Steve Greinke is redefining the word cautious. The 33-year-old Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series driver has a 50-point lead in the Pro Buggy class and needs only to start the final points race of the season to claim his second straight championship.
Greinke is a dues-paying member of the “anything can happen” club, though, so he uses words like “when” and “if” while discussing his approach to that last round of points racing and the season-ending Challenge Cup races October 25-27 at Lake Elsinore Motorsport Park.
He does say that “once we take the green flag I’m going to go out and try to win,” as usual. And he said this championship will “absolutely” mean more than his first.
“If we’re able lock this up it will feel a lot better than the first one because we were able go out and repeat the successes,” he said of the SC Fuels Racing team that includes crew chief Zach Mitosinka and mechanic Brett Lenk. “This year has been a lot better for us. To be able go back to back means a lot to me.”
Greinke had 3 wins and 11 top 3 finishes en route to winning the 2012 title from Doug Fortin by 15 points. This season the Huntington Beach, California, resident has 6 wins and 12 top 3s overall and 3 wins and 3 seconds in the past 6 races. That has left him 50 points ahead of Bradley Morris and 57 in front of Dave Mason Jr.
“We’ve been on a good run,” Greinke said. “What we found out from last year is consistency is what helped us win the championship. It wasn’t necessarily winning every race or being the racer with the most wins. You’ve got to be up on the podium just about every race. We’d love to win. We’re always out here to win and get that top spot, but more importantly it’s making sure we’re not at the back of the field and keeping those points going.”
Greinke started his racing career in the Baja California desert. That was in 1996, when he, his father Frank and uncle Greg Foster bought a used SCORE Lite buggy to race the Baja 1000. He said they finished the race just before their time limit expired and with only one gear left in the transmission, but “for us it was a huge success because our goal was just to complete the 1000 and say we did it.”
Greinke raced with SCORE for five years, then parked his buggy to concentrate on building his career in the family’s SC Fuels business and is now president and chief executive officer of the company, which distributes petroleum products and operates unattended fueling stations throughout the Southwest.
He returned to racing in 2008 with plans to do only a few events and has been active ever since. The difference is that he hasn’t been back to the desert very often.
“There are a couple of reasons,” he said. “Short course has been a really fun family environment. All the family comes out and they really enjoy the atmosphere. They’re able to go out and see the whole race and come back and barbecue as a family in the pits. Desert racing was a lot of fun for me, but it wasn’t as enjoyable for them, seeing the car every few hours and being out in the dust. We’ve really enjoyed short course. I would have to say right now I prefer it. With my job and my career it works better.”
The question is what Greinke will do in future seasons.
“I’m not sure right now,” he said. “We’ve thought about moving up to a truck, but I’m not sure I’m ready to make that commitment because of the time. Right now it takes quite a bit away from the office to get out here. Eventually I’d like to see myself in a truck, but I don’t know if that will be next year or the year after. It takes a lot of time to come out here and a lot of time back at the shop as well.
STEVE GREINKE AT A GLANCE
Age: 33 (23 April 1980)
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Huntington Beach, California
Occupation: President and CEO of SC Fuels
Car numbers: 1 Pro Buggy
Types of chassis: Racer Engineering
Engine: Redline Honda
Crew Chief: Zach Mitosinka
Sponsors: SC Fuels, BFGoodrich, R2C Filters, Redline Performance, Dirtskins, Southern Counties Lubricants, Fortin Racing, FOX Shocks
Years in racing: 8
Divisions raced: SCORE Lite, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Pro Buggy
Series points standings: 1 (2012); 4 (2011); 13 (2010)
