CORR Off Road

Rick Huseman and Johnny Greaves Take Second-Place Class Results in CORR Opening Weekend at Pomona

The 2008 Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) season kicked off at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. last weekend, and while most of the facility's racing history consists of the dragster and horse varieties, off-road racing is certainly adding a new chapter. If there's any theme to CORR's chapter in the story of racing the Fairplex, it would probably be adaptation, namely to the unusual track.

So how did the Toyota drivers adapt? Rick Huseman, who drives the No. 3 Fabtech-sponsored Toyota Tundra in Pro 4 (four-wheel drive, V8-powered full-size pickup-based machines), picked-up a hard-earned second-place on Sunday, and just missed out on the podium with fourth on Saturday. Johnny Greaves, who drives the No. 4 Monster Energy- and Forest County Potawatomi-sponsered Toyota Tundras in both Pro 4 and Pro 2 (basically the same formula as Pro 4, but rear-wheel drive only), finished second and fifth in Pro 4 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, but he faced a bit more adversity in Pro 2, where he came 22nd on Saturday and 19th on Sunday.

In Pro Lite, the class for 4-cylinder, rear-wheel-drive vehicles based on compact and midsize pickup trucks, Jeff Kincaid came home fifth on both Saturday and Sunday in his No. 4 Traxxas/Forest County Potawatomi Toyota Tacoma.

The track, which is laid out in a section of the enormous parking lot, is actually pavement from the start of the frontstretch to the exit of Turn 2. Even two jumps at the start of the lap are asphalt. But the rest of the course (including Turn 4, a banked 180-degree right-hander that has been dug out more than 40 feet below ground level) is dirt.

How much of a challenge is a course with two different surfaces? Plenty.

"It's the only track that we run on that has a little portion of asphalt," says Leroy Loerwald, a rookie who drives the No. 8 Toyota Tacoma in the Pro Lite, "We have to do a lot of grooving of the tire, depending on which side we're turning on to make sure we don't burn up a lot of rubber and have good grip."

The paved section also forces a driver to change his strategy with regard to passing, according to multi-time champion Greaves. "It's kind of tough to pass," he says. "There's so much blacktop out there, and there really isn't any passing on it if the guy ahead of you holds his line, so it's eliminated a lot of opportunities for passing."

The half-and-half course may be the biggest challenge for Pomona (which the series will return to in June and August), but what about the season as a whole? Who and what will the stars be watching out for?

"The challenge is going to be all the good drivers we're racing against out there," says Huseman. "There's a lot of good talent, and we're working hard to be on the podium in every race."

And with seven race weekends still to come (the next is at Primm, Nev., May 17 and 18), odds are these three men and their fellow Toyota drivers will master the conditions and stand at the top of the podium.