TORC Finals: Keys to the Big House

September 10, 2014
Story By
Doug Dienelt

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After an eventful 2014 season, it’s already time to wrap up TORC – and the final event, The Keys to the Big House at Crandon, couldn’t have been more exciting! On Saturday, we all feared that the event would be cancelled due to weather – with more rain than usual on the East side of the US this year it has made for some exciting races (such as Ultra4 at Badlands), and this one was no exception.

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Drivers were put to the test with a new group of set-up challenges; changing tire pressures, re-grooving tires, and prepping the cars for the onslaught of mud.

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Many of the non-Pro classes that run are lighter-weight and not designed to quip with additional hundreds of pounds of mud being added – it didn’t take long for them to become unidentifiable beneath the layers of wet mud. Even the 4WD vehicles looked like ice cubes dropped into a hot pan as they traversed the wet, gooey track surface.

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By the end of Saturday, disappointed fans trudged back to their wet camping spots – not even bulldozing the track to clear it of mud was enough to allow the Pro classes to run.

Nitto Tire TORC Crandon August 2014 Amsoil Cup

Although foggy and raining Sunday morning, the Pro Light trucks were pulling off the starting line by 11:30am. For those who’ve never been to Crandon, imagine 30 350-horsepower open-header engines at full-throttle all at once. From a 2-row start of 15 cars per row, they rush towards an early turn that can only accommodate a width of three vehicles!

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The Pro Lights would be the only class to make two heats, which meant the Pro2 and Pro4 runs would all be worth twice the points. Being the last race of the season, drivers push everything to their limits and that surely was the case here. Not only were there a number of mechanical issues arising but there were also at least a few rollovers throughout the day. Racers fought tooth and nail for places on the podium and good finishes to their yearly Championship points standings.

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Nitto Racing driver Ross Hoek, who we met earlier in the season, had mechanical failures all weekend taking him out of the running – first his front differential cracked in half, then a steering issue took him out, and during the final Amsoil Cup he suffered a broken driveshaft.

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The Pro4 competition was heated. Johnny Greaves took the lead early, battling his son, CJ Greaves who’d just come off a 1^st place victory in the Pro Light class. Before the end, Monster teammate Kyle LeDuc passed the pair sliding into first for the heat.

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As the day ended, it was the triple-podium win of CJ Greaves that was truly amazing. While earning the 2014 Champioship in Pro2, Greaves also placed first in this Pro Light race and third in the Pro4 version.