Gold Rush PRO Rally
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship
October 2-3, 1993


Press Notes
by Andy Schupack

Final Results


                                         MEDIA ALERT

Event:  Gold Rush PRO Rally - Round #6 of the 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship.
        Race cars from around the world will compete at high speeds through the mountain
        roads in and around Westcliffe, Colorado

When:   Saturday - Sunday, October 2 - 3, 1993

        Schedule - Saturday

         9:00 AM - Noon - Registration - Custer County High School
                          Tech inspection - High School Bus Barn

         2:00 PM - ParcExpose - a display of cars - Downtown Westcliffe

         3:01 PM - First car starts - Daylight section of the Gold Rush
                   PRO rally

         6:30 PM - First car finishes Daylight section

         7:31 PM - First car starts Evening Section of the Gold Rush PRO
                   Rally

         Schedule - Sunday

         2:00 AM - Finish - Gold Rush PRO Rally - Custer County High School

Where:  Rally headquarters will be at the Custer County High School,
        Rts. 69 and 96, Westcliffe, Colorado.  Press room located on the
        stage in the high school auditorium.

Duration: 80 stage miles, 250 total miles, 11 stages

Rank:  Coefficient 3 Divisional PRO Rally in which drivers and co-drivers
       with national competition licenses can score points towards the
       national championship.  National points will be awarded with a
       multiplier of .6 (first place finishers, normally awarded 20 points,
       will receive 12 points).  Those competing only in the Divisional
       competition will be skipped over in the overall computation of
       national points. Presented by the Continental Divide Region of the
       Sports Car Club of America.  The National PRO Rally Series is
       sponsored by Subaru of America and sactioned by the Sports Car Club
       of America.

Interviews:  Drivers will be available by contacting the press room at the
             Custer County High School starting Saturday morning, October 2.
             All drivers will be at the Parc Expose session listed above.
             Several spokes-people, including rally organizer Rod Bagby of
             Lakewood, Colo., SCCA series manager Rusty Campbell, and
             defending divisional champion driver B.J. Beal from Denver, are
             available in person or by phone earlier in the week.

Expected Top National Entries:  Chad DiMarco - '91 National champion,
       in his Subaru Legacy - favorite to win overall and clinch his fourth
       straight Group A title; Carl Merrill - crashed his new 400 HP
       Ford Escort Cosworth at Pikes Peak July 4 - in a new Escort; Jeff
       Zwart - 1990 Open class champion - in his All-wheel drive Porsche
       Carrera 4 - recently finished 19th at New Zealand world rally; Henry
       Joy - four strong finishes in his first year of Open class
       competition, including third at Prescott - in a Mitsubishi Eclipse;
       Tony Takaori - Japanese rally driver - was fourth overall and first
       in Group A at Prescott and third overall at Ojibwe - in a right-hand
       drive Mitsubishi Galant; Todd Bawden - rookie rallyist from Southern
       California - challenging for the class title in Production GT in his
       Mitsubishi Eclipse;  Antonio Menendez - Mexican rallyist currently in
       second place in Production GT - in a Mitsubishi Eclipse; Chad
       Dykes - newcomer in truck class - won in Prescott - leading truck
       class competitor for Westcliffe.

Visuals: There will be escorts to take photographers and
         video crews onto the course during the daylight part
         of the rally on Saturday.  Anyone requiring supplied photos or
         video should contact Jeanne Long in the press room starting
         October 2 in the morning.  Rally cars going through mud, over yumps
         and rough terrain, and sliding at high speed through tight turns
         provide exciting visuals.

Media Info:  We will provide phone-ins on event information,
             driver interviews, and results.  We will fax
             stories and agate Saturday and Sunday.  We have B-roll
             available for TV.

Contact: Andy Schupack - Subaru PRO Rally Championship media liaison:

                         (401) 739-5677

         Jeanne Long - Sports Car Club of America

                         (303) 779-6622 (before October 1)
                         (719) 783-2368 (October 2 - 3 in the press room)


Note: The Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker Audi Quattro will not be making the
trip, saving their budget and energy for the rough POR course coming up the
end of October.  Also missing will be the top two truck entries, Light/White
GMC Sonoma and the Gooch/Gooch Mitsubishi Pick-up.  The other two major
competitors not to make the trip to Colorado include the '93 Production class
champions Peter Cunningham/Joe Andreini in their Acura Inegra, and Production
GT class leaders Frontinan and Arruda in their Toyota Celica All-Trac.

Note:  We will begin CompuServe reports on the Gold Rush PRO Rally on
       Friday, October 1.  The rally starts on Saturday afternoon, and ends
       early Sunday morning.  The press room phone number is (719) 783-2368
       as of Friday morning. --Andy


                  PREVIOUS GOLD RUSH WINNERS

Year    Driver/Co-driver                  Car

1980    Tom Hanlon/Shelly Lu Cummings     Datsun 510
1983    Hazzie Quick/Tim James            VW Bug
1984    Frank Jacobs/Michael Jacobs       BMW 2002
1985    Ramon Ferreyeros/Ken Eklund       Toyota Starlet
1986    Dean Blagowsky/Sherri Morgan      Dodge Omni GLHS
1987    Dean Blagowsky/Sherri Blagowsky   Dodge Omni GLHS
1988    Dave Thomas/David Law             Mazda RX-7
1989    Dave Thomas/David Law             Mazda RX-7
1990 Overall Paul Choiniere/John Buffum   Audi Quattro
     Div.    Clay Thomas/Dan Gensheimer   Dodge Shelby
1991 Overall Bruno Kreibich/Jeff Becker   Audi Quattro
     Div.    Lon Peterson/Jim Love        Plymouth Arrow
1992 Overall Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker   Audi Quattro
     Div.    Larry Schmidt/Mary Engstrom  Dodge Colt


                GOLD RUSH PRO RALLY COMMITTEE

Co-chairmen                 Rod Bagby
                            Randy Engstrom
Rally Master                Bob Gilliard
Steward                     Rusty Campbell
Registrar                   Jeanne Long
Scoring                     Randy Anderson
Chief of Controls           Ed Kajko
Worker Coordinators         Mary Engstrom
                            Alex Timmermans
                            Kathy Lantz
Scrutineering               Howard Duncan
Radio Control               John McDermott
Lead Cars                   Jim Gill
                            Bob Gilliard
                            Norm Babcock
                            Trent Gilliard
Sweep Cars                  Darrell Burtis
                            Clay Thomas
Spectator Safety            Sheila Kok-Leone
Hospitality                 Jody Bailey
Service Coordinator         Howard Duncan
Public Relations            Sheila Kok-Leone


Press Notes #1 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 1, 1993 - 2:30 AM MST

1.  Welcome to the tenth annual Gold Rush PRO Rally, round #6
    of the 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship.  The rally,
    which is a coefficient 3 Divisional PRO Rally in which
    national drivers will be awards 60 percent of normal
    national points, is presented by the Continental Divide
    Region of the Sports Car Club of America, and sanctioned
    by the Sports Car Club of America's national headquarters
    office in Englewood, Colorado.  The series is sponsored
    nationally by Subaru of America, Inc.

2.  The weather promises to be clear for the Saturday event,
    but temperatures could creep down into the 30's before
    the scheduled end of the event early Sunday morning.  It
    hasn't rained much in the Westcliffe area recently, so
    the course could be dusty, leading to two or even three
    minute intervals between cars before the event finishes.

3.  The main reason for the Gold Rush PRO Rally applying for
    a divisional event with 60 percent national points for
    1993 rather than the full national status it enjoyed for
    1992 is simple.  With the extra miles required to make
    the event a full national race, it proved to be a burden
    for the organizer to get enough workers to make the event
    run efficiently, so both the organizing committee and the
    sanctioning body agreed that the present format is best.
    This year's event consists of 80 stage miles, 250 total
    miles, and 11 stages, while last year's event was
    scheduled for 110 stages miles and 15 stage.  However,
    several stages had to be cancelled last year due to lack
    of workers.

4.  As this is not a full national event, there will be no
    starting points awarded.  The breakdown of points for
    overall and class looks like this: 1st - 12 points;
    2nd - 9 points; 3rd - 7.2 points; 4th - 6 points;
    5th - 4.8 points; 6th - 3.6 points; 7th - 2.4 points;
    8th - 1.8 points; 9th - 1.2 points; and 10th - 15th will
    earn you 0.6 of a point. Sixth-tenths of a point?  Who
    cares?  Well, ask Dick Corley, last year's POR winner,
    who lost second place overall to Tim O'Neil by only four-
    tenths of a point!  By the way, the overall national
    standings as well as class standings will be determined
    independently from times and finishes by the divisional
    competitors.

5.  For those of you reading these notes on CompuServe, there
    are some late deletions from the entry list we posted
    earlier in the week.  Vermont Sports Car owner Lance
    Smith reports that his Mitsubishi Eclipse Production GT
    driver Antonio Menendez, who is currently second in class
    in series points, has a conflicting business trip to
    Europe and cannot make the rally.  This gives Production
    GT leaders Vinnie Frontinan and Frank Arruda, who decided
    not to make the trip in their Toyota Celica GT4, a little
    breathing room, but Todd Bowden, who has won the class at
    two rallies and finished in the top five overall twice,
    will be at Westcliffe to keep the Production GT pressure
    on.

    Other late scratches include:

    --Goran Osterland in his Saab 99
    --Windy Imperial in his Eagle Talon - was supposed to be
      the debut of that car.

6.  Other top runners who are missing he Westcliffe event due
    to either budget considerations or points situations (see
    below) are the Paul Choiniere/Jeff Becker Audi S-2
    (winners here a year ago), the Peter Cunningham/Joe
    Andreini Acura Integra, which has already clinched the
    Production Class crown for '93, and truck competitors
    Guy Light/Dave White GMC Sonoma pickup and Gary
    Gooch/Judi Gooch Mitsubishi Pickup.

7.  For the overall year-end point standings, the team's five
    best finishes count.  The situation by class going into
    the Gold Rush event breaks down as follows:

    --Overall - With Choiniere not here and Chad
                DiMarco/Erick Hauge's Subaru Legacy
                potentially picking up 12 points, DiMarco
                could be back in the hunt if Choiniere has
                trouble at the last two events.  On the other
                hand, if DiMarco does not finish this event,
                he would have to win the last two events and
                Choiniere would have to DNF for the Subaru to
                overtake the Audi.  Right now, Choiniere has
                88 points and DiMarco 56.

    --Open - In the open class, Choiniere has those same 88
             points, but the Henry Joy/Jimmy Brandt
             Mitsubishi Eclipse, improving with every event,
             has 63 points with a chance to gain ground.  If
             Joy can win the Open class at Westcliffe, he
             will score a net of 6 points as he will gain 12
             points but drop his worst finish of the year,
             where he earned 6 points.

    --Group A - Chad DiMarco and Erick Hauge - as the only
                Group A entry - can clinch their fourth
                straight class title by just finishing the
                Westcliffe rally, although that is a task
                they have not accomplished in the last two
                years.  Tony Takoari, whose Mitsubishi Galant
                has finished first and second in Group A in
                the last two events, will not be at
                Westcliffe.

    --Production GT - As we mentioned, Vinny Frontinan/Frank
                      Arruda are leading Production GT with
                      87 - 56 margin over the Mitsubishi
                      Eclipse of Antonio Menendez and Juan
                      Goya, but neither team will be at Gold
                      Rush.  That leaves Todd Bawden and his
                      Mitsubishi Eclipse as the sole GT
                      entry.  If Bawden can finish, he will
                      not only surpass Menendez, but he will
                      put pressure on Frontinan/Arruda for
                      the last two events.

    --Production - Although Peter Cunningham and Joe Andreini
                   have clinched the season championship,
                   second place driver Tony Shumaker in his
                   Mitsubishi Eclipse will be competing for
                   points and a chance to clinch the second
                   spot in the class for the season.
                   Although he would normally qualify for the
                   $2,000 first place money given out by
                   Mitsubishi for class winners, this is not
                   a full national rally, so there is no
                   national contingency money.

    --Rally Truck -- This is probably the closest race of the
                     whole series, but not much will be
                     settled this weekend as the top two
                     competitors - Guy Light with 83 points
                     and Gary Gooch with 75 points - are not
                     here.  Either is Roger Hull, who has 47
                     points, and is in third place.  But
                     fourth place competitor Chad Dykes, a
                     rookie and probably the fastest truck
                     driver on the circuit right now, had 45
                     points and will be trying to get the 12
                     points available to climb closer to the
                     leaders in his Mitsubishi Pickup.


  Round #6 - Subaru PRO Rally Championship
  Gold Rush Entry List - National Classes (as of 10/1/93)

 Car  Driver/               Co-Driver/        Make/Model/Class
  #   Hometown              Hometown
 ---  ------------------    ----------------- -------------------

  4   Chad DiMarco          Erick Hauge       Subaru Legacy/Group A/Nat
      Huntington Beach, CA  Napa, CA

  6   Carl Merrill          J. Jon Wickens    Ford Escort Cosworth/Open/Nat
      Ogunquit, ME          Birmingham, MI

 11   Jeff Zwart            Tony Sircombe     Porsche Carrera 4/Open/Nat
      Woody Creek, CO       Corona del Mar, CA

 12   Henry Joy             Jimmy Brandt      Mitsubishi Eclipse/Open/Nat
      Wilmette, IL          Lake Odessa, MI

 14   B.J. Beal             Stuart Beal       Mazda 323GTX/Open/Nat
      Denver, CO            Tulsa, OK

 15   Todd Bawden           Cal Coatsworth    Mitsubishi Eclipse/GT/Nat
      Anaheim, CA           Newport Beach, CA

 17   Chad Dykes            Pat Hanson        Mitsubishi Pickup/Truck/Nat
      Escondido, CA         Escondido, CA

 16   Rob Cherry            Mike Taylor       Jeep Commanche/Truck/Nat
      Prescott, AZ          Prescott Valley, AZ

 77   Ivan Orisek           Olga Orisek       Mitsubishi Eclipse/GT/Nat/Div
      White Plains, NY      White Plains, NY

 88   Sakis Hajiminas       Tom Burgess       Mitsubishi Galant/Open/Nat
      Floral Park, NY       Vancouver, BC

 19   Sam Bryan             Mark Simons       Saab 900/Open/Nat
      Kent, WA              Seattle, WA

 36   Mike Whitman          Kevin Linville    Datsun 510/Open/Nat
      Farmington, NM        Durango, CO

 93   Tony Shumaker         Bill Gutzmann     Mitsubishi Eclipse 2WD/Prod/Nat
      Mission Viejo, CA     Ontario, CA

 18   Peter Lahm            Keith Roper       Datsun 510/Open/Nat
      Phoenix, AZ           Peoria, IL


                   Gold Rush Divisional PRO Rally - Entry List
                              (As of 10/1/93)

 Car  Driver/               Co-Driver/       Make/Model
  #   Hometown              Hometown
 ---  ---------------       -----------      ----------------

 44   David Thomas          Jim Hurley       Mazda RX-7
      St. Charles, MO       Knoxville, TN

 20   Larry Schmidt         Mary Engstrom    Mazda 323GTX
      Westminster, CO       Broomfield, CO

 47   Robert Burtis         James Burtis     Volkswagen Rabbit
      Indian Hills, CO      Morrison, CO

 48   John Golden           Bella Lamber     Datsun 510
      Lakewood, CO          Denver, CO

 45   Doc Shrader           Don Gage         Eagle SX4
      West Memphis, AK      West Memphis, AK

 49   James Cook            Doug Octoupal    Mazda RX-7
      Alpine, TX            Ft. Davis, TX

 50   Garen Shrader         Steven Scott     Dodge Daytona
      Memphis, TN           West Memphis, TN

 46   David Whelan          Nicholas Leone   Eagle SX4
      Erie, CO              Westminster, CO

 51   James Kilpatrick      Ruth Katzin      Dodge Colt
      Durango, CO           Durango, CO

 52   Todd Jarvey           Richard Faber    Dodge Charger
      Maple Grove, MN       Blaine, MN

 53   Paul Caouette         Max Tyler        Dodge Omni GLH
      Denver, CO

 25   Arthur Odero-Jowi     Peter Njenga     Toyota Corolla
      Arlington, TX         Houston, TX


Press Notes #2 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 2, 1993 - 5:30 PM MST

8.  Some housekeeping is in order from the Ojibwe PRO Rally
    last month in Minnesota, where we had reported that the
    Henry Joy/Jimmy Brandt Mitsubishi Eclipse has gone off
    course and temporarily gotten lost on a stage.  "I never
    get lost," said Brandt, who said they were off-course due
    only to the broken turbo hose, not because of any human
    error.  Joy/Brandt finished second in the Open class
    behind Choiniere, but ninth overall because of the
    problem.

9.  The Norseman Inn crew and driver Carl Merrill went back
    to Pike's Peak yesterday to view the spot where Merrill
    plunged 285 feet off the mountain on July 4, totalling
    his first Ford Escort Cosworth.  They picked up a few
    souvenirs - fenders and bumpers - but, although the hood
    was still intact, it was too heavy to cart up the hill.
    Merrill's new Escort, which debuted at Ojibwe, did not
    finish due to a split center differential.

10. The new Mazda 323GTX that Larry Schmidt/Mary Engstrom are
    piloting at Gold Rush is an ex-B.J Beal machine, but
    Schmidt reports that the car had rolled before he bought
    it, so lots of work has been done to this car since Beal
    had it last.  It debuted in July at the Silvercliffe
    divisional PRO rally, and finished second.
    Schmidt/Engstrom drove an old Dodge Colt to the
    divisional win last year at Gold Rush, and their time
    were good enough to finish fourth overall had they been
    running in the national event.

11. There's always one team which seems to have a tougher
    time preparing for the rally than actually running the
    rally itself.  That award for Gold Rush could be shared
    by two teams.  The Jeff Zwart/Tony Sircombe Porsche
    Carrera 4 looked like it was totalled at Ojibwe after
    Zwart careened off the stage at a high rate of speed and
    ended upside down in a ditch.  By the magicians at Millen
    Motorsports in Huntington Beach, California, have
    reconstructed the car ("the damage wasn't as bad as it
    looked," according to Sircombe) and they are ready to
    race.

    Doc Schrader hopes his Eagle SX4, entered in the
    divisional event, is ready as well after a DNF forced him
    to replace a torque converter after Ojibwe, but the
    transmission was damaged again today as the crew severed
    a fluid line unloading the racer from the trailer.  Then,
    a "C" clip holding the axle to the differential broke
    during unloading, but Schrader seems ready to run.


Press Notes #3 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 2, 1993 - 6:15 PM MST

12.  Under clear skies and temperatures in the 60's, 27 rally
     cars took the starting command from downtown Westcliffe
     for the start of the tenth annual Gold Rush PRO Rally.
     14 cars started the national event, while there were 13
     divisional starters.  The cars will run four stages, and
     return to downtown Westcliffe at dusk, service their
     vehicles, and head back out for the night stages.

13.  The route books were marked with special asterisks *
     at caution corners where drivers have gone off the road
     in the past, ending their Gold Rush activity for that
     particular year.  One specific corner, nicknamed
     "Vermont Vortex," for the Vermont drivers who have
     crashed there previously, needed so many asterisks the
     organizer did not have room for them all on the page.

14.  First reports from the field are that the Sakis
     Hajiminias/Tom Burgess Mitsubishi Galant is running
     slowly, and may be in jeopardy of dropping out of the
     event.  They hope to make it to service at the end of
     stage four to see if they can diagnose the problem.

15.  After four stage, we have no incidents to report, and
     have stage times for the top seven drivers.  All seven
     are within 90 seconds of each other, and we have no
     DNF's reported after four stages - everyone is still
     running.
                                   Stage numbers
 Driver/Co-driver-Car-Class     #1    #2    #3    #4   Total

 Merrill/Wickens - Escort-OP   6:27  2:44  2:33  3:32  15:16
 DiMarco/Hauge - Subaru-GpA    6:38  2:41  2:40  3:40  15:39
 Beal/Beal - Mazda 323GTX-OP   6:46  2:35  2:43  3:44  15:48
 Zwart/Sircombe - Porsche-OP   6:47  2:34  2:45  3:45  15:51
 Joy/Brandt - Mitsubishi-OP    6:52  2:37  2:46  3:53  16:08
 Bawden/Coatsworth - Mits.-GT  6:59  2:40  2:46  3:58  16:23
 Schmidt/Engstrom - Mazda-Div. 7:13  2:40  2:58  3:58  16:45

All the class leaders are shown above except the Chad Dykes/Pat Hanson 
Mitsubishi Pickup, which is the only entry in the Rally Truck class, 
and will pick up the 12 points for first if it finishes.

B.J. Beal/Stuart Beal, who are the local favorites and looking to top 
their fifth place overall finish last year at Gold Rush, spun hard and 
went off the course on stage #1, but were able to recover without
damaging their vehicle or losing much time.


Press Notes #4 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 2, 1993 - 9:00 PM MST

16.  Other items from the service before the start of
     stage #5:

     --The Hajiminas/Burgess Mitsubishi Galant broke two
       alternator belts causing the problems that team is
       having.  they have also incurred 18 minutes in penalty
       points related to their mechanical woes, according to
       co-driver Burgess.

     --The other half of the EuroAmerican Rally team - the
       Mitsubishi Eclipse of Ivan and Olga Orisek - has been
       slowed by an engine misfire, perhaps related to a
       similar problem they encountered at the last rally in
       Minnesota.

     --There were cattle on and around stage #3, leading to a
       conversation on the radio that sounded something like
       this:  "We understand someone grazed a cow on stage
       #3." "No, there are some cows grazing on staged #3."

     --The Dave Thomas/Jim Hurley Mazda RX-7 seemed to be
       running a little rich, and the crew discovered that
       two primary jets in the carburetor - supposed to be
       the same size - were not.  The RX-7 had a 58mm and
       68mm jet, and they have now re-jetted to twin 56mm
       jets to help lean the car out a bit.  Thomas thinks
       the car ran "several" rallies in its former condition.

     --Both Schraders are having problems, with the Doc
       Schrader/Don Gage Eagle SX4 having a loose skid plate,
       and the Garen Schrader/Steve Scott Dodge Daytona
       having lost their turbo due to a blown gasket.  They
       have been placed last in the stage #5 restart.

     --The James Cook/Doug Octoupal Mazda RX-7 has been
       slowed by a broken wheel bearing, which was replaced
       at service.

     --Scott Gaylord, a last-minute entry, is a Winston Cup
       driver as well as an SCCA club racer who has taken his
       Showroom Stock C Honda Civic Si, put a skid plate on
       it (not even added driving lights), and has come out
       to try PRO Rally.  He did so well on the initial four
       stages that he was moved up to 11th on the restart.
       It's also the first rally for co-driver Gary Cook.

All 27 original rally starters started stage #5.  Series manager 
Rusty Campbell and Rallymaster Randy Engstrom have gone to two 
minute intervals because of the dust.


Press Notes #5 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 3, 1993 - 1:00 AM MST

17.  The Hajiminas/Burgess Mitsubishi Galant and the
     Orisek/Orisek Mitsubishi Eclipse are both out of the
     event - victims of the mechanical problems mentioned
     earlier.

18.  Tony Shumaker/Bill Gutzmann rolled their Mitsubishi
     Eclipse 2WD - the only Production class entry - on stage
     #6, but caused only sheetmetal damage and the car is
     continuing.  Although Shumaker cannot catch the Peter
     Cunningham/Joe Andreini Acura Integra for the season
     series championship, a class win here can clinch second
     place for Tony, and give him his second class win this
     season.

19.  Shumaker's car preparer, veteran racer Dave Wolin,
     reports that is now 27 degrees F in the town of
     Westcliffe, and probably colder in the mountains where
     the competitors are in the final stages of the rally.

20.  The Scott Gaylord/Gary Cook Honda Civic Si is out of the
     rally, but not before the veteran club racing and NASCAR
     driver showed everyone that an experienced racer can do
     well in PRO Rally.  It was Cook's first event, and he
     shared a co-driving experience that happens to many - he
     became too ill to continue.  Gaylord's times in his
     unmodified, un-rally-prepared car were in the top ten
     when he retired after stage #7.

21.  We will not have interim stage times or standings before
     we get final results, with the first car due in after
     the finish of stage #11 at 2:00 AM MST.  We understand
     the standings are very close to the ones we reported
     after stage #4, with Merrill and DiMarco running neck
     and neck for the overall lead. Merrill has never won a
     PRO rally, finishing second twice (Maine '92 and Wild
     West '93), while DiMarco has been shut out of the top
     spot since the 1991 POR event. If DiMarco finishes the
     event - even if he doesn't win the overall rally - he
     will clinch the Group A championship, making his team
     the only active PRO rally competitors to win their class
     four years in a row.


Press Notes #6 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 3, 1993 - 3:00 AM MST

22.  The tenth running of the Gold Rush PRO Rally is
     now history, and the Ford Escort Cosworth of Carl
     Merrill and John Wickens has scored its first-ever
     SCCA PRO Rally win. Merrill, who had a life-threatening
     crash just two months ago about 80 miles from Westcliffe
     at Pikes Peak, drove a flawless race enroute to his
     victory over second-place Chad DiMarco/Erick Hauge. By
     virtue of their second-place finish, however, DiMarco
     and Hauge clinched their fourth straight Group A
     national championship.  The margin of victory was 1:06.

     Merrill broke a differential - same problem as at
     Ojibwe - during stage #9, and said the car was almost
     uncontrollable over the last two stages, but he was
     still able to hold his lead to the end, even beating
     DiMarco by 20 seconds on the last stage to secure the
     win.

23.  The divisional PRO Rally was won by Larry Schmidt/Mary
     Engstrom for the second year in a row - this time in a
     Mazda 323GTX.  Schmidt outdistanced Paul Caouette/Max
     Tyler's Dodge Omni by more than eight minutes for the
     win.

24.  Other class winners in the national event included:

     --Chad Dykes/Pat Hanson, Mistubishi Pick-up, Rally Truck
     --Todd Bawden/Cal Coatsworth, Mitsubishi Eclipse,
       Production GT
     --Tony Shumaker/Bill Gutzmann, Mitsubishi Eclipse 2WD,
       Production

25.  The national results look like this (12 finishers):

 Driver/Co-driver-Car-Class                      Total
                                                 (min:sec)

 Merrill/Wickens - Ford Escort Cosworth - Open*  123:01
 DiMarco/Hauge - Subaru Legacy - Group A*        124:07
 Zwart/Sircombe - Porsche Carrera 4 - Open       124:43
 Beal/Beal - Mazda 323GTX - Open                 125.21
 Joy/Brandt - Mitsubishi Eclipse - Open          126.29
 Bryan/Simons - Saab 900 - Open                  126.33
 Whitman/Linville - Datsun 510 - Open            130.55
 Dykes/Hanson - Mitsubishi Pick-up - Truck*      133.09
 Bawden/Coatsworth - Mitsubishi Eclipse - GT*    136.51
 Lahm/Roper - Datsun 510 - Open                  138.50
 Shumaker/Gutzmann - Mitsubishi Eclipse - Prod*  149.55
 Cherry/Taylor - Jeep Camanche Pick-up - Truck   156.55

 * Class winners


Press Notes #7 
Gold Rush PRO Rally, Westcliffe, Colorado 
Round #6 - 1993 Subaru PRO Rally Championship 
October 3, 1993 - 10:45 AM MST

26.  A note on points.  As explained in notes #7, the best
     five finishes will count towards determining the
     point standings at the end of the season.  If someone
     finishes six or more events, one drops the lowest finish
     the points that went with it, and adds the higher finish
     to their point total.  An exception is the starting
     points.  This year, each driver and co-driver gets two
     points for starting each national event (as Gold Rush
     was technically a divisional, competitors didn't get
     starting points for this event).  When a competitor
     does not finish an event, they still receive starting
     points, and they do not have to drop them when dropping
     a DNF.  This is a long-winded way of saying that the
     points we released earlier today on CompuServe need
     adjusting in a couple of areas.  We will post revised
     points later today and label them as such.

27.  In a post-rally interview, Carl Merrill was very pleased
     with the way both he and his car performed en route to
     his first PRO Rally win.  He said the breaking of a
     differential on stage #9 turned his car into rear-wheel-
     drive, but he was determined to win the event.  He had a
     43-second lead on DiMarco going into the last stage, and
     the last stage was 14 miles, but instead of just hanging
     on, he put another 20 seconds on Chad to sweep to
     victory.  "I made very few mistakes," said Merrill.

28.  Jeff Zwart was also pleased with his third place finish,
     although he acknowledged that the lack of a turbocharger
     at this altitude really hurt him on the fast stages.
     But, after radical adjustments made to the suspension
     because of the rough stages encountered at Rim and
     Prescott, the Porsche was well-equipped to handle when
     the course got rutty.  Both Zwart and Merrill said dust
     was a major factor, with Merrill have the distinct
     advantage of being first on the road after the restart
     for stage #5.

29.  Divisional winner Larry Schmidt, who was running a much
     faster car with his new Mazda 323GTX than the Dodge Colt
     he has run in the past, said the sensation for all-
     wheel-drive verses rear wheel drive and turbo versus
     normally aspirated helped him in most spots, but he
     still thinks the Colt might have been faster on the real
     rough stages.  He also mentioned the dust.  Last year,
     there was a five minute window between divisional and
     national drivers, enabling Schmidt to have his own
     version of first on the road.  This year, however, only
     Merrill was the beneficiary of a clear path.

30.  Todd Bawden won the Production GT class in his
     Mitsubishi Eclipse, but not before he rolled his car on
     the last stage.  Fortunately, someone stopped to help
     right the vehicle (that driver has not been identified),
     and Bawden lost several place in the overall standings,
     but picked up the 12 points where it counts - in class.
     Perhaps more important, however, will be how much damage
     needs repair before the demanding Press on Regardless
     rally coming up October 22-24.

31.  It might be a day or two before we have the stage time
     maitrix available for distribution.  We will put it on
     CompuServe and distribute it with hard copies of the
     press notes as soon as we receive it from the
     organizers.       
  


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