The inaugural season of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) is winding down, but the excitement is building for off-road fans with the debut of the series on NBC Sports this Sunday.
LOORRS is the evolution of the long-standing support of short-course racing by Forrest Lucas and Lucas Oil Products. Steeped in the Midwest tradition of short-course off-road racing infused with a West Coast influence, LOORRS brings intense four-wheel, door-to-door action to challenging, fan-friendly tracks. This year's regular-season events, which concluded Nov. 14-15 at the Primm Valley Motorsports Complex in Primm, Nev., have been televised on both SPEED Channel and Versus, but highlights of the championship finale at Primm will also air in High Definition on NBC this Sunday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
The Primm finale featured plentiful down-to-the-wire championship battles, with titles in nine of the 12 competition classes up for grabs. In Unlimited Lite, Brian Deegan and Chris Brandt fought all the way to the finish to settle their points fight. Other key duels included Unlimited 2, where Carl Renezeder and Jeff Ward battled for the title in a race bolstered by the addition of several star drivers to the field; Unlimited 4, in which Renezeder faced off against teammate Alan Pflueger for the crown; and Bully Dog Super Lite featuring another straight-up battle between John Harrah and Chad Leising for championship honors.
The events of Primm will set the stage for the Rockstar Energy Lucas Oil Challenge Cup – a stand-alone event that will mark the finale to the 2009 short-course off-road racing season. Set for Dec. 11-12, at Lake Elsinore Motorsports Complex in Southern California, the Rockstar Energy Lucas Oil Challenge Cup is a winner-take-all shootout in which winners in all classes will take home a beautiful trophy, a generous check and off-season bragging rights. It will be broadcast on NBC on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
“We are going to establish the Lucas Oil Challenge Cup as a prestigious, annual, end-of-year, short-course off-road racing event,” explained Lucas Oil's Bob Patison. “It is scheduled to coincide with the conclusion of the off-road racing season and with the significant purses up for grabs, we are expecting a full field of drivers in all classes.”
An evening of practice, qualifying and elimination races will be held on Friday, Dec. 11, with the shootout races set for Saturday, Dec. 12.
Drivers in the Unlimited 2 and Unlimited 4 (850hp two- and four-wheel-drive trucks) will be racing for a $30,000 prize to the winner of each class with $15,000 and $7,500 to be awarded to the second- and third-place finishers. In a unique format, the Unlimited Lite Truck class will compete head to head for the first time in a major competition with the Unlimited Buggy Class for a $20,000 winning check and class superiority. Second and third place will receive $10,000. The Bully Dog SuperLite Class will be competing for a generous $20,000 purse with $10,000 and $5,000 to second and third. Finally, the Limited Buggy class will be competing for prizes of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000.
For more on Lucas Oil Motorsports and its race-proven lubricants, go to LucasOil.com/motorsports.