We’ve all thought it.
Marveling at our heroes, throwing a car at obtuse angles, the metaphorical mirror comes out and we think: I bet I could do that.
The trouble is, our heroes make the impossible look like child’s play. Try the thing for real, and you’ll quickly discover why even the world’s best usually experience at least one crash in a season.
That is unless you get the proper training. Having a dream is great; wanting to make it happen is even better. But actually channeling that goal into an action plan is what really counts if you really want to make it.
Allow us to introduce you to Casen Pedersen.
“I was a cocky kid who thought I knew it all when it came to ripping a car on dirt,” he says.
“I was very wrong.”
The school gave me a roadmap to capitalize on opportunities I never thought I would getCasen Pedersen
Growing up in a motorsport family with a brother who raced motocross, Casen had petrol for veins and ambition for days. At 13 years old, he was sliding a $500 BMW around and wondering how he’d ever do this thing properly.
Then he, his brother and father took a three-day class at DirtFish Rally School, and the penny dropped.
“My pedigree growing up was very grassroots until I got proper coaching out at DirtFish, and they really opened up my eyes to what it meant to be a true driver,” Casen explains.
“I never really knew it was a possibility to become a rally driver until DirtFish. Don’t get me wrong, at any point growing up if you were to ask me if I wanted to be a rally driver the answer would be a resounding ‘yes’, but it always felt so far away and quite honestly impossible.
“DirtFish changed that for me. The school gave me a roadmap to capitalize on opportunities I never thought I would get, and gave me the tools to be safe and competitive at the highest levels of the sport.”
Casen took the right approach – learning how to rally in a controlled environment first before letting loose on the special stages. His results validate the approach: seven starts, two class wins and an overall podium.
Naturally, it hasn’t all been sunshine and roses. A “nasty off” at last year’s Southern Ohio Forest Rally was a definite bump in the road for the 24-year-old (on just his third rally no less), but it taught Casen a valuable lesson in pacenotes and preparation and the risks of getting it wrong.
The following year he returned to the same rally in the same car, and what did he do? Won the class at National level.
That was in a Lexus IS 250. A competitive car in L2WD and fun to drive, but sampling a Renault Clio Rally3 at the season-ending Lake Superior Performance Rally has introduced Casen to a brand-new world. And he doesn’t want to go back.
“LSPR was not on my radar until about a month or so before the event, and when I knew I had the opportunity to drive a factory-built race car like a Rally3 I was so excited,” he smiles.
Pedersen made the most of opportunity to drive factory-built Renault Clio Rally3 on LSPR
“The car was better than I could have ever imagined, it was very quick and unbelievably capable. Most of my time at DirtFish was spent behind the wheel of a four-wheel-drive car so I felt right at home. Four-wheel-drive is my favorite platform when it comes to sensations and driving style, and the car was supported by an incredible crew at Argonaut Motor Club.
“I was able to enjoy a great finish with an incredibly talented co-driver in Glen Ray, and I was able to share a podium with Travis Pastrana, something I never thought I would be able to say.
“2026 is going to be an interesting year – being 24 years old I need to find a job that will allow me to take eight or nine weeks off out of the year, but I’m working on it,” Casen laughs.
“One thing I do know is the next race I do, I want to compete within the Rally3 chassis. I feel as if I was bitten by the bug, and the L4WD class as a whole is uber-competitive. Rally is a sport I cannot wait to compete in for the rest of my life, whether that be pushing for a National championship or entering one or two events a year, I hope to rally for a long time to come.”
Utilizing the world-class guidance and facility at DirtFish Rally School has helped Casen unlock his potential and pave a path towards a sustained career in the sport.
As he explains, it’s not just useful for beginners – he still goes back now to top up his skills.
Sharing a podium with Travis Pastrana wasn't something Pedersen expected
“The level of instruction is top tier and so detailed, yet intuitive at the same time. I remember my first ‘aha’ moment coming from the idea of turning the car only with the pedals – you first hear about it in the classroom, then implement it on a simple corner, and then before you know it you’re coming down topping out fourth gear, trail braking hard, downshifting within the slide and catching the car with the throttle, and you come out of the corner feeling like a superhero. Then you realize you’re only halfway through the first day of a three day class!
“Me, my brother and my dad all took our first class together and I remember just laughing with them about how it feels so wrong that they let you have this much fun in cars this nice. We’ve come back countless times and the trip became an annual vacation for us three over the years.”
Casen believes it would have been “simply impossible” to go rallying without learning his craft at DirtFish.
“No one I knew rallied, there were no examples to pull from,” he says. “DirtFish opened so many doors for me, and gave me all the insight on how to compete the right way.
“From driving instruction to mindset, and supplying me with the network necessary to compete at a high level, I would never have been a rally driver if it wasn’t for DirtFish.”
