Since 1989
The US National Rally was started in 1989 by Bill Davis of Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1990, Kerry Oldham also of SLC, volunteered to assist in this fledgling effort. Kerry is recently deceased, see this obit. Both were founding members of the Mountain States chapter of the Land Rover Owners Association (now defunct) based in Northern California. Members #44 and #6 respectively). Permission was given by the national organization to form this event under the auspices of the national club. These two individuals organized the event for the years 1990 and 1991. At the 1991 event we were approached by the Solihull Society of whom we had made many friends during the previous two years, expressing an interest in assisting with the event in the future. As both Kerry and I were exhausted and had put the event on almost singlehandedly by ourselves, we welcomed this overture and passed along the event to the Solihull Society starting with the 1992 event. We decided it would be more fun to just attend the event than organize it! Also the Solihull Society was a much larger club with many more resources.
The 1989 rally was held in Moab and was attended by 2 people and 2 vehicles and lasted 2 days. The 1990 was
held in Moab and attended by approximately 70 vehicles and over 100 people. It had 5 official rally days (M thru F) and 4 unofficial days i.e. the weekends on both ends. The 1991 rally was held in both Moab and Telluride/Ouray, Colorado. It was officially in Moab, Monday thru Wednesday and departed for Colorado on Thursday. It was held on both Thursday and Friday. Both weekends had unofficial activities. The event was slightly smaller and attended by approximately 50 vehicles. In 1991, the Colorado portion was added at the suggestion of the many friends we had made from Colorado from the 1990 event.
Overview
The Land Rover National Rally has been held in many locations in Utah and Colorado including Moab, Ouray, Breckenridge, Leadville, Montrose & Steamboat Springs. The Land Rover National Rally is a non-profit event organized by the Solihull Society. This event aims to bring together adventure loving people who share the common interest of Land Rovers and active four-wheeling.
The event encourages safe and responsible operation of four-wheel-drive vehicles. Bill Burke of 4-Wheeling of America has trained members of the Solihull Society in trail leadership, recovery techniques and safety. The Solihull Society and the Land Rover National Rally are grateful to Bill’s dedication to our event. We encourage you to take a Bill Burke course, you will be glad you did.
The Land Rover National Rally utilizes public lands in a responsible manner as part of an effort to keep public land trails and roads available for multipurpose use.
We are looking forward to seeing you there!
by Norman Hall
The Solihull Society
The Solihull Society Club was formed in 1989 by Terry Mitchel, Frank Jakos, Greg Chernushin, Todd Reynolds, Randy Reynolds (Todd’s father) and Pat Kelly. After Bill Davis’s successful efforts in Moab to initiate and run a National Rally; In 1990 and 1991 sponsors included Rovers North and British Pacific. In 1991 Range Rover North America also participated. Rovers North made a huge effort in 1990 shipping out two vehicles and having six employees in attendance including Mark Latorney the owner. British Pacific sent an employee with his personal vehicle. Solihull took over in 1992 with sponsorships. The first Solihull Rally was held in Ouray/Telluride in 1992 to coincide with the introduction of the NSA D110. Solihull Society has since hosted the Land Rover National Rally.