Contact:

Andy Schupack, Media Liaison
Email: as@kgpr.com

401-739-5677 - now through April 26, 2006
401-741-6980 - mobile at the event, April 27 - 30

MEDIA ALERT
2006 SUBARU RIM OF THE WORLD RALLY

What:
Second round (of seven) for the 2006 season. United States Rally Championship (USRC) cars from across North America will compete on demanding ridge-top dirt and gravel fire control roads tracing the line of the infamous San Andreas Fault in the Angeles National Forest as well as in the 7,500-seat Antelope Valley Fairgrounds stadium in the heart of the high desert in Southern California. Regarded as the toughest rally in the USA, it is often compared to the Acropolis Rally in Greece for its relentless, car-pounding roads. Drivers and co-drivers go as fast as they can over the closed forest roads, with the team sporting the lowest elapsed time over the 13 stages, or road segments, winning the event. This event is sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and presented by the National Auto Sports Association (NASA). Parts of the event count for points in the Western States Rally Championship (WSRC) and the California Rally Series (CRS) as well. The rally will cover 272 miles including 93 stage miles.

When & Where:
April 28 - 29, 2006; Lancaster, California, approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of
Los Angeles.

Television and radio:

The event will be broadcast on HDNet, the channel available to high definition subscribers on DirectTV, the Dish Network, and many cable systems. The USRC is the only rally series in the world to broadcast all its events in high definition. The Subaru Rim of the World Rally will have streaming Internet radio online at www.rimoftheworldrally.com, with broadcasts starting Friday, April 28 at 5:00PM. The event will be covered on local Adelphia Cable Channel 3 – check local listings for broadcast times.

Media Headquarters:
Poppy Pavilion at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Antelope Valley Freeway (Hwy. 14) at Avenue H in Lancaster, California.

Schedule:

FRIDAY, April 28, 2006

9:15 AM - noon – Media Stage for invited guests and competitors only. Participants must pre-register with the organizer.

Noon - midnight - Antelope Valley Fairgrounds open to the public for free ($3.00 for parking per car) until 5:00 PM to view technical inspection and meet the rally drivers ($10.00 admission after 5:00 PM). Ongoing activities include rally video games, car show, remote control car races, an all-wheel drive dyno, more than 30 booths featuring auto racing accessories and memorabilia, and more. Drifting competition in the Nitro2Go Drift Invite throughout the day.

6:30 PM - Opening ceremonies and Super Special Stage I (side-by-side racing) at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

10:30 PM - First car finishes Leg I of the Subaru Rim of the World Rally, Antelope
Valley Fairgrounds, scores posted, re-seeding, Subaru Chili Party.

SATURDAY, April 28, 2006 – main event day

8:00 AM
First car leaves the A.V. Fairgrounds to start Leg II.

10:00 AM - Midnight
A.V. Fairgrounds open to the public, admission $15. Visit the Rally Expo vendor displays, walk through the pits, meet the rally teams, check out the Auto Show, purchase food and rally merchandise, and watch radio controlled car racing. The hottest tuner cars in Southern California will be on display in the Rim of the World Car Show. Several trophies and awards will be given out, including Best of Show, Best Custom, Cleanest Engine Bay, Best Paint, etc. Find yourself surrounded by beautiful autos as you check out the vendor area, with booths from Baker Precision, JDM Autohaus, Subaru Performance Shop, and a host of others including food and drinks. Also going on all day will be the U.S. Army climbing tower-wall, several inflatable jumpers for the kids, and the R/C Nitro Car Demonstration from HPI!
RIM OF THE WORLD: DRIFT INVITE. This will be an invitation-only event that pits the country’s #1 “OG” drifters against each other in head-to-head elimination rounds. Drift Invite will also feature one of the nation’s first Team Battles in which Drift teams of 2-3 drivers compete together in an array of matching slides and sequenced burnouts judged in an X-Games style ceremony to crown the top U.S. Drift team.
11:30 AM
First car arrives at the A.V. Fairgrounds for service and re-seeding, Walk through the "pits" and watch the crews.

12:30 PM
Super Special Stage II, Presented by Autosport Engineering - Top rally teams race side-by-side on the specially designed Super Special Stage in front of the 7,500 seat grandstands.

1:00 PM
Leona/Spunky Forest Spectator Area, Presented by Santa Monica Subaru –Watch the rally teams race down a forest stage. Parking and bus pass, $20 per vehicle. 3.6 mile round trip walk down dirt road required for the public to reach the spectator area. Special Media parking and press shuttle van to carry media to and from the nearby parking area.

4:45 PM
First car arrives back at the A.V. Fairgrounds for service and re-seeding.

5:30 PM
Super Special Stage III –Final Super Stage Run.

7:00 PM
Nitro2Go Drifting Finals and side-by-side drifting.

8:40 PM
First car finishes – Subaru Rim of the World Rally.

9:30 PM
The Subaru Champagne Victory Ceremony inside Lilac Pavilion at the Fairgrounds.
Watch the winners celebrate, meet the drivers.

9:15 PM
Tri-tip BBQ hosted by Subaru Southwest Region.

10:00 PM
Provisional results posted.

SUNDAY, May 8, 2005

8:00 - 9:30 AM
Awards Breakfast at the Lilac Pavilion at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds

Selected entries/news items:
--Extreme motocross champion and accomplished rallyist Travis Pastrana, from Davidsonville, MD, who has a number of top-five finishes in U.S. rallies since he started with four-wheeled race cars in 2004 including a fourth at that year’s Rim event, will be back in a Subaru WRX STi with co-driver Jakke Honkanen.
--2004 club-level winner Leon Styles, 2004 SCCA PRO Rally Open class champion, with co-driver Mark McAllister, who saw overall victory snatched from him when he had late-event turbo problems that year, thinks he can win the event overall in the top-ranked Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
--Ken Block, owner of D.C. Shoes and resident of Vista, Calif., and third-place finisher last year at Rim, is ready for the top sport with Santa Clarita, CA co-driver Alex Gelsomino.

--Formerly part of the Sports Car Club of America organization (until 2004), which gave up performance rally sanction to concentrate on on-the-track road racing, Rim's sanctioning bodies – USAC and NASA – sanction events from the Formula 1 race at Indianapolis to the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in Northern California. The remaining USRC series after Rim include the Olympus Rally, Shelton, WA (May 19 – 20); Rally Tennessee, Linden, TN
(September 2 – 3); International Rally New York, Monticello, NY (September 22- 23); Prescott Rally, Prescott, AZ (October 6 – 7) and the Laughlin International Rally and Motorsports Expo, Laughlin, Nevada, (November 9 -12)
--Rim has 51 entries as of April 17.
--Two of the top finishers at Round #1 of the USRC in Monticello, NY, will be trying to add to their point totals at Rim – Bruce Davis, from Granite Bay, CA and co-driver Jimmy Brandt in their Dodge Neon SRT-4 (3rd in class and 12th overall); and Brian Scott, from Phoenix, AZ, with co-driver John Dillon from Thousand Oaks, in a Subaru WRX STi (fifth in class, sixth overall).
--Although Subarus and Mitsubishis dominate the top 20 positions on the entry list, enthusiasts will find a Porsche 964, a Dodge Neon, and a VW Golf in that group.

Media information; Credentials, Visuals & Interviews:

Event Press/Photo credentials will be available at press registration at Poppy Pavilion at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. During the event, credentialed media will be able to shoot action photography from restricted areas along the rally course. Credentials are available only to properly identified members of the working media. Request for media credential consideration can only be made online at www.rimoftheworldrally.com. Vehicle passes for parking at the A.V. Fairgrounds can be downloaded directly from the website by media that have been issued an acceptance level in advance by the event. There will also be a media parking area at the Spunky Canyon turnoff for the Spunky/Leona stages. You can pick up that information when you get your credentials.

Media Contact:

Rim of the World Organizing Committee
Andy Schupack, press officer
E-mail: as@kgpr.com
401-739-5677; now – April 26, 2006
401-741-6980; mobile at the event, April 27 – April 30, 2005
www.rimoftheworldrally.com

Local Sponsors:

The Subaru Rim of the World Rally’s local sponsors include Subaru of America’s Southwest Region, Autosport Engineering, Lancaster Subaru, the City of Lancaster, Advance Clutch Technology, C.L. Bryant Fuels, Speed Toys, Mechanix Wear, and Toyo Tires.

Vendors On Display
Vendors on display in the Rally Expo include Auto Art, Prodrive, Rally Inavations, Irvine Subaru, South Coast Subaru, Sparco, Easy Street Motorsports, Piaa, Works, Findlay Subaru, High Desert Hobies, Rally Tuning, Crawford Performance, Santa Monica Subaru, Nukabe, Subaru of Thousand Oaks, California Off-Road Vehicle Association, Redline Track Events, Baker Performance, and Cobb Tuning.

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