Knight Racing Adds Gingras/Westrick to ProRally Team
Bolstered by an impressive debut season that included a 2nd and 9th place finish at the Prescott Forest Rally, the Knight Racing team will attack the 2001 SCCA ProRally Championship with the addition of a third team car. Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick will be driving a new Open class 2000 Subaru Impreza awd turbo for the Southern California-based team.
Gingras and Westrick are two time SCCA Production GT National Champions, and have been competing together for over 12 years. The East Coast experience of Gingras/Westrick will complement the West Coast knowledge of existing team drivers Lon Peterson and Jon Ryther. The result is a well-balanced team capable of finishing at the top at every event.
The entire three-car Knight Racing team will start its season at Round #2 of the SCCA Pro Rally Championship at the Cherokee Trails International Rally, Chattanooga, TN, on March 15th - 17th. There the team will debut the new ACT II sponsored Subaru Impreza for Gingras and Westrick, along with completely updated versions of last year’s cars for Jon Ryther and Lon Peterson. After the season kick off at Cherokee Trails, Knight Racing will be competing in the rest of the SCCA ProRally Championship.
The Knight Racing team line up is now as follows: Jon Ryther / Janice Damitio - Subaru Impreza # 49, Lon Peterson / Bill Gutzmann - Subaru Impreza # 48, Steve Gingras / Bill Westrick - Subaru Impreza # 50
Gingras is a native of Marquette, MI, where he learned the basics of car control by driving on snow and ice. In 1985 he purchased a VW Rabbit GTI and started rallying. Gingras’ racing resume includes the above
mentioned SCCA ProRally Championships, working as crew for the Dodge ProRally team, and ice racing experience as both crew and driver. He has competition experience with FWD, RWD and 4WD applications. Westrick has been active in rallying since 1982, starting with local TSD style rallies and progressing up to Performance Rally. While attending Michigan Technological University, Westrick built his first rally car and began competing as a driver in 1986. In 1988 he made the jump to the right seat and took over the Co-Driving duties for Gingras.
For more information on the Knight Racing team, please contact: Jon Ryther, VP of Operations, Driver, at Rytherally@aol.com or 909-355-5538 days.
Group 5 Champions to compete in Production GT with a Mitsubishi Eclipse
It’s a new season, a new car, and a new class for Mayhem Racing in 2001. The team that took the Sports Car Club of America ProRally Group 5 Championship in 2000 will be back, but aboard an all-wheel drive 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and in the Production GT category. The first event for the new car will be the Sno*Drift ProRally in Atlanta, Michigan, on January 27th.
"The Eclipse GSX is turbocharged and all-wheel drive, so it is a step up from the Dodge Omni GLH that we have run the past several years," said Utecht. "The driving technique is a little different, so I am still learning how to get the most out of it."
Production GT is considered a "stock" class, allowing very few modifications other than for safety. The Mayhem Racing Eclipse has Sparco racing seats for driver and co-driver, Willans safety harnesses, aMayhem Racing custom built roll cage, Auto Meter Gauges, a Terratrip rally computer, and a Terraphone intercom. Out front are Hella HID (high Intensity Discharge) Rally Lights in a custom pod, and for the icy roads of Sno*Drift the car will have Nokian Hakka Q tires. The only performance enhancement is the addition of a GReddy Profec Boost controller. All-wheel drive will be a definite advantage on the icy roadways used for the Sno*Drift. To get some experience with AWD driving techniques, Utecht has recently been driving a modified Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX in ice races in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In addition to winning the Group 5 driver and co-driver titles in 2000, Utecht and Corneliusen were awarded the Jon Woodner Cup, presented to the most successful two-wheel drive competitors in the series. The pair were also given the SCCA Land O’ Lakes Region Rally Driver and Rally Co-driver of the Year trophies at the region’s annual awards banquet last Saturday (January 20).
There is one other change in the works for Mayhem Racing’s Brenda Corneliusen: a name change. In March she and Mayhem Racing Chief Mechanic J. B. Lewis will be getting married.
Mayhem Racing is based in Stacy, Minnesota, just north of the Twin Cities. Team manager is Mark’s wife, Mary Utecht. J. B. Lewis, Brenda Corneliusen’s fiance, is Chief Mechanic on the team’s 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. Sponsors of the Mayhem Racing ProRally effort include: ProGraphics - custom vinyl lettering for business and racing, Special Stage.com - on-line newsletter covering the sport of Performance Rallying. Warranty Solutions - warranty claims processing and consulting for automobile dealerships.
Tonneau On-Line March 2001
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Copyright 2001, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
