You couldn't have asked for a more dramatic finish to the Championship Off Road Racing season: heroic competition, a beautiful girl in distress, and going out in a blaze of flame. The old expression about "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat" hardly does justice to this exhilarating form of off-road racing.
Before cutting to the hard action, let's set the stage, looking at the CORR season overall. In Pro 2, the series featured a familiar newcomer that we featured last year in article titled "Boss Ride": Greg Adler the president and CEO of 4 Wheel Parts. Raising his game, he stepped up from Sportsman to Pro 2.
"This is a whole new level of driving," he says. "It's like going to NASCAR. The trucks have a lot more horsepower, and the performance level of the drivers is at the pro level. It's easier to get a break in Sportsman, but in Pro 2, the competition is much more intense."
Indeed, also in the mix is a striking and talented female driver, Rhonda Konitzer, who ran with the big boys all season and held her own just fine, thank you (proving she could certainly give Danica Patrick of Indy 500 fame a run for the money as well.)
Konitzer might have done even better, but took a serious shot in the final race, tumbling end over end several times, and emerging shaken but unscathed. Unfortunately, we couldn't say as much for her damaged truck. When asked how many times it flipped, she retorted, "I have no idea. When I landed, all I could see were stars."
Various accounts differ as to how the accident occurred, but from our vantage point behind the jump, it looked like her truck launched at an angle, and other competitors tapped the rearend, throwing her off the course. Travis Coyne, fellow Pro 2 driver for Pro Comp recalls seeing her truck roll across his hood, almost taking him out as well.
Adler had his share of tangles on the course as well, hooking fenders in a fracas with Carl Renezeder, the eventual winner of the series for the season. "I just tried to get loose and get back on the course," he recalls.
Adler echoed similar comments: "I was fighting to get back up to a top 5 finish and took the chance at a pass. It was an area where two trucks can't fit at the same time! I'm glad it did not interfere with Carl winning the championship in Pro-2 for BFGoodrich." Commenting at his first entrŽe into Pro 2, Adler said that his goal for the season was to make it into the Top 3, but the team struggled with some mechanical gremlins early on. But he remains undeterred for next year. "In Pro 2, the competition level is extremely high, these are the best off-road racers in the world! It is intense and there's a lot more beatin' and bangin', but you can't be afraid to mix it up."
That's a pretty apt description of the final race. At the start, Jerry Whelchel and Scott Taylor duked it out for the lead of the "land rush" into Turn 1, but by turn 4 Taylor was at the head of the pack, but that would later turn into a flame-out. In what proved to be a bad weekend for Whelchel, his truck began to smoke on lap 2, taking him out of the race. Todd LeDuc moved into second to pursue a fierce battle with Taylor. the fire extinguisher.
Kevin Probst, Steve Barlow, and Rhonda Konitzer followed closely, rounding out the top five. Travis Coyne made his way up the line getting around Konitzer. With 10 laps to go Barlow, Coyne and Konitzer were all able to get in front of Probst.
Before the mandatory yellow flag, Taylor caught on fire ending his race and giving LeDuc the lead. Behind LeDuc during the yellow lap were Coyne, Konitzer, Barlow, Adler, Michael Oberg, and points leader Carl Renezeder. After the restart, Coyne made contact with Barlow, LeDuc, and Konitzer off Lucas Leap, leading to that spectacular crash that ended her day.
Oberg made his way up the line and fought for everything, trying to catch LeDuc and his only chance at the championship. Meanwhile points leader Carl Renezeder struggled to keep close to Michael Oberg, fighting off Dan Vanden Heuvel and Scott Douglas. But Renezeder hung in there, and took seventh place, just enough to secure the championship with 174 points. In the end Oberg finished in second, only two points behind Renezeder. LeDuc captured his second win of the season, while Steve Barlow placed third.
Overall, it was a tight points race, but Carl Renezeder prevailed in his new Lucas Oil, Pro 2 Nissan Titan. "This is unbelievable," beamed Renezeder. "We far exceeded our own expectations." Renzeder won the 2006 Pro 2 Championship with 174 points, beating out Michael Oberg who finished only two points behind him. Renezeder had six wins, one second place and 12 top 10 finishes. Remarkably, this is Renezeder's second consecutive Pro 2 Championship.
At the ceremonies a few days after the race, the first award given was Vehicle Manufacturer of the Year. Ford swept the category in all the Pro divisions with the most points. The Tire Manufacturer of the Year was awarded to BFGoodrich in both the Pro 4 and Pro 2 divisions.
This was the final race of the CORR season in another sense: Otay Ranch will be closed for good to make way for a housing development. But take heart, because a new course is in the works for the San Diego area. So stay tuned for next year's action!
