2004 ProRally Championship

Ladies and gentlemen, things don't look half bad for the 2004 ProRally Championship. Despite Mitsubishi pulling out of the championship, which led to the withdrawal of the other factory Open Class teams, the state of rally racing in America remains strong.

Unlike Mitsubishi and Hyundai, Subaru remains committed to ProRally, despite not fielding a team in 2004. Its contingency program has expanded from Group N to include Production GT in ProRally as well as supporting entrants in ClubRally. The year-end fund for 2004 is smaller but the program now also pays out after every event, which should make life a bit easier for competitors. If every available slot is filled, as seems likely, Subaru's financial commitment will more than double from 2003, with payouts possibly exceeding $100,000.

"Under the 2004 Subaru Championship Cup, we'll offer the Subaru Parts Assistance Fund as well," says James Han, the driving performance promotions specialist-Subaru marketing. And competitors won't have to go far to spend it. As part of the new Subaru Rally Support Program, the factory has teamed up with Vermont Sports Car to make a $70,000-plus store of spares available at each event in the Subaru Rally Support Parts Truck.

Subaru has also stood by 2003 team driver Ramana Lagemann, providing the young American with a personal sponsorship that will allow him to compete for much of the 2004 championship in a Vermont SportsCar-prepared Group N WRX STi.

"Rallying has been a part of our heritage for some time now," says Han. "It's what makes up our motorsports history and we value that highly. On the other hand, there's limited [marketing] value if you're competing against privateers only. I don't expect our support for privateers will change. A factory team effort-we'll have to see if that one is in the cards for the future."

Dodge has also signed on as a manufacturer for 2004. There were four 2WD Group 5 and Group 2 cars sliding down Sno*Drift's icy stages in factory colors. "We're going to have as big a presence as we can," says Pete Gladysz. We want to keep the sport alive. The Mopar and Mopar Performance badges of Dodge really want to show off the cars and the products. We're running a lot of the Mopar Performance aftermarket parts on the car, in lots of cases as durability tests. And they're working great."

Not that everything is perfect. The domino effect of Mitsubishi's departure ("If I'd lost $400 million in the last fiscal year, I'd look at every dollar too," says one wag.) also means there's no TV for 2004. Yet.

"We've gathered enough money together to get the filming done here at Sno*Drift," says Sue Robinson, the SCCA's new head of performance rally. "Dodge has just committed [TV] funds for the rest of the series. Certainly it will be a half-hour show to keep our costs down, but right now it's looking really good to have the TV package this year."

Robinson has inherited a program that has made huge strides in the past few years. Under Kurt Spitzner's sometimes imperious marketing-driven leadership, the fractious relationship between event organizers and the SCCA improved, events became better organized and manufacturers found a series worth competing in.

Kurt brought visibility to the program, standardized it and the visual package, did the things that brought in the manufacturers," says Robinson. "I have a marketing department at SCCA. I want it to do its job so I can do my job, which is to provide services to my competitors and organizers."

Though not fielding teams, both the Air Force Reserve and Subaru will continue their support of the SCCA's new Partnership Bonus Program, giving Robinson an important new tool to help do her job.

"As the ProRally Championship continues to grow, the expectations placed on event organizers have increased dramatically," says Garret Mudd, SCCA vice president of marketing. "The Partnership Bonus Program helps provide the organizers with financial and operational support to allow them to continue to develop their event and the entire championship." In addition, Rally America-be sure to check out www.rally-america.com for live scores and updates-will provide timing and scoring for partnership events, bringing TAG Heuer accuracy and much-needed consistency to the championship.

"The program is healthy and fine," continues Robinson. "We're doing well and there is a lot of enthusiasm. We have four new ClubRallys this year and Rallycross is incredible. Last year we had 110 events. Five years ago there were four."

"I'd say the sport is in really good shape," says 2003 Group 5 Champion, Dodge engineer and long-time competitor Doug Shepard. "You could almost say for the last two or three years we've had some financial extravagance with the way manufacturers were committed here in the U.S. For us, that was a bit of a disconnect, but it was great and really brought the sport up front and center. And while we don't have that money behind us right now, we do have a solid foundation in terms of public interest and competency of organizers. People are going to find we have a pretty good show even without the $300,000 cars. I think this will be the year of the privateer, but this a good opportunity and [similar to] how the British Championship runs. We're now on par with what happens in National Championships around the world."

Vermont SportsCar's Lance Smith echoed Shepard. He says, "I think the sport is carrying forward even though the manufacturers have stepped back temporarily, we hope. Momentum was gained over the last few years. The sport has received a lot of media exposure, the quality of the cars entered is much better now than five years ago and there's a lot of genuine interest in rallying. It's a great year for a privateer to shine.

Race ReportSno* Drift ProRallyDetailsLocation: Atlanta, Mich.Date: January 30-31, 2004Leg One: 42.24 milesLeg Two: 12 stages, 71.04 milesTotal: 113.28 miles

Nineteen relatively short stages run through rolling farmland and forests near Atlanta, the elk capital of Michigan. Bitter cold and plenty of snow. Blizzaks, Hakkapellitas, or an exotic rally tire from Michelin or Pirelli? Ice under hard-packed snow makes tire choices difficult. And critical.

Unlike last year, there was no slush to deal with at this year's Sno*Drift ProRally. Upper Lower Michigan-honest, that's what they call it here in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula-has had plenty of cold and snow this winter. There was even a little rain a couple of weeks ago that left a thick layer of ice under the hard-packed snow covering the stage roads. Conditions were incredibly tricky with tons of grip one instant and none the next. More than one competitor nearly stopped while cautiously braking, only to slide into a snowbank trying to tiptoe around the next turn.

Canadians Patrick Richard, with Brian Maxwell co-driving, and Andrew Comrie-Picard "A C-P", with Marc Goldfarb calling the notes, dropped down from the Frozen North to say hi and check out the competition.

Richard, in a Group N WRX, drove the early stages conservatively, commenting, "It's easier to lose time [in these conditions] than to make time."

"A C-P" on the other hand, set fast time in his Open Class EVO through the first five stages until sliding off and losing nearly a minute on SS6. Ramana Lagemann broke a steering rack on SS5 to end his rally.

2003 Group N champions Shane Mitchell and Paul Donnelly started where they left off last year, right in the thick of things with Richard, Mark Utecht/Jeff Secor and the Open Class EVO of Seamus Burke and Charlie Bradley. Utecht blinked first, mumbling something about eating a giant marshmallow after ending his rally deep in a snowbank on SS7.

With a minute of cushion after Leg One, Richard paced himself, answering Burke's challenge and picking up 36 seconds on SS13. Trying to make up for time lost on SS6 and 7 the night before and locked in a battle with Burke, Mitchell drove an inspired Leg Two, setting fast time on five stages, including the last four. Burke and Bradley picked up a 'flyer' on the last stage and caught Mitchell in the official standings, but were gentlemanly enough to correct the mistake even before a protest could be filed. In the end it was the Group N cars of Richard/Maxwell and Mitchell/Donnelly first and second with Burke/Bradley third overall and first in Open.

X Games and motorcross star Travis Pastrana made his ProRally debut at Sno*Drift in a Vermont Sports Car-prepared Production GT WRX. He started the rally in fine style, fastest of the PGT cars through SS1 and 2, but buried the car well off the road on SS4, losing nearly 30 minutes. "Some Polish guys stopped, tugged and tugged and got us out. We were real fortunate. We pulled out one guy on Leg Two and three on Leg One. We paid our dues as well." Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom set fast PGT time on 11 of the rally's 19 stages.

"I had a blast," the lanky Maryland native continued. "These were some of the slickest roads I've ever driven on in my life. I had a blast. I have to do one or two gravel rallies!" Can you say "multi-sport star"?