Jack Flannery Elected to Off-Road Hall of Fame

RENO, Nev. — Championship off-road racer Jack Flannery, one of the most well-known names in off-road racing circles, has been elected to the distinguished Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in Reno, Nev.
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Renezeder Leads Points in both Divisions after Tough Weekend of Racing

LAKE FOREST, CA (July 29, 2009) – The start of the second half of the season was a tough one for Carl Renezeder and his teamAlthough they were able to walk away from the Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex last weekend with two second place finishes in Unlimited-2, as well as the points lead in both divisions, the accomplishments were overshadowed by motor problems, mechanical issues and an all-night thrash on Saturday night to get the Unlimited-4 back to race condition.

“We’ll definitely head home tonight with our tail between our legs,” commented a somber Renezeder at the end of the Unlimited-2 race on Sunday night. “Trying to race without rear brakes in a two-wheel-drive truck is like stepping into a boxing ring with both hands tied behind your back. I had no game and had to take what the track would give me. I know I should be excited about a podium finish, but I didn’t get to fight for it, so it’s just not the same.”

The lack of rear brakes in his Lucas Oil/General Tire Unlimited-2 was just the last in a long line of troubles that plagued the team during rounds seven and eight of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. The weekend started out well for the team when Renezeder qualified both trucks on the pole. Crew Chief, Mike Seat, drew four-row and three-row inverts for the Unlimited-4 and Unlimited-2 starts, respectively, putting Carl outside fourth row in the first race and outside third row in the second race on Saturday night.

The Unlimited-4 race seemed to start well. Hard contact from Kent Brascho on the first lap seemed to just be cosmetic damage, but the team would later realize that it was the start of catastrophic damage to a structural part of the chassis. After working his way to second place, Renezeder’s truck finally gave in, breaking major tubing out of the center of the truck, subsequently ripping out oil lines, the oil filter, killing the motor and damaging the entire drivetrain. With the raceshop only an hour’s drive from the track, the crew decided that it would be smarter to take the truck back to the shop to fix it with the right equipment. But, they still had another race to finish before they could be on their way.

Saturday’s Unlimited-2 race was well on its way to being another win for Renezeder; however, his ten-truck-length lead vanished on the last lap when the right rear tire came apart in turn three. He held onto the lead until the final turn, but couldn’t get enough drive off the corner to hold off Todd LeDuc.

With both races in the books, the team split up – half of them went back to the shop with the Unlimited-4, while the other half stayed to prep the Unlimited-2 for Sunday. When they were done with the Unlimted-2, they took a two-hour nap and then headed to the shop to relieve the others for a couple of hours. By 8:00 A.M. Sunday morning, the entire crew was working on the truck, and at 5:00 P.M. they rolled into the track with a race-ready truck. A two-lap shakedown proved that their hard work had paid off; their truck was ready for the 7:15 P.M. start.

A “Cinderella Story”, however, would not be the result. A few laps into round eight of Unlimited-4, while well ahead of the field, the radiator cap came off the truck. Renezeder’s radio had also come unplugged from his helmet, so it wasn’t until the mandatory yellow that driver and crew chief were able to communicate. Renezeder was able to duck into the pits for a replacement cap and stay on the lead lap, but it was too late. Too much damage had been done and the truck DNF’d for the second time in as many races.

The crew looked and felt dejected and exhausted, and had one more race to go. Unfortunately, the brake problem surfaced early in that race, and they spent the closing laps watching water spit out of the overflow. The motor seized just after the checkered flag flew, adding insult to an injury-filled weekend.

“It’s weekends like this that make us appreciate the good ones,” concluded Renezeder. “And it’s also weekends like this that remind me of the championship-caliber crew I have. Never once did they complain about having to work through the night, their attitudes stayed positive, and they took it all in stride. We’re all disappointed about the results, but we also know that we’ll bounce back from this with our confidence intact, ready to win more races.”

Even after a tough weekend, Renezeder was able to hang onto the points lead in Unlimited-4, but the gap went from 24 to just four. In Unlimited-2, two second place finishes moved him from fifth in the standings to first, four points ahead of Jeff Ward. These races will air on SPEED Channel on Sunday, August 23 at 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M. EST.

Quick Stats on Carl Renezeder
Birth date: April 16, 1964 Residence: Laguna Beach, CA Home Town: Montebello, CA Family: Wife: Kelley; 4 Children Education: UCLA graduate, All-American Water Polo player Hobbies: XTERRA triathlon, swimming, cycling, skiing, snowboarding, surfing
84 Career Short Course Wins (8 in Lucas Oil Off Road Series, 65 in CORR, 10 in WSORR, 1 in RJORGP) 5-time National Champion (CORR Pro-2 – 2005 & 2006, CORR Pro-4 – 2003, 2007, 2008)
2009 to date: 3 Unlimited-2 wins, 5 Unlimited-4 wins

BFGoodrich Tires Looks to Continue Winning Ways at X Games 15 Rally

LOS ANGELES – July 29, 2009 – BFGoodrich Tires is looking to continue its winning ways at the X Games 15 rally competition as the tire of choice for six of the 12 invited athletes. BFGoodrich Tires will partner with Subaru Rally Team USA and Vermont SportsCar for the fourth straight year, having been part of their multiple medal performances at X Games 12, 13 and 14. BFGoodrich Tires is also the tire of choice for Ford’s Fiesta team, which will make its X Games debut at the Rally Car Racing Super Special on Sunday, Aug. 2. Read more →

Team Toyo’s LeDuc Brothers Sweep Lucas Oil Off Road Series Race Weekend in Lake Elsinore

LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA – Brothers Todd and Kyle LeDuc swept Rounds
7 & 8 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series this past weekend in Lake
Elsinore, California while racing on 35X12.50R17 Toyo Open Country
M/T®-R tires. Piloting their 800+ horsepower Rockstar/Makita/Ford
Trucks/Toyo Tires F-150 trucks, the LeDuc brothers put on a driving
clinic by scoring back-to-back victories in their respective unlimited
truck classes while racing under the lights at the Lake Elsinore
Motorsports Complex.
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LeMay – America’s Car Museum(R) receives sponsorship from Motorsports Media Group, Inc..

(Tacoma, WA) — LeMay – America’s Car Museum is proud to announce the
recent Club Auto “Founding” sponsorship from Motorsports Media Group,
Inc., a media company whose productions include Race Central TV, Race
Central Radio and Race Central Webcasts based out of Denver, Colorado.
Founded by former driver and current motorsports insider Kurt Hansen,
Race Central TV brings the greatest names in motorsports to race fans
throughout America and the World via 3 different Major Television
Networks in Prime Time and the world via multiple platforms: TV, radio
and webcasts. Race Central TV reaches tens of millions of American
homes, and enables its many sponsors and partners to reach their
target audiences with marketing horsepower. Read more →

Mitch Dorr Race Report – TORC Oshkosh

Rockford, IL (July 27, 2009) Mitch Dorr was looking to recover from
the Round 4 wreck that took his #817 Fabricated Steel Products
Goodyear Tires Ford F-150 out of the race before he could clear the
first turn. Now with the front suspension repaired, Dorr Off-Road
Racing was ready to take the fight for the Stock Truck Championship to
the Oshkosh Speedzone. The weekend of racing marked the halfway point
of the Midwest SRT TORC season, so every finishing position is at a
premium.
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Mason Motorsports – TORC Oshkosh Race Report

Plymouth, WI (July 27, 2009) – After mechanical issues created a slow
start for the Mason Motorsports #1 Mendeola Transaxles Phil?s Inc.
King Shocks Goodyear Super Buggy, the Bark River weekend was a great
rebound performance for John Mason. Now could the black Super Buggy
keep his move up in the championship standings going at the Oshkosh
Speedzone?
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LeDuc Brothers Dominate at Rockstar Energy Drink’s Lucas Oil Off Road Race in Lake Elsinore

Corona, Ca. (July 28, 2009) – Making their first appearance this
season in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, brothers Kyle and Todd
LeDuc swept the top spots in the premier Unlimited 4 and Unlimited 2
800HP truck classes. With the Lake Elsinore rounds 7&8 presented by
Rockstar Energy Drink, the Rockstar/Makita Team that also includes
family patriarch Curt LeDuc, gave fans a thrill with a dominating
performance. Rockstar Energy Drink teams also took additional podiums
with Chris Brandt racing to his first Unlimited Lite win of the season
and Brian Deegan showing strong consistency with back to back second
place finishes in U-Lite. Read more →

LEDUCS LAY DOWN THE LAW AT LOORRS

Lucas Off-Road Racing Series Rounds 7 & 8 were held on July 25th and 26th, “under the lights” at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex, much to the appreciation of those of us who sweltered through the afternoon races held here nearly a month ago. Attendance figures are not yet available, but Saturday’s crowd was a “sellout” according to LOORRS officials.  From the looks of the grandstands on Sunday, about 75% of the 5000 seats were full; not bad for a Sunday night!  The event was once again, professionally run and for the most part, fast paced with minimal down time between rounds.

During the practice session on Friday, they fell about an hour behind schedule to perform some modifications to the track.  Apparently, the annoying kicker just before Turn 1 – the bump that took out Ampudia and Whelchel last month – needed to be re-groomed.  Ampudia flipped again at almost the same spot on Friday.  Fortunately, his team was able to put everyting back together in time to make the green flag on Saturday.

BIG TRUCKS HAVE BIG TURNOUT

With entries of seventeen Unlimited 2 and ten Unlimited 4 racers, full size truck fans received plenty of bang for their buck.  For the first time in the history of this series, the Unlimited 4’s were able to have an exclusive, “Unlimited 4 only” race.  Previous LOORRS rounds featured combined “Unlimited 2/4″ final events due to low U-4 entry numbers. Breaking this barrier is a giant step for both LOORRS and the short course industry in general.

Making his Unlimited 4 wheel drive class debut in this series, Kyle LeDuc was second fastest qualifier, just .044 seconds behind Carl Renezeder.  Kyle went on to sweep the weekend, finishing first on Saturday and Sunday nights
in his Ford.   Impressive, to say the least, considering that the young LeDuc finished third and fifth in Bark River, Michigan (2222 miles east of Lake Elsinore) the previous weekend.

Alan Pflueger’s #71, (ex-Renezeder) Unlimited 4 wheel drive Chevy was being driven by Mike Johnson, a Hollywood stunt driver who drove for Pflueger in the CORR Series.  Mike had a great weekend, finishing second on Saturday and third on Sunday.

The Herbst boys were there too; Tim & Troy each racing their red Unlimited 4 Fords.  Tim was on the podium both Saturday and Sunday nights, with third and second place trophies, respectively.  Troy had “double nickels”, claiming fifth place both nights.

In Unlimited 2, Todd LeDuc followed Brother Kyle’s lead by sweeping the weekend with two first place finishes in his Ford.  Renezeder was second both Saturday and Sunday.  Third place went to Rodrigo Ampudia on Saturday. In Sunday’s main event, heading into the white flag lap, leader Bryce Menzies looped it in the infield, unfortunately turning his gold to bronze.

Curt LeDuc, (also making his series debut in the #43 Unlimited 4 Ford), was plagued with transmission issues the entire weekend.  Regardless, his incredible skills as a fabricator and team owner were clear and present.

“Although I had some transmission parts failures, the boys ran our good, traditional fast stuff and we got the results we were looking for. The only way my weekend could have gotten better is if I got second behind Kyle so, all in all I’m pretty happy with the outcome.” The elder LeDuc went on to say, “I was excited as a team owner.  On Saturday, I built. well, all three trucks came out of my shop.  I can’t say that I built them but, you know, Robert Naughton’s is one of Kyle’s old trucks, the boys, of course built their own trucks in the shop…  but you know, as bad as I got beat up as a driver, I felt pretty good as a team owner, as a business guy, you know. I’m excited for Rockstar because they got involved with the Series as a sponsor and was sampling.and on Sunday, they swept the (Unlimited) Lites, Chris Brandt won, and the boys so I mean it was a sweep.  For a sponsor to get involved and have that kind of results, it shows that they made the right choices with teams and drivers.”

LITES UNDER THE LIGHTS

Unlimited Lites, (12 entries), was dominated by Brian Deegan for most of Saturday’s race until Rob “Fig” Naughton snuck around in the final turn of the checkered flag lap,  earning a well deserved first place. Chris Brandt rounded out the top three with the third place spot.  Sunday, the podium was shared by Chris Brandt, Brian Deegan, (Uh, that’s M-I-L-I-T-I-A!) and Chuck Dempsey; first, second and third respectively.

Super Lites, with 9 entries went to Ricky James, Dawson Kirchner and Andrew Comriepicard on Saturday.  Sunday’s winners were Ricky James, John Harrah and Chad Leising.  Quote of the day goes to Ricky James, who lost the use of his legs in a motocross crash several years ago: “If I keep this up, you guys are going to have to build a ramp to the podium!”

DRIVE ME BUGGY

In the Unlimited Buggy Class, Saturday’s top three were Greg George, Mike Dondel and Rich Ronco. Sunday’s winners were Mike Dondel, Cameron Steele and Rich Ronco.

Limited Buggy winners were John Fitzgerald, Bruce Fraley and Curt Geer on Saturday, Bruce Fraley, John Fitzgerald and Sean Geiser on Sunday.

Additional details are available at Lucas Oil Off Road Website

Steele Extends Win Streak to Six – Leads TORC SRT-2WD Truck Championship

Madison, WI (July 27, 2009) – Keith Steele looked to Oshkosh as a low-keyed weekend of racing, as the “Man in Black” only had two rounds of racing on his schedule. The current leader of the TORC SRT 2WD Truck division is on a four-race winning streak heading into Wisconsin’s famous Fox Valley half-mile dirt track.
The .7-mile layout in and on the banked half-mile oval was a combination of high-speed jumps and a very technical and long rhythm section. This is one of Keith’s favorite venues as he landed on the podium three times at the inaugural event in 2008. Read more →

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