Interview: 2010 U.S. Rallycross 2wd Champion Josh Wimpey

One of the most exciting things to happen to the USA motorsport landscape this year was the introduction of the U.S. Rallycross Championship. As with any new series the entire thing was a big question mark: What would the fans think? Would it catch on? Would anyone even show up to race? While many were excited, no one really knew what it would take to be competitive, especially in two wheel drive. One of U.S. rally racing's up-and-coming talents, Josh Wimpey, emerged as the first ever champion of the two wheel drive class, with his 1987 GTI 16v carrying him to victory. We talked with Josh a little bit about his history, his team Quantum Rally Sport, and what his plans are for the future...



Wolfsburg Rennsport: First up thanks for taking to time to speak with us Josh.

Josh Wimpey: No problem at all.



WRS: What's you're general background when it comes to cars and motorsport. Is this a life-long passion, or something that has developed over time?

JW: Well, I would say that it all started because of a couple of factors. First, my dad forced my brothers and I to work on the family cars when we were kids so we learned about cars and working on them from an early age. Of course we wanted to go ride bikes and skateboard so we hated it. Sure enough, by the time we were teenagers we had surpassed our father in wrenching on cars, and even occasionally would drag him out to the garage to hold a flashlight or pass tools. In addition to teaching us about mechanic'ing, he also took us out for deliberate snow hooning every winter in his baby-blue Pinto and later a 1st generation RX7. Second, riding and driving pretty much anything we could find from bikes, to lawnmowers, to grandma's car became a highly competitive endeavor between my brothers and I. Around age six my twin brother Jeremy and I convinced my grandmother, who was blind in one eye, that it would be safer if the two of us piloted her Ford Granada for her around the mostly dirt roads of Northern Georgia. And so we did, taking turns working the steering wheel and communicating to the other who would work the brake and gas pedals because we were too small to do both at once.

A fondness for Knight Rider, The A-Team, AirWolf, and The Dukes of Hazard only fueled the fire for going fast on dirt. A progression from RC cars and riding lawnmowers to real cars was inevitable. As teenagers, we began off-roading anything we could get our hands on; namely a Ford van, a Buick Century station wagon, and a couple of Postal Jeeps. It was always competitive as we would see who could get further up a hill, or slide further in the gravel, or go faster but, it certainly was not formal motorsports.



WRS: So how did you become involved in rallying?

JW: Needless to say my brothers and I knew what Rally was. However, we only knew rally as it existed overseas, from the few times a year that we caught a glimpse of some WRC footage from the Safari Rally, or some other European events. When we were 19 Jeremy and I purchased a 1985 VW GTI together, and proceeded to drive it as hard as possible on gravel and snow covered roads whenever we could. A couple years later someone mentioned to me that there was a Rally group that held events in Orange Virginia, and I should go check it out. This was the first time that I had ever heard of anything rally or rally related in the US, and the first time I had thought of Rally as something other than a really cool wall calendar. So I went to my first Washington DC region SCCA rallycross at a gravel parking lot in Waynesboro VA, only 30 minutes from where I lived at the time. With our shared 1985 GTI getting even more rusty, I found a replacement car, a 1987 GTI 16v with a bolt-in Autopower rollbar for $400, it didn't run, and set out to run the SCCA rallycross events. From my interactions with the SCCA group I learned that REAL Stage Rally existed in the US, and decided I wanted to do it. Jeremy and I mentioned this to our friend Eric Langbein and he got so excited that he bought himself a Toyota Celica All-trac to run for himself. Eric and Jeremy began running the Celica in rally right away while I went to Colorado for graduate school, and I found an SCCA rallycross scene out there in the interim. During the summer I returned to Virginia, and Jeremy, Eric and myself built my GTI into a real rally car so we could go rallying once I was out of school. After graduating, and finally getting some work, we entered our very first event Cherokee Trails 2005 in Tennessee. The rest is history.



QRS: And why rally rather than say, circuit racing at a track?

JW: Rally is more raw and visceral than road racing, and I find that really rewarding. Track racing can be stuffy. and there are a lot of people who spend way too much time fretting about hypothetical rules and competitive advantages, while many racers are paranoid and secretive at the track. Part of that is because road racing requires a certain amount of strategy and gamesmanship that is absent in Rally, where you compete against the clock. Rally competitors develop a different kind of relationship with one another, much like competitors in other individualized sports such as skateboarding and downhill skiing do, where camaraderie is dominant. Passive aggression and playing dirty won't get you any friends in Rally and it won't get you any wins either.



QRS: So why did you choose to campaign a Volkswagen when there are so many other options out there?

JW: I could give a huge list of reasons why we keep campaigning VWs, and why you should too, but they wouldn't reflect the reasons why I started out in one. I would love to say that I picked a Volkswagen for any reason other than 'I had one that I bought for $400,' but I would be lying. The truth is, I stumbled into picking a great car and a great platform on accident and I fell in love with the Volkswagen GTIs right away. They are great cars, light weight, easy & fun to drive, easy to make competitive, and easy to work on. In 1998 when I still didn't know anything about US Rally, I drove my GTI up to this new shop in Aberdeen MD and met Dave Graf and Ed Sheets of NGP racing to see what kind of go-fast bits they sold for my car. Despite leaving empty handed, I had Ed drive my car to see if he could diagnose a hiccup and spent the next few years thumbing through catalogs of aftermarket VW parts while dreams swirled in my head.



QRS: Cool, so what pushed you over the edge from dreamer to racer so to speak, and how long did it take for that to happen?

JW: As I mentioned before, I was always a dreamer and as soon as I found out that Rally existed in the USA, I decided that it was something I was going to do. It took about 4 years for that to happen because I went back to school.



QRS: In your opinion and from your experience in rally, are VW's under-represented in the motorsport scene compared to other marques? There are a lot of them out there on the streets, lots of 'tuners,' but not as many seem to be involved in motorsport...

JW: VWs are still quite popular in rally here in the US. There are at least a dozen mk2 VW Golfs and Jettas, a few Mk3 and Mk4 cars, at least one mk5 car, a couple new beetles, an old beetle, and a surprising number of mk1 rabbits still going strong in rally, with the occasional Scirocco or Corrado thrown in the mix. So, VW enjoys a lot of popularity as a 2wd car in US rally with one or two 4wd franken-cars put together by some crazies.

The tuning scene is cyclical and follows all kinds of trends. It is when these trends happen to overlap with motorsports that you see a lot of enthusiasm and increased motorsports participation. For example, about 10 years ago, autocross was huge and you saw a lot of tuners catering to autocross setups. Right now, the trend is car-as-art cartoonishly-low-so-you-can-barely-drive-it. In that world, broken sub frames, oil pans, and suspension components are seen as a badge of honor. There is very little overlap with any kind of motorsports, and, participation wanes.

Luckily or not, rally has never been a mainstream motorsport in the US. Even the massive wave of enthusiasm from the Subaru faithful over the past decade produced relatively few rally newcomers.



QRS: What have been some of your favorite moments in stage rally?

JW: There are a couple of things that really make a rally special for me. The first is great roads. Truly great roads are hard to find and harder still to get permission to race on. The roads at Idaho Rally, Rally West Virginia, Rally Tennessee, and Cherokee Trails are simply a pleasure to race on, so anytime I get to do those events is a favorite moment. The second thing that makes a rally special is having great competition and camaraderie. Anytime we get to trade stage times back and forth with a great competitor is amazing. Last year, we got to duke it out with Doug Shepard at Rally Tennessee and with Eric Burmeister and Chris Duplessis at New England Forest Rally, and we couldn't have been happier to fight for just seconds after over 100 miles of racing.



QRS: Do you and your twin brother have telepathy? (haha)

JW: Not that I know of...



QRS: In all seriousness though, how is it having your twin brother as a co-driver?

JW: Well, it is definitely a huge advantage. Jeremy is certainly the best co-driver I could ask for and one of the top three co-drivers in the US, period. Jeremy is a very good driver and that really helps him as a co-driver because he can provide excellent coaching in addition to managing the driver and delivering pace notes as a driver needs them. Additionally we work well together as a crew, like the same foods, like to camp instead of hotels, and I get to hang out with my best friend the whole time. Pretty cool!



QRS: I guess you were sort of unknowingly practicing being drivers and co-drivers when you were bombing around in your grand mom's car back in Georgia...building up that trust that a driving team must have to be successful?

JW: Absolutely. Grandma got us started!



QRS: So how did your competing in the inaugural U.S. Rallycross Championship come about?

JW: We heard about this new series and thought it might be fun. If nothing else, it was only a few hours drive away which is extremely nearby in rally terms. The truth is no one involved in the first event had any idea of what to expect. I watched a handful of European Rallycross races online before the event and said, that looks like fun...lets go try it.



QRS: When you scored your win in round 1, did you already have the overall championship in your sights, or was it strictly a take-it-as-it-comes sort of endeavor?

JW: Like I said, no one knew what to expect at the first event. I am pretty sure that worked out to our advantage somehow, even though I had never driven a car on a racetrack before in my life. The win at round one was amazing and I think encouraged other competitors to come out and race in the other events. When people saw that you could win an a 150hp VW, they realized they didn't need to be worried about being outclassed by 500hp Porsches and such...Yet! Likewise, it sealed the deal for me. The event was fun and well attended and really gave us a chance to interact with fans which is great so we decided then and there to campaign the whole series.



QRS: Not that we're asking you to give anything away, but do you have any tricks that help you compete with the more powerful cars, like Dillon Van Way's turbo Focus or Matt Johnson's V8 Ford wagon? It has to be intimidating going up against cars with twice the power.

JW: We knew that after the first event things would get more difficult, and they did. A lot of new drivers showed up with competitive cars and we knew that our effort was outclassed in terms of horsepower and grip, so I had to try very hard to play to our advantages. Namely, the car is lighter than any of the cars that have shown up so far, so we can carry speed further toward each corner before braking. Running a front wheel drive car is a huge disadvantage in the drag-style starts, but a small advantage on the dirt while horsepower is huge advantage anytime you can get the car pointed straight enough to use it.



At the second event, it became clear that Matt's V8 was unbeatable off the line, so chasing him down and passing would be the only way to compete unless he made a mistake. The final weekend of racing we came with a bit more ammunition as NGP Racing and Diebold Autosport had done an amazing job squeezing some more power out of the car and shaving off some excess weight. The payoff was that we could go out and run faster laps than any other car including Matt's and Dillon's. But, I never did get a good run on passing him so we finished right on his bumper in both A-mains despite qualifying on the pole in each.



QRS: It had to be an awesome feeling when you realized you were the first ever 2wd champion in the U.S. Rallycross Championship.

JW: Definitely. Going into the final race, there were three guys that could take home the championship depending on how things went down in the final heat. We had a lead in the points so, the most important thing was to finish in the top three and not crash. When I saw that we had a chance to win the final race and the championship in the final few corners, I pushed hard but it wasn't meant to be. I'm happy with the championship win but would have loved to win another event as well.



QRS: So what are your plans for 2011?

JW: Well, it is sponsorship season right now so we have some feelers out in a bunch of different directions trying to make things happen. There are some really good stage rally events like Rally West Virginia on the schedule next year and we would love to finally complete the entire MaxAttack! 2wd National Championship series so those things are on our list. For Rallycross, next year will have events on both coasts and the center of the country and I hope to get a program together to defend our championship so we will just have to see what happens. It should be exciting no matter what.



QRS: Best of luck next year, thanks again, be sure to keep us in the loop with any developments.

JW: Thanks, I will.

For more information on Josh Wimpey and Quantum Rally Sport, check them out:

QuantumRallySport.com
Facebook
Youtube

_WRS

H2O International Part Dos

What a crazy past few weeks it has been. Between H2o International at the end of September, Rallycross in New Jersey with NGP the following weekend and then various other obligations last weekend, I've barely had time to think about what to say, let alone get it out into written form.



I suppose at the end of the day there isn't much more to say. The 'event' that is H2O International appears to be on the verge of something big, perhaps something more akin to the European shows like Worthersee where it's less a car show, and more a week-long insane-huge-party-car event.



Ocean City already has bike week, hot-rod week, Corvette week, why not VW / Audi week? (it'd probably be called something lame and predictable like 'Dub' week but I think that's a: not very original, b: not inclusive enough considering the number of Audis and even BMWs that show up these days)



What next year holds could be very telling. It wasn't so many years ago that Waterfest was this big, this anticipated, but continued and increased community (or at least police and hotel) resistance more or less put a stop to the after-hours shenanigans, which in part has slowly killed the party vibe, and thus the show.



These days a show is simply not enough...if the Ocean City community can pull together and see the H2O event for what it is, a cash cow, and not like it's the Hell's Angels descending on some town off the California coast in the '60s, H2O will be able to survive. (and perhaps thrive even beyond what we have seen so far.



At least in terms of the town and the week. The show itself is slowly becoming an also-ran to the monster number of get-togethers and community orginized meets. The venue which has done so well by Jay and his crew for so many years may finally be at the end of its usefulness. Where would they go from here?



Aside from the fact it's just getting to be too small, the newly built (but not yet finished) slots / casino / dealio will probably be far too expensive to shut down for a full weekend, 'just for a car show.' However many dollars Jay pays currently, to a slot machine and gambling center located just outside of Ocean City, it would probably be just an hour's worth of revenue or so.



So it's with equal parts eagerness, dread, hopefulness and skepticism that I look towards 2011. All signs point to it being a real turning point for H2O International and those of us here on the East Coast. Will it make it to the next step, something akin to the GTI Treffen and Worthersee?



Or will it go the way of so many other once-great shows and pass into irreverence, unable to come to grips with massive popularity, and all the organizational and infrastructure requirements that go along with it. We shall see...



Complaints about judging, organization and whatever else you can think of are nothing new when it comes to car shows. It's pretty much expected actually, as there is always a squeaky wheel or ten no matter how much grease you throw out there.



It was pretty apparent this year however, that the sheer volume of people, cars and the traffic that goes with it is beginning to overwhelm the systems currently in place. Whether it's the streets and roads around Ocean Downs, the crew taking money and directing traffic, or the judges themselves (who are volunteers), all seem overworked and probably under-appreciated.



Perhaps a move to a self-judged show would be a good move...the people that attend can judge the cars for themselves. While there is always the danger of ballot stuffing, and it would surely take away from the 'concours' style of judging, I can't say it would be a bad thing.



So here's to hoping many more years of success for H2O International...if not for Jay's pockets, at least for the people who travel thousands of miles to attend, and who make the show what it is: The best in the world.

_WRS

H2O International Part 1

It seems like every year the hype for H2O International is bigger than the last, and it would seem expectations will never be met...eventually they have to be higher than the real thing right? I mean after all, what goes up must come down. But after all these years, H2Oi is still a monster..growing by leaps and bounds each and every year.



I know I always sound like an old-fogey with my 'back in my day' talk, but I can remember the very first time I stayed over on Sunday night rather than heading back to Baltimore after the long Sunday. This was 2004, and Ed and I stayed behind as we weren't too pressed about sleeping at home, and ended up hanging out with Matt Kappen and the G&M crew.



All told, I would guess maybe 20-30 people were still around town. (10 of them being on Boardwalk and 3rd at about 2am) A few VWs here and there, but not many. By Monday morning there were fewer still. The one or two cars we saw on the way out we waved to because well, we were all part of the same clan, and back then it was an elite few.



If I waved at everyone I saw leaving H2O this past Monday morning not only would I have looked like an idiot, my hand would have fallen off...there were that many people. Now there are at least 20 times as many as even a few years ago, when Josh and I would stay over before heading back to NYC.



Friday of this year was pretty much the same thing. Now, it has always been fairly popular to get a head start on the weekend by arriving Friday, but these days it's nuts...people are arriving as much as a week in advance. And as far as Fridays, since most places require at least two night's rental so why not use it? This Friday there were maybe double what was last year...which was probably double the year before, and so on. It's turning into quite the marathon event for some people.



And why not. All told I have never seen so many cars over the course of a weekend. The level of quality is sky high overall, and it takes a hell of a lot more than 2 days to take them all in. It's all come a long way from when the 'Big Ass BBQ' used to be at Jay's house over in Ocean Pines.



This year we had a lot of the old-school NGP heads at the booth, including the infamous Mike Herrmann, Steve Brown, and a few others. Mike was one of the O.G. Club H2O reps back in the day, back when H2O really was a car club, started by Scott Hartmann and Greg...umm...something or other. Old age kicking in I suppose, but I can recall Scott had a Black 95 Golf sport on 17" OZ Superturismos and Greg had a Montana Green 1992 GTI 8v (in full Brit-style), followed by a green G60 Corrado.



Anyway, we headed out from NGP in mid-morning, with a pack of M3s, an EVO, the RS4, Nate Baugher's rear-turbo VR6 Jetta, Dave Baldwin's Mk2 16v turbo, B-rad's A4 and my own humble 2.0, plus Arno's ragingly loud 2.0 Mk4. It was perhaps the best collection of cars we've ever had for the trip at one time.



We spent a little time at the 45th Street Plaza Friday night, after setting up the booth, and things were decidedly more low key than they would be the following evening. Great cars though, especially the Mk1s. Where these cars were 10 years ago I'll never know, but I sure am glad people find these and keep them clean and (mostly) unmolested.





The whole lower-than-the-next guy thing has gotten a little out of hand though. When your M3's front spoiler scrapes the ground when you're on FLAT ground, and you have to enter and exit parking lots like this, well...I think we're into the realm of low-riders more than sports cars.



Purist that I am, I can admit when a car is done right, even on air ride. We'll have to wait for part 2 for the air ride pics...



So yeah, Friday was pretty gangbusters, but I didn't take many pictures. Talking too much and catching up with people I suppose, but that's really what's it all about. The cars are sort of a given, but without the characters behind them, they really don't mean shit.



Part two (Saturday) coming soon...



_WRS

Back home from H20i

It was a crazy weekend which literally flew by, and now another H20 International is in the books. Full report soon...

_WRS

V.A.G. Fair 2010 - It's this weekend, man

This weekend thou shalt get thyself to York, Pennsylvania for the the 4rd annual V.A.G. Fair - the brain child of the one and only Cory Sterling. Cory has helped out Jay Shoup with H20 International for years, and he's now put all that experience of working on arguably the best VW / Audi show in the country into his own little show, in his own backyard.

I won't be making it myself but it'll be worth it...new for 2010 is an SCCA Autocross (awesome) and old favorites like the show fields, vendor areas and...dunk tank. Don't forget that Pennsylvania is a serious strong hold of old-school VW heads, so there will be many older Mk1 and Mk2 cars that don't make it to all the other out of state shows.

It will truly be, as they proclaim, "A Cory Nation Celebration!" That probably means something about beer, just FYI.

V.A.G. Fair

_WRS

ALMS - Utah - Falken Tire Porsche RSR catches fire in practice

The Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR caught fire in this morning's practice for the American Le Mans event at Miller Motorsports Park. As you can see in the video, driver Bryan Sellers gets out without any issues, but the car has some serious damage which needs to be addressed.





The team is currently working feverishly to get the car back on track for qualifying (today at 4:55pm EST), but if not they will make the race tomorrow (4:35pm EST) starting from the back of the grid.

So far the Ferrari from Risi has been fastest in practice, followed by BMW, with the #45 Porsche from Flying Lizard coming in 3rd so far. Qualifying should be a battle royale as they always are in the GT class.

Check out www.americanlemans.com for live coverage and timing, and www.radiolemans.com.

_WRS

Video / image captures: American Le Mans You Tube Channel.