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!

A crisp fall morning, a little dew on the grass, and the unmistakable sound of turbo Subarus and rev-happy Civics echoing through Independence Speedway was the story this past Sunday as the Iowa Region RallyCross crew wrapped up another action-packed day of sideways dirt-flinging fun.  Potentially the dustiest event of the season, a stiff breeze prevented any delays due to visibility or angry neighbors.  17 racers from four different states threw down the gauntlet to try to bring home first place on a very technical course featuring four hairpin pivots.

Stock FWD was an in-law battle with Jeff W facing off against his son-in-law, Dan A, both behind the wheel of a 2010 Focus.  Jeff jumped off to an early lead, putting 18 seconds on Dan in the first three runs.  Dan clawed back some, nearly matching Jeff time for time as the day went on.  However, he was unable to dig up enough speed to overtake his father-in-law.  Jeff finished the day sitting in first for Stock FWD and 8^th overall.

When it’s slick and technical, Hugh H is the man to beat in Stock AWD — and he proved it again today. The red ’96 Subaru SVX glided across the course like it was on rails, clocking in times consistently faster than the rest of the field. Even a ten second missed gate penalty couldn’t hold him back.  Hugh’s performance also earned him 4^th overall. Kirk E’s ’02 BMW 325xi, David L’s ’05 Forester, and Adam B’s $300 ’06 Impreza rounded out the field, all improving their times throughout the day on the exceedingly tricky course.  When the extreme dust settled, David had taken 2^nd with Kirk tight on his heels.

Prepared FWD was the battle of boosted 4 cylinders with Devin P in a ’14 VW GTI and yours truly, David C, in an ’04 SRT4.  Devin’s times were quick right off the bat, whereas I lagged behind as well as picking up a couple cones.  While I wanted to blame my poor performance on the terrible turning radius of the SRT4 with all the [damn] pivots, Devin truly drove the wheels off his GTI.  His fastest lap was only bested by cars in the Modified classes.  Devin also captured 6^th overall for the day.

Prepared RWD was again a spec Ford Mustang class, with Sam S and Dustin P piloting the same ’98 GT.  Dustin was a bit cone happy throughout the day, while Sam was consistently faster, opening a pretty wide gulf between their times.  Disaster struck part way through the first heat, with the Mustang’s power breaking up right in the power band.  They retired for the rest of the heat, but got things squared away to continue their battle in the afternoon.  Sam headed home with 1^st place and bragging rights until our November event.

Modified FWD was a pack of Hondas, all of which were flying! Andy W was incredibly quick as always in his ’99 Civic, staying out front all day. Shane B and Anthony W followed close behind in a ’91 CRX, proving once again that light, loud, and low works wonders on loose dirt.  Sadly, the CRX ripped out its transmission mounts near the end of the first heat, forcing both drivers to retire.  Andy didn’t slack off though, continuing to put down times that were only bested by one other car, in the Modified AWD class!  Andy took home 2^nd overall as well as the class win.

Travis H had Modified RWD all to himself in his Lexus GS300, but don’t mistake that for an excuse to slack off.  Travis pitched his luxury barge, err sedan, into every corner, taking advantage of drifts to get around the four [damn] pivot cones with ease.  Without a doubt, Travis also introduced the most dust to the atmosphere, allowing him to murder cones unnoticed.  While a bit behind the fastest times, there’s no doubt that Travis had the most fun of all of us.

 Subarus filled the Modified AWD class, with an ’05 Forester championed by Dave E, a ’95 Impreza wagon piloted by Aaron B, and an ’05 WRX sponsored by Rachel D, but driven by Eric L.  Dave E, with less horsepower and far more weight than the other two, pushed hard trying to keep up, but quickly fell behind.  Eric started off cone heavy as usual and it looked like Aaron might be able to snag first without much of a fight.  However, Eric figured things out and took off, opening a gap by the end of the first heat.  Aaron struggled with the [damn] pivot cones, which amusingly, he had inserted into the course design.  In the afternoon, both drivers threw caution to the wind and traded times back and forth.  Eric managed to hold onto first through the end of competition and also took home first overall.

Next up for Iowa Region is our annual Freeze Your Curds Off two day rallycross near Darlington, WI on November 8-9^th.  Entry includes a t-shirt, stickers, cheese curds, and door prizes, as well as some cool trophies.  Don’t delay in signing up, as we have to enter our shirt order by 10/14, so we cannot guarantee shirt sizes if you register after that date.  Get all the details at www.msreg.com/FYCORallyX

Racers with the Iowa Region RallyCross took on a long, challenging course at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Sunday, August 17th.  Due to blistering hot weather, the racing was less of a battle between racers and more of a battle against Mother Nature.  The extreme heat and humidity took its toll on all the racers and cars, leading to numerous cars and drivers having to retire from competition prior to completing all their runs.  Despite the exceptionally unpleasant weather, much fun was had by all!

Stock FWD was part of our first group of the day, with three racers slinging dirt.  All were posting times very close to each other and it was not clear who would be taking the win until the very end.  Charles P, piloting an ’06 Civic, had a missed gate on his second run and the 10 second penalty cost him dearly.  Jeff W, rocking a ’10 Focus, also had an “oops” run on his third run, keeping Charles in the running.  Michael B from MN started to open the gap with his ’02 Lancer, but then had a couple slower runs towards the end.  When the dust settled, Michael managed to take the win, with Jeff in second and Charles in third.  Only 7 seconds separated first from third, a rather small margin considering all the seat time.

Prepared RWD had two drivers sharing a ’98 Mustang GT.  The course had more than a few elements that were well suited to a RWD car’s ability to pivot the read end with power.  Initially, it appeared that Dustin P would be snagging the win, but then Sam S’s greater experience with his own car began to shine through.  By the fourth run, Sam had taken the lead.  Dustin pushed too hard and began collecting a lot of cones, sealing his fate to second place.  Sam took the win by a solid 31 seconds.

Next up on the course was Prepared FWD, with four drivers.  However, before they could take any runs, the venue required a watering of the track for dust control.  This led to a huge time penalty for the first couple cars on course, thanks to the greasy mud created by the water.  Yours truly, David C in an ’04 SRT4, jumped on the grenade first and slid his way around the course, laying down an abysmally bad time.  Chris W followed suit in his ’07 Focus wagon, completing the course with another mud punished time.  Devin P was third up, but got very lucky, with the timing equipment having an error and not recording his slippery time.  The course dried fast and the times dropped massively.  Oscar B struggled with a lot of cones, making it look like he was not going to be in the running for first or second.  However, Devin’s ’15 GTI blew a coolant hose, forcing him to retire for the day after only two runs.  The heat began to really take a toll on Oscar and I, as we were required to run the SRT4’s heat to keep it from overheating on track.  We both opted to retire from racing after our fourth run, as we were both on the verge of heat exhaustion.  Chris’s Focus soldiered on, but with the lower HP on tap, was unable to compete with the times from the turbo cars.  At the end of the heat, Oscar took first and Devin second, despite the DNF penalties.  My abysmal first mud lap left me in third with Chris a bit behind in fourth.

The final heat featured Stock AWD and Mod AWD.  Again, the water truck came out for dust control, leading to some painful mud runs that essentially decided the winners.

Stock AWD was a competition between the H6 Subaru SVX of Hugh H versus the turbo STI of Dave M.  These gentlemen got off a couple runs before the water truck and then ran back to back after the water truck, keeping things rather even.  Hugh jumped off to the lead on his first run, and never looked back.  Despite his best efforts, Dave couldn’t close the gap.  Hugh ended up taking the win by roughly 27 seconds, a lead he built up bit by bit every run.

Modified AWD had two cars, each driven by two drivers.  Aaron B and Jay K piloted Aaron’s high compression ’95 Impreza wagon versus Brandon G and Collin C in an ’05 STI.  Aaron jumped on the grenade for everyone and took the first run after the water truck, turning in a painful time that basically decided his finishing position for the day.  Brandon and Collin also tackled the fast-drying mud and put down respectful times.  In the meantime, Jay faked a bee sting so that he didn’t have to take any runs until the course was fully dry.  Just kidding Jay, we know you were actually stung.  Thanks to all his dry runs Jay took first by over 66 seconds.  Brandon put down fast and consistent times once the mud dried up.  Aaron gave chase, clawing back time on his later runs, but couldn’t get past Brandon.  Sadly, the STI gave up the ghost before Collin could get all his runs in.  Brandon ended up in second, 3.7 seconds ahead of Aaron.

We are racing at Oskaloosa again on Sept 21^st.  We hope you’ll come join us for some fast and dirty fun!  We would also like to say thank you to Ryan A for supplying photos of the event!

Sunday, January 12th, 25 racers headed to the new Freitag field for the first event of the season. Cold temperatures and a heavy wind for our first ever event at this new venue made it quite a chilly day. The wide-open rolling hills of this 140!!! acre field are going to make for some great events!

The top time and first in Stock FWD for this inaugural event goes to Issac H, who piloted his Honda Prelude to victory by a mere 0.965 seconds over 2024 class Champion Charles P.  This close battle came down to cones hits with Charles’s three costing him the win.  Charles also took 2^nd overall, helping show that FWD may have its advantages in winter racing conditions.

Stock RWD saw Brian T piloting his Camaro on course, and as more ice started to form, he was putting on a show.  Even with the show, he was able to beat Jeff W by less than a second.  Jeff was having shifter issues “because his wife Candy broke it.”  We’re not sure we believe you on this Jeff!  Memories of Camry bumpers flying off and other incidents are still fresh in our minds. 😉

3rd fastest overall was Greg L, piloting the ever popular, unkillable RuSTI (04 Legacy) to a 4 second win in Stock AWD over Dave M in his clean STI.  Greg was fast out of the gate, with his first two runs of the day giving him this lead.  He was able to maintain it for the rest of the day despite having Dave hot on his heels.  Of special note in Stock AWD was the ’02 BMW 325xi, whose owner was trying to give it a Viking’s funeral with FOUR drivers pounding on it all day.  Amazingly, the car took this abuse without complaint.  Perhaps you guys need to actually give the car some love and keep in around after this impressive performance!

6th fastest overall and first in Prepared FWD went to Devin P, despite some clutch issues with his RSX.  He was really tearing it up, putting down times faster than most of the AWD cars, even with having to hold the shifter into second gear.

Modified RWD was a class of one with Todd F drifting his Jeep Wrangler around the course.  We hope you join us again Todd!

5th fastest overall went to 2024 MAWD Champion Aaron B, who also captured first in Mod AWD.  Aaron would likely have ended up first overall, but he made a costly tire change at the break, in hopes of finding more speed.  Instead, these tires had less grip and caused him major control issues. 2nd in class went to Christopher G, who was handling his GMC Yukon like a vehicle 1/4 its size. Chris raced with us once before a few years back and shocked everyone with how quick he can get his Yukon around a course.  As an aside, large, top-heavy SUV/trucks like this cannot be raced with us in stock form.  Chris has greatly increased the track width of his Yukon, allowing it to meet our track width to height requirements.

In the SXS class, Cory S was throwing his Maverick around and having fun.  We imagine it was awfully cold in that machine, so we hope you had a great time, Cory!

Full results for the event can be seen here.  I want to thank everyone that came out and raced with us, helped with teardown, and breaking into my truck! Perhaps it’s time to add a lockout kit to the items in the rallycross trailer! 😀

I can’t wait to see everyone back at the Freitag’s on February 2nd!!!  Be sure to get registered at www.msreg.com/IAFebRallyX as soon as possible.

~Jay