SCC: Iowa: Subaru Road Racing Team preview

Subaru Road Racing Team Heads to Iowa with Grand-Am KONI Challenge Drivers' Points Lead

Chuck Hemmingson and Kris Skavnes will be in rarified air when their Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) Legacy 2.5GT spec.B race cars arrive at Iowa Speedway for the round six of the Grand-Am KONI Challenge road racing series.

For the first time since the SRRT program's inception in 2006, Hemmingson, of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Skavnes, of Sparta, N.J., lead the series in Drivers' Championship points.

Better still, the event, held on the 1.3-mile combination oval track and infield road course at the new Iowa Speedway near the town of Newton, is 45 minutes from Hemmingson's home.

"I've not had the privilege of sleeping in my own bed on a race weekend since the days of the downtown street races in Des Moines -- which I won in 1989 with the Racetrucks, and in 1994 in the World Challenge series," he laughed. "We may need our own grandstand since, between family and friends plus tickets for our local sponsor, Ramsey Subaru of Urbandale, I'm picking up over 50 tickets."

"Our team has really extracted a great deal of performance from cars that are closely based on factory stock Subaru Legacy 2.5GT spec.B cars ," Hemmingson added.

"I did a few laps on the track last year," he said. "I think our Subaru cars should perform competitively based on reasons of the Legacy's basic mechanical design."

"The Subaru has good high-speed balance and stability which will help on the high-speed portion of the oval track, and the Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system will give us a good jump out of the tight infield turns."

"Currently sitting third in points among a field of up to nine manufacturers is impressive," noted James Han, Motorsports Marketing Manager for Subaru of America, Inc., "especially when one considers that competitor brands largely make up a greater percentage of the average entry list than Subaru."

"Our team has really adapted well to changing conditions on and off the track," Han added. "We clearly showcased the superiority of our Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system at Mid-Ohio and won that race in mixed weather conditions. The following event held at Watkins Glen, we finished fifth in a 42-car field after a practice shunt from a competitor forced us to run our spare car and relegated us to the rear of the pack for the race start."

David Rosenblum, Langhorne, Pa., will share the team's second Subaru Legacy with 21-year old Andrew Aquilante, Chester Springs, Pa., and who is 11th in the points, with a string of consistent finishes all season.

Andrew's father, Joe Aquilante and Rosenblum, are partners in ICY/Phoenix, which prepares the team's cars.

Saturday's 5pm race is 250 miles or 2 ½ hours, whichever comes first. The Street Tuner and Grand Sports classes are racing simultaneously for individual wins. Last year, the two classes had separate races.

"History says the timing and execution of the single refueling stop we have to make will be crucial," said Joe Aquilante. "With 46 cars on a 1.3-mile track, you're not entirely in control of your own destiny."

-credit: srrt