ICY RACING/PHOENIX PERFORMANCE GRAND AM CUP TRACK DATES

TAKING SUBARU (ROAD RACING) FROM CLUB TO PRO

THE THREE IMPREZA WRX STIS OF ICY RACING/PHOENIX PERFORMANCE MADE HISTORY IN ROAD RACING FOR SUBARU MOTORSPORTS IN 2005. THE TEAM’S EFFORTS YIELDED A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN SCCA’S CLUB RACING NATIONAL SERIES. FOR 2006, SUBARU MOTORSPORTS ADDS PRO RACING TO ITS SCHEDULE – WITH A LEGACY 2.5 GT WAGON IN THE GRAND AMERICAN ROAD RACING CUP SERIES!

ICY Racing/Phoenix Performance of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, is on the verge of taking Subaru Motorsports into a new era. At the time of writing, this team is expected to debut its 2005 Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon in the Rolex GT Series Challenge at Lime Rock Park during Memorial Day weekend.

Drivers Dave Rosenblum, Kristian Skavnes and Chuck Hemmingson with the team.

Community Partnership

The letters ICY in ICY Racing stand for Inner City Youth. Co-team principal Dave Rosenblum has worked with kids from the inner city of Philadelphia for more than 20 years, focusing on students in vocational schools. He invites kids to work on his race team as part of the school program. The kids have to commit to three things: good attendance, good grades and no alcohol or drugs.

Klevis Prifti

Many of the students who have worked as part of ICY’s crew have stuck with the team, and they have gone on to trade school or college. Many enter automotive-related fields. For example, Klevis Prifti, chief mechanic for the team, is a product of the successful ICY program.

THE ROAD TO GRAND AM

In 2004, ICY tested the waters of club racing with Subaru WRX STis, competing in the SCCA’s T1 division. With the cars reassigned to T2 for 2005, ICY drivers Dave Rosenblum, Kristian Skavnes and Chuck Hemmingson were active all season in their SCCA regions. They earned several wins and secured the Northeast and Midwest division titles.

All three qualified to compete for the T2 national championship at the annual Runoffs^®, which were held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last September.

Subaru Motorsports goes pro racing with a Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon.

DRIVE PERFORMANCE’S 2005 RUNOFFS^® NOTEBOOK

MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE, LEXINGTON, OHIO

Field notes chronicling ICY Racing/Phoenix Performance’s T2 events at the 2005 Runoffs:

Monday, September 19 – P.M. Practice Session. Camber surfaced as a possible issue. As a result, the crew worked very late into the night to set up cars for Tuesday’s qualifying session.

Tuesday, September 20 – P.M. Qualifying Session. Three major issues emerged: tires, which were too “greasy”; throttle response in turns in Kris’ car; camber measurement, which required suspension changes.

Crew worked into the night again, but not as late as Monday night.

Wednesday, September 21 – A.M. Qualifying Session. Weather and time for qualifying were expected to be the best of the three sessions. However, the session was black flagged, then red flagged and restarted with time for only one lap remaining. Final results: Chuck second (approximately 0.02 second off first), Dave fifth and Kristian seventh.

Dave characterized Chuck as analytical (with his engineering background) and Kristian as tenacious. Dave seems to have fun, and he enjoys the track.

Thursday, September 22 – Noon Qualifying Session. The day was hot and muggy, with storms to the north.

Dave cited two main ingredients separating the team’s performance from others: electronics (tuning the engine ECU for racing) and shocks (JRZ shocks).

Kristian moved up in the standings, with Chuck still second, Dave fifth and Kristian sixth.

The three drivers strategized running as a train during the race. They were hoping for a wet race, which would give them an advantage with the cars’ AWD systems.

Chuck spent a good part of the day optimizing his car’s camber.

New lower arms were ready – to be installed tomorrow.

Friday, September 23 – Team Work Day. Misty, wet and cold at first. The team had to tie down the trailer’s tent to make it through an early-morning storm – it was lifting off the ground. They tied it to the cars.

Nerves were starting to show, with slight tension around the paddock. Dave admitted to being edgy before a race – especially this one for the national championship.

Chuck constantly worked on his car’s setup.

Saturday, September 24 – A.M. Race. It was wet early this morning, but by the time the team ran warm-up laps, the track was dry.

Cleaned up the cars, having a couple of hours until the green flag. Wiped down cars, wheels. Made them “slippery.”

James Han from Subaru of America came in last night. Strategizing before the race at a team meeting included James.

Team member Franz Diebold went to the outside of Madness for the race. He used the team radio to call the start and other green flags from there – where the starter stand was in view (not at the start-finish line).

The first six cars battled all 20 laps. The door-banging equaled the best of competitive Trans-Am days. All three cars were dented and full of tire marks. Not a place for the weak-willed.

Despite that, the event was “gentlemanly.” There’s a lot of respect among the drivers.

Chuck had moved into a commanding lead when a full-course yellow came out at about the halfway point. The three ICY/Phoenix cars were showing a strong possibility for a 1-2-3 finish. But the yellow changed that, with two Pontiac Firebirds battling Chuck and Kris, and a Mitsubishi getting ahead of Dave.

Prior to the yellow, the Firebird brakes were going away (glowing bright red into Madness). But the yellow gave the brakes a chance to cool, so the Firebirds were a threat again.

Chuck wasn’t quite as fast after the yellow. One of the Firebirds turned Chuck sideways in Madness, but Chuck saved it and carried on.

Kris was bold, carrying second place to Chuck’s bumper. But he didn’t pass Chuck. Dave was patient.

The team finished 1-2-6. That was the first part of the team’s victory, just before lunch.

The second part came at about 5:00 p.m., after a full engine teardown as part of technical inspection. Then the cars were declared official winners.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The team’s Runoffs victory gave Subaru an SCCA national championship for the first time. In doing so, it paved the way for campaigning the Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon in 2006.

To date, Dave, Kris and Chuck have continued their winning ways in this year’s club racing events. However, all three are primed to go pro racing with the Legacy 2.5 GT.

Check them out at the track!

See www.outdoorlife.subaru.com for a full schedule of Subaru race dates.