There are few greater spectacles than a short course off-road race, where the undersized race lengths force drivers to let it all hang out the moment the green flag drops.
For the first time in ages, the visceral motorsport of short course racing will be unified instead of presented to fans in piecemeal form. A new partnership between Lucas Oil and a group of Midwest racing tracks makes this possible. Those tracks include Crandon International Raceway (Wisconsin), Bark River International Raceway (Michigan), and ERX Motor Park (Minnesota).
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“All of us in the short course world have worked tirelessly over the past 10 years to promote the sport and help it to reach its full potential,” explained Lucas Oil Executive Vice President Bob Patison. “This expansion is not only exciting for all sides, but it also incorporates big events at proven venues. The objective is to create one viable national touring series for the PRO categories in the next year or two.” That’s awesome news for off-road race fans.
For 2018, this new partnership will kick-off with four weekend championship events for both the PRO and Sportsman categories, which will compete this season under existing Midwest rules packages. It kicks off with the 25th Forest County Potawatomi Brush Run on June 15th in Crandon before traveling to Elk River (July 13-15) and Bark River (Aug. 10-12). Festivities wrap up back in Crandon on September 2nd.
The new venture also incorporates a broadcast and online streaming package for Midwest races, so fans who can’t make it to the track can catch the action at home. Such a development also gives racers – rookie and experienced – more exposure than they could ever hope to get on the local level.
PRO category racers can look forward to a total of 16 one-hour broadcasts by way of a quartet of one-hour shows per race weekend. In addition, live streaming will cover about five hours of PRO and Sportsman categories per race day. Time to upgrade my internet package, then.
This deal seemingly happened with the speed at which most of these trucks takes jumps. “We are working to finalize all of the preliminary plans,” stated Ritchie Lewis of Lucas Oil. “This all came about very quickly and with a tremendous amount of welcomed cooperation between Lucas Oil, Crandon, Bark River, and ERX.”
Short course off-road racing became popular after dirt magnate Mickey Thompson founded the SCORE series. He shortened long course desert racing, condensing it for easier spectator viewing and allowing competitors much easier access to the pits for mechanical problems. After all, the Baja 1000 makes for a great story but is difficult to watch in person. Short course racing has no such challenges.
Be sure to catch the action when this spanking new series kicks off in the middle of June this year at Crandon International Raceway in Wisconsin.
