LAKE FOREST, CA (May 24, 2010) – It was a weekend of contrasts for Team Renezeder at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for rounds five and six of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series this past weekend, May 21-23.  From the weather, to the work, to the results, nothing was predictable or simple. Luckily for driver, Carl Renezeder, and his crew, there were great results to balance out the not-so-great moments of the weekend, and he ultimately added win number 89 to his record book, and did it in the debut race of the team’s brand new Pro-4.

“I’ve honestly never had this much fun driving a truck,” offered Renezeder after the first win for the new truck.  “It’s nimble, responsive, predictable and wicked fast.  I’m so excited about this truck!”
The first win was not without its dramatic moments – most of which occurred off the track.  An overheating and radiator problem surfaced in Friday’s qualifying session and didn’t get resolved until Sunday morning at 4:00 a.m.  The most stressful moment for the team came after Saturday morning’s practice when they found an eight-hour project in front of them, with only three hours before the green flag was set to drop in round five.  In true superhero fashion, the guys got the new radiators fitted in the Pro-4 just in time for Renezeder to drive straight from the pit and onto the track for the pace laps.  On the final pace lap, the water temp was already too high, forcing Renezeder to dive into hot pit to make sure nothing obvious was wrong.  He got the go-ahead from the crew and tagged the back of the field as the green flag flew.  It was now his turn to prove his superhero status.  And prove it he did.  Renezeder worked his way through the field, was the recipient of a few lucky moments and found himself in the number one spot when the checkers flew.
After a quick moment of high-fives and congratulations, the guys jumped on the stack of work facing them, then headed back out to the track for the Pro-2 race.  For all the great things that happened in the Pro-4 race, there seemed to be an equal and opposite bad thing that happened in the Pro-2 race.  The only positive moment of the race was that it eventually ended, stopping any more damage from occurring.  There was a lot to do before Sunday morning.
Call it a long night of work or a short night of sleep, either way it made for a tired and apprehensive crew.  There was a motor change and a transmission change; fixes were made on the radiators, a-arms, sway bars, bumpers, body hangers and a steering rack, and all the general turn-around projects were done.  Sunday morning qualifying validated their work, and you could hear a collective sigh of relief over the radios.
Sunday’s Pro-4 race was well on its way to being a repeat result for Renezeder until three laps to go when the carburetor started acting up.  On the final lap, he set the truck in turn three and it died.  Unfortunately, Adrian Cenni had nowhere to go and t-boned Renezeder.  Rick Huseman took advantage of the tangle up and went on to win the race.  Renezeder was able to get the truck to refire quickly and actually finished second.  Cenni rounded out the podium in third.
Sadly, Sunday’s Pro-2 race started bad and ended worse.  The truck had the same fuel problem as the Pro-4, but it started on the first lap and never let up.  Renezeder didn’t race to a seventh place finish – he simply ended up there.
The weekend of contrasts was finally winding down.  Wretched races were balanced by wickedly cool ones.  A 96-degree set-up day was cooled off by 35 mph winds and a 55-degree tear-down day.  And a sleep-deprived work weekend will eventually be remedied with a restful three-day holiday weekend in just a few days.  That, my friends, is racing.
(Photo courtesy of Jeff Nemecek)