TORC: The Off Road Championship is an American national short course off-road racing series that races throughout the United States. It had been known as the Traxxas TORC Series from 2009 to 2013. The series has owned by The Armory since late 2013.[1] It is sanctioned and officiated by the United States Auto Club (USAC) since its inception.[2][3] Radio controlled car manufacturer Traxxas had been the title sponsor for the series.[4]
History[]
The series was founded for the 2009 season by former motocross racer and Motorcycle Hall of Fame member Rick Johnson.[5] He had hosted an off-road racing event at his Perris Auto Speedway in 2008. There were two large sanctioning bodies in short course off-road racing for 2008: CORR and WSORR.[5] CORR had been sanctioning events on the West Coast and WSORR had sanctioned Midwest events.[5] CORR closed before the end of the 2008 season and canceled its final two racing weekends.[5] TORC took over the sanctioning of most of the Midwest events; and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series took over most of the West Coast events.[5] USAC assumed complete management of the series starting in 2010.[3] The Race Director is Jason Smith and Randy Hembrey took over as the Director of Competition in 2012. On August 29th 2013, The Armory acquired the TORC Series.[6][1] USAC will remain onboard as the sanctioning body while The Armory will handle all marketing and operations of the series beginning in 2014.[1] The Armory is planning to seek alliance with the FIA.[1] It also signed an exclusive 5-year agreement landing the series championship weekend at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway starting in 2014.[7]
Divisions[]
The series is divided into PRO, Sportsman, and Grassroots divisions.[5][8] The Pro division is headlined by a four wheel drive trophy truck class. It also has a two wheel drive trophy truck class, a light duty two wheel drive pickup truck class, and a 1600 cc buggy class.[8] The sportsman truck division consists of four and two wheel drive truck classes plus a stock truck class. Sportsman buggies feature regular 70 horsepower buggies plus a light class with restricted 55 horsepower engines.[8] Three classes of grassroots all feature stock vehicles. The Formula 4x4 trucks are stock 4x4 trucks or SUVs, Classix race cars are stock cars with modified suspensions, and the Enduro trucks are two wheel drive 3/4 ton pickup chassis.[8]
Drivers[]
Champions[]
| Year | Pro 4x4 | Pro 2WD | Pro Light |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Rick Huseman | Rob MacCachren | Jeff Kincaid[9] |
| 2010 | Johnny Greaves | Ricky Johnson | Casey Currie |
| 2011 | Ricky Johnson | Bryce Menzies | Andrew Caddell |
| 2012 | Ricky Johnson | Bryce Menzies | Brad Lovell |
| 2013 | Johnny Greaves [10] | Bryce Menzies | Keegan Kincaid |
Other professional drivers include Pro 2WD drivers Chad Hord and Scott Taylor.
Tracks[]
Langlade Fairgrounds grandstand
Before the inaugural season, Traxxas TORC announced that it secured an exclusive deal with Bark River International Raceway and a 15-year exclusive deal with Crandon International Off-Road Raceway.[11][12] In 2011 partnered with the RallyCar Rallycross Championship at two races (Bark River and Crandon). TORC partnered with NASCAR-related tracks in 2013 with the addition of Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway; it also is holding Friday and Saturday events in conjunction with the Sunday NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Chicagoland Speedway.[13]
- Antelope Valley Fairgrounds (2012 - present)
- Bark River International Raceway (2009 - present)
- Charlotte Motor Speedway (2011 - 2012)
- Chicagoland Speedway (2012 - present)
- Crandon International Off-Road Raceway (2009 - present)
- Cycle Ranch (2011)
- Dodge City Raceway (2013)[14]
- Eldora Speedway (2013)
- Langlade County Speedway (2010)
- Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2009)[15]
- Sunnyview Expo Center (2009 - 2011)
- Perris Auto Speedway (2009)
- Pikes Peak International Raceway (2011)
- Primm Off Road Raceway (2013)
- RedBud MX (2011 - present)
- Route 66 Raceway (2010)
- Texas Motor Speedway (2009 on the 0.4 mile clay oval)[2][16]
Television coverage[]
Trailer in 2009
For 2013, Speed TV broadcast live coverage of the Saturday evening Pro truck events for all the race weekends, excepting the final September event at Primm which was scheduled for NBC.
In 2012, TORC's docu-reality style shows were shown on Fuel TV. Speed covered two races live, which coverage was also reaired on Fuel. NBC also broadcast one event.
From 2010 through 2012 The Off Road Championship aired on Discovery HD Theatre (now Velocity) and was produced by The Armory with executive producer BJ Birtwell and Kevin Miller. Season 1 consisted of 20 1-hour episodes and began airing Sept 2010, finishing March 2011. Season 2 began airing in Q3 of 2011 and finished Q1 of 2012. These shows featured an unusual style which TORC refers to as docu-reality, the distinguishing feature of which consists of more talking heads and less live-style racing action coverage.
2009 Pro events were televised on national television in the United States. ESPN2 covered the 2009 events at Texas, Crandon's spring event, both Bark River events, and the second Perris event.[16] ABC televised the first 2009 event at Perris and it broadcast Crandon's BorgWarner World Championship race live.[16] Marty Reid was the lead play by play announcer along with Tes Sewell. Former Miss USA Kimberly Pressler was the pit reporter.[17]
References[]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Carter, Allison. "The Armory Acquires Off-Road Racing Series TORC". http://torcseries.com/the-armory-acquires-off-road-racing-series-torc-the-off-road-championship-usac-remains-sanctioning-body/. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "TRAXXAS TORC Series Hosts Season Opener at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track". WhoWon.com. 2009-05-11. http://www.whowon.com/sResults.asp?SanctionID=257&StoryID=269572. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "TRAXXAS Off Road Championship Under New Direction". Traxxas TORC Series. March 12, 2010. http://www.torcseries.com/news10009.php. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ↑ "Traxxas Announces Title Sponsorship of TORC, THE Off-Road Championship Series". Radio Control Car Action magazine. 2009-02-23. http://www.rccaraction.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=E29CAE68A6D4457BA0FB171BEC7D56D2&nm=Site+Features&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=0FEFCA2DAA994A2F90DBF6C6A8E8C253. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Burns, Josh (2009-05-16). "Hart, Johnson, Huseman Win at Round 1 of the Traxxas TORC Serie". Off-Road.com. http://www.off-road.com/dirtsports/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=598543. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb11076082.htm
- ↑ "Crandon to Remain Exclusive Home to the TORC Series". TORC: The Off Road Championship. http://torcseries.com/crandon-to-remain-exclusive-home-to-the-torc-series/. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Divisions". Traxxas TORC Series. http://www.torcseries.com/raceinfo.php. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ "TORC Series Finale in Las Vegas". Off-Road.com. http://www.off-road.com/competition/feature/torc-series-finale-in-las-vegas-28940.html. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- ↑ "Official 2013 points standings". Traxxas TORC Series. http://www.torcseries.com/standings. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
- ↑ "Crandon Raceway Announces 15 Year Exclusive Deal with Traxxas TORC Series". DirtNewz.com. 2009-02-18. http://www.dirtnewz.com/corr-pressreleases/2009/02-2009/torc-2-18-09.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ "Traxxas announces Title Sponsorship of TORC". RC Car News. 2009-02-24. http://www.redrc.net/2009/02/traxxas-announces-title-sponsorship-of-torc/. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ "TORC Sets Eight Weekend Schedule". National Speed Sport News. January 2013. http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/offroad/torc-offroad/torc-sets-eight-weekend-schedule/. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
- ↑ "2013 schedule". Traxxas TORC Series. http://www.torcseries.com/schedules. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
- ↑ "The Traxxas TORC Truck Series Presented by AMSOIL Race Preview: Crandon". Race-Dezert.com. 2009-06-12. http://race-dezert.com/home/the-traxxas-torc-truck-series-presented-by-amsoil-race-preview-crandon-1839.html. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "2009 Official schedule". Traxxas TORC Series. http://www.torcseries.com/. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ "ESPN and Traxxas TORC Truck Series Team-Up with ABC Networks for Extreme Truck Racing Inaugural Season". Official Press Release reprinted by Crandon International Off-Road Raceway. 2009-05-07. http://www.crandonoffroad.com/espn_and_traxxas_torc_truck_series_team-up_with.html. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
External links[]
Template:Off-road racing