Street races might make an appearance for the 84th Sturgis Rally

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Most cities don’t want you street racing, but Sturgis is taking sanctioned motorcycle racing into consideration.

After the 2022 Sturgis Rally, the city of Sturgis started talking about what might bring a new crowd of people. A month after this year’s Rally, that vision is taking shape as American Motorcyclist Association racing professionals ride the streets to consider routes. AMA professionals arrived on-site Sept. 11 and 12 to get a taste of Sturgis streets.

The communications director for the City of Sturgis, Deb Holland, said decisions still need to be made on the city council’s part.

“The city is taking a hard look at all the logistics and all the safety issues that come with a street race, and so what happens now is the AMA will put together a proposal, and they’ll submit that to the city and the council will determine if the city moves forward,” Holland said.

Additional streets will need to be blocked off, and parking options for businesses have become a hot topic.

The manager for Black Hills & Gold, Madison Pankratz, said having a large-scale event within the rally would not be a good idea.

“Some of us will be an island. We have different locations up and down the street, and one location will be in the center of where they’ll be racing around. So, we’re worried about sales in that area specifically. But then, we’re also worried about parking for all the people that usually park on Main Street,” Pankratz said.

The AMA site visit aimed to assess routes, audience angles, safety concerns, and stakeholder opinions.

This information will go toward creating a race event proposal for the 2024 Sturgis Rally.

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