Gene Woods’ #20 Dodge Pro 2 Race Truck Finally Hits The Track

Bloomington, CALIFORNIA (May 23, 2008) — Missing the first race was tough, but good things don’t happen overnight.For the last four months, Gene Woods and his DejaVu/Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club race team have been working twenty-hour days building a state-of-the-art, prototype, Dodge Pro 2 race truck. The first of it’s kind.

Woods gets his engines from Evernham Racing, but the rest of this race
truck was completely fabricated at Wood’s race shop, here in Bloomington,
Ca. The truck was about 98% complete when Gene ordered the team to
load ‘em up and head ‘em out, to Las Vegas Raceway, for the team’s first
Championship Off Road Racing event. The truck wasn’t ready for the first
race at Pomona.

They left Bloomington California at 8:30 PM Friday night and didn’t make it
to the track until 4:30 AM Saturday morning. Registration and technical
inspections were held Wednesday, so the team was two days late! The
CORR officials were very kind to late-register and tech Gene’s truck and
allowed him to start at the tail of the field, since it was his first race.

Gene’s team worked on finishing the truck from the time they rolled-in at
4:30 AM until race time at 2:30 PM. Gene and the truck had no practice, no
laps at all, prior to the race-start. The “No Sleep In Days” crew finished
the truck just-in-time for the start.

Eleven laps into Saturday’s 19-lap Pro 2 race, the #20 DejaVu/Larry Flynt’s
Hustler Clubs Dodge broke it’s driveshaft, also damaging the transmission
housing. That put an end to Woods weekend, as the truck required more
repair than the team could provide at the track.

The good news was that Woods was pleased with the truck, based on the
eleven-lap hammering he gave it. Of course he wanted to finish, but he’s
been racing long enough to know it doesn’t come over-night. Not with
a brand-new race truck, anyway.

Gene Woods has raced Speedway Motorcycles, winning a national title. Gene
raced Sprint Cars, Monster Trucks and most recently competed in the NASCAR
West Series. Having just turned 50, being a life-long racer, he’s been at
it a long time.

Gene Woods had these comments:

“I think we may have made a slight miscalculation because we didn’t have
the transmission when we set-up the rear-end. This engine and transmission
combination has never been used before in CORR and it’s a learn-as-you-go
sort of thing. I’m sure we can repair the damage and correct stuff so that it
won’t happen again. There’s another aspect of our suspension that I want
to look at and possibly adjust before the next round at Pomona.”

”The truck is plenty-fast and handles well, we just have a few little details
to work-out and we’ll be finishing races, near the front, I hope! Despite the
limited success this weekend, I’m very encouraged; we built a heck of a truck
and I can’t wait to get it up-front!”

“I would like to thank my sponsors; DejaVu/Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, Lucas Oil,
J.E. Reel, Sway-A-Way, TCS, Strange, US Graphics, S&B Filters, G&J Aircraft
and DJ Safety, without whom I would not be in the hunt for a CORR trophy or two. Or more. Thanks to DirtNewz.com for the photo!”