Iowa Region, with the help of Milwaukee Region, brought the thrills and chills of the annual Freeze Your Curds Off Rallycross Challenge to the hills of southwestern Wisconsin this past weekend.  It drew a huge crowd this year with 68 drivers from eight different states battling each other in the wildly varying conditions.  As always, Mother Nature decided to get involved in the fray as well, with weather conditions covering the gambit, from dry and mild, to rain, followed by snow and 40+ mph wind.

Before we get into the action, we need to thank this year’s sponsors:

• Gibbsville Cheese provided us with some fabulous custom cheese curds. If you’re looking for great cheese in the Midwest, we highly recommend their offerings!
• Mayhew Tools contributed a variety of American made tools for door prizes. If you are in need of some high-quality hand tools, be sure to look for Mayhew Tools!
• Penguin Garage added some Kartboy pedals to the door prize mix. Penguin has the hook up for all your racing parts needs, including tires!
• Subies of the Corn threw in a ton of Subaru merch. They are an Illinois based charity that raises money for various charities through car related events.  Please consider making a donation to them here so they can continue this fabulous work!

Saturday’s course was approximately two miles long, with run times over 180 seconds in the dry and far in excess of 200 seconds as it became wet and muddy.  The day started off fairly beautiful, but quickly turned to “Hope you packed extra socks, shoes, and basically every item of clothing!” as the rain and eventually snow rolled in.

TL:DR Class Highlights for Day 1:

• Stock FWD: Brian S’s Honda Fit held firm, topping the front-drive pack ahead of Ben D’s Mini.
• Stock RWD: Greg F’s Corvette held down the lone RWD stock slot in classic V8 fashion.
• Stock AWD: Hugh H piloted his Subaru SVX through the slop for the AWD win.
• Prepared FWD: Edwin C’s bright yellow Cobalt SS held the top spot despite a new Bluetooth axle.
• Prepared RWD: Adam L’s Mustang GT roared to a decisive victory over Oliver S’s Miata.
• Prepared AWD: Alec S’s silver WRX splashed to the win in what was basically a mud jacuzzi.
• Modified FWD: Shane B’s Honda CRX kept it tidy for the class lead.
• Modified RWD: Eric A’s Toyota MR2ZZ danced to another win over Chris E’s vintage Lotus.
• Modified AWD: Eric L dominated in his WRX, with Aaron B and Jay K close behind.
• SxS: Zach S’s Can-Am X3 RR sprayed rooster tails of clay en route to the UTV win.

First up in the dry was Stock FWD, with eight drivers facing off.  Michael B from Land o Lakes (LoL) region surprised everyone with a quick first lap in his Mitsubishi Lancer, but Brian S (Honda Fit) and Ben D (Mini Cooper S), both of Milwaukee (MKE) region, struck back on the second run.  Michael did his best to keep up with these two, but picked up a cone and had a bit of engine trouble too.  Brian proceeded to keep laying down flyers and opened up the gap, easily capturing first by 14 seconds.  He was followed by Ben in second and Michael in third.  There was also a good battle for fourth between Peter S (Toyota Camry, MKE) and Charles P (Honda Civic, Iowa).  Peter had a solid lead over Charles after the first two runs, but then Charles found a bunch of time and clawed back.  Fourth ended up in Peter’s hands with Charles less than two seconds back in fifth.

Stock RWD was a class of one, with Greg F (MKE) piloting a C4 Corvette around the still dry course.  With the right course conditions, that generation of Corvette can be quite the stock class rallycross car, as they can fit up to 27” tires, such as mud terrains.  One of these cars captured the National Championship in 2023.  Greg treated us all to some sweet rooster tails of dirt as he laid down times faster than many of the FWD cars.

The six drivers in Prepared FWD also got to race in the dry conditions.  It was some stiff competition, with two former national champions in the class.  David C (Iowa, yours truly) had a small lead over Edwin C (Alabama) and Devin P (Iowa) after the first two runs.  However, disaster struck for me on run 3, with my axle shearing off, putting an end to my racing for the weekend.  Not to be outdone, Connor B of Kansas City (KC) region blew a power steering line, Ed spectacularly broke an axle on his fourth run (we’ll find that shaft eventually), and Devin shattered a plastic coolant fitting, bringing the class down to one running car with two drivers from LoL. Sara S and Matt S were trying out rallycross for the first time ever in a VW GTI and appeared to be having a blast.  Despite all the DNF penalties, Ed ended taking first, Devin second, and David third.

Modified RWD also ran while the course was dry, with seven drivers slinging dirt.  MR wins the award for the most unique entries: a 1978 Buick Skylark, a ’89 engine swapped MR2, a ’69 engine swapped Lotus Europa, a turboed ’81 Mustang, an ’83 RX7, and an ’01 Lexus Land yacht, err, GS300.  Right off the bat, Eric A of Michigan in the MR2, laid down a stunning run that was the fastest of all cars in Heat 1.  This left everyone else trying to play catch up.  Chris E in the Lotus answered right back with a flyer lap of his own.  This set up a back-and-forth battle between the two.  Chris E couldn’t quite overcome the difference so Eric A walked away with the first-place trophy.  Travis H piloted his Lexus to third, not far behind Eric and Chris.  Keegan S’ turbo Mustang and Brian S’ RX7 both had some mechanical issues, but managed to complete the day. 

Second heat was led off by Prepared RWD, with seven drivers competing.  Conditions started off dry, but by run two, the rain was starting and by the third run, it was extremely slick.  Adam L of Lake Superior (LS) region set the quickest first run in his ’86 Mustang GT, but Oliver S of Iowa was hot on his heels in a ’94 Miata.  These two hung close through all the dry-ish runs, but Adam pulled away as the rain set in.  Adam snagged first with Oliver not far behind.  The battle for third was an all Ford show, with Sam S & Dustin P co-driving a ’98 Mustang GT and Blade K in a ’20 Crown Vic.  Blade put down an extremely quick second run, putting him in good shape to take third.  However, he ended up getting very out of sorts in the slop and missed a gate, allowing Sam to take third away from him.

Also in the second heat, Stock AWD chewed things up, with 10 drivers slinging dirt into the air.  Michael G (LoL) put down times that appeared to be unmatchable while the dry conditions lasted, being in first by nearly 17 seconds. Then the rain struck and Michael had to do two reruns back-to-back in the slop.  By the time he got a time that stood, conditions were terrible and he gave up over 20 seconds to his competitors, falling to third.  Capitalizing on this issue, Hugh H (Iowa) and Jason J (MKE) jumped ahead, with Hugh taking first in his Subaru SVX and Jason capturing second in his ’09 Impreza Outback Sport.  The battle for fourth was also a hot one, with very little time separating the fourth through seventh finishers.  David L (Iowa) managed to hold the rest off in his daily driven ’05 Forester and brought home fourth.

UTV/Side by Side class rounded out the second heat, with two drivers taking the field.  Zachary S put down an absolutely stunning first run of 170.466, the fasted run of that course by all drivers by almost 15 seconds.  Zach followed this up with another very quick lap, but failed his water pump at the end of the run and had to retire from competition.  His sole competitor, Dale Barr (MKE), tried his hardest to take advantage of this failure but couldn’t quite get there.  Zachary took first overall, still besting Dale despite the DNF penalties.

Our final heat faced the worse course conditions as well as fading daylight.  Their runs didn’t finish up until 20 minutes after sunset, by which time visibility was hampered even further by the start of the snow.  Modified FWD went on course first, with four drivers. Shane B (Honda CRX, Iowa) and Andy W (Honda Civic, LoL) jumped out way ahead of the field in their first two runs.  Unfortunately, something happened to Andy on his second run and he turned in a time almost 100 seconds slower than his first run.  This allowed Ryan K (CRX, Iowa) to pounce and grab second place.  The little CRX decided to create problems for both its drivers, shredding the alternator belt, forcing them to charge the battery between runs in the hope of having enough juice to get through a run.  Shane ended up take the win, followed by Ryan in second and Andy in third.  Fourth went to Cooper E, a 15-year-old rookie, racing on his driving permit.  That’s right, permitted teenagers are allowed to race with a parent or instructor in the car, so bring your teens out to race!

Next up were the 16 drivers of Modified AWD, typically one of the fastest classes to watch.  By this point, the course was soup that required true mud tires to have any chance of a quick time.  Eric L (WRX, Iowa) gave us a great example of this, jumping out to a 10 second lead on his first run.  Conditions continued to get worse and no one could make up enough time on Eric to prevent him from taking first.  Second place turned into a battle between co-drivers, Aaron B (Iowa) and Jay K (Iowa) in a ’95 Impreza.  Jay had the upper hand until his last run, when the before-mentioned decreasing visibility cost him significant time, allowing Aaron to capture second.  There was also a close battle for fourth between Ben H (STI, MKE) and Jamison W (Audi A4).  The pattern above repeated with Jamison besting Ben in the final run to finish the day in fourth.  As a final illustration of rallycross mud tires versus non-mud tires, the difference between first and sixteenth was a shocking 427 seconds!

Our final class of the day was Prepared AWD, with six drivers struggling through the mud.  Alec S (LS) used his superior tires and driving skill to easily run away with the class win, over 200 seconds ahead of second place.  Runs for the other drivers varied wildly in times, due to the extremely difficult conditions.  A minimal screw up could end up costing a driver huge amounts of time.  Bryan O managed to be the most consistent in his ’24 GR Corolla, taking second by only 6 seconds, quite the accomplishment given he was racing on all season tires!  Brian, we all give you kudos for bringing that car out to race; it is living its best life! Third went to Andy M (’97 Legacy, MKE) who managed to claw back from a terrible first run to capture the podium spot.

By the time we were done with the first day award ceremony, the snow was coming down fast and furious, setting the stage for another hard and frustrating day of racing in unpredictable, slick conditions.

Sunday dawned cold (20 F), snowy (roughly 3” on the ground), and ridiculously windy.  We all definitely froze our curds off.  The snow quickly deteriorated into treacherous mud and had many drivers sacrificing cones to the rallycross gods.  Sadly, 26 drivers dropped out of the competition for Sunday, although we picked up a couple new drivers.  With the lower numbers, we opted for a two heat race day.

TL:DR Class Highlights for Day 2:

• Stock FWD: Ben D flipped Saturday’s script, taking the win from Brian S for the first time this season.
• Stock RWD: Greg F repeated unopposed, adding more Corvette glory to the event.
• Stock AWD: Hugh H again claimed top honors — two clean sweeps in one very dirty weekend!
• Prepared RWD: Adam L stayed consistent, keeping his Mustang sideways and fast.
• Prepared AWD: Alec S’s WRX was untouchable, taking home the hardware over Andy M’s Legacy.
• Modified FWD: Andy W clawed back to win the front-drive modifieds.
• Modified RWD: Eric A remained king of sideways style in his MR2ZZ.
• Modified AWD: Eric L edged Aaron B & Jay K by just over 1.1 seconds — a nail-biter finish in these conditions!

Mod FWD ran the course first, with the same four drivers returning from Saturday.  The CRX had a new alternator belt so its drivers’ hopes were high.  Andy W quickly crushed these, taking a 14 second lead on the first run.  Shane B fought back as hard as he could, cutting the lead to only 5.7 seconds, but could not stop Andy from taking first.  The CRX started acting up on Ryan K’s runs, preventing him from getting anywhere close to his co-driver.

In Mod RWD, the entrants dropped down to just Eric A, Chris E, and Travis H.  The doors of Chris’s Lotus were frozen shut, so Travis H offered him a co-drive in the land yacht so that he could continue competing.  While it’s a delight to watch in the hands of Chris and Travis, the land yacht couldn’t touch the times that Eric A was able to put down in his cheater car (his own words).  By the third run, the ice had melted enough that Chris was able to resume competition in his Lotus, cutting into Eric’s lead a small amount.  Eric had opened up so much of a gap that he easily hung onto first place, followed by Chris in second.

Mod AWD was down to 11, with one new entry of a WRX piloted by William B. The top spot was a three-way fight between Eric L, Aaron B, and Jay K.  After two runs, it was still anyone’s game, though Jay was at the top.  For the final lap, Jay laid down the fastest time but then overcooked the finish, taking out two cones after the timing lights, which is still a penalty.  This allowed Eric to take first by a bit over one second, and Aaron second by only 0.15 seconds.  Again, there was a fight for fourth between Jamison W and Ben H.  Jamison couldn’t best Ben despite his best efforts, so the finish order was flipped from the previous day.  The remaining drivers slogged through the worsening conditions in their not-mud tires, with times getting slower every lap, making for a frustrating experience.

The second heat featured all the remaining classes.  With the slimy mud and tires not intended for dealing with it, the drivers had to battle continuously to stay on course and not slaughter a ton of cones.

Up first was Stock FWD with 6 drivers, all veterans from the first day, although none had faced the afternoon mud.  Ben D & Brian S both put down stellar times, but Ben pick up two cones, handing the lead to Brian.  However, Ben made his Mini dance the following run and bested Brian by over 4 seconds to take the class win by less than a second.  Peter S also dropped a very quick run in his ’99 Toyota Camry to lock up third place.

Greg F was once again playing with himself in Stock RWD and used the opportunity to try new things in the muddy conditions.  I’m not sure these worked, as he picked up a missed gate and four cones.  All in all, it didn’t matter and he went home with another trophy.

Stock AWD featured 8 returning drivers from Saturday as well as Oliver S switching into Hugh’s SVX from his Miata.  Time wise, it looks like Michael G was going to easily take the win, until the cone and missed gate calls started rolling in.  Hugh kept things fast and tidy, taking the win with no cones and roughly a 5 second lead over Michael.  Cones again decided the battle for third, with Oliver’s raw times looking good, but 12 seconds of cone penalties handed the trophy to Jason J.

Prepared RWD had 6 returning drivers, until Martin & Peter couldn’t even get their BMW out of grid due to the mud.  This turned the class into another Ford only affair.  Adam L once again demonstrated great car control In his Mustang while laying down times as fast as some of the AWD cars.  He took first with a solid 16 second lead over Blade and his Crown Vic.  Blade did utilize tactics he learned from ice racing to capture second with a healthy 40 second margin.

Only three drivers returned in Prepared AWD but Luke W drove over from Iowa to add his WRX to the fray.  Right off the bat, Alec S established dominance, dropping runs in excess of 25 seconds faster than his closest competitor.  Andy M captured second with a comfortable lead over the remaining competitors.  Bryan O and Luke had quite the battle for third, swapping fastest times.  Bryan captured the last trophy by only 0.7 seconds, thanks to Luke catching a few more cones.

This year’s event was also a National Tour event, where the two-day winners of every class qualify for Tier1 entry to the 2026 National Championship event.  The cumulative winners can be seen at this link, as you are probably already tired of reading about this event.

FYCO is also a division competition between the regions of CenDiv.  The members of each region earn points for their region, based on their finish in their class each day, with 10/8/6/4/2/1 points earned for 1^st/2^nd/3^rd/4^th/5^th/6^th and on place.  This was the closest year yet between the regions, with Land o Lakes Region earning 41 points, Lake Superior Region earning 54, Milwaukee Region snagging 145, and Iowa Region taking the win with 154 points.  The absurd cheese curd trophy will be returning to Iowa until the 2026 event. Iowa is still undefeated for all five years of this competition!  Breakdown of the points earnings can be seen here.

We also presented to special awards this year: a Road Warrior award for the racer that traveled the furthest distance to come to the event and the Curd Happens award, for the racer that had the hardest weekend due to breakage and other difficulties.  The Road Warrior award went to Edwin C, who traveled over 825 miles from Birmingham, AL to come race with us Midwest nuts.  The Curds Happens award was given to yours truly, David C, mainly for battling the difficult weather and other hardships to keep the entire event running, though I did also break my car.  An important note, I was not on the committee that made the decision on who would be presented the award. 😀

Summing things up, it was two days, two courses, dozens of drivers, and enough frozen mud to sculpt a dairy cow — the 2025 Freeze Your Curds Off Challenge delivered exactly what rallycross fans came for: unpredictability, camaraderie, and curds that lived up to their name.  Massive thanks to everyone who helped out and made the event great!  We hope you all had fun despite the challenging and frustrating course conditions.  We’ll be back again next year!