A couple of days earlier, Adam Dressen had been busy in Seattle Mini, providing a routine service on a customer’s 2023 Countryman Cooper S.
Now? He’s anxiously waiting for Luis Perocarpi’s Mini John Cooper Works Racing Team Countryman ALL4 to emerge from the first loop of Olympus Rally stages. The car’s in, the conversation stops and he’s onto another kind of routine service.
Mini USA has found so many ways to innovate with its two-car 2026 ARA National Championship program – and Dressen’s presence in the Sanderson Airfield service park is just one of them.
As has been well documented, America’s premier rally series offers a significant number of challenges, the geography of the job being one of them. Aware of trying to avoid flying too many people around the country, Mini is also keen to share the experience of being involved in the rally effort across nationwide dealerships. The Perocarpis (father Luis and son Cristian) provide much of the motorsport know-how and the backbone of the team, but if you’re a technician in a Mini dealer close to one of the ARA rounds, you can get involved too.
Mini USA is backing the Perocarpi family in this year's ARA
Mini USA’s Alexia Kurz explains the thinking: “This is a great part of the program, it really helps to amplify the message back to the dealers. It’s such a Mini story that shows the passion from our customers, our community and our co-workers.
“The technician program is an online nomination, so it can be self-nominated or by someone else in the dealership’s shop. One of our area managers is really passionate about this and she manages that part of the program – communicating with them and organizing it all to make sure there’s cover for all the rallies and to coordinate travel, lodging, team uniform and all those things.
“The local dealers have been really engaged with it and it gives [the technicians] some amazing experience – they work with stock cars on a day-to-day basis, but this is on a different level. They’re still dealing with cars they’re familiar with, but in a rally and competition environment.”
Dressen couldn’t agree more.
“It’s such a buzz to be part of this,” he told DirtFish. “It gives you real pride in the brand you work in – especially when you go back in [to the dealership] on Monday. We build cars and we work on cars for everyday drivers, so it’s great to see the Mini being pushed to see what it can actually take.”
While he might be relatively new to rallying, Olympus was far from Adam’s first racing rodeo.
Adam Dressen works for a Mini dealer in the week, but at Olympus worked for the rally team too
“Through a similar program with BMW I did some races before,” he added. “I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, so I grew up around NASCAR. I’ve been keen to get into different motorsports – last year it was MotoGP and this year I wanted to see more rallying. I’ve been watching some clips and then this opportunity came along – it’s a great chance to experience the sport first-hand.
“In terms of the work we’ve done on the cars, these are Minis, so they’re reliable! We had a CV boot with hole in it, but that’s about all. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed is seeing the product of the work we’re doing here in the service park; the car comes in, we work on it and we get it back out into the stages. That’s great.
“I’ve been a service technician with Mini for seven years – and with BMW in for 12 in total – and in our day job we see a customer, they come in and maybe we change their oil for them… but it can be a long time before we see them, before they need to come back for another service again. Here, we’re seeing the cars every few hours and seeing the difference we make.”
The downside is that somebody else will be filling Dressen’s shoes when the ARA National Championship makes its next stop in Southern Ohio. Or will they…
“I already talked to the team,” he smiled. “I told them, if they have any openings, then I’m in!”
