Let’s Rally

Throughout the past half year, we’ve had the honor of interviewing women across the paddock - from media leads, to press officers, strategy-makers and more. But never have we had the opportunity to interview an actual female driver - until now.

Keanna E Chang got into Rally Cars in perhaps an obscure way. Her parents wanted her to navigate the extreme winter conditions growing up, so they put her in a winter skills driving course where she learned to slide on ice. Safe to say, the rest was history. Keanna turned a pastime (racing in Killington, Vermont, in the winter) into a passion, hobby, and ultimately a career as a female stage rally driver competing across the globe.

You may be asking the first question we asked ourselves - what is Rally driving? According to a Wired.com article entitled Rally Drivers Are Completely Crazy—And Stupid Skillful:

“Rally drivers race on closed-off public roads. They run against the clock, one car at a time, on dirt, pavement, and anything in between. They run in all weather, in virtually every country on the planet. The sport is a glorious, lovely thing, all noise and violence and sliding sideways between trees at 100 mph. There is real, palpable risk and skill on display. You stand next to a closed-off rally road---they're called "stages"---during competition, and it's instantly obvious why people do this sort of thing.”

Noise, violence, palpable risk - not exactly three words you think would attract a woman. But since day one, Keanna was hooked. Between growing up in a racing-fan family and being insanely talented at whipping an overly built car around a dirt corner at insatiable speeds (our words, not hers), it was never a second guess of what she would do with her life. She has propelled that passion and fire to race through forests in little-traversed woods in Minnesota, Idaho and Ottowa, as well as trekking abroad to represent the USA in Rhône, Gérardmer (oui oui!), and Wales. 

 “Call it part art, part science, part unknowable risk. It's like doing calculus while simultaneously painting a still life and falling out of a plane.” 1

However easy we’ve made this sound, getting into Rally driving isn’t simple. Most of the time, drivers are building their own cars from scratch, before they can land some wins and in turn, some sponsors. This looks like how you may imagine - grabbing someone’s old, used chassis and turning it into a machine that can take the pounding from bumpy terrain without slowing down, shoot through treacherous conditions at ridiculous velocity, and also, “be ready to hit things at that velocity while maintaining a semblance of driver safety.”1 Easy, right?

“In the United States, Rally driving is really grassroots, and they want anyone to be able to build something and race. But it’s hard to import a car, and there isn’t a lot of money in the sport. It’s up to the individuals to build cars and race them.”

So what’s the drawback of racing and building rally cars? Since it’s A) up to individuals to build their own cars and, B) there’s not a lot of money in the sport, safety systems are few and far between. They may be sliding through the forest sideways at 90 mph, but without money and oversight, the actual racing is relatively analogue. 

No digital versions of the track map are provided ahead of time. Drivers get that information only during formation laps, through the woods, where your co-driver takes notes on paper (called ‘pace notes’) on how many turns, how severe the track, and when to take risks. Drivers get like, 3 go-arounds, and that’s it, it’s race time. 

Now for safety? That’s something Keanna says there is a lot of room for improvement.

“Almost every rally, they’re saving money by not providing those notes and everyone is racing their own systems. This year, they decided to require fire suppression sessions: two fire extinguishers with automatic nozzles that will go off in a cabin temperature of 120 to 150 fahrenheit. I have always had this in my car, but for those who can’t afford it, there’s been a lot of pushback. There have also historically been no tracking systems, which is super dangerous when we’re racing through largely uncharted woods and messy conditions. Just in the past few years, they have started to implement processes to help keep everyone safe.”

Even though the sport seems relatively off the grid (pun intended), it is a truly global sport, with a true global reach. That, partnered with the opportunity to enter the sport at a grassroots level, provides women the same opportunity as men to enter the sport - which is nearly unheard of in many racing series. That means women like Keanna help break down the stereotype that ‘women can’t be racers’ and ‘aren’t built for the tough conditions like men are,’ and combat this common mindset found in the conservative,male-dominated racing community in the United States. (And yes, those are actual quotes we’ve heard from actual men). 

“Coming from road racing, seeing women competing and getting into this scene was few and far between. But the rally driving world is a real community: people are a lot more willing to help, stick around after the race, and everyone is friends. Of course there were still some that were skeptical, but they let me through.”

So, what’s next for Keanna? 

“My goal is to compete in individual rallies around the world. There are amazing stages that I would love to race in - go back to Sweden, and compete in the New Zealand and Portugal rallies. I am less focused on what this year holds [with impact from COVID], and am looking at what I want to achieve in this sport long-term.”