This is the Statt Mann Baby. It's time to Scatt a little bit!

It’s not often we get to be there when something is born.  It’s usually a private time.  Pain and change can be intimate experiences.

But next weekend in New Jersey America’s relationship with rallying could change dramatically.  European style rallycross will be born with the speed of circuit racing, the grace of drifting and the competition of a bullfight.

The people who run rallycross in America might want to compare it to stock car racing because that’s what’s most popular here.

But I’d compare it to the NFL with its speed, brute power and sometimes its grace in the middle of a contest.

In fact, American football and rallycross are perfect for television.  The action comes in short bursts and there’s a lot of time for analysis.

Rallycross races are five or six laps.  There are only five cars in a heat. There’s dirt.  A jump.  And there’s pavement producing blinding speed for recognizable compact cars capable of 0-60 speeds in less than two seconds.

And it’s all scheduled next weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  This could change your mindset about rallying and circuit racing. 

You certainly won’t have time to take a nap in the middle of the race. Nor would you feel the need too.

Peace.