TORC Entries For 1st Crandon....Down...

I'm not sayin...I'm just sayin...

There was quite a difference between the number of entries at the first three LOORRS (Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series) events of the year and the first TORC (The Off-Road Championship) event of '10. Not even getting into the buggie classes where LOORRS has an extremely high number of entries, the three premier classes (Pro4, Pro2 and Pro Light) were severely undersubscribed this past weekend, with LOORRS also offering the spec "Superlite" class of rotary powered truck/buggies as well which draws significant numbers.

Matching them up TORC saw only 8 Pro 4 entries at Crandon this weekend while LOORRS saw an average near double that at 15 per event thus far. LOORRS biggest advantage in pure numbers comes from Pro 2 where TORC saw only 9 drivers while LOORRS saw 23 vehicles at its first '10 event and has averaged more than 20 so far. Lastly in Pro Lite, TORC has narrowed the number somewhat fielding 10 entries, while LOORRS saw a high of 17 at its second event and a low of 13 at its third.

Conclusion? TORC needs a serious boost in car counts to legitimately present itself as a viable series. With Traxxas itself having likely shot its load last year with the purchase/support of the series, it is doubtful they will be enthusiastic about paying racers just to show up as LOORRS has done at times to increase vehicle numbers. Additionally, TORC can talk about all the media coverage it wants but without highly competitive events it doesn't matter what tracks it is running at. If there isn't a rapid turn around, TORC will likely be just the latest casualty in the short-course wars as TV ratings are not sufficient to generate revenue enough to offset costs nor is ticket revenue from the much lower attended non-Labor Day weekend events--there is only so long TORCs associated companies will throw money down a rabbit hole before pulling the plug.

LOORRS is clearly in the drivers seat and whether they decide to kill or capture TORC is the only question left if TORC doesn't attract a lot of new blood...and soon...