TORC-Action-Image-11-7-13A few months ago, advertising agency and production company The Armory announced its acquisition of The Off-Road Championship (TORC). As the producer of the television show for the TORC Series for the previous four years, The Armory saw great opportunity to take over the series and work to build the TORC brand.

The Armory President BJ Birtwell addressed the media today at a press conference during the 2013 SEMA Show, providing an overview of the acquisition of TORC as well as insight into its future plans. The Armory officially takes over TORC on January 1st, 2014, though it has already been in the works hammering out details for coming year’s schedule. The biggest news is that the plan is for TORC to be a coast-to-coast series.

“Our series partners really want us to be out west,” Birtwell told us at SEMA. “I want to do what’s best for the sport. The plan is to be on the West Coast [in 2014].”

At present, the plan is for seven weekends of racing, with 14 rounds of races in 2014, though Birtwell did say another event could be added to the schedule. According to the TORC website, races are planned for California, Austin, Charlotte, Crandon (twice), Chicago and Bark River. A complete schedule is expected to be announced in the next four to six weeks.

There is also a partnership to air a television show on the NBC Sports Network this year, which was described by Birtwell as a blend of a race broadcast and reality TV show focusing on the teams and their experience and preparation for the race. Aside from airing on the show on the NBC Sports Network, there are also plans to have the shows featured on NBC video on demand so that they can be watched at any point. The Armory also plans to provide web broadcasts for the series to expand its online presence and content.

The Armory President BJ Birtwell addresses the media on its acquisition of the TORC Series and its future plans at the 2013 SEMA Show.
The Armory President BJ Birtwell addresses the media on its acquisition of the TORC Series and its future plans at the 2013 SEMA Show.

On the racing side, Birtwell said they still plan to offer Sportsman classes in 2014 (specifically Bark River and Crandon and potentially more). Although Birtwell didn’t go into any specifics, he did note they plan to make some changes to the “on-track product” for TORC. Exactly what that entails remains to be seen, but it does sound like The Armory has a vision of how it envisions the series moving forward.

TORC also has a newly redesigned website that was launched earlier this week at TORCseries.com. We expect to have more information on series details before the end of the year.

Be sure to check out all of Off-Road.com’s 2013 SEMA Show coverage here.