After a thrilling show last year that left the jaws of fans wide-open, the SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road Presented by TRAXXAS is set to return to the streets to the streets of Toronto this weekend as part of the Honda Indy weekend.
“It’s a great race track,” series promoter Robby Gordon commented. “I’ve always loved coming to Toronto. Downtown Toronto is awesome. To be able to bring our series to another country in front of these fans, it’s very cool for us. We’re excited about the weekend. Everybody from the Honda Indy Toronto, all the officials, have been great to work with. I think last year was, ‘Okay, we’ll try it out’ and this year it’s ‘okay, how do we know more?’ and now we’re getting media days, giving rides and doing things like we did today. We’ve also got the practice tomorrow, and then racing on Saturday and Sunday.”
Comprising of the 11-turns, the street course is located right in the heart of downtown Toronto at the same location in which the Canadian National Exhibition will be hosted a month later. The track has proven to be challenging for all sorts of drivers, no matter the series, in navigating the turns throughout. One of the most talked about spots that drivers have referenced over the years is the tight turn three that is at the end of the long backstraightaway that runs down Lakeshore Blvd. It’s no different for Gordon and his series as it can be tough to get slowed down for the corner.
“For our trucks, we’re flat flying at the end of the backstraightaway,” he commented. “We’re reaching about 150 mph and it’s very edgy down there so that’s probably the most challenging thing in slowing down and not locking up the brakes. What you probably saw in the race number one (last year), I hit the wall so it’s just trying not to lock up the brakes and hit the wall.”
Though, on top of navigating the course by itself, drivers will be faced with man-made ramps throughout the course that they will hit at more than 100 mph, sending them 20 feet in the air and 150 feet down course.
The series was developed by Gordon, kicking off last year with it’s inaugural season and meant to take after the same form of the old Mickey Thompson Off-Road Series. Mickey Thompson, an off-road racing legend, formed the series 1979, hosting events in stadiums. Gordon ran in the series alongside Thompson, winning a championship in 1988. Sadly, Thompson and his wife were murdered in ’88 with the series only surviving a short time after that.
Though now with the hard work and promotion of Gordon and his staff, the idea is back and bringing new fans to this form of racing with each event that they have. The growth was shown at the series’ last event at the X-Games in Austin where they were able to put together a solid 20-truck field.
“The opportunity to run 20 trucks at X-Games kind of proves to us that we can do it, and it puts on an awesome show so that’s obviously my ultimate goal to have a race at an Indy track with 20 trucks,” Gordon commented.
Gordon’s team of mechanics prepare the trucks for the event equally, with drivers renting a truck for the weekend via the sponsorship that they’re able to get. Each driver is paired with a SST mechanic and will be able to make minor adjustments to the truck to get it to their liking. The idea of the series is simple – equal trucks, equal competition, best driver being able to showcase their skills.
“We give the drivers a good baseline to start with and I always open my set-up to everybody so everybody has the same equal opportunity,” Gordon noted.
Last year, both races brought forth entertainment with contact between the trucks, high heights reached off the jumps and a pair of winners in the form of Justin Lofton and Sheldon Creed. With a pair of races, one on Saturday scheduled for 2:20 p.m. EST and one on Sunday at 2:20 p.m. EST, it should bring excitement once again as Creed will try and defend his win against the top drivers in the series.
To prepare for their races, there will be a practice scheduled on Friday at 11:50 a.m. EST. Fans are welcome down to the grounds to check out that practice for free as part of FREE FRIDAY, which is put on by the Honda Dealers Association. Collecting donations for Make-A-Wish, they allow fans to come and explore the grounds to see what all the buzz is about, in hopes that they’ll return the rest of the weekend.
Fans whom are unable to attend the event are welcome to watch the live stream online on at http://www.stadiumsupertrucks.com. The race will be broadcast at 10 p.m. PDT on July 31st on NBCSN.
For more information on the SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road Presented by TRAXXAS series, check out http://www.stadiumsupertrucks.com.
For more information on the Honda Indy Toronto, check out http://www.hondaindytoronto.com.
