Prepare to get dusty: the Rocky Mountain Rally is revving its engines and coming back to Invermere for a seventh time from May 24th to 26th.

The rally will include a car show in downtown Invermere along with “some great action in the woods,” said organizer Keith Morison.

He’s expecting a record number of teams this year as 36 are already confirmed and he anticipates seeing upwards of 40 cars in the race.

All the cars will be lined up along 7th Avenue for the car show on Saturday, May 25th from 9 to 10:30 a.m., where spectators can get up close to the shiny machines, meet the drivers and have a good look at the cars in the competition. Then the cars will head over to the forestry roads by Dogleg Lake for their races.

“For the motorheads, there’s everything from old cars to new cars,” he said.

Cars to fit all budgets are coming for the race – from those for the “saving-every-penny type” that are “built with more sweat and blood than they are with money” all the way up to a former world-championship car.

While he estimates that a team could score a rally car for under $10,000, others come with a price tags 20 times that high.

But the cars are less important than the drivers, he said, adding that the drivers’ talent is the biggest factor in their performance.

The cars are coming from as far away as Quebec, Montana and Ohio, he said, but they aren’t putting on mileage for the trip. Instead the cars will be loaded into trailers and hauled to town.

“The cars will certainly throw up dust when they’re racing on the rally roads… It’s spectacular seeing the cars coming along with the big plumes of dust behind them and carving through the corners,” Mr. Morison said. “There’s nothing like the feeling of running down a forestry road as fast as you can.”

But you shouldn’t try it unless you’re in the race. The Rocky Mountain Rally has arranged to speed legally. To ensure safety, the organizers will have the course closed and only allow one car to speed by at a time. They’ve also taken out a fat insurance policy.

The Rocky Mountain Rally is looking for additional volunteers for the car show and the races. Duties include chopping up downed trees along the race route, clearing deadfall, amateur radio and timing responsibilities and other “pretty easy-to-handle volunteer roles.”

To volunteer or to add your wild ride to the roster, visit www.rockymountainrally.com.