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.

 
Continue reading “Freeze Your Curds Off RallyCross Challenge 2025” →

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.

Continue reading “Iowa Region October RallyCross at Independence Recap” →

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!