PRESS ON REGARDLESS : AMERICA'S LONGEST, OLDEST? MEANEST ROAD RALLY

In 1949, the Detroit Region Sports Car Club of America staged a genteel cross-country run for foreign-make autos. They called it the Press on Regardless Rally, an homage to the Royal Air Force fliers of World War II who heeded Winston Churchill’s advice to “never give in.” Contested over the backwoods trails and logging roads of Michigan, the Press on Regardless Rally – or POR, as it was known – became a legendary test of man and machine, aided in its mythology by a cast of star drivers that included Scott Harvey, Gene Henderson, and John Buffum. Through the hearty grassroots efforts of the Detroit Region SCCA, the POR was elevated to an international event in 1970, drawing the biggest names in rally motorsports from around the world. In 1973 and 1974, the POR rocketed to the pinnacle of the sport as the first World Rally Championship round ever held in the U.S. In the years since, the POR has survived the ebb and flow of catastrophe, triumph, and tragedy; enduring as the oldest continually-held auto rally in America. This is the complete story of the POR’s first 70 years and its core cadre of Motor City rallyists who have kept pressing on toward a dream – regardless.