Steve and Katie Gingras drive their entry in the 2019 Lake Superior Performance Rally on a stage in Baraga County. (Jerry Winkler photo)

“We take great pains to maintain safety and we have an army of

volunteers to insure the road closures.” — Stephen GINGRAS, Marquette native and current Minneapolis-area resident, chairman of the Lake Superior Performance Rally

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MARQUETTE — Performance auto rallying is returning to the area today and Saturday.

The Lake Superior Performance Rally will be held in Marquette and Baraga counties through late Saturday afternoon.

This will be similar to the 2019 event held in the area as the 2020 was canceled due to coronavirus pandemic concerns.

Marquette was also the headquarters for the 1974 World Rally Championship and Press On Regardless race.

This year, the event includes signature stages from recent years and some classic stages that haven’t been run in more than 25 years, according to Marquette native and current Minneapolis-area resident Stephen Gingras, who is chairman of the LSPR.

“Performance rallying is where one care at a time goes as fast as they can on gravel roads,” he said. “The roads are closed to the public at that time.

“We take great pains to maintain safety and we have an army of volunteers to insure the road closures.”

There are also transit zones, regular roads the auto traverse to go from one stage to another. That means entered autos have to be “street legal” and all rules of the road must be followed.

“If someone gets a ticket in a transit zone, they’ll be disqualified,” Gingras said.

A majority of stages will be in Baraga County, with the last several back in and around Marquette on Saturday.

Entered cars were set to be parked at event sponsor Fox Marquette Subaru from 10 to 11 a.m. today as spectators were invited to take a look at them and meets some of the drivers, too.

A ceremonial start was set for 11 a.m. at Fox Marquette Subaru before a transit stage to Camp Sidnaw in Baraga County.

Entrants will do two loops of four stages starting at 3:30 p.m. today, returning to the service area after the first loop at 6:30 p.m. for gas and repairs, according to organizers.

After that, they’ll repeat the four stages. Three spectator locations are available in that area, each of them seeing the cars twice. Friday’s action is expected to wrap up at 11 p.m. or a bit later.

On Saturday, there are a number of stages, the early ones beginning at 10 a.m. at L’Anse High School in L’Anse with the final two in the city of Marquette. There’s a spectator location in L’Anse.

A transit stage back to Marquette gets ralliers back by about 5 p.m. to Mount Marquette, a historic stage from the 1970s World Rally Championship.

A short transit gets them to Marquette Mountain with a timed look at the ski hill.

Racers will end near the ski hill lodge, as Gingras expects the first racers to come in around 5:30 p.m.

With a half-hour to hour needed to check and recheck times, a podium ceremony and post-even celebration is tentatively scheduled for 6:30 or 7 p.m. near the lodge, which is to include food trucks.

Information on safe watching the racers and where spectator areas are located can be found on the group’s website, www.lsprorally.com and looking under the “Spectators” tab.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.