Champion Rally - チャンピオンラリー by 三共 (Sankyo)

Name: Champion Rally - チャンピオンラリー

Year: around 1969
Manufacturer: 三共 (Sankyo)

The only reference I have found to Champion Rally is in the 1969 machine directory.  It might have been made in an earlier year.  I do not know.

The 1969 machine directory lists this machine under 三共 (Sankyo), but I do not know if they manufactured this game, or just sold it.

acccs2014 posted this amazing photo on their blog:

This machine is a bit confusing:

The angle of the cabinet seemed odd to me.  I do not recall seeing a cabinet shaped like that before.  The marquee graphic looks quite similar to Champion Rally though.  Going back to the Champion Rally photo (top of page,) I realize the photo is square-facing.  You do not get to see the curves of the cabinet.

Champion Rally could indeed have shorter cabinet like the one we see here.   Is this Champion Rally here?  Too bad it doesn't have the sign at the top!  But the bezel around the game does seem very similar to the bezel graphics on Champion Rally.

I have seen another machine with similar graphics on the upper bezel:

`

from the 1973 movie 愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973) 

All 3 of these games have the exact same cabinet control panel, with the black rectangle surrounded by the silver.  They are undoubtedly by the same manufacturer, but I cannot find any other references.  Perhaps they are all cabinet variations of Champion Rally?  It is hard to tell.

Let's line up the upper bezels:

They all have green hills with white dots along the bottom, and then multiple vehicles.  But each one seems distinctly different from the other.

Another thing to note for identifying the driving games:  look at the vertical stripes on the cabinet.  I do not know why the companies did this, but they all seem to have distinct stripes.

Champion Rally stripes:

Champion License, confirmed released in 1969, also has similar vertical stripes:

1969 Champion License - チャンピオンライセンス by 太東貿易 (Taito Trading)

Another game confirmed from 1969 also has similar stripes.  There are at least 2 colour variants that I have seen:

1969 Indy 500 [M-type] - インディ500 [M型] by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)

1969 Indy 500 [M-type] - インディ500 [M型] by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)

I think that if the game in the photo from acccs2014 was Champion Rally, we would be able to see a stripe. on the cabinet.  The cabinet is blocked by the basketball game, but we can still the white cabinet through the glass.