Takata Time Attack would like to congratulate Matthew Huntman of St. Louis for winning the first ever Takata Index Championship hosted by the St. Louis Region SCCA.  Matt was presented with his award, a Takata Racing Harness, at the recent St. Louis SCCA Region Annual Banquet.  The Takata Harness was presented in a case, as requested by Matt.  Matt plans to display his prize in the case until he starts his next project.  Matt won the 8 race series piloting his A-stock prepared Honda S2000 CR.  He came out on top of the 261 driver field due to consistent top finishes, including 3 overall victories.  Matt was further honored at the event with the prestigious Solo Driver of the Year award due to his excellent performance and sportsmanship.  The Takata Index Champion award was presented by Takata Time Attack's own James Elterman, a former 3 time Index Champion and Driver of the Year for the St. Louis Region.

James Elterman (left) presents Takata Harness to Matt Huntman
Photo Credit: PhotoMotion Photography

The ShimmySideways Racing Team once again made an appearance at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas.  This years appearance of the ShimmySideways STi was made possible by our sponsor Go Fast Bits.  John and Brett, engineers for Go Fast Bits, used our STi to demonstrate GFB products such as their short-shift kit, Deceptor Pro blow off valve, and light weight pulleys.  Since the STi was on display on the show floor in GFB's booth, the ShimmySideways STi was dressed in GFB livery for the occasion.  Despite the slightly different appearance, many visitors to the Go Fast Bits booth recognized it.

Nukabe and Cusco, the primary sponsors of our team, were also present at the show.  On the show floor were the Nukabe STi and Nukabe Evo 9, the latter of which was piloted by James Elterman at the Super Street Time Attack the following week. Cusco engineers were excited to show off the new Power Braces available for the Subaru Impreza.  Cusco was also showing a video of the exciting new Cusco GT300 car which is the first to feature symmetrical AWD with a transaxle gearbox.  Hiding in a corner of their booth Nukabe was also displaying their new brake calipers and rotors for the Impreza and Evo which are under development.

James Elterman took nearly 300 photos at SEMA for the viewers of ShimmySideways.com.  Also, James has compiled a list of the latest and strangest trends at SEMA.  Follow the jump for the complete report.

In a promotion for the September 4th Racers for Kids charity event, a small group of the St. Louis Region SCCA Solo2 crew put on a demonstration autocross for Tim Ezell of Fox 2 News on Thursday September 1st.  The coverage provided excellent exposure for the St. Louis Region SCCA and promotion for the Racers for Kids event.  During the coverage, James Elterman was featured driving the ShimmySideways STi.  The video of the complete news coverage and the ShimmySideways specific coverage only is available in our video archive.   Rodger Brand, an airborne traffic reporter for KMOX, founded Racers for Kids, a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness for Juvenile Diabetes through motorsports and unique automotive events. His son Brendan was diagnosed with juvenile (Type One) diabetes on his fourth birthday.  The event on September 4th was a huge success, raising over $13,000 for the cause, and fun was had by all.

ShimmySideways.com would like to appologize to our visitors for the temporary site outage that occured during the last week and a half.  We are back online again and we will be adding news stories shortly.  Thanks for checking back in.

Last Saturday the USHRA Monster Trucks rocked the Edwards Jones' Dome in St. Louis.  It is an event that my fiance' Holly and I make it a point not to miss.  This year was no disappointment, with our favorite, Tom Meents in Maximum Destruction winning both the Race and Freestyle events. 

Check out the videos page for some highlights from the freestyle action!

Have you ever wondered how a rally car driver would fair at an autocross?  Apparently Petter Solberg of the Subaru World Rally Team would have no problem at all.  Check out this brief video in which Petter takes a young journalist on the ride of her life around an autocross style course.  This video is an excerpt from the Countdown to Rally Japan 2004 video distributed by Subaru of Japan.

Petter Solberg Autocross Experience

The 2004 Racing Season is over.  I have a lot of fun ideas for to implement on the site during the offseason, so check in again soon.  I'll follow up with the season recap soon.

In the meantime, if you are a Subaru owner living in the St. Louis area be sure to check out Jon's new forum dedicated to you!  Spread the word; The St. Louis Subaru Club Forum is now online.