RETROSPECTIVE // THE OREGON TRAIL RALLY: 2006-2008

I have mixed feelings about rally here in the U.S. On the one hand, rally cars are fun to watch on almost any level. There is something intrinsically satisfying about watching a driver fling a car about on narrow dirt or gravel roads at speeds that most would never dare approach. On the other hand, the rally scene here in America is not even close to being on par with the European scene as far as competition, speed, and overall spectacle. Even with these drawbacks, there are still many opportunities to capture some wonderful images of the American rally scene. I have gathered a selection of images from the past four years of the Oregon Trail Rally, part of the Rally America series... [read more]

I will start with my favorite image which I’m fairly certain has been featured here before. In 2006 when this was taken, the spectator area placement was fairly decent. Keep in mind at the time I took this I was 16 years old and was obviously without any sort of press or media pass. Even so, I was still able to get to fairly good positions to photograph from.

Anyone who is a Subaru fan would surely enjoy a Rally America event. Subarus make up the majority of the entry list.


However there is usually a good field of other unique cars, most notably this Audi A2 Quattro.

If you look closely you can see that there is a little toy lion taped on the roof of the car above the driver. I’m not sure about the significance of this toy lion but it has never failed to be riding atop the car in the three years that I have been to this event.


In 2006 my dad and I decide to go out and watch one of the real rally stages out in the woods of Oregon. It was kind of a long drive to just sit and watch the cars come by once and it wasn’t really a good place for photos anyway. After this I have only attended the short super-special stages on the first day of the rally held at Portland International Raceway.

One of the many road legal cars that compete in the series.

The extremely short super-special stages are run on the various service roads at Portland Internationall Raceway. Some stages even incorporate parts of the road track and the motocross course. Although these stages are fairly weak in action and speed, they are run right through the evening so the lighting is very dramatic.



After running the stages once in the evening, there is a break where the cars can be serviced before the stages are run once again at night. During this time I usually head to the pits and work on getting shots of the crews working on the vehicles. The low light of the evening provides great opportunity to experiment with extremely low shutter speeds and flash effects.

Tanner Foust running to his car and driving off to the start of the stage.

Reaching for something.

Over the 3 years I have been to this event they have each year pushed back the spectator areas farther and farther from the course. This is one of the reasons why I skipped the 2009 event entirely. Although here in this photo is one of the few place were spectators can still get up close to the cars.

Once the sun has set, the stages are run again.

Large light clusters are a must in the darkness.

Although the Audi A2 Quattro is one of the cooler cars to come to the Oregon event, this BMW 2002 is the winner in my book, mainly because I own a 2002 myself. Seeing this classic car in rally spec makes me smile.

Photo/Editorial: Camden Thrasher