Close fights, great atmosphere, stellar crews. All this is offered every year by Rally Košice, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. Its story began to be written in the seventies of the last century, but the history of motoring in the Košice region goes back much further.
The very first car club was founded in Košice in 1927 and soon after it started organizing car competitions in the region. The very first of them was the Reliable Ride to the Tatras and back in 1928, to which in the following years competitions of elegance, hill climbs, flat track and 24-hour endurance races across the whole of Slovakia were added. During the 1960s and 1970s, motoring in Slovakia experienced a big "boom", during which many new associations and groups were created. One of them was Automotoklub VSŽ Košice in 1970, which a year later, specifically on May 8, 1971, organized the first ever Rallye VSŽ Košice, with which the now fifty-year history of this event began to be written. In this press release, let's take a look at the history of the Rally Košice during the first 25 years (1971-1999).
Winners of the 1st. Rallye VSŽ Košice Ján Mertiňák - Július Ivan
In its first year, the competition consisted of a single special stage, but it still offered a lot of action and high-quality sport. 28 crews started, of which 10 were from the home AMK VSŽ. The very first winners were the crew of Július Ivan and Ján Mertiňák from Poprad, driving a Škoda 110 LA. The inaugural year included in the regional championship ended in success, so nothing prevented the competition from developing further in the following years. There were more special stages, the spread of which gradually spread to the whole of eastern and part of central Slovakia.
Map of the route of V. Rallye VSŽ Košice
A significant turning point came in 1974, when the competition was included in the Slovak Championship for the first time. This helped to greatly increase competition for crews from across the country. Two years later, the organizers even welcomed the first competitors from abroad, specifically from Poland and Hungary. However, the trophies for the winner did not cross the border. At that time, domestic special stages were dominated by domestic driver Ivan Pallag, navigated by Eugen Jurkovič, who jointly dominated the competition three times. "I liked forest stages, where the car's performance disappeared. I still remember the year 1976, when we started with a raw engine and no test. The opponents thought we had no chance because they had more power, but we fought back thanks to the gearbox. At night, without the knowledge of my mechanics, I put other gears in there, but they were in accordance with the homologation and did a lot of work. At the time, we were flying down Krásnohorské Podhradie with hot discs from the brakes, and people asked us if we could heat the car while driving, because sparks were flying from there. And we were able to beat everyone, even with a weaker performance," said Ivan Pallag, who scored two wins on a Škoda 120 S and in 1980 celebrated victory on the legendary Škoda 130 RS.
Ivan Pallag
Another big shift was the inclusion of the Rally Košice in the Czechoslovak Championship in 1982. Thus, a number of elite crews roamed the local routes during the 1980s. For example, legendary drivers Pavel Valoušek with Škoda 130 RS, Leo Pavlík with Audi Quattro, Václav Blahna with Lada 2105 VFTS and Pavel Sibera "piloting" his iconic Škoda Favorit 136 L were celebrating their victory.
Leo Pavlík - Karel Jirátko
The popularity of the competition was constantly increasing and in 1987 more like a hundred crews. "I very fondly remember the Slovak rally and Rally Košice. During my career, I started at every year, even at a time when the Herļana speed test was all gravel. I like to remember one of the most difficult SS, also entirely on gravel, namely the Ružín section. Košice has beautiful surroundings and this region deserves an important competition. I always like to return to the east of Slovakia, and in previous years I helped my son, who started in a top Slovak team," said Pavel Valoušek Sr., winner of the rally in 1982 with co-driver Karel Jirátko.
After 1989, the competition was silent for four years, and the jubilee 20th year had to wait. Rally Košice returned to the Slovak motoring map in 1994, when it was renewed as part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the East Slovak Steel factory. At the time, Jozef Béreš Sr. was rejoicing at the win with a Nissan Sunny GTI-R, who repeated the triumph a year later behind the wheel of a Ford Escort RS Cosworth. "I remember the year 1994 the most, when I drove as a professional driver in Styllex on a factory Nissan with Michal Koči. We also won the title then, those were good times. And preferably on the Herļany - Banské special stage. Unfortunately, rally has changed a lot in that time, today it's more of a business," said Jozef Béreš Sr., who repeated the win the very next year. His son celebrated victory in Košice three times and surpassed his father in the number of wins. It was in the year 1995 that another historical milestone took place, for the first time ever, the circuit special stage under the Dargovské hrdinov housing estate was broadcast live on Slovak Television.
János Tóth jn. on the start podium
A year later, Rally Košice became part of the Hungarian championship, which brought with it the first ever foreign winner. With a Toyota Celica GT4, it became János Tóth Jr., who was succeeded in the following years by compatriots Lásló Ranga (Subaru Impreza 555) and Ferenc Kiss (Subaru Impreza). This has already been contested in the east of Slovakia as part of the European Championships. In 1997, the competition offered a record portion of intense action with a total of 237 racing kilometers spread over 22 speed tests. In 1998, in addition to the European, Slovak and Hungarian championships, the Czech championship also arrived in Košice for the first time. For the first time, 4 WRC category vehicles appeared in the start list. The biggest equestrian stars included names such as Enrico Bertone, László Vizin, Milan Dolák or the popular Italian Gianluigi Galli. The twenty-fifth year in 1999 was won by the Czech crew Stanislav Chovanec - Karol Holaň on a Ford Escort RS Cosworth vehicle.
Stanislav Chovanec
We will provide further news service within the framework of the 50. Garrett RALLY KOŠICE 2024 in the following press releases. They will be published gradually on the official website www.kosice.rallye.sk and on the Facebook profile.
Košice, May 21, 2024
Roman ORDELT, tlačový tajomník, 50. Garrett RALLY KOŠICE