SPEEDSTER HEAVEN ANNUAL RALLY LURES RACERS FROM ALL OVER.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Turbocharged, four-wheel-drive compact sedans are racing around mountain roads, the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds arena and an off-road vehicle recreation area in the annual Rim of the World professional rally.

Winter storm damage is keeping this weekend's racing off most of the Angeles National Forest roads the racers normally tear along, but spectators can watch the racing at the Hungry Valley off-road vehicle area near Gorman or at the Lancaster fairgrounds.

``In Europe, where an event can take up a whole country for a week, they have stadium stages,'' explained rally spokesman Andy Schupack. ``They put 60,000 people in a soccer stadium.''

Racing started Friday night and will conclude tonight at the fairgrounds, with the victory ceremony scheduled for 10:30 p.m. followed by a barbecue served by Habitat for Humanity.

Spectators can watch this morning at the Hungry Valley off-road area, on Interstate 5 about seven miles south of Gorman, or this afternoon and evening at the fairgrounds, 2551 W. Ave. H, Lancaster.

Admission is $5 a person plus $3 parking at the fairgrounds. At Hungry Valley, spectators must pay the state park admission fee of $5 per car plus the rally spectator fee of $10 per car.

The Hungry Valley spectator area opens to the public at 7 a.m. today. Racers are expected to start passing the spectator area there at 8:52 a.m., and in a second run beginning at 10:12 a.m.

The fairgrounds will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to midnight today. When the rally cars aren't racing, spectators can check out vendor displays, an auto show, an autocross open to the public and a demonstration of ``drifting'' - maneuvering cars in power slides judged for style.

Racing will start at the fairgrounds at 12:10 p.m., then again at 5:40 p.m. and at 9 p.m. Rally crews will also repair and service their cars at the fairgrounds between racing.

More than 60 cars are entered in the rally, mostly souped-up Japanese compacts but also European sedans and midsize American pickup trucks.

They race one at a time against a stopwatch along mountain roads. At the fairgrounds, two cars will race simultaneously on identical tracks laid out with jumps and curves in the fairground arena.

Regarded as the toughest rally in the United States for its rough forest roads, Rim of the World is the second race of four in the 2005 season for United States Rally Championship cars from across North America.

Cars race against the stopwatch in 16 stages, or road segments, of which eight will be in the Angeles National Forest between Palmdale and Santa Clarita. The rest of the race is at Hungry Valley and the fairgrounds.

Among the racers are defending national ProRally champions Pat Richard and his co-driver and sister, Nathalie, in a Subaru WRX. The Canadians won last year's Rim.

Last year's Rim runner-up, Leon Styles of Mission Viejo, is entered in a Mitsubishi Evo VII.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Cars line up before heading out on one of the tracks in the Angeles National Forest during this weekend's Rim of the World Rally.

(2 -- ran in SAC and AV edition only) The No. 1 car, with driver Pat Richards and co-driver Nathalie Richards, roads along the trail in the Angeles National Forest during the weekend's Rim of the World Rally for turbocharged sedans.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News