Subie Invasion 2009
As Las Vegas' SEMA shenanigans came to a close, one of the west's largest gatherings of all things Subaru-related, in joint effort with Subaru of America, Subaru of Las Vegas, Las Vegas' Flat4 Subie club, and others were quick to re-kindle the tuner flame. Forty-some-odd cars and a Tarzan Yamada autograph session kicked off the unofficial start to the annual Subiefest event on a Thursday night at a Vegas In-N-Out lot, and by Saturday, over 500 Subie buffs gathered at Subaru of Las Vegas for the judged main event, raffle, DJ performances, lunch, hand-outs from Endura-tech, Invidia, DC Shoes, and more. Nevada SPCA even showed up to give away free puppies to good homes. Needless to say, we didn't get any. Festivities ended with two group photoshoots organized by mysubie.com; half pounding the Las Vegas Strip, and half carving the twisties of Mt. Charleston. Attendance (and festivities) is expected to double next year.
www.subieinvasion.com
Bergenholtz Brothers In NHRA Museum
The import/sport compact racing world got another piece of the mainstream pie, recently, when Ed and Ron Bergenholtz officially had their '89 Honda CRX Pro FWD dragster included in the NHRA Museum's "Four Brothers" display, making them the only two-brother team to receive such an honor in 50 years. The Bergenholtz' CRX stole the drag racing spotlight from traditional domestic dragsters in the early '90s, in much the same way as Bob and Dick Pierson's '32 Ford Coupe stole the land-speed racing game from traditional convertible roadsters back in the '50s, each car/team re-shaping the motorsports game in their wake. A project originally started by their late friend, Robert "Sap" Sapinoso, the Bergenholtz bros overtook the CRX in his memory in 1995, and built it to became the first FWD unibody to run a nine-second quarter-mile, running a 9.875 @ 147 in Pomona, CA, in May of 1999-two months after the duo debuted the world's first FWD-adapted "wheelie bars" on the car, that have since become a staple to today's fastest FWD racers. The 950hp B-series CRX had gone on to run a fastest competition time of 8.76 @ 172, before being retired in favor of the Mazda 6 the bros built to run 7.25 @ 198, earning them back-to-back NHRA Pro FWD championships in '05 and '06, and the same car that held the title as World's Fastest FWD until very recently.
www.bergenholtzracing.com
By The Numbers
250,000
The amount of dollars Christian Rado estimates has been spent getting his 7-second drag tC to break the 6-second barrier.