Photo: John Rettie
Motorsports at the top professional level are largely dominated by factory teams. That's of no surprise, since auto manufacturers usually have large budgets and the most to gain in publicity from winning races.
Invariably, though, a manufacturer's initial foray into motorsports comes from outside teams that see potential in a particular car. This was certainly true for the involvement of Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) in rallying.
That involvement dates back to 1971. The seeds for the current successful Subaru Rally Team USA were first sown when Jack Coyle, who owned the Subaru dealership in San Bernardino, California, built a rallying Subaru FF-1. "Pete" Petrowsky, a salesman at the dealership, first drove it in the Baja 500 off-road race in 1971, when rally cars were still quite competitive.
The following year, Noriyuki Koseki from Japan entered the Baja 500 in a newer Subaru GL Coupe that had been built for rallies in Japan. Fred Coyle, Jack Coyle's son (who also drove the FF-1), recalls that Koseki's team really helped his team in 1972, and a friendship was formed. It was no surprise then to find Petrowsky co-driving for Koseki in the Baja race in 1973, sponsored in part by Coyle's Subaru dealership. Although Koseki worked for Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., parent company of Subaru in Japan, his relatively low-budget team was far from being a full factory effort.
Soon after, Koseki went on to form Subaru Rally Team Japan, and he also entered a Group A Subaru Leone RX Turbo in the famous Safari Rally with various drivers in the 1980s.
In 1988, Koseki helped establish Subaru Tecnica International (STi), and a year later STi formed a partnership with Prodrive to create the official Subaru World Rally Team to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC).
The Coyle Subaru did not run again after 1973. It was another dozen years before SOA became more formally involved in rallying.
Learn more in this month's issue of Subaru Drive Performance Magazine
