Armin Schwarz – Dramatic season-opener – fantastic speed, annoying DNF

January 30, 2009 by RDC
Filed under Press Releases

Laughlin Desert Challenge:

This 15^th Laughlin Desert Challenge had it all for me: triumphant laps in the lead, the experience of the finest team spirit – and a frustrating retirement. But let me tell you one thing after the other.

On both Saturday and Sunday we had to tackle ten laps of around eight kilometres on the circuit in Nevada. Our plan was that I would drive on Saturday and Martin would take the wheel on Sunday.

With high hopes: ultra low level flight over the desert

Saturday started out fabulously. I took off as the fourth car and was leading after two laps. And this on one of the toughest tracks of my entire career. It was one big staccato of jumps, ditches, rolling and pitching – it was simply crazy. But I was in the lead. Until the left front upper wishbone snapped 2.5 kilometres from the finish line, and the wheel simply folded under the suspension. Okay, no reason to give up. I managed to bring our Buggy over the finish line and was even third! It was truly spectacular, and the fans simply loved the action!

600+hp trike

The suspension repairs and the overhaul of our car after this tough race meant a full night shift for our AGM team. Martin came to me and said: “Look, you were very quick today. I think you should drive tomorrow as well. I will look after the car tonight.” Well, what can I say? Martin is a true and excellent team player. So all I could do was to say “Thank you,” and try to get a good night’s sleep.

Nightshift in Nevada

Sunday, Martin’s briefing before the start: “The car is ok so far. But you’ve got one big handicap. The torque limiter was defect and playing up. So we had to lock it. You’ll get all the load cycles directly into your poor gearbox.” Came the start, and everything seemed to be brilliant. I was the third car to go and took the lead in the first lap. In lap two the transmission mainshaft broke and I came to a halt in a cloud of dust. The annoying thing is: The torque limiter threw us out of the race exactly here, exactly a year ago and exactly in the same way. Unfortunately we can’t check the quality of this component ourselves. We rely on the manufacturer.

AGM: a great bunch – and my “family” in the USA.

But hey, the season is still young, four rounds to go, lots of points at stake! On February 14 the draw for the start positions at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 (13 to 15 March) will decide in which position we will take off in this race. Again we will be out there – with great memories of our win there last year – and we will give it our best shot, we will experience and enjoy the adventures of desert racing like only the SCORE can give.

Our next newsletter mid-February will be a really funny one. It tells you the story of an old hand from the World Rally Championship who thought he knew a shortcut in the desert. And it went wrong …

All the best,

Armin

Tags: Armin Schwarz, LDC

Off-Road Grand Prix Announces 2009 Race Schedule, Get Ready for Crazy Action and a National Championship Series

January 30, 2009 by RDC
Filed under Press Releases

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Prolite's racing at Perris Raceway

Lake Elsinore, CA (January 29, 2009) – The USAC sanctioned Off-Road Grand Prix (ORGP) announced today that it will be holding eight, points-race weekends plus two sportsman weekends in 2009 with the world’s best short-course drivers from coast-to-coast. The season will take flight at Perris Auto Speedway in California, make a Midwest swing, including the prestigious Crandon International Off-Road Speedway, and end in Las Vegas in November. With the Professional Drivers Group (PDG) kicking in, it is sure to deliver the best racing entertainment going.

The inaugural season looks like this:

May 15-16       Manzanita Speedway Phoenix, AZ
May 29-30       Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, CA
June 20-21      Crandon, WI
July 11-12      Bark River, MI (no pro points, Sportsman East)
July 25-26      Oshkosh, WI
August 8-9      Bark River, MI
August 29-30    Perris, CA (Sportsman West, no pro points)
September 5-6   Crandon, WI (double points) (proposed Network TV)
September 26-27 TBD***
October 31-November 1   Las Vegas, NV (proposed NETWORK TV)
November 2      Awards Banquet in Las Vegas and SEMA Kickoff Party Hosted by Cary Hart at Hard Rock Hotel
***The September Perris Race will likely change to another California venue pending final negotiations. Perris is reserved as back-up.

“We have put together some exciting venues featuring the prestigious Crandon International Speedway where this year will mark the 40th anniversary of ‘the birthplace of short course racing’,” stated Ricky Johnson, series owner. “This schedule will cover a wide range of tracks and different looks for the drivers and fans. I am really looking forward to some old-fashioned, ass-kicking door-to-door action across the country. We added a west coast sportsman race to give the teams that don’t travel back to the Midwest a place to race,” Johnson continued.

Johnson also wants everyone to get a taste of both short “supercross” type tracks as well as wide-open tracks like “The Big House at Crandon”. “We want to experiment a little with different venues like Perris where I can promise you the racing will be exciting for drivers and fans alike,” said Johnson. “If the fans and drivers don’t like it-we will try something else. But I can tell from my experience-it’s going be a great time in a great location in Southern California.”

Of course, the sportsman classes will continue in both the west coast and Midwest. While the final class structures are still being hashed-out, there will certainly be a class for everyone to come out and show what you’ve got. All classes will be announced very soon, but drives should not expect a lot of changes from WSORR and previous series. USAC will be in the middle of things to keep a consistent and impartial hand on the rules. “We are really excited about USAC taking the key role in running these events,” said Johnson.

The series is planning for all the points events to be televised either on a major Network or sports cable networks. Television discussions are confidential at this time but some announcements on the TV packages are just around the corner.

“We have been assured that the time slots are available in our discussions so far,” stated Mitch Covington, CFO of Off-Road Grand Prix. “We have ongoing talks with major networks and cable channels and I am really excited about what I’m hearing so far. Our process of selecting TV partners and partners for production are progressing much faster than I had ever anticipated and it is obvious that short-course off-road racing is in demand despite all the confusion of late. Make no mistake, 2009 is a critical year with the sponsor community and we will be very diligent in choosing our partners in order to build a financially viable and sustainable series for everyone involved. It’s going to take a lot of support from racers and sponsors alike this year to make this thing stand on it own two feet. We will be watching our budget closely.”

Johnson said a website is under development. This along with the staff in Crandon, will be delivering details and plans in the near future.

Tags: ORGP, Short Course Racing