCA ProRally was an American rally racing series, run by the Sports Car Club of America from 1973 until 2004. The SCCA discontinued it for 2005, allowing Rally America to replace it, utilizing most of the same venues and existing infrastructure.-Rallies:...
national championship. Healey moved north to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the mid-nineties and the rally lay dormant for several years. These first rallies differed from the current setup in that they started at noon and ran well into the night, using three or four stages run in complete darkness.
In 2001 Charles Sherrill resurrected the event and ran similar stages as before. One of the busiest years was 2003 when the event ran twice in one year, spring and fall. The fall event was the first event sanctioned by the newly formed NASA Rally Sport organization.
The summer of 2005 saw Sherrill looking west and thinking of starting another rally. Thus the reigns of the rally were passed to the current organizer, Anders Green. The official rally name was simplified to “Sandblast Rally” at that time.
The February 2007 event saw the introduction of motorcycles as part of NASA Rally Sport's new RallyMoto program.
Trivia
In a strange six-degrees scenario, Green, purchased his first rally vehicle from Greg Healey, the original Sandblast Rally organizer. Two years before Sherrill resurrected Sandblast Rally, Green met and crewed for Sherrill in a rally that was near Healey’s new hometown in Pennsylvania.Past winners
| Year | Car | Motorcycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Sherill and Kessler | Gibson |
| 2010 | Bancalari and Mauney | Conger |
| 2009 | Bancalari and Mauney | Gilkey |
| 2008 | Charles Sherrill and Brian O'Neal | Mark Ely |
| 2007 | Celcus Donnelly and Noel Gallagher | Mark Ely |
| 2006 | Seamus Burke and Brian Sharkey | |
| 2005 | Seamus Burke and Charles Bradley | |
| 2004 | Seamus Burke and Charles Bradley | |
| 2003 (Fall) | Seamus Burke and Brian Sharkey | |
| 2003 (Spring) | Seamus Burke and Emma Burke | |
| 2002 | John Drislane and Ronan Burke | |
| 2001 | Thomas Lawless and Cathal McCaire | |
| 1996 | Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker | |
| 1995 | Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker | |
| 1994 | Paul Choiniere and Jeff Becker |