Tony Vanillo, race director for the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series

Short-course off-road racing has seen its fair share of trials and tribulations in the past few years. But out of that chaos has come  some great things in the sport, with one success story being that of the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series (LOORRS), which kicks off its second year of racing this weekend in Las Vegas.

Much of the success of LOORRS’ first season results from the hard work and determination of race director Tony Vanillo, a racer, machinist, and vehicle builder who’s been around the sport for decades. Vanillo is like so many in the off-road nation in that he parlayed his love of the sport into a career. For years, Vanillo raced with his brother (they first purchased and raced a 2/1600 car), began to work on vehicles himself, and eventually formed a few racecar businesses that he ran along with his family pizzeria businesses.

Born out of his working relationship with the Baldwin Racing team in the early 2000s, Vanillo was presented with an opportunity when Baldwin patriarch Jim asked him to take a visit to Crandon, Wisconsin, to check out the popular short-course racing scene there. Jim soon purchased the Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) series and decided to bring the excitement of short-course racing from Crandon out west and add a little extra flair.

The CORR series burnt bright in the race scene for a few years – even getting national television coverage – but unfortunately fizzled out toward the end of 2008 when the economy took a turn for the worse. With the series defunct and cancelled before the conclusion of the season, many race teams, racecar builders, and even fans, wondered where to turn. Vanillo hoped to keep short-course racing alive. He was even in talks with Baldwin to purchase CORR, but the deal didn’t end of happening. Vanillo thought to create a new series and, with the help of early sponsors Lucas Oil and General Tire, he set out to do so. Lucas Oil eventually took over as owner of the series, but Vanillo has remained an integral part in its creation and its continued success.

This weekend kicks off the 2010 LOORRS season at a newly built track in Las Vegas at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We spoke with Vanillo about the first year of the series and what the plans are for the future.

How did the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series end up coming together?
Jim Baldwin and I had a verbal agreement to sell CORR, but the details changed and so they went in a different direction. We knew we wanted to keep short-course racing alive and were confident it could succeed, so we went to work. With the help of Lucas Oil and General Tire, who believed in what we could do, we went and made it happen.

What were the obstacles you needed to hurdle to make it happen?
Things got a little bit rough when TORC came out and wanted to be the biggest thing. We never said we wanted to be the biggest thing; we just wanted to keep short-course racing alive. With the Lucas connection, since they own TV and have a number of resources, we realized they were the perfect partner. Lucas felt that if they were going to be that invested that they wanted to own it, and we said you absolutely should! We wanted to make sure this thing’s headed in the right direction. We started garnering support and tracks got behind us and the people got behind us.

What do you think went well in the first season of LOORS?
What I thought went really well was that we … you know, in being part of the Lucas family now, the tendency is to under-promise and over-deliver, and I really fell that we did that last year. I’m really excited about the industry being excited again. When Jim [Baldwin] cancelled the series in 2008, people wondered what they would do with their vehicles. Now, I’m glad that people are working and are able to put food in their mouths again. I’m happy that short-course racing is alive and well.

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Carl Renezeder looks to defend his championships in Unlimited 2 and Unlimited 4 during the 2010 LOORRS season.

What are some areas where the series could improve?
You now, there’s always little things, entertainment-wise, and more entertaining tracks would be good. One thing we’re going to step up this year is a little more entertainment for the fans. This is an all-day deal, and keeping the fans entertained and excited throughout is a big job. We’re adding the Magnaflow Jumbotron this year, which is great for fans and for replays, but it’s also great for the advertisers.

Also, a little bit more fan comfort. We’re going to be moving to places like Utah, which has permanent bathrooms, permanent facilities. The new facility that we’re building in Vegas is something that will get there, and [in terms of entertainment value] I like the length and the shape. It’s pretty unique. It has eight turns in it and it’s 1.1 miles long. It’s got 60 RV spots on two ends of it, so people can watch from their RV or the roof of their RV.  The long tracks let the racers stretch their legs more in comparison to the smaller stadium courses.

Overall, we just want to relay the message that short-course racing is here to stay. With the support of Lucas Oil, we’re going to be here a long time. The management of short-course racing has been so poorly done [in the past], and Lucas has let us take the bull by the horns to show them how we can treat people. We want to treat people the same way we want them to treat us.

The first race of the year was supposed to be at the new Lake Elsinore track, which was a Southern California location that LOORRS was excited about having last year. Why did the venue get changed, and will Lucas Oil have a race in Southern California again soon?
We’ll just leave it that if you think you’re going to get over on Lucas Oil and have us over a barrel, it’s not going to happen. We had a deal, he changed the deal, and we were fortunate enough to have options. We’ve had so many options to build a track here in Southern California, but we want to make sure we find the right deal. We currently have about six different options we’re looking at, and fortunately we started working on the Vegas track early so we had the option of moving the first race there. We currently have three races in Vegas, but we wanted two in Vegas, two in So Cal, two in Arizona, and we’re still looking at what makes most business sense. We will absolutely have a Southern California event. We’re actively working on that and it’s definitely forthcoming.

What obstacles, if any, do you foresee in growing the sport of short-course racing?
The number one thing we’ve done to build this thing back from the ground back up is providing the stability, because I think that’s one of the biggest things that has been lacking – having a series that promises the world and doesn’t deliver. [We want] to take it to that next level.

We truly believe this will fit somewhere between NHRA and NASCAR. We think it will get better than NHRA, we believe that for sure. When we have 10,000 to 15,000 fans … this is going to be a five-year venture before we really get it where we want it to be. There are a lot of fans that we feel we can steal from NASCAR. You know, we want to be entertained loudly and right now, and that’s where entertainment value comes in, and we want to provide a great show. We have to show that the short-course off-road world is a stable environment, something you should invest in and something you can grow with.

Are there any plans to do an end-of-the-year blowout race with major prize purses like the Lucas Oil Cup Challenge that year?
We will have that every year. We have eight weekends of racing, which is typically 16 rounds. The 16th round will actually be the Lucas Oil Cup Challenge … why not have the points championship on Satruday and have the balls-out race on Sunday?

2010 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series Schedule
March 6-7 -Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV

April 17-18 - Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise, AZ

May 22-23 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV

June 26-27 - Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, UT

August 7-8 - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VENUE TO BE ANNOUNCED

September 25-26 - Speedworld Off Road Park, Surprise, AZ

November 6-7 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV

December 11-12 - Firebird Raceway, Phoenix, AZ

For more information, visit www.LucasOilOffRoad.com.