Casey Currie to Wrap-Up Short Course Season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Casey Currie to Finish out 2009 Race Season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The No. 2 Pro Light Team Announces 2010 Plans

As the inaugural season of The Off Road Championship (TORC) Series draws to a close this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was an incredible year for Casey Currie in the No. 2 Monster Energy drink sponsored Pro Light. Starting the year off with a phenomenal win during Round 2 of the season opener at Texas Motor Speedway, Currie also returned to the track to take home a third place podium during Round 4 at Perris Auto Speedway.

With the mercury rising on the West coast, The Off Road Championship Series headed to Wisconsin to compete at the legendary Crandon International Raceway over Father’s Day weekend. Unveiling the newly rebranded Pro Light, Casey Currie arrived at the “Big House” with a distinguishable black and green Monster Energy sponsored truck. “The addition of Monster really brought our program to a new level both on and off the track. It was awesome that we could debut this partnership at a historic venue such as Crandon,” remarked Currie.

Crossing the finish line in the fourth position during Round 6 at Crandon, Casey narrowly missed claiming a top three finish for the No. 2 Pro Light team. “I was so close to a podium, but this is racing and we all know anything can happen. It’s all about the competition and striving to be the best – sometimes it just doesn’t work out. To get so close to a podium or even a victory just makes me try that much harder,” added Currie. Just a few short weeks later, Casey’s determination was apparent as he returned to the track to claim a third place podium during Round 8 at Bark River Raceway in Michigan.

The remainder of the 2009 TORC Series season has brought a few more near-podiums and has the No. 2 Pro Light team sitting in a comfortable fifth position on the points grid. Always looking for ways to improve and realizing the Pro Light class points leaders have a horsepower advantage, Currie contacted Bruce NoGrady, a premiere Toyota engine builder. After the Championship show-down at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 23th and 24th, the No. 2 Pro Light will undergo a transformation. The season opener of the 2010 TORC Series will find Casey taking to the starting line with a NoGrady built Toyota engine and looking to claim the podiums he just narrowly missed during the debut season.

In addition to the regular 2009 TORC Series schedule, Casey Currie also gave the SXS Stadium Series a spin to see what it is all about. Touted as an affordable entry-level option, the series is making a big hit amongst short-course racing fans in search of a cost-effective way to get started in the sport. Racing in an Elite Adult Trophy Kart, Currie will continue competing in this class (as his schedule permits) and promote the affordability of the SXS Stadium Series.

Looking forward to the 2010 race season, Casey is determined to make his mark in short-course racing and claim a points championship in the Pro Light class during next year’s TORC Series. In addition to focusing on short-course racing, Currie is also competing in the four-race season of the King of the Hammers (KOH) Series. Beginning with the season opener February 12th, 2010 in Johnson Valley, California, the KOH Series blends the challenges of desert racing with the unique dynamics of rock-crawling. With four completely different competitions scheduled for 2010, each race includes drastically different characteristics such as hill-climb competitions, rock-crawling, and desert racing.

Casey Currie’s final Pro Light race of the 2009 season will be October 23rd and 24th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway! If you cannot check out the race action live, be sure to tune in to ABC on November 8th. Check local listings for broadcast times!

For more information on Casey Currie visit: www.caseycurrie.com

Casey Currie battles for a second place finish
at King of the Hammers

Eighty two miles, five hours and thousands rocks after the start of the 2009 King of the Hammers off- road race, Casey Currie crossed the finish line in 2nd place, in his Campbell Enterprises purpose built single seater.  After finishing second at last years inaugural “King of the Hammers” many discounted Casey’s effort as lucky. He proved them wrong.

King of the Hammers is a new hybrid off-road race that combines the best obstacles of desert racing and rock crawling to form and extremely potent form of off-road racing. Not being a fan of rock crawling I have to say I was a bit skeptical, but after seeing racers charge up and down seemingly impassable rock walls and revines and push their vehicles to the limit in the open desert, I have to say, I was impressed.

Working within the confines of the King of the Hammers zero assistance rule, Casey ran solo without benefit of a co-driver or any outside assistance. This required a well-prepped vehicle and a well prepared race plan. Additionally, Casey was not able to have any remote fueling pits because of the zero assistance rule. Instead, Casey was forced to come back into the main pit to fuel in after race mile 21. He drove 3/4 mile at the regulated 25 miles and hour off the course into the main pit, fueled and then drove 3/4 mile back to the course. The vehicle Casey drove was a Shannon Campbell creation that had one major flaw for this race, a ten gallon tank. At approx two miles a gallon that’s a lot of fuel stops for such a short race.

The proof of the level of difficulty lies in the fact that over two thirds of the entrants did not even cross the finish line. “This race is no easy task, our car was not built to carry spare parts and was not built to go long distances, so planning and preparing ahead of time was critical. Shannon gave us a perfect car, and with prep by my crew chief and the Currie Racing Team, we came up with a perfect strategy, making all the pit stops go as planned,” Stated Casey.

Running a conservative pace for the first half of the race, Casey moved up the running order as the desert and rocks claimed many victims. Starting 36th, Casey steadily worked his way up but was slowed by multiple bottlenecks of stacked up vehicles. The bottlenecks allowed the earlier starters an opportunity to gap the field. Casey stepped up his pace and managed to catch and passed all but one competitor by the checkered flag.

Casey had this to say about the race;“I knew I had to make up time from the beginning. The way the rules were set up, I had to drive half a mile at 25 mph to get to my first pit, and back to the race course. None of the leaders had to stop for fuel. This set us back by at least five minutes and ten positions at race mile 23, from there on I drove a pace that I knew would allow me to finish. The car wasn’t set up for big whoop sections so I had to take it easy in those sections. As soon as I hit the rocks I stepped up the pace. This car goes where you put it and works great in the rocks. Our pits worked out great and we had no problems on the course. Next year I will hopefully be driving Shannon Campbell’s new rig! It looks to be faster then anything in the rocks or desert. ”

Casey will be ready for the 2010 King of the Hammers with a new vehicle and his eyes fixed on that first place trophy. So if you think it looks easy, or you just think you have what it takes, then build it, borrow it, or steal it; just bring it out and race it.

2009 King of the Hammers winner is: Jason Scherer

“It’s like Baja Racing in 1972″ shouts a spectator in excitement as the first wave of rigs approach one of the road crossings. What he probably saw was less sophisticated suspension and straight front axles on Jeeps bouncing over the open desert in rather slower speeds then your average class 9 car.

However can a 9 car or any common desert race vehicle successfully conquer 4 foot vertical rock walls? Exactly. The winning formula is a purpose built Rock-Crawler that can also drive fast in the wide open. However what works well for high speed doesn’t help in the rocks and vise versa. Balance is key.

The hot ticket was last years winner Shannon Campbell (5AZ) and he looked extremely fast until a transmission failure forced him into an early DNF. Desert and Short curse racer Casey Currie (2x) had better luck in Shannon’s old rig. He was able to finish 3rd place with ease.

After all was set and done Jason Scherer (76) proved to be the top dog of the 2009 King of the Hammers. We caught up with him at the finish line and he shared his day with us (See upcoming RDC Video of the Month for that and more). Congratulation Jason.

This years King of the Hammers event was multiple times larger then last years. The Johnson Valley dry lake turned into a temporary city as thousands of people set camp for multiple days. Jeff (KOH Producer) admitted after the event that this was probably his biggest undertaking ever. “Last year our budget limited us to a couple of hours of helicopter usage while today we have the bird for 3 days” shares Jeff proudly with us.

We liked the event and feel that most desert racers would feel the same. It’s far from the slow paste Rock Crawling you may have seen on TV and we predict that by next year it will be even more of a success.

Top Ten Finishers
1 – Jason Scherer
2 – Randy Slawson
3 – Casey Currie
4 – Rick Mooneyham
5 – J.R. VanOrtwick
6 – Brad Lovell
7 – Rob Mc Kinney
8 – Adam Woodlee
9 – Joachim Schwiesow
10 – Greg Hussey

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