Nitrocross became a full-time championship back in 2021. Becoming the top Rallycross championship in America but how?
A Bit Of History
North America has never really had a completely stable Rallycross scene. With Global Rallycross running from 2011 until 2017 in North America. The championship featured drivers like Tanner Foust, Ken Block, Bucky Lasek and others. The championship left North America at the end of the 2017 season. With Scott Speed being the last champion. Winning his third consecutive championship.
The 2018 season saw a new championship start. This one was called America’s Rallycross. It’s lasted a whole two seasons, starting in 2018 and ending at the end of the 2019 season. Scott Speed continued his North American Rallycross domination, winning the inaugural season of the championship. Tanner Foust won the final season of the championship. Enter the 2020 season, or the lack thereof a 2020 season. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and there being no Rallycross Championship in America meant there was no professional Rallycross in America. That all changed in 2021 however.
Nitrocross History
Nitrocross, formerly Nitro Rallycross, started in 2018 as a one-off event. The event took place in both 2018 and 2019. Both times the event took place at the Utah Motorsports campus. The home of Nitro Rallycross’s parent, Nitro Circus. Nitro Rallycross was the brainchild of Travis Pastrana. With Pastrana building a track that combined Rallycross and motocross. Timmy Hansen won the 2018 event, with his brother Kevin winning in 2019. In 2020 the event didn’t run as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic being in full swing at that point.
Becoming A Full Championship
With there being no permanent Rallycross series in North America, Nitro Rallycross stepped up to the plate. Putting on a full calendar of events for the 2021 season. All tracks taking place in North America. Putting on a 5 round championship that took place from coast to coast in the USA. Series founder Travis Pastrana won the inaugural Nitrocross championship. Beating Scott Speed and Timmy Hansen to take home the championship. The 2022-23 season saw a change from Nitro Rallycross. With the series going to a fully electric spec series. The calendar was expanded to 10 rounds, with two taking place overseas. Robin Larsson took home the championship after a hard-fought season.
What’s Next For Nitrocross?
Nitrocross doesn’t just want to be an America Rallycross championship, it wants to go international. Something that was made apparent last season. However for the 2023-24 season, the championship has no international rounds, but why? The team at Nitrocross wanted to focus on building up the championship before taking another run overseas. As last season’s run overseas didn’t go great. As the round in Finland was cancelled due to the track going bankrupt, and then the round in Saudi Arabia was also cancelled.