About Crawford Performance Subaru Performance Parts and Ken Block 43

About Crawford Performance Subaru Performance Parts and Ken Block 43.

Crawford Performance started as a small, family-owned and operated shop in Southern California. Over three decades, we have grown into an international brand, and we have done it by holding to the same values and quality standards we started with.

Subaru Performance Parts from Crawford Performance

We design and manufacture expertly engineered, high quality Subaru performance components for the race track, street, and off-road world.

Our parts are developed and proven on the race track, where we have done our research and development for over 30 years. We do not believe in long build lists for the sake of bragging rights: unless a part proves it offers real performance or improved reliability, it does not belong on the car, and a durable OEM part should be left alone. For the full reasoning, read everything you need to know about your Subaru engine.

Here at Crawford, one #1 motto is: Don't fix what's not broken.

Crawford Performance is the only aftermarket parts manufacturer to ever be factory-backed by Subaru of America

That backing has come through two factory motorsports programs with Subaru of America — the partnership behind our record-setting time attack Impreza, the Gymkhana cars built for Ken Block, and the Crosstrek Desert Racer.

See our new shop on Garage Tours with Chris Forsberg

More About Crawford Performance

When the WRX came to the US in 2002, Crawford finally had the platform it had been waiting for: a turbocharged, all-wheel-drive Subaru that could be developed for the street and the race track alike.

The STI followed in 2004 with a stronger drivetrain and chassis, and Crawford-powered teams started winning races. Our own silver 2004 STI became the shop car — later fitted with a widebody kit — and the development car behind much of what we still sell today.

Ken Block came to Crawford looking for the experts who could take his rally car and make it do things a rally car was never built to do — corner, drift, and accelerate through the entire curve, with rally-grade control. The result was Gymkhana Practice, and then Gymkhana Two: The Infomercial — the two videos that changed how the world saw Subaru performance.

In 2007, Subaru of America asked Crawford to build a fast new-age STI for time attack. The orange car, driven by Eiji "Tarzan" Yamada, earned the name "Tony the Tiger," and at her peak she produced 850 HP/TQ. She was later displayed and competed in Huntington Beach, California.

A decade later, the BRZ arrived with the all-new FA20: naturally aspirated, high compression, and nothing like the EJ. Crawford had one apart almost immediately. Our background is forced induction, so the first job was making the FA20 strong enough for boost. Crawford was the first company to successfully run a turbo on the BRZ / FR-S / GT86 platform, and the first to offer a built FA turbo block.

---

In 2017, Grabowski Brothers Racing came to Crawford for a naturally aspirated Subaru motor, no larger than 2.5 liters, for their Class 5 Unlimited off-road buggy. Crawford built the FB25, the car won its first races, and it caught the attention of Subaru of America. The buggy became the Crosstrek Desert Racer, and in 2019 it took on Subaru Motorsports USA livery. The car went on to win five Class 5 races, including the 2019 SCORE Baja 500.

Subaru Motorsports USA - Crosstrek Desert Racer

In 2020, we built a Crosstrek for our customers in the same spirit, and the same livery, as the Desert Racer: lifted, with our bumpers, skid plates, rock sliders, wheels, and lights.

Crawford Built Off-Road Subaru Crosstrek

Racing Wins & Achievements

• Five Class 5 desert wins for the Crosstrek Desert Racer: McKenzie's 250, the PCI Race Radios 300, the Sierra LED 250, Vegas to Reno, and the 2019 SCORE Baja 500.
• Time attack: wins from 2006 on, a 2008 championship clinched in a borrowed car, and two wins in one day at Las Vegas in 2010.
• The first Formula Drift win a Subaru ever took — Stephan Verdier, at Sonoma.
• A SubieFest track record set on a customer engine — the LIC Motorsports STI, 2009.
• Two factory programs with Subaru of America, ten years apart: the 2007 time attack commission and the 2017 factory desert program. Crawford remains the only aftermarket manufacturer ever factory-backed by Subaru of America.
• 2025: the Gymkhana One and Gymkhana Two STIs stood in the Petersen Museum's "People's Champ: The Impact of Ken Block" exhibition, and Crawford armor stood on the KICKER Audio Crosstrek at SEMA in Las Vegas.

That's the short version. The full record — every win, with its sources — is on the Racing Wins & Achievements page.

Our cars are built for drivers. Not focus groups.