Milwaukee, WI (October 5, 2008) - The racers and their crews came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to celebrate the 2008 Lucas Oil World Series of Off-Road Racing season. The banquet was held at the Northern Lights Theatre, in the recently expanded Potawatomi Bingo Casino. The gala event celebrated class champions and World Champion winners, as well as, offering huge thanks to all the companies that support the World Series.
The host of the night was Steve Weiss, communications director of WSORR, and his first award of the night went to the safety crew at Bark River International Raceway. Their quick and efficient work was praised, and the crowd clapped loudly, as Rich Ault accepted the award.
Next the theater heard insightful words from series sponsors, Forest County Potawatomi, Lucas Oil Products, and Traxxas.
The Potawatomi Council Chairman, Phil Shopodock, talked about the importance of Crandon Raceway and WSORR in their community. He also introduced everyone to Richard Gouge, a Potawatomi sponsored Motocross racer, and board member of both the World Series and Crandon International Off-Road Raceway. The director of Potawatomi Motorsports, Tom Boelter, also introduced himself to the WSORR community and was looking forward to get know everyone involved with the sport.
Tom Fredrickson, the General Manager of Lucas Oil Products, spent a few minutes talking about the relationship Lucas Oil has with motorsports and how proud Lucas Oil is to be a title sponsor of the World Series of Off-Road racing.
The RC manufacturer, Traxxas, entered the sport in a big way in 2008. They introduced a new radio controlled off-road race truck, The Slash, modeled directly after their short course off-road race team. All year long you could test drive one of their RC trucks and then purchase it at the race track or back home at your local hobby shop. To help promote their product, Traxxas, became a title sponsor of the series, as well.
The PRO Driver of the Year award is shared by PRO-2WD Champion Dan Vanden Heuvel Sr. with his Maxxis Tire ATD AMSOIL Chevy .and Super Buggy Champion, John Mason and his Mendeola Super Buggy. While the SRT Driver of the Year is Keith Steele, with his Monster Energy Chevy, as he captured the top spot an incredible eight times.
The rookie of the year honors went to Dave Waldvogel and his Bendix AMSOIL Toyo Tires Chevy PRO-2WD on the PRO side, and Mitch Dorr, with his BFGoodrich Ford F-150 Stock Truck, in the SRT ranks.
Cliff Irey, from Ford Truck Motorsports division, accepted the award for vehicle manufacturer of the year, and Jack Cummings and Doug Nushart held the tire manufacturer of the year award, high, for Goodyear Tires.
The winners of the three Crandon showdown races were introduced and each said a few words of thanks. The winner of the Chairman?s Cup, Kent Brasho of Alabama; the Decision @ Sundown winner, Jeff Kincaid of Wisconsin; and the winner of the BorgWarner Cup, Scott Taylor of Illinois, were all on hand.
When it came time for each World Champion to say a few words of thanks, heartfelt emotions were strong amongst those that were honored on the stage.
Super Buggy ring winner, Tim Lemons, reflected upon his family?s support and the passing of one of his strongest supporters, his uncle, during the 2008 season.
PRO-2WD World Champion, Ross Hoek, couldn?t forget to mention all the adversity he had gone through the last season and a half, and to have such a strong weekend on Labor Day, was a tribute to his family, friends, and supporters like Skyjacker, Raybestos, Goodyear, and fellow racer Dan Vanden Heuvel.
When it came to awarding the season ending checks to all the top finishers in all the race divisions, nobody could forget the words from PRO-2WD champion Dan Vanden Heuvel Sr. The thirty year veteran decided at the last minute to go racing, without any corporate support. His family supported team ran the whole year on their own checkbook, and the generous payback from the World Series.
Every Class Champion was also awarded a new Traxxas Slash radio-controlled truck from Traxxas.
To conclude the festivities on stage, CEO of WSORR, Doug Davis, got behind the microphone and talked about the state of the World Series of Off-Road Racing.
The successful development and testing of the second Ultra 4x4 truck is almost complete, and the new class will be officially named, PRO-4x4.
The 2009 schedule will be identical to the past season, twelve rounds of racing, at the same venues: Wheatland, Oshkosh, Bark River, and Crandon.
The series will consider expansion in 2010, as there has been interest by over thirty race tracks throughout the United States, to host a WSORR event.
For the year, the WSORR is operating in the black. In fact, all races, except Wheatland, made money this year. The reason Wheatland did not, was the rainout of Saturday?s races.
The television numbers for the 2007 WSORR SPEED broadcast was bigger than ever, over six million viewers for the year. The 2008 WSORR SPEED broadcast will be available within the next couple of weeks.
In the first two years of operation, WSORR has awarded over $1.6 million in prize money, not including contingency awards and bonuses.
The state of WSORR is very stable and financially sound.
Doug Davis also mentioned that the Crandon community will have a week long celebration, honoring the Labor Day weekend event?s 40th anniversary.
The World Series of Off-Road Racing will be supporting a national charity in 2009, the American Diabetes Association. The series will donate a portion of each venue?s profits to the ADA?s local chapter, located in that area.
After all the awards and the announcements were made, the band came out to perform as the celebration went on through the night.
