The UMI Autocross Challenge is a fun and exciting race where competitors are battling it out for an entry to the UMI King of the Mountain race in August. That race has a $25,001 check for the winner, and that means everyone wants a shot at it. The shootout consists of qualifying to get into the Top 32 for the money, and then head-to-head competition will determine who takes home the big money as they move through eliminations. These photos are the cars that were competing to try to get into the King of the Mountain. This was the last chance to get into the race, so everyone was giving it their all.

But before you can race for the $25,001 you need to get an invite and there are only a couple ways to make that happen. Be a serious badass in the autocross community and get an invite, which allows you to purchase an entry, or race your way in through a qualifying race like the UMI Autocross Challenge. Of course there is also the fact that we run these events with a HUGE charity component, where racers and fans alike can participate by donating and then winning all kinds of giveaways. One of those giveaways is an entry to King of the Mountain, and we also auction off one entry for charity as well. It’s the only one you can buy without being asked, and this year it added $2,200 to our total charity for the weekend. In total, this event raised nearly $11,000 for the Emily Whitehead Foundation and fellow racer Danny Popp who recently suffered a stroke.

I announce the event and run the giveaways and raffle and all that at this event, so it is crazy for me, but I took the opportunity at lunch on Saturday to run through the pits and get a photo of every car sitting there so you could see what was competing. We’ll be back for King of the Mountain next month and can’t wait to raise more money and put on a show. Come to Pennsylvania and join us and we’ll buy you a burger and a beer. Or watch on the livestream which will be coming to you from the middle of UMI Motorsports Park!