Spectators from 47 states and nine countries came to eastern Kentucky this weekend for the annual Boone Forest Rally.

The race sees rally car teams compete and high speed navigation through Appalachian terrain.

Supporters of the event say that Eastern Kentucky is uniquely suited for motorsports rallies.

We do over 200 events a year all over eastern Kentucky, but by far the most toughest challenge we do every year is this weekend called the Boone Forester Rally, and it crosses into Rock Castle.

Lee Owsley and, Jackson counties, as well as the Daniel Boone National Forest.

It's over 80 miles of racing through gravel roads and a lot of public roads.

And one thing that we do differently at our rally, our motto is community first, racing second.

We have a car.

Expos are a car show in every community we're at.

Starter finish every day with our drivers.

Every year, the organizers try to sort of change up the track as much as they can.

And between 2023 and 2024, it actually changed quite a bit between 24 and 25.

It was a little bit less of a change, maybe some additions here and there, but overall the roads are great.

It's something for everybody.

You know, I'm not a big racing fan, but as a little boy I loved race cars, you know, and that's that's what I love seeing is the fact that the kids it's it's something for everybody.

You've got young kids, you've got older adults, you've got grand marshals, grannies, you know, they're all here enjoying the food, the music and of course the race cars right over there.

The beautiful thing about motorsports in Kentucky is how friendly everyone is to it.

Anywhere else in the nation, you know, everyone sort of has a bad stigma behind motorsports that they're sort of rambunctious and and not really not really safe for stuff like that.

Every motorsport driver in the nation is very safe drivers, and Kentucky is so friendly with policies.

And just in general, I think you guys have some of the best people in the nation.

Rally car is by far the driver and co-driver is by far the most technical, most gutsy drivers on the planet.

We have a lot of safety, but they're running over 100 mile an hour besides a giant oak in a curve on a gravel road.

It takes talent, it takes nerve and takes a lot of skill and practice to get to this level that we're at with the Boone for sure.

Ali, we've got a lot of work to do.

You know, we've got to work on parking.

We've got to work on view in areas, but we've got the perfect location for next year.

We're hoping for a national event.

This year we had 35 cars.

Next year we're hoping for 80 to 100.

I think it's just going to continue to grow, and I can't wait to see where we're at five years from now, ten years from now.

The team of Connor Martell and Alessandra Gonzales Camino placed first overall in the Rally Kentucky edition.

We'll have more tomorrow night on the Boone Forest Rally and its economic impact.