Officials with Rally America, Inc., the premier sanctioning body for performance rally competition in North America, announced today that BFGoodrich Tires has joined them as the presenting sponsor of the 2009 and 2010 Rally America National Championship Awards Banquets.

A longtime supporter of performance rally competition world-wide, BFGoodrich builds world-class rally tires which are the choice of many of the world's top rally teams including many in the Rally America National Championship and various Regional rally events held across the U.S. and North America

"BFGoodrich is excited to be the presenting sponsor of the Rally America National Awards Banquet", said Roberts Kukainis, BFGoodrich motorsports manager. "The drivers and fans of the Rally America series know the importance of going fast while maintaining control. BFGoodrich gets feedback from rally racing and uses it to make both better rally tires, and better tires overall. Congratulations to Rally America for 5 great years; and now on to the next five!"

The 2009 Rally America National Championship Awards Banquet presented by BFGoodrich will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2009 from 9:00am to Noon at the Rockhouse Grill & Tavern in Houghton, Michigan following the final Rally America National Championship event of the 2009 season - the Lake Superior Performance Rally.

Among the various year-end awards handed out at this year's banquet, the 2009 Rally America Rookie of the Year will be presented as well as the much-coveted Rally America Rally of the Year award. In addition, BFGoodrich will recognize Rally America, Inc. for its unwavering commitment to the sport of rallying in the United States with a 5-year milestone achievement award as the premier sanctioning body for performance rallying in North America since 2005.

Those interested in attending the 2009 Rally America National Championship Awards Banquet presented by BFGoodrich can purchase tickets in advance by downloading the ticket order form located at http://www.rally-america.com/story.php?articleS2 and faxing the form directly to Rally America at (763) 553-2862 before 5:00pm on October 13th, 2009. Advance tickets to the year-end banquet are available for $14 per person, while tickets the day of the event will be available for $17 per person.

This year's 9-event Rally America National Rally Championship started in January and was contested in eight states. With National rally events taking place in Michigan, Missouri, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Maine, Minnesota & Colorado the Rally America National Rally Championship is one of the most recognized performance rally championships in the world.

Considered the extreme sport of automobile racing, rally car racing is often described simply as "real cars, real roads, real fast." This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads. Among the marques typically represented in Rally America events are Subaru, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Ford and Volkswagen.

Top teams in the Rally America National Championship series are also invited to compete in ESPN's annual Summer X Games competition, the leading action sports event broadcast live on ABC and ESPN. Ten top teams were invited to this past August's contest.

For more information regarding Rally America, Inc. or to reserve tickets for the 2009 Rally America National Rally Championship Awards Banquet presented by BFGoodrich scheduled for Sunday, October 18, 2009, call (763) 553-2742 or visit www.rally-america.com for details.