Christopher Leone

Stephan Verdier Reviews New Hampshire Race Weekend

Stephan Verdier qualified fourth and finished ninth in July’s Global Rallycross Championship round at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In this article, Stephan takes us through the race weekend in his own words.

“When they showed the 10 second board, everybody was going through the (process). So everybody was looking at the lights, and when the lights turned green, I had a really bad reaction time because of that. I talked to Tanner (Foust) after the race and he said ‘Yeah, I never saw the 30 second board either.’ It didn’t really bother us that much, but I had a bad start.”

Stadium Super Trucks Lands TV Deal With NBC Sports

Robby Gordon’s new off-road series, Stadium Super Trucks, will see all 12 of its races shown on either NBC or NBC Sports in 2013. The broadcasts will either take place on the day after the event or one week later.

NBC has added SST to compete with CBS and CBS Sports’ coverage of the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series. NBC will also air the Traxxas TORC Series, a rival to LOORRS, from Crandon International Raceway on December 29; SST debuted alongside TORC at Crandon on Labor Day weekend.

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Formula Cross Releases How-To Guide on Finding Sponsors

With a new series on the way in 2013, the folks at Formula Cross want to make sure that potential competitors have enough sponsorship money to contest races in the new formula. In response, they’ve put out “Getting Sponsored – A Realistic Approach,” a set of tips and tricks for drivers and teams to secure proper funding.

By now, it looks like that guide is going to get plenty of use. Marketing director A.J. Grasso confirmed via email that RMR have a significant number of units in production, as well as pre-orders from across the United States and the globe.

Stephan Verdier on Snake River: “The RS5 Was Absolutely Fantastic”

Global Rallycross Championship competitor and world-renowned stunt driver Stephan Verdier was put in charge of driving duties for Audi’s “Return to Snake River Canyon” commercial, where the brand launched the RS5 into the Idaho sky a la Evel Knievel. Here, Verdier talks about driving the car and making the commercial.

“It was a fantastic car, and we pushed it hard,” Verdier says. “We really went super fast and in the shots you see the car going 150, 155 miles an hour the road. And that was actual speed, nothing was altered on the commercial when you see how fast the car was going.”

Brian Deegan: “There’s No Strategy Besides Being The Fastest Guy”

At third in Global Rallycross Championship points, Brian Deegan is one of four Olsbergs MSE drivers in the top five of the series standings. Today, the General of the Metal Mulisha and I spoke about going for the title, racing against teammates, and how he prepares to tackle many disciplines in motorsport.

You had to race teammate Tanner Foust down the final straightaway for third place at New Hampshire. Does the Ford team usually take it easier with one another, or is it every man for himself in the final?

It’s every man for himself, you know? It’s racing, and there’s a lot of guys on that team. You know, actually, Tanner’s helped me a lot. Out of all the guys, he’s helped me the most. But when we’re on the track, he’s a competitor, and we have to try to beat each other. That’s our job.

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GRC Confirms SEMA Las Vegas Season Finale

After months of searching for a suitable venue for a sixth event, the Global Rallycross Championship has finally reached a deal to contest a race at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The October 30 race will take place in a parking lot at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In our interview with Andy Scott, he mentioned that the next GRC round would definitely be Las Vegas, while Rhys Millen actually mentioned the SEMA event off the record in our interview with him. The only delay was in the official announcement, which finally came yesterday.

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Stadium Super Trucks Close In On Crandon Debut, Announce First Driver

Traxxas TORC Series founder and off-road and supercross legend Ricky Johnson is the first confirmed driver for the debut exhibition of Stadium Super Trucks this weekend at Crandon International Raceway. Johnson will join a field of five other drivers in the race, which will showcase SST as it prepares to contest its inaugural season in 2013.

Other drivers have not yet been announced, but Gordon will likely be racing one of his own trucks. Other TORC drivers to test the SST setup in July include Pro 4′s Mike and Mark Jenkins and Pro Light’s Andrew Caddell and Casey Currie. This weekend’s races will be broadcast online at xsan.tv as part of the site’s coverage of the Traxxas TORC Series.

Interview: Millen Breaks Down Record-Setting Pikes Peak Weekend

Rhys Millen talks about taking the overall victory and setting a new world record in this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Driving a Hyundai Genesis in the Time Attack class, Millen conquered the newly paved surface in a time of 9:46.164, holding off other strong competitors despite running in a lower class than the marquee Unlimited division. Millen also talks about safety during the race in the wake of this year’s major crashes, which grabbed national headlines.

Now that the entire course is paved, does it have a significantly different character, and do you have to drive it differently?

You know, it’s interesting. The road has always held this mystique of the altitude you’re climbing to, 14,110 feet, I think that’s changed to five feet higher now. And it’s always quoted as having 156 corners. I also think that, with the pavement now, there’s probably more corners there because the road is narrower, and in some cases where it used to be straight line from corner to corner, you actually need to do an additional curve between those straightaways.