Easy Street Motorsports Impreza
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Everything is bigger in Texas the old saying goes. And that is definitely true for one drag racer from the “Lone Star” state as she works her way up the sport compact drag racing ladder.
Julie Stepan, a 20-year-old driver from Grand Prairie, TX, has been racing for more than 10 years and is now taking the next step in her career as a professional driver. Until 2004, she competed locally in Texas and established herself as a top up-and-coming drag racer. Then, in 2005, everything came together for Stepan as she entered the NHRA Sport Compact tour and set about establishing herself as a top drag racer in the sport compact world.
In May 2004, Stepan graduated from high school and was set to pursue a career as a kindergarten teacher. However, college would have to wait as that fall Stepan entered the Maximum Velocity Female Driver Search that was being conducted by Easy Street Motorsports. Coming off a successful season of Super Comp racing, Stepan was chosen as one of the eight finalists and was invited to attend the NHRA World Finals in Pomona. At the event, Stepan and her fellow finalists were put through the paces in identical Subarus on the track while also mingling with fans and doing interviews with the media. Within days of the event, Easy Street owner and NHRA racer Ali Afshar was on the phone congratulating her on winning the driver search.
Joining the Easy Street team as paid driver was a dream come true for Stepan. She moved to California and began her career as a professional driver in the Sport RWD class in the same Subaru WRX Afshar had driven the season before. Success quickly followed as Stepan made an impact early in her rookie campaign.
The Sport RWD class raced at eight events on the 2005 NHRA Sport Compact tour and Stepan was clearly a heavy hitter from the get-go. She took runner-up honours in just her second race (Englishtown, NJ) and had the same result at Atco, NJ. Then the floodgates opened in the second half. First came her breakthrough victory at Denver, just her fourth event behind the wheel of the potent WRX. In the remaining four races she won three times (Las Vegas, Englishtown number two and Pomona) and established herself as the driver to beat coming into 2006.
This year has been equally accommodating for Stepan as she holds a 167-point lead after six events for Sport RWD (after Las Vegas). She opened the year with a win at West Palm Beach and added two more class triumphs (Englishtown 1 and Atco) before losing the most recent final in Las Vegas. While the NHRA does not recognize “champions” in the sport division, there is little question that Stepan has outclassed the field the past two seasons and is ready to move up the ladder in 2007.
The car taking Stepan to these lofty heights thus far in her career is a new 2006 WRX STi model that Afshar’s Easy Street Motorsports team built for this season. The engine is an Ej25, 2.5L, four-cylinder with an Innovative T-74 turbo. Providing the nitrous for the WRX is an NOS wet system that works with the Subaru manifold, ESX fuel rail and Weldon fuel pressure regulator. The cams are ESX Drag Spec and are mated with JUN cam gears. Keeping the engine at optimal performance is an ESX Bar and Plate intercooler and an Innovative Indy Gate wastegate. Bosch 1,600cc injectors feed the engine while timing is controlled by a Motec M800. All these modifications have produced 1,050hp,a maximum torque of 650 and a trap speed of 156mph. The 2006 WRX has been hitting the quarter-mile throughout the season and thus far its best run was 9.1 seconds at 156mph. To keep Stepan’s WRX burning up the track, Afshar installed an M1 / ESX 3.5-inch Stainless Exhaust, an ESX 4-to-1 header and ESX stainless up- and down-pipes. The exhaust tip is a Burns Stainless 3.5-inch muffler.
To make sure Stepan can get all that power to the ground, the Easy Street crew went to work stiffening the ride. Up first were Progress Suspension struts and springs in the front and rear while the rear control arms were upgraded by SPC Performance. DMS then stepped in with front and rear camber plates. When the tree goes green, Stepan lays down a patch of BFGoodrich rubber from 255/50-16 Drag Radials all around. Those tires wrap around Arceo 16- by 8-inch wheels on all four corners. Bringing her down from speed at the top end are Brake Man calipers, front and rear.
Obviously, since this is a race car, the interior is fairly empty with the exception of a few race required options. First to be installed was a custom NHRA certified cage from Red Zone Fabrication in Simi Valley, CA. The interior received some red suede upholstery while the dash is an ESX Signature Series model. A Diest Safety harness keeps Stepan firmly in place as she accelerates off the line and decelerates after 1,320 feet. She keeps track of the engine’s performance via AutoMeter’s boost gauge and tachometer.
With a strong resume now under her belt, Stepan has satisfied the many sponsors that have propelled her to this level of racing. She is quick to thank Subaru, Subaru Performance Tuning (especially Tom Doll and Gary Palanjian), Fujita Competition, Arceo Wheels, BFGoodrich, AutoMeter, The Driveshaft Shop, Bell, Innovative Turbo Systems, Pro Torque, B&M, Fluidyne High Performance, Brake Man, MSD Ignition, Sticker City.com, Stop Tech, NGK, NOS, Spearco, Peterson Fluid Systems, and Earl’s Performance Plumbing.
With eight wins in just 14 races so far in her pro career, Stepan is quickly making a name for herself in the quarter-mile world. A life-long addiction to drag racing has taken hold for Stepan and you can be sure she will be hitting the throttle for many years to come.
