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Origins: Subaru in American Rallying – Part 1
Origins: Subaru in American Rallying – Part 1
| by John Rettie |
Photo: John Rettie |
| Driven and prepared by Fred Coyle and “Pete” Petrowsky, this Subaru FF-1 ran four races, after the first body shell was totaled in the 1971 Baja 500. Coyle teamed up with “Judge” Penick in the car’s final race in the 1973 Baja 500 (below), while Petrowsky co-drove with Noriyuki Koseki in the newer Subaru in the same race. The car still exists, albeit not in running condition, complete with the dent caused when Coyle launched it out of a dip and it landed heavily on its nose in the 1973 race. Coyle donated the car to Subaru several years ago and it currently sits in a warehouse in Southern California. Should Subaru keep it as is or restore it and get it running again? AT THE FACTORY IN INDIANA By 1992, the Subaru factory in Indiana was eager to participate more fully with Chad DiMarco, and he was present to watch his second Legacy body shell being built. Those in attendance remember how important the whole rally car program was to the plant. DiMarco, Tamon Yamamoto (president and ceo of the plant), Alex Fedorak, and other Subaru execs walked the catwalk above the assembly line to watch the car go through the robot welding line. DiMarco had requested some extra welds and the removal of some brackets to make the rally prep work easier. All was well until the last part of the process, where a gang of robots simultaneously "attack" the vehicle for the final welding process. Sparks flew everywhere like they were supposed to and then the car was to be released and head down the line. That didn't happen. Instead, alarms rang, people ran about the car and robots, and after about 15 minutes the vehicle finally released. (Remember that this was an active assembly line!) The whole time Yamamoto never said a word until the vehicle moved again, at which point he turned to Fedorak and said, "Good training exercise Fedorak-san … never do that again." Fedorak thought he was going to be fired on the spot, but instead Yamamoto was most gracious about the whole episode. 
In 1972, Noriyuki Koseki brought this then state-of-the-art rally car from Japan to compete in the Mexican 1000 off-road race. He also raced the car again in 1973 with “Pete” Petrowsky as his co-driver. Photos: Tracksidephoto.com Prologue Motorsports at the top professional level are largely dominated by factory teams. That's of no surprise, since auto manufacturers usually have large budgets and the most to gain in publicity from winning races. Invariably, though, a manufacturer's initial foray into motorsports comes from outside teams that see potential in a particular car. This was certainly true for the involvement of Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) in rallying. That involvement dates back to 1971. The seeds for the current successful Subaru Rally Team USA were first sown when Jack Coyle, who owned the Subaru dealership in San Bernardino, California, built a rallying Subaru FF-1. "Pete" Petrowsky, a salesman at the dealership, first drove it in the Baja 500 off-road race in 1971, when rally cars were still quite competitive. The following year, Noriyuki Koseki from Japan entered the Baja 500 in a newer Subaru GL Coupe that had been built for rallies in Japan. Fred Coyle, Jack Coyle's son (who also drove the FF-1), recalls that Koseki's team really helped his team in 1972, and a friendship was formed. It was no surprise then to find Petrowsky co-driving for Koseki in the Baja race in 1973, sponsored in part by Coyle's Subaru dealership. Although Koseki worked for Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., parent company of Subaru in Japan, his relatively low-budget team was far from being a full factory effort. Soon after, Koseki went on to form Subaru Rally Team Japan, and he also entered a Group A Subaru Leone RX Turbo in the famous Safari Rally with various drivers in the 1980s. In 1988, Koseki helped establish Subaru Tecnica International (STi), and a year later STi formed a partnership with Prodrive to create the official Subaru World Rally Team to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The Coyle Subaru did not run again after 1973. It was another dozen years before SOA became more formally involved in rallying. |
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| Act 1 In the late 1970s, Chad DiMarco, a young biochemistry student living in Riverside, California, was dating Karin Zimmerman, whose father, Ken "Doc" Zimmerman, was partnered with Hendrik Blok in a successful American rally team. DiMarco caught the rally "bug" in a big way, and he entered his first local rally in the family Fiat 1200 with Karin as navigator. DiMarco then bought a rally-prepared car and competed in several larger rally events. Before long DiMarco decided he wanted to create a professional rally team and make a career of rallying instead of becoming a doctor. DiMarco did some research and decided a Subaru would be ideal for competing in the SCCA PRO Rally series in the United States. In 1985, he presented a proposal to SOA, suggesting that entry in the series would be good publicity for Subaru and would promote the sportiness of the cars as well as their toughness. 
In 1986, DiMarco fielded two cars in the WRC round in Olympia, Washington. New Zealander Possum Bourne also entered a Subaru and, significantly, this was the first time Subaru had entered multiple cars in a WRC event besides the Safari Rally in Africa. Photo: courtesy of Chad DiMarco/Subaru The first car that DiMarco and his rally team partner Paul Ludgate built was a 1985 RX 4WD Turbo sedan. The first event for the car was the Press on Regardless PRO Rally in Michigan, where DiMarco finished 9th overall and 2nd in the Production GT class. By the end of the 1986 season, the team had finished on the podium six times in Group A, the category for near-production cars. Pikes Peak, the famous hill climb in Colorado, was not on the SCCA PRO Rally circuit, but it did have a rally class. DiMarco entered the event in 1986. He finished 2nd in the Production Division and took the Rookie of the Year award. 
Chad DiMarco leaps over a jump in the Rim of the World Rally in Palmdale, California. The Subaru Legacy carried the coveted #1 during the SCCA's 1992 Subaru PRO Rally Championship season as DiMarco had won the Overall and Group A championships the year before. Photo: Tracksidephoto.com For the 1987 season, DiMarco used one of the RX Turbo 3-door coupes that had been prepared for the Safari Rally. It proved to be a much tougher car. By the end of the season, DiMarco was 3rd in Group A and 5th overall. The following year, using the same car, the team ended the season one position higher -- 2nd in Group A and 3rd overall in points. |
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Chad DiMarco and Erick Hauge. 
Between 1985 and 1990 DiMarco rallied four different RX cars in most rounds of the SCCA PRO Rally championships, eventually winning his first of four consecutive Group A championships in 1990. He switched to a Legacy in the latter half of the 1990 season. Photos: courtesy of Chad DiMarco/Subaru Meanwhile, Subaru completed its Indiana manufacturing plant in 1989 in order to build the Legacy. Naturally, it was a great opportunity for SOA to promote the Legacy through rallying. Unfortunately, the car was not ready in time for the 1989 season, so the team was at a disadvantage, as other competitors had newer and more powerful cars. The publicity garnered by DiMarco’s wins encouraged SOA to increase its involvement, especially through its public relations department. To further help promote the company’s involvement, Subaru also sponsored the SCCA PRO Rally series. It was known as the Subaru PRO Rally Championship from 1991 through 1993. During that time, DiMarco’s success continued. He won Group A championships in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Despite driving a much less powerful car than those in the open class, DiMarco won several events overall, beating out top SCCA drivers in cars such as the Audi Quattro. DiMarco even managed to garner the overall SCCA championship for drivers in 1991 as well as the Group A championship.Sadly, by the end of 1993, SOA was not faring too well in an auto market suffering from the remnants of recession. The company decided against renewing DiMarco’s sponsorship. DiMarco was able to obtain several one-off sponsorship deals with local Subaru dealers and the western region of Subaru, and he was able to compete in a handful of rallies in 1994. However, by the end of the season, DiMarco decided he did not want to compete unless he had a fully funded team. So he retired from rallying. Subè Sports, the company he formed in the early days of his rally career, continues on as a well-established player in the rally world to this day. Sadly, by the end of 1993, SOA was not faring too well in an auto market suffering from the remnants of recession. The company decided against renewing DiMarco's sponsorship. DiMarco was able to obtain several one-off sponsorship deals with local Subaru dealers and the western region of Subaru, and he was able to compete in a handful of rallies in 1994. However, by the end of the season, DiMarco decided he did not want to compete unless he had a fully funded team. So he retired from rallying. Sube Sports, the company he formed in the early days of his rally career, continues on as a well-established player in the rally world to this day. Act 2 Subaru, of course, survived the downturn at the beginning of the 1990s and spent the decade promoting the outdoor value of its vehicles by selling only all-wheel-drive vehicles and introducing the Outback. This helped build a financially solid foundation that prepared SOA for Act 2 at the beginning of the next decade. That's when the WRX would appear in the U.S. market and rallying would once again become an important part of SOA -- as we'll see in the next issue. |
