September 8th, 2000, Carlsbad, California......Michael Kilgore, Motorsports Marketing Group, announced today that an agreement had been reached to include the Mechanix Wear Speed Truck Challenge at the San Diego Grand Prix. Rafael Rubio, CEO of the organization and founder of Rubio’s Baja Grill Restaurants said the addition of the truck series to the event would enable them to reach a market segment that might not have been possible without participation of the Speed Truck Challenge. “We have an obligation to maximize our exposure throughout the Southwest in general and in Southern California specifically. The addition of the Speed Truck Challenge will allow us the opportunity to show San Diegans and visitors to our city that we have created a real truckload of excitement by putting the high powered pickups on the San Diego Grand Prix road course.”
Jay Rutherford, Speed Truck Challenge, said this event will showcase the considerable talents of our truck series drivers in a setting unfamiliar to many San Diego motor sport enthusiasts. “We have created a true drivers' championship series, “ stated Rutherford, “our equally matched and sealed high powered engines in sport compact pick up truck configuration eliminates the possibility that a high financed team could 'buy' the championship. We have a multi-ethnic group of highly skilled drivers who deliver a 'truck load of excitement' every week at race tracks throughout the Southwest and the San Diego Grand Prix crowd had better be ready to hold their breath for 25 action packed laps of fender to fender racing. NASCAR racing is the most exciting thing on four wheels and with over 35% of American households owning a pick up truck and with sales now surpassing cars, we have a lot of dedicated, brand conscious owners rooting for their favorite.”
Practice for the Speed Trucks begins on Friday, November 3rd, with qualifying on Saturday morning and the 25 lap race around the 1.6 mile road course will be on Saturday afternoon. Other racing divisions at the San Diego Grand Prix are The BF Goodrich Trans-Am Series, SpeedVision World Challenge Series, SpeedVision GT Touring Car Championship, United States F3 Series and SCCA Pro Racing.
The Speed Trucks are a full tubular chassis with a sealed 350 horsepower VORTEC racing engine that's powered by 110 octane TRICK Racing Fuel and fed by a Holley carburetor. A direct drive 2 speed transmission on clutch pedal dump valve coupled to a Speedway Engineering aluminum quick change rear end gets the power to the Goodyear Eagle racing slicks. The trucks are fiberglass-bodied in Chevy S-10, Dodge Dakota, Ford Ranger & Toyota Tacoma and delivered “race ready” at a base price of $28,000.
