A Sweet Victory for General Tire and Team 71 Racing...
The Best in the Desert off-road racing organization announced the official results for this years Vegas to Reno off road race. Results
This win marks the first overall victory for Team 71 Racing in their year-old Trophy Truck, however perhaps of even greater significance is the fact that this historical effort galvanizes an indisputable success story for General Tires off-road race program. The win further resonates what we've been expecting for some time now. The General Grabber race tire was first introduced at the 2007 SEMA convention in Las Vegas. Since it's debut the whole tire industry has been speculating, it's hard not to notice when names like Stienburger, Kroeker and Ivan Sturate jumped brands to join a force with a mission...to dethrone long-time ruler of Baja, BFGoodrich.
Crossing the finish line 7:20 faster than any other vehicle Rick Johnson and co-driver Brian Sallee took home a first-ever overall win for both Team 71 and General Tire. Johnson credits extensive race prep, smart driving and simple good luck for his team's victory on Saturday.
General Tire, a division of Continental is ecstatic with the Vegas to Reno victory, a win that came at just the right moment according to the company's Off Road Race program director, Travis Roffler. The General Grabber race tire marks a whole new direction for the General brand, one that some say may have an uncertain future as German bearing producer Schaeffler recently strong-armed Continental board members out of 49.99 % of the company's stock. Without a solid victory under their belt a first year racing program has little chance of being refunded, especially when corporate instability whispers of change.
Not only did General Tire emerge victorious in the unlimited Trick Truck class, but two additional teams secured podium finishes for the General brand. Mike Horner of Luguna Hills, California drove his Synergy Motorsports Toyota Tundra to a 2nd place victory in Class 8, while KORE's Kent Kroeker of Valley Center, California secured 3rd place in their full size production stock class Dodge Ram.
The day after the race General Tire's win was the topic of many conversations at Terrible's Sands Casino resort. The word spread quickly about the 1-2-3 finishes for the brand. 3 out of 3 isn't bad considering General's program is so new. "The tire is nowhere near finished yet, we have just scratched the surface of what we want to do with the Grabber"- says Tony Talbert, General's Light Truck Tire Director. Further refinement is expected as data collected from each race will provide essential engineering feedback on compound, tread design and side wall construction. The hope is that through this program General Tire will learn ways to improve their light truck product line.
The next desert event for General Tire is the SCORE Primm, Nevada race September 5th and 6th 2008.
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