Speed Energy Formula Off-Road Presented by Traxxas Stadium SUPER Trucks will make its third appearance at the famed Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday. This will also be the third weekend of SST racing in 2015 for the thrilling trucks.
Last year’s race on the streets of Long Beach saw series founder Robby Gordon take the win from Venezuela’s E.J. Viso, who while making his first appearance in an SST wowed the crowd of more than 100,000 spectators by chasing his fellow former IndyCar star to the checkered flag. The final lap of the 2014 race also saw then 16-year-old Sheldon Creed drive aggressively through the 11th and final corner of the 1.968-mile course, and door slam P.J. Jones in the process to take over third and earn the final spot on the Long Beach podium.
The exciting finish left a memorable mark on the fans attending the race, and this year’s larger field hopes to deliver the same type of excitement this year.
“It was an honor in 2013 that Jim Michaelian (Long Beach Grand Prix president and CEO) invited us to race at Long Beach, and it remains the same today,” said Gordon, who founded the series in 2013 and was inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame Thursday morning. “The Long Beach race has always been a legendary stop on the IndyCar circuit and the opportunity to race hard and put on a show for the Southern California fans is one of the highlights of our season.
“Trucks and truck racing go hand-in-hand with Southern California, and the fans here really appreciate the different type of racing we provide and Long Beach gives a fan a very diverse schedule of motorsports that is tops in the country.”
2015 will mark the 41st year of racing for the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
In addition to Gordon in his SPEED Energy entry, Viso in the LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment SST and Creed in one of two Traxxas sponsored trucks, Gavin Harlien and Scotty Steele in a second LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck will also return after finishing fifth and eighth respectively last year.
Keegan Kincaid of Crandon, Wisc. in a Traxxas-branded truck, Burt Jenner in a Gladiator/ Outlaw LED SST, Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Penn., in a third LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck, Charles Dorrance in the Three Bears Motorsports SST, Erik Davis in the Always Evolving/RePlay XD truck and Kyle LeDuc in a Toyo Tires truck will make their first Long Beach SST starts.
In March at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Creed and Jenner each won races on the IndyCar weekend, with Creed capturing his fifth SST race win and Jenner his first. Both Creed and Jenner are returning home to California to race, with Creed from Alpine and Jenner from Los Angeles. Gordon, Davis and LeDuc are also California natives.
The first events of the 2015 SST season took place in Adelaide, Australia in front of a reported 285,000 fans over a three-day period with the races nothing short of thrilling even by SST standards with Viso winning the first race, and Traxxas-sponsored drivers Creed and Kincaid taking the next two respectively. Gordon finished second in all three events.
The SST’s will practice at Long Beach on Saturday morning at 7:55 a.m. and Sunday at 7:20 a.m. before lining up for the race Sunday at 11:50 a.m., the final race before the start of the Grand Prix of Long Beach at 1:30 p.m.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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