Build it and They Will Come.
Build it and they will come, At least that’s how the saying goes. We all know that following that credo clearly didn’t work for the money hemorrhaging CORR series. It’s a new year and we have had a great year of successful short course off-road racing (14 races total!) The Lucas series seems to be applying the credo with spirit, even they are going back to a market that has failed to truly embrace off-road. But they seem to be doing the first step right.
Panoramic View of the new Lucas Oil Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Step #1. Build a dynamic track where spectators can see as much as possible.
Tony Vanillo explaining the track layout to Rob "Fig" Naughton
Meet Tony Vanillo, he is personally responsible for creating some of the most dynamic new tracks in short-course off-road. Tony and his family live, breath and eat off-road. A former tool maker and vehicle builder Tony has been involved with off-road from the ground up since 1982 when he and his brother began racing a 2-1600.
But that doesn’t matter as much as what he is doing now, building dynamic tracks so Pro-lites, Pro-2s and Pro-4s can showcase their incredible capabilities. The new Lucas Oil off road track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will kick off the year of short-course with a bang! Tony and his crew dug out the existing chalky Vegas dirt and brought in plenty of dirt and rock to make the soil keep moisture for optimum track conditions. The track will be permanent if everything goes as planned. Lucas Oil has already structured a 3-year deal with the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with options to extend. Still the #2 tourist destination in the country Las Vegas is a sleeping giant, with 1.8 million residents and over 40 million tourists a year. Those numbers just need to be converted to attendance, but step#1 is well underway.
