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The June 23-24 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series race at Miller Motorsports Park will see the first ever skate-branded truck on the course with none other than Danny Way at the wheel. The truck, similar to the 800hp model above, will be wrapped featuring Way’s sponsors: Plan B, Element, Nixon Watches, and Independent Trucks.
“I’ve been working on getting him a ride for a while,” Alex Striller, head of sales and marketing at Lucas Oil Off Road told us. “He’s in Reno today testing. Just got a text from him, ‘GAME ON!’”
Danny will be joining other action sports athletes, including Brian Deegan, Jeremy McGrath and Cameron Steele, who have been racing in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series since the beginning of the season. Deegan had a spectacular season last year, claiming both the ProLite championship and the Pro 2 championship, proving that he’s as good of a competitor on four wheels as he is on two.
The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series has several classes of trucks and buggies. Pro 2’s are full-sized two-wheel drive trucks. Pro 4’s full-sized four-wheel drive trucks. ProLites are two-wheel drive mid-sized trucks, and SuperLites are smaller-framed spec trucks with Mazda rotary engines. Danny will be racing a SuperLite next weekend, the same class that Larry Linkogle and Ryan Hagy currently race. Former racers in the SuperLite class include, Jeff “Ox” Cargola, Jason Ellis, Sunny Garcia and Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg, who now races against Deegan and Jeremy McGrath in the Pro 2 class.
The “motocrossover” appeal from action sports to motorsports, seen with rally racing and off road racing, is partly due to the high-energy excitement of this new type of racing and partly due to the extensive television coverage that these races are getting. With 800 and 900 horsepower trucks battling it out on a closed-course that looks like a motocross track—with jumps, whoops and table-tops—spectators get to witness what some have called “a fist fight on wheels.”
While the series travels across the west, including stops in Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Bernadino, Reno, Salt Lake City, Lake Elsinore and Chandler, Arizona, it’s the television coverage that attracts sponsors such as Rockstar, Monster Energy, Toyota, Lucas Oil, Fox Shocks and GEICO. In 2012, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series will get 230 hours of air time on five national networks, including CBS, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, MAVTV and SPEED. Danny’s skate-branded sponsors are banking that the extensive television footage Danny will receive from racing a SuperLite will expose their brands to a broader national audience.
“Danny’s a true athlete and a great role model. We can’t wait to tell his story on our shows,” Striler said. “And since Lucas Oil owns the production studio and MAVTV we can guarantee exposure for those who deserve it.”
And it’s not just energy drinks and skate brands that are being drawn to the racing. At the last Lake Elsinore race in April, several action sports brands added to the spectator experience. Tilly’s, Skullcandy, Osiris Shoes, Dragon, SPY, Keep-a-Breast, and Oakley were all present along vendor row. The next California race is at Glen Helen in August.
“For those who live too far from Salt Lake City and can’t make the race at Miller Motorsports Park next weekend, check out the following event at Glen Helen Raceway on August 4th and 5th,” Striler said. “If you haven’t seen this type of racing before, you won’t believe it. We—literally—have trucks that fly.”