Mike Johnson--Not Running Dakar Due to Surgery

Mr. Mike Johnson of Drivers, Inc., a collection of professional drivers (inclusive of Paul Dallenbach, Rhys Millen and Greg Tracy among others) specializing in meeting the needs of the commercial, television and motion picture industries took Baja 1000 and Baja 500 victories in his class 10 buggie in '14.  Along with these victories came the winning of a free entry into the 2015 edition of the Dakar. 

Unfortunately a brief email exchange has revealed that he will not be able to take advantage of this opportunity.  Due to an impending shoulder injury requiring surgery and extensive recovery time and Johnson will not be entered in the 2015 Dakar.

He is however looking to the future in regards to the international exposure that the Dakar could bring both himself and his sponsors:

"My tire sponsor (Radar Tires) still really wants to do it so we may try to put a program together for 2016. I think it's a great thing what Roger Norman, SCORE and the Dakar guys are doing to get the two series together, it will only help strengthen each series both in outside interest (fans) as well as sponsors & TV worldwide." 

One last item of note--the Dakar organizers do not allow you to carry over a free entry win from one year to the next so unfortunately Johnson will have to go back out and with the free entry again in '15 if he or Radar Tires or others are not going to pay for the entry fee out of pocket.  Its a use it or lose it proposition.  A shame really but likely an appropriate one designed to encourage entries to come to the event rather than just leave it out there as an idea to always hold in your back pocket for when the "time is right".

Thanks to Mike for the brief conservation and  make a quick recovery!

Global RallyCross and Lucas Oil Offroad Racing Series 11/15-11/16 TV Ratings

These are from the weekend of 11/15 and 11/16.  The LOORRS broadcast had the more favorable slot in that it was shown on Saturday, up against significantly weaker college football broadcasts vs. the 11/16 GRC show which faced off against nationally televised NFL football.  The GRC broadcast was a showdown between Joni Wiman and Ken Block for the 2015 driver's title with Wiman coming out on top by finishing second to Block and garnering enough points to retain first place for the year (though his lack of a single win on the year will likely drive a change in the way GRC scores points for each event in '15)

Neither show fared that well, though the LOORRS show was no worse than its typical ratings.  GRC's 0.3 rating ties for its worst of the year and shortest of its brief existence.  This will wrap up GRC's programing for the year I would imagine and so I'll recap their ratings for their events below, prior to the weekend's full ratings.  Their high for the year was a 0.5, equating to 578,000 households and some 636,000 actual viewers and the low was a 0.3, equating to 350,000 and 382,000 viewers.  Overall this puts Global RallyCross a bit behind the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series shows as we will recap in the future.  Of note is the recent F1 ratings on NBC for the Brazil event which grabbed a 0.5 rating and two weeks prior a 0.7 rating for the USGP in Texas.  NBC paid $3 Million to acquire the rights to F1 in the US (prior to any production, talent, coverage costs), so to have LOORRS and GRC somewhat equaling those ratings with what is essentially a paid advertisement, costing the networks nothing, both can be viewed as being successful on their own terms.  Though when you compare the measly $3 million paid for F1 to the $2.4 billion Fox paid for NASCAR (not completely an apples to apples comparison but you get the idea) you understand how far behind in the Q ratings sports like F1, RallyCross or short course are from NAPCAR.

Global RallyCross 2015 Ratings:

5/24--0.4
6/22--0.3
7/20--0.5
7/26--0.3
8/03--0.3
9/20--0.5
9/21--0.3

NFL: Eagles-Packers (84%)	11/16	Fox	4:25-7:30pm	17.1
"Sunday Night Football": Patriots-Colts	11/16	NBC	8:30-11:15pm	13.6
NFL: (singleheader)	11/16	CBS	1:00-4:05pm	11.7
NFL: (regional)	11/16	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	10.1
College Football: Mississippi State-Alabama	11/15	CBS	3:30-7:15pm	6.6
College Football: Florida State-Miami	11/15	ABC	8:00-11:45pm	6.1
"Football Night in America"	11/16	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	5.4
College Football: Ohio State-Minnesota	11/15	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	4.3
"Fox NFL Sunday"	11/16	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.5
"The NFL Today"	11/16	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.8
College Football: Nebraska-Minnesota	11/15	ABC	3:30-7:15pm	2.3
College Football: Northwestern-Notre Dame	11/15	NBC	3:30-8:00pm	2.0
"Courage in Sports"	11/16	CBS	5:00-6:00pm	1.5
"College Football Today"	11/15	CBS	3:00-3:30pm	1.0
College Football: Texas-Oklahoma State	11/15	Fox	7:30-11:00pm	1.0
College Football: Washington-Arizona	11/15	Fox	3:30-7:15pm	0.9
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Russia	11/16	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.9
"Fox College Saturday"	11/15	Fox	3:00-3:30pm	0.5
Ironman World Championship	11/15	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.5
"Notre Dame Football Pre-Game"	11/15	NBC	3:00-3:30pm	0.5
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	11/15	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.4
"College Football's Open Season: Vanderbilt"	11/15	CBS	2:00-2:30pm	0.4
"College Football's Open Season: Arkansas"	11/15	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.4
"World of X Games: ASP Surfing"	11/16	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.4
"The Grantland Basketball Hour"	11/16	ABC	4:00-5:00pm	0.3
Global Rallycross: Las Vegas	11/16	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.3
Spartan Race: Vermont	11/16	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.3

Throwback Thursday with Roger Mears...

This is the short course Pathfinder built by SPD products for Roger Mears and Sherman Balch racing and who were heavily involved in a number of Nissan racing projects over the years.  Not sure why they went with an SUV for this vehicle as a short course race would seem to suit a pickup much better...but what do I know!?!?!
SPD Prodcuts...

Red Bull Frozen Rush Ratings...

Given a pretty sweet TV spot in the middle of the Sunday afternoon just before the Super Bowl the short course truck based Red Bull Frozen Rush event  looked to capture some idle eyes and bring viewers into the offroad fold.  With most short course TV broadcasts in recent periods grabbing a 0.4 to a 0.5 rating on CBS or relegated to smaller networks like CBS Sports or NBC Sports channel this presented a solid opportunity to show that the niche sport could generate some interest.

Full weekend ratings are below and though Red Bull Frozen Rush didn't exactly match the ratings of say, the Super Bowl which had over 110 million viewers, it didn't disappoint either.

Red Bull Frozen Rush grabbed a 0.7 rating, solidly above the aforementioned recent ratings of LOORRS on CBS.  The 0.7 rating translates into 0.7% of the roughly 115.8 million TV households in America (a new updated figure of TV households as of this report) being tuned into the broadcast.  This now means that the Frozen Rush event saw some 811,000 households tuned into the show.  In comparison the NHL broadcast that preceded Frozen Rush grabbed just a 0.8 rating (and NBC has to PAY the NHL big bucks for those rights whereas I would imagine Red Bull actually pays NBC to show their events--so a big win for NBC to continue broadcasting these shows) and Frozen Rush handily outdrew the English Premier League soccer match NBC broadcast.

If we use my typical 1.1 viewer per "household" of the event, the 811,000 households translates into 900,000 actual individuals watching the Red Bull Frozen Rush broadcast...That's about one of the highest totals I can think of for an offroad event and portends well for the just announced today, Mint 400 broadcast later this year--also part of the Red Bull series and again on NBC.

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
"X Games Aspen Rewind"	2/1	ABC	1:00-5:00pm	1.0
"ESPN Sports Saturday"	2/1	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.9
College Basketball: Kentucky-Missouri	2/1	CBS	1:00-3:15pm	1.1
PGA Tour: Waste Management Phoenix Open: Third Round	2/1	CBS	3:15-6:15pm	2.0
"NFL Honors"	2/1	Fox	8:00-10:00pm	2.0
"EPL Match of the Day"	2/1	NBC	12:30-2:30pm	0.5
Figure Skating: Tribute to American Legends of the Ice	2/1	NBC	2:30-4:30pm	0.8
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships	2/1	NBC	4:30-6:00pm	1.5
College Basketball: Michigan-Indiana	2/2	CBS	1:00-3:00pm	1.5
PGA Tour: Waste Management Phoenix Open: Final Round	2/2	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	2.6
"Road to the Super Bowl"	2/2	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	2.0
"Football America: Our Stories"	2/2	Fox	1:00-2:00pm	3.0
"Super Bowl Sunday Pregame Show"	2/2	Fox	2:00-6:00pm	10.4
"Super Bowl XLVIII Kickoff Show"	2/2	Fox	6:00-6:30pm	32.6
Super Bowl XLVIII: Seahawks-Broncos	2/2	Fox	6:30-10:00pm	47.6
"Super Bowl XLVIII Postgame Show"	2/2	Fox	10:00-10:30pm	29.3
NHL: Red Wings-Capitals	2/2	NBC	12:30-3:30pm	0.8
Red Bull Signature Series: Frozen Rush	2/2	NBC	3:30-5:00pm	0.7
Purina Incredible Dog Challenge	2/2	NBC	5:00-6:00pm	1.3

Baja 1000 World of X Games Ratings...

This one came up as a bit of a surprise.  It didn't seem like were a lot of people who knew about Roger Norman getting ESPN/ABC on board with broadcasting the one hour show covering the 2013 Baja 1000.  Not only did it get broadcast once but it got broadcast twice, once on ESPN and again on ABC in the middle of this past Saturday.

The ratings did not end up being spectacular but were again in the same range of recent shortcourse shows on similar networks at similar times--though at the upper end, exceeding many as well.  Additionally while the broadcast was tied for the lowest rating of the weekend, it was tied with a large number of other broadcasts including NBC's coverage of Premier League Soccer.

Another point of note here is that the Red Bull Signature Series Year End Wrapup which contained lots of shortcourse racing as well as the Frozen Rush coverage grabbed a 0.6 rating.  The 0.5 rating means that some 571,000 TVs were tuned into the Baja 1K coverage while some 685,000 were turned to the Red Bull program.  A conservative estimate of 1.1 viewers per TV (my household had three people watching it) grows the audience for each broadcast to 628,100 and 753,500 respectively. So between the two shows, well in excess of 1 million viewers took in offroad racing coverage of some kind this weekend...

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
"World Of X Games"	12/28	ABC	4:00-5:00pm	0.5
"ESPN Sports Saturday:	12/28	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.7
"NCAA Men of March: Rick Pitino"	12/28	CBS	1:00-1:30pm	0.5
"NCAA Men of March: John Calipari"	12/28	CBS	1:30-2:00pm	0.5
College Basketball: Villanova-Syracuse	12/28	CBS	2:00-4:30pm	1.1
College Basketball: Louisville-Kentucky	12/28	CBS	4:30-6:30pm	2.1
EPL: Sunderland-Cardiff	12/28	NBC	12:00-2:30pm	0.5
U.S. Olympic Trials: Speed Skating	12/28	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.7
Golf: Long Drive World Championship	12/28	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.6
"Red Bull Signature Series Highlight Show"	12/28	NBC	5:00-6:00pm	0.6
"The NFL Today"	12/29	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	3.0
"NFL on CBS": (regional)	12/29	CBS	1:00-4:15pm	10.7
"NFL on CBS": Ravens-Bengals (62%)	12/29	CBS	4:15-7:30pm	12.0
"Fox NFL Sunday"	12/29	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.6
"NFL on Fox": (regional)	12/29	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	10.5
"NFL on Fox": Packers-Bears (63%)	12/29	Fox	4:15-7:30pm	15.2
"U.S. Ski Team 36: Bode Miller"	12/29	NBC	1:00-1:30pm	0.5
U.S. Olympic Trials: Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined	12/29	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.9
U.S. Olympic Trials: Speed Skating	12/29	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	1.0
Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping	12/29	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.8
"Dew Tour Year In Review"	12/29	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.6
"Football Night in America"	12/29	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	5.1
"Sunday Night Football": Eagles-Cowboys	12/29	NBC	8:30-11:45pm	16.8

Nissan Titan R/C Body

There have been a few R/C bodies out there that have kinda/sorta been Nissan related--see the Chad Hord and Carl Renezeder and Casey Currie bodies for their respective Traxxas/Team Associated vehicles but I don't believe any of them actually had the Nissan logo nor did the Nissan front grille and headlights in a proper manner.

This Nissan Titan body by JCONCEPTS which should fit almost all 1/10 size R/C short course trucks, is done perfectly here with the proper logo and design.  $43 seems a tad steep but its in the ballpark with the other bodies out there.  I might just have to get one for my Slash to keep in line with my real Nissan race truck.  The only thing I have an issue with is the "fins" on the back.  I wish they had kept it flat like the real versions.  Reality beats aero in this case.  JCONCEPTS offers two versions of this body--one being a lighter, less durable version for experienced drivers.

JCONCEPTS Nissan Titan Short Course R/C body

Northeastern "Off-Road" Events 5/18-5/19

I know this is a bit late...but just in case someone was looking for something to do this weekend I figured I'd put it up as there is always more going on than you might believe.

NEHA Ascutney Hillclimb: the event this year is running the long course for the first time in a number of years.  Ascutney is in southern Vermont and this even takes place over Saturday and Sunday with the first day being practice runs up the mountain and the runs that count come on Sunday.  The NEHA events are always great for both beginners and experts as even in a non-caged car you can run wide open the entire way.  Check out the rules and join in, this is a great way to get involved in motorsports and see if its something you want to take to the next level.  New England Hillclimb Association

J Day Off Road: on Sunday 5/19, J Day holds its third event of the year in Greenfield, MA at the Davenport Trucking Paradise GP.  J Day has been rapidly growing its brand and events over the past few years by presenting a unique mix of enduro, motocross and endurocross terrain in a spectator friendly environment.  The series not only runs a number of "pro" classes but classes for older and inexperienced riders as well making the series a welcoming one great for everyone.  J Day Off-Road

The Central Connecticut 4 Wheelers are putting on their second event of 2013.  CC4W holds its events at the Moto-X 338 facility in Southwick, MA.  These events represent some of the longest running short course events in the Northeastern, US and CC4W has opened a "beginners" class for those who might want to get their feet wet in short course racing.  Lots of excellent Jeeps, buggies and trucks running here with the race taking place on Sunday 5/19 and Team O'Neil Rally School performing demo rides as well.  Central Connecticut 4Wheelers

If anyone knows of any others please let me know so I can add them to my schedule of events to pay attention to in the future.  And if anyone attends any of these events and/or takes photos, please let me know as I'd love to give a mention/recap for each one.  So get out there and get involved.

Bryce Menzies Coming to GRC...

Saw this in a UNLV article today.  It appears as if Bryce has signed on with Travis Pastrana's racing team to run in the Global RallyCross events in '13.  Its a good fit for both as Bryce is also backed by Red Bull and has been a Dodge driver for some time as well.

It will be interesting to see how the GRC schedule fits with his short-course and desert racing schedule and if there is a conflict, which one gets dropped (I'm betting GRC).  Certainly the Menzies have the financial backing to support his effort and put him near the top of the field in terms of on site resources.  Bryce is no slouch behind the wheel either with time spent at O'Neil's Rallyschool and being declared one of the best drivers to come through that facility by its lead instructor.  It will be interesting to see what a full season (or nearly so) of time behind the wheel of the GRC Dodge Dart at a primarily an asphalt based series (if its in any way similar to the courses set up in '12) will produce for Bryce.

The other interesting part here is Bryce's interest in the Dakar.  Given that the winners (car and bike), on a combined points basis, of the Baja 500 and Reno 500 later this year will receive a free entry to the '14 Dakar for the first time, I'm betting that this is what Bryce is aiming for.  Additionally, I'm sure Red Bull would be a big fan of his entrance into the Dakar as a young, up and coming American racer.  Regardless, it should be a busy year for the Menzies crew trying to support a short course, SCORE, BITD, and now GRC efforts (with Dakar possibly thrown in for S's and giggles).  You certainly can fault them for sitting on their laurels!

UNLV Article...

2013 TORC Defending Pro Lite Champion...

Brad Lovell has given his Nissan Pro Lite a cool refresh to go along with its #1 numberplate for the 2013 season.  The white body really pops and I actually like the black racing stripes on the hood as well.  Lovell also keeps his BFG tire sponsorship which is common across all the Lovell racing vehicles.

Lovell Racing displays 2013 Pro Lite...

Mud and Flight

A great new video by Nissan corporate featuring Casey Currie and Carl Renezeder and their Nissan Frontier and Titan (respectively) trucks.  Currie and Renezeder are on the top rung of Nissan sponsored offroad racers and its nice to see Nissan putting some PR efforts behind them.  The video is shot well with lots of crisp slow motion photography.  Hopefully Nissan will keep this up through the introduction of the next generation Titan and Frontier.

LOORRS TV Ratings 11/24...

Like I said in my previous post, it has been a while since I took a look at some of the short course ratings on network TV.  I missed this one initially but have gone back and seen what the 11/24 broadcast generated.

Unfortunately it was at the low end of ratings at a 0.3 equating to an audience of 343,000 households tuned in and about 380,000 viewers.  The interesting thing here is that this is one of the few (only in my memory) instances of where a recent TORC broadcast has out rated recent LOORRS broadcasts (comparing the 11/24 LOORRS broadcast to the 12/29 TORC broadcast).  Its not an apples to apples comparison certainly but it will certainly be interesting to see how the '13 Stadium Super Trucks series performs on NBC.

NCAA Football: Michigan-Ohio State	11/24	ABC	12:00-3:30pm	6.3
NCAA Football: Florida-Florida State	11/24	ABC	3:30-7:15pm	5.6
NCAA Football: Notre Dame-USC	11/24	ABC	8:15-11:45pm	10.0
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	11/24	CBS	1:30-2:30pm	0.3
"College Football Today"	11/24	CBS	3:00-3:30pm	0.9
NCAA Football: Auburn-Alabama	11/24	CBS	3:30-6:45pm	2.2
NCAA Football: Baylor-Texas Tech	11/24	Fox	2:30-6:30pm	1.0
NCAA Football: Stanford-UCLA	11/24	Fox	6:30-10:00pm	1.7
NCAA Football: Grambling-Southern	11/24	NBC	2:30-6:30pm	0.7
"The NFL Today"	11/25	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	2.6
"NFL on CBS": (single)	11/25	CBS	1:00-4:05pm	10.5
Figure Skating: Kaleidoscope on Ice	11/25	CBS	5:00-6:00pm	1.4
"Fox NFL Sunday"	11/25	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.2
"NFL on Fox": (regional)	11/25	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	8.7
"NFL on Fox": 49ers-Saints (93%)	11/25	Fox	4:15-7:30pm	16.5
"The OT"	11/25	Fox	7:30-8:00pm	9.3
Skiing: Aspen Winternational	11/25	NBC	1:00-2:00pm	0.5
Figure Skating: ISU Grand Prix	11/25	NBC	2:00-4:00pm	0.8
Figure Skating: Holiday Moments on Ice	11/25	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	1.2
"Sunday Night Football": Packers-Giants	11/25	NBC	8:30-11:30pm	13.5

TORC Red Bull Signature Series Ratings...

Been a while since I've done one of these but with the broadcast of the two hour long TORC Red Bull Signature series this past weekend I figure I'd bring it back.  Ratings for this event were in line with what we have typically seen from short course offroad on broadcast TV.  The 0.5 rating means that about 571,000 TV owning households in the US were tuned into this broadcast.  Using my typical, conservative, 1.1 viewers per TV equates to about 628,000 viewers for this broadcast.  This puts the show at the high end of recent LOORRS broadcasts over on CBS which have fallen in the 0.3-0.6 rating spreads

"ESPN Sports Saturday" 12/29 ABC 4:00-6:00pm 0.7

"75 Years of March Madness: Behind the Mic" 12/29 CBS 2:00-3:00pm 0.5

"75 Years of March Madness: A Coach's Perspective" 12/29 CBS 3:00-4:00pm 0.5

NCAA Basketball: Kentucky-Louisville 12/29 CBS 4:00-6:15pm 1.6

Red Bull Signature Series 12/29 NBC 2:00-4:00pm 0.5

Tyco Golf Skills Challenge 12/29 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.7

"The NFL Today" 12/30 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 2.8

"NFL on CBS": Texans-Colts (64%) 12/30 CBS 1:00-4:15pm 11.1

"NFL on CBS": (regional) 12/30 CBS 4:15-7:30pm 8.1

"Fox NFL Sunday" 12/30 Fox 12:00-1:00pm 3.8

"NFL on Fox" (regional) 12/30 Fox 1:00-4:15pm 10.8

"NFL on Fox" Packers-Vikings (82%) 12/30 Fox 4:15-7:30pm 16.4

PGA Tour Year-in-Review 12/30 NBC 3:00-4:00pm 0.2

Tyco Golf Skills Challenge 12/30 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.5

"Football Night in America" 12/30 NBC 7:30-8:15pm 5.5

"Sunday Night Football": Cowboys-Redskins 12/30 NBC 8:30-11:30pm 18.3