Well, it’s officially been one week since I quit my regular job at MINI (which was a great place to work, by the way!), in order to concentrate full-time on my “now official”  Pro 4 race program.

Last week we announced that I would be driving a Pro 4 Unlimited truck in the Lucas Oil Off Road Race Series for the Tilted Kilt in the 2012 race season.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this program - which we have been working on since July of last year - has actually come into fruition, and I will be racing a Pro 4 this year.  Not just any Pro 4, mind you - but, Carl Renezeder’s 2009 Pro 4, which is a championship winning truck.  And.... it’s Carl Renezeder’s. You know.....just my favorite driver!

How do these things happen??  Well, with a lot of sacrifice, debt, blood, sweat and tears, actually.  We have been working towards the goal of a Pro truck program probably since we started racing UTVs in CORR in 2008.  Even when we were pitting out of our unfinished enclosed trailer, and I was washing my hair out of a bucket early in the morning so no one would see (so-o-o-o-o  C-O-L-D in the winter, btw!), we still made sure our Rhino was clean every time it hit the track.  We made sure we took care of our sponsors.  We went into debt the first year we raced and put our finances in jeopardy in order to finish out the season, because we gave our commitment to the series and to the companies that supported us.  

Most of all, we raced and we gained experience, and we watched the teams we looked up to and tried to learn from them.  How were they presenting themselves?  How did they treat the fans?  How did they handle winning and losing? 

We took this information and applied it to the next year, and the next, and slowly our program took shape into something that we were very proud of.  It’s a good feeling to feel like you are a welcome part of a series, no matter what class you are in - and Jason and I have felt that with LOORRS, pretty much since the beginning. 

The Tilted Kilt came on board with us when we were just starting our SR1 program, and it was just the shot of support we needed.  I was on the podium almost every round after that, and we were aiming for that championship in 2011.  Things had just sort of clicked for us in 2010, and we knew what we had to do in 2011 to get to the top of our class - and we did it.

The timing for this truck program couldn’t be any better, since LOORRS has eliminated the UTV classes from it’s program this year.  If I wasn’t racing a truck, I don’t know what I would have done without the chance to continue to race in a series I love so much.  LOORRS is our racing family, and I’m so glad we are able to continue racing with everyone this year! 

So, have I been relaxing since I quit last Monday?  Ummm....quite the contrary!  I have been busier this past week than I ever was at my regular job!  There are race suits to design, canopies to order, trucks to decal, shirts to create, press releases to write, blogs to maintain, sponsors to find and tons and tons of people to thank for getting us where we are today! 

And that was only this week!