Greaves Brothers Pump Up the Volume in Wisconsin

De Pere, Wisconsin (April 25, 2006)

2005 CORR Champion Racer, Johnny Greaves, and his brother Curt, have apparently been very busy over the CORR off-season bending tube and building race trucks. In fact, rumor has it that the Greaves brothers simply locked themselves in their Wisconsin shop where they “pumped up the volume” kicking out the latest version of Greaves-built CORR race trucks.

DirtNewz staffers had the chance to visit with Johnny Greaves and his brother, Curt, at their De Pere, Wisconsin shop only a few days ago.

De Pere, Wisconsin is located approximately 15 miles outside the city limits of Green Bay and is situated on the banks of the Lake Michigan.

This year’s winter was reportedly mild and recent rains had greened up the surrounding landscape of De Pere, a small town in Central Wisconsin.

Driving the DirtNewz/Fox Racing Shox truck and trailer down County Road “PP”, we saw into the distance a NASCAR-type tractor-trailer rig parked in front of a large steel building adjacent to a neatly kept country house. Alas, after a long journey toting the 40’ race hauler we’d arrived to the famed, “Shop That Greaves Built.”

Backing in beside the Potawatomi Off Road Race Team semi with the FOX Racing Shox truck and trailer we quickly deemed the first half of the journey successful.

The Greaves Shop was full of activity as Curt and Johnny Greaves were putting the finishing touches on the Mike Voyles / Pechanga Resort Casino Pro Lite Truck. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw the Voyles Racing truck and trailer backed in and being loaded with his new Greaves-built Pro Lite. Voyles Racing is located in Southern California not far from the headquarters of DirtNewz and bumping into them in the middle of Wisconsin was…well lets say “eye opening” to say the least.

CORR Champions Johnny and Curt Greaves invited us into their shop as they continued working on the new John Marking Racing Pro Lite truck. Alongside Marking’s new Pro Lite truck was the championship winning Johnny Greaves Pro 4 truck. The entire back end was lying next to the industrial trash bin outside the shop and the Greaves brothers definitely had some work to do on the winning Pro 4.

Hanging from the back wall was the familiar BFGoodrich Tires banner positioned strategically next to the Toyota banner. Above the work bench were the many winner's checks that the Greaves brothers have banked in their many winning seasons.

Our stroll through the CORR champions' shop didn’t stop the progress of work being performed. The arc of Curt’s welder, the distance measured from JohnnyG’s tape measure, the ribbing between the Greaves Brothers and the adopted Voyles crew – who had been at the Greaves shop for the entire week, was all just part of the everyday on goings at the shop.

Johnny commented, “We have really been busy during the off-season. We built Scott Douglas a new Pro-4 truck along with a few Pro Lites including this one (pointing to the new Voyles Pro Lite) for Mike Voyles from California and, of course, this one we are fabricating for John Marking at FOX Racing Shox. In the meantime, we’ve yet to finish my own Pro-4 truck, which you can see had the entire back portion of the truck cut off after last season. The next few weeks are going to be very busy as we rush to get our own truck done and get to Crandon for testing.”

Greaves smiled and said let’s get Marking’s truck loaded so we can get back to work.

In 2005, JohnnyG ended the season capturing 8 wins, 7 of them in a row, setting a new CORR record. JohnnyG currently holds the most all time wins in CORR racing with 45, and he also won the 2005 Precision Gear Driver of the Year award

Greaves, with help of fellow teammate Rick Huseman, also captured the 2005 Manufacturer Cup for Toyota!

If the 2006 CORR season is anything like the accomplishments the Greaves brothers captured in 2005, look for great things from JohnnyG and his championship team.

With the brand new John Marking Racing Greaves-built Pro Lite securely loaded into the FOX Racing Shox / DirtNewz trailer we set off for the trek West. As we pulled away the lights were on and the music was pumped up as Curt and Johnny bent tube and welded in the countryside outside of De Pere, Wisconsin.

Stay tuned for a full video interview with the 2005 CORR Champion – Johnny Greaves and his Crew Chief – Curt Greaves, as they head west to defend their championship trophy. In the meantime, you can visit them at www.johnnygreaves.com.