2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

Spend the day at a Southern California NASA track event and there's a good chance you'll run into Crawford Performance's silver 2004 Subaru STi. After watching it tear up the track, chase down full-blown race cars and turn the quickest lap times of the day, you might be surprised when you see it up close. Unlike many of the gutted-out cars it passes on the track, this daily driven, dual-purpose ride has air-conditioning, a stereo, cruise control and virtually all the creature comforts it came with from the factory. This is one street/track car that can do both in style.

It's no secret that the STi is an awesome street/road race machine. With 300-horspower from the factory, all-wheel drive and great suspension, it doesn't take much to make it a supercar killer. And that's just what Crawford had in mind when they built this surprisingly fast example. With little more than a bigger turbo and some tuning, they've created a giant slayer that can outrun just about anything it encounters-and it competes against some seriously heavy hitters.

Before it ended up in Crawford Performance's garage, the Subi's previous owner road raced it and experienced more than his share of problems (including fire). He eventually got sick of dealing with all the problems of the 2004 STi and decided to move on to another project-a tube-framed chassis Subaru. But getting the funds for the new racecar meant selling the troubled '04.

Happily taking over the 2004 STi so its former owner (who happens to be an ex super kart driver) could move on to greener pastures, Crawford Performance tore it down, rebuilt it and got it back into action. Since then, it's set several track records and won numerous races-oddly enough, with its old owner behind the wheel (he's a loyal customer so they let him drive). Suddenly his tube-frame project didn't seem like such a hot idea-or really worth all the effort.

The rejuvenated STi was built to be campaigned in NASA Time Trials. These are open-track events where cars are grouped into classes and compete for the lowest lap times. In total, there are 10 Time Trial classes, including one unlimited, one semi-unlimited, and eight limited classes. This STi won the 2004 NASA TTB championship and 2005 NASA TTA championships. Always one of the fastest cars at the NASA events and usually posting the quickest times of the day, Crawford is gunning for the 2006 TTU (unlimited) championship. If things continue the way they have been, it should be a shoe-in.

While the STi is a formidable car in stock form, it takes more than the random installation of a few "performance parts" to make this great car even better. It takes knowledge, experience and track time... all of which the folks at Crawford have in boatloads. With more than 25 years of racing experience, they are serious about what they do, which they say is "making gobs of reliable power."