OFF-ROAD LIVE!
Charlotte Motor Speedway is best known for hosting NASCAR’s All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, but the facility’s dirt track will be the center of attention this coming weekend. Friday, July 22nd and Saturday, July 23rd TRAXXAS The Off Road Championship (TORC) series brings door-to-door “short course” off-road racing to North Carolina. Immensely popular in the Midwest and West Coast, short course racing is the equivalent of supercross, but with 800-horsepower trucks sliding through the corners instead of motorcycles.
Never one to shy away from mixing business and pleasure, Baja Champion Gear by National Powerhouse, will be visiting the company’s Mooresville facility and also racing in the marquee Pro 2WD class. Baja Champion Gear was purchased by National Powerhouse last month. National Powerhouse, the leader in Off-Road products since 1951, acquired not only Baja Champion Gear line but their strategically located facilities in Mooresville and San Diego, California. National Powerhouse has locations in “Gasoline Alley,” just 10 minutes away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in the heart of NASCAR country in Mooresville, North Carolina.
National Powerhouse is extending a special $5 discount for those purchasing tickets in advance for Friday and Saturday’s action packed event, but be warned that even just one exposure to short course racing can cause permanent addiction. Bring your NASCAR hard card for $10 tickets at the door. Don’t have a hard card? Simply click on the link at TORC's website and enter the discount code TORCX to purchase discount tickets ahead of time.
If you want to purchase tickets at the gate, simply print out the image below and bring it with you to save $5 off regular ticket prices.
Those who are unable to attend the TORC race are invited to visit National Powerhouse's Mooresville facility where you can view and test fit their full line of broadcast facilities.
While this will be OFF-ROAD LIVE's first TORC race of the season, they have competed in the entire Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) in short course and SCORE International’s desert racing series which is most famously known for the legendary “Baja 1000″. OFF-ROAD LIVE's desert racing teammate, Steve Xmorai, currently leads Mexicali 500's marquee Pro 2WD class in points having won all the races thus far this season.
Both Xmorai and OFF-ROAD LIVE! will be in the pits at Charlotte between races, where fans will have the opportunity to see their race vehicles up close and talk to the drivers about the latest product offerings from National Powerhouse. “We will have our Baja Champion products on display in our pit, such as seats, race suits, and our newly introduced head nets for short course off-road racing,” Xmorai confirmed. “Being in the heart of NASCAR country we will also have the latest pit gear, helmets, and harnesses at the race as well.”
Weekend Race Results
PRO Light
LIVE! From Charlotte all weekend, on OFF ROAD LIVE!
TORC PRO Light, PRO 2 & PRO 4 drivers to compete at a track Ricky Johnson envisioned when he helped found TORC in ‘09
In the best PRO 4 class finish in the history of the Traxxas TORC Series, presented by AMSOIL, Johnny Greaves (Monster Energy/Toyota/Maxxis) and Ricky Johnson (Red Bull/KMC Wheels/Mopar/Ram) made a whole mess of new TORC Series fans in the heart of NASCAR country, staging what amounted to a UFC fight in 4,000-pound, 900-horsepower PRO 4×4 short course off-road trucks on the Dirt Track @ Charlotte Motor Speedway – a battle ultimately won by Greaves.
But the battle wasn’t over once the checkers flew as Johnson, on his way to the podium, got into it with the Greaves clan, then Johnson’s camp exchanged pleasantries with Greaves while he was on the podium. And while no punches were thrown by either party, this was as close to an Allisons/Yarborough Daytona ’79 NASCAR moment for the TORC Series has experienced in its first three years of racing.
“Love me or hate me, that was a hell of a race,” said Johnson, who literally LANDED on the roof of Greaves’ truck as he was trying to overtake his new rival. “And I imagine you’ll see Johnny pissed off a few more times this year. He’s the defending champion and I’m coming after him.” Greaves survived the all-out attack by the former AMA motocross champ and went on to beat Johnson to the checkers – recording the first win of the season for the defending TORC PRO 4 champion.
“I started out a little too cautious, didn’t want to break like on Friday night,” said Greaves. “I’d picked out a few fast lines and made the pass for the lead – and he (Johnson) used me like a pogo stick! But I’ll get a chance to pay the favor back – I guarantee that!”
Great racing going on behind the No. 1 and No. 2 racer with Scott Douglas (AMSOIL/BFG/MasterCraft Safety) and Mark Jenkins (Traxxas/BFG/AMSOIL) battling it out fender-to-fender until Douglas got the upper hand and hammered out the final podium spot.
Place | No. | Name | Laps | Adjust | Last Time | Fast Time | Fast Lap | |
1 | 22 | JOHHNY GREAVES | 20 | 0 | 43.076 | 42.268 | 12 | |
2 | 48 | RICKY JOHNSON | 20 | 0 | 43.356 | 42.169 | 15 | |
3 | 7 | SCOTT DOUGLAS | 20 | 0 | 43.751 | 41.668 | 8 | |
4 | 25 | MARK JENKINS | 20 | 0 | 59.164 | 43.222 | 14 | |
5 | 11 | ADRIAN CENNI | 20 | 0 | 46.058 | 43.575 | 3 | |
6 | 83 | STEVE BARLOW | 10 | 0 | 43.974 | 43.162 | 9 | |
7 | 47 | MIKE JENKINS | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | |
PRO 2
The student got the better of the mentor at Saturday night’s PRO 2 main event when Bryce Menzies (Red Bull/KMC Wheels/Mopar/Ram) took Rob MacCachren (Traxxas/Mopar/AMSOIL/BFG) to the checkers, recording a wire-to-wire win – his first-ever win in his rookie year on the TORC Series – in the evening’s second contest on the Dirt Track @ Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Menzies, who broke while leading last night on the final corner prior to the last laps, was running a new motor after his team thrashed through an engine swap late last night and in the searing heat on Saturday. Menzies was pumped with his team’s effort and the overall performance of his Mopar-powered Ram 4×4. “Mopar and Ram got us out front and we were able to lead the whole race,” said Menzies, who won the Oakley Bomb award for the fastest PRO 2 lap on the night.
With Menzies well out front and in control of the race after the competition yellow, MacCachren and Chad Hord (BOSS Snowplows/AMSOIL/Nissan) locked into an epic PRO 2 battle for a number of laps before MacCachren caught Hord with a blitzing inside move at the end of the fastest portion of the track, slashing down the banked turn three corner into the infield and past Hord. Hord had foiled the move twice before, but on the third time with three laps to go MacCachren was able to make it stick.
“It was a pleasure racing with Chad Charlotte
Friday night’s 2nd place PRO 2 finisher, Scott Taylor (Miller Electric Welders), suffered some mechanical issues early and left the track. This left the door open for the third and final podium spot, which was snatched up easily by Hord.
Place | No. | Name | Laps | Adjust | Last Time | Fast Time | Fast Lap | |
1 | 7 | BRYCE MENZIES | 20 | 0 | 44.28 | 43.413 | 11 | |
2 | 21 | ROB MACCACHREN | 20 | 0 | 43.778 | 43.76 | 17 | |
3 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 45.493 | 42.185 | 17 | ||
4 | 10 | GREG ADLER | 20 | 0 | 46.086 | 44.169 | 13 | |
5 | 15 | MARTY HART | 20 | 0 | 46.004 | 35.212 | 17 | |
6 | 77 | MIKEY VANDEN HEUVEL | 18 | 0 | 48.762 | 45.273 | 7 | |
7 | 4 | JEFF KINCAID | 16 | 0 | 44.157 | 43.583 | 7 | |
8 | 30 | ROBBY PIERCE | 9 | 0 | 46.56 | 46.085 | 6 | |
9 | 80 | MIKE OBERG | 8 | 0 | 46.365 | 44.598 | 4 | |
10 | 8 | SCOTT TAYLOR | 2 | 0 | 01:01.1 | 47.699 | 1 | |
PRO Light
For the second-straight night at Charlotte defending 2010 TORC PRO Light champion Casey Currie(Monster Energy/General Tire/Nissan) was on top of the Lights class, but a spectacular Triple Twisting Lindy/fireball crash by Samuel Hubinette (Traxxas/Mopar/AMSOIL/BFG) coupled with a rollover, spinout and mid-race hot pits visit by Andrew Caddell (Traxxas/Mopar/AMSOIL/BFG) had things about as interesting as they could in the night’s opening contest.
Caddell in particular put in one of the best performances of the year thus far in coming from dead last at the competition yellow to 2nd place. “I got the lead, tried to set a pace. Tried to gap (the field) before the yellow and I hooked a rut there. Feel bad for my team … they gave me a great truck tonight.”
Even Currie was pumped for his rival: “For him to come back to second was a hard charger right there.”
But Currie was not to be caught, winning the Traxxas Maxx Lap award for the fastest PRO Light lap despite Caddell’s maniacal charge.
Rounding out Saturday night’s PRO Light podium was the #44 of Brad Lovell (AMSOIL/BFG/Torchmate), who scored his second podium of the season.
Place | No. | Name | Laps | Adjust | Last Time | Fast Time | Fast Lap |
1 | 1 | CASEY CURRIE | 18 | 0 | 47.539 | 46.511 | 11 |
2 | 43 | ANDREW CADDELL | 18 | 0 | 47.099 | 46.656 | 13 |
3 | 44 | BRAD LOVELL | 18 | 0 | 47.932 | 44.09 | 14 |
4 | 5 | TODD CUNNINGHAM | 18 | 0 | 48.274 | 47.738 | 13 |
5 | 14 | LUKE JOHNSON | |||||
6 | 8 | MIKE PORTER | 18 | 0 | 48.511 | 48.212 | 17 |
7 | 27 | SHAUN MORRIS | 18 | 0 | 48.736 | 48.382 | 13 |
8 | 4 | JASON JANUSZ | 18 | 0 | 48.994 | 48.202 | 13 |
9 | 33 | CJ GREAVES | 17 | 0 | 48.111 | 47.378 | 9 |
10 | 37 | RJ | 16 | 0 | 01:06.4 | 48.04 | 7 |
11 | 17 | MITCH DORR | 6 | 0 | 01:01.1 | 50.925 | 2 |
12 | 11 | RANDY ELLER | 5 | 0 | 01:04.6 | 49.969 | 3 |
13 | 77 | SAM HUBINETTE | 4 | 0 | 55.674 | 46.927 | 3 |
14 | 76 | ANDY ZIPPERER | 1 | 0 | 01:16.6 | 01:16.6 | 1 |
LIVE! From Charlotte all weekend, on OFF ROAD LIVE!
TORC PRO Light, PRO 2 & PRO 4 drivers to compete at a track Ricky Johnson envisioned when he helped found TORC in ‘09
When Red Bull/Mopar/Ram/KMC Wheels’ Ricky Johnson looked out over the Jeff Nordstrom-designed & built Traxxas TORC Series, presented by AMSOIL, track on The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway it was as if a longtime dream of his had come true for the off-road short course series he helped found in 2009.
In his adopted second home state of North Carolina, Johnson saw something the off-road stronghold of Baja California couldn’t offer – PRO-style TORC truck racing delivered to the masses right smack dab in the middle of a major metropolitan area.
“When I first walked up to the fence and looked out over Charlotte’s dirt track I was blown away. There, right before me, was the realization of what Mitch Covington, myself and the majority of drivers now competing on the TORC tour had dreamt about when we started this series,” said Johnson. “A true USAC/TORC, Jeff Nordstrom-designed track on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s dirt half mile, showcasing all of the series sponsors in a stadium setting that’s no doubt going to be packed this weekend.
“And packed with all kinds of new sets of eyeballs on our sport.”
USAC/TORC President Kevin Miller was equally pumped with TORC most ambitious move eastward in the series’ history, stating: “In addition to its impressive yearly lineup of events including NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, World of Outlaws battles, NHRA drag races and Late Model contests, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s TORC event positions short course off-road racing – the same racing as seen on TV in TORC’s Discovery HD program - right in the heart of motorsports central on the east coast.”
For his part Nordstrom, whose background weighs heavy on building motocross tracks, “gets it,” according to Johnson when it comes to, in essence, building a stadium motocross (aka “supercross”) track for 4,000-pound, 900-horsepower TORC PRO trucks.
“To me this is a motocross on four wheels,” said Nordstrom. “The track’s real jumpy, technical with launcher jumps and rhythm sections. It’s got two mogul sections instead of one, including one built into the outside of the oval – something we’ve never done before. All the drivers I spoke with that saw the track are pumped to get out there. And it’s going to be real exciting for the fans.”
Also ... if you’re in town be sure to check out the Traxxas TORC Charlotte Motor Speedway pre-race party, Thurs., July 21, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, 13230 Carowinds Blvd.
TORC/CMS event info
Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track When: Friday and Saturday, July 22-23 Time: Gates open at 3 p.m., qualifying begins at 4 p.m., main event opening ceremonies begin at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under. Remember, your NASCAR card holders get in for TEN BUCKS!!!
OFF-ROAD LIVE!