Team ReadyLift Racing’s Marty Hart Sweeps Rounds 9 & 10 And Takes The Points Lead

Mon, 9 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series has been nothing short of the most exciting racing ticket in town. The sophomore season has featured some epic racing, great stories and numerous intense battles for the respective championship points leads. After parting ways with the Lake Elsinore venue, the Lucas series, its teams and the devoted fans have been chomping at the bit for another Southern California race. After all, SoCal is the home court of short course off road racing. It was only a few months ago that teams and fans were treated with news that short course off road racing would indeed return to SoCal with the new venue being the fast-growing Glen Helen Raceway!

The Glen Helen and LOORRS staff designed and constructed a very fast and technical track that proved to be extremely challenging for many teams, yet incredibly exciting for the sold out crowd of fans that attended. Team ReadyLift® Racing drivers each faced various obstacles over the weekend. Sean Geiser in the Team ReadyLift®/Losi/Yokohama Unlimited Pro Lite Toyota rebounded from a scary incident when Deegan landed his truck on top of Sean’s Toyota during practice, resulting in a heavily damaged race truck. But Geiser’s crew worked through the night and got the truck race ready for both of Saturday and Sunday’s UPL races. The high-light for Geiser’s ReadyLift® Racing team was having the opportunity to lead Sunday’s race for numerous laps before fellow Team ReadyLift® Racing/ Stronghold Motorsports veteran Marty Hart worked his way to the front and took a commanding lead.

Hart, the perennial favorite and proven winner dominated the weekend from start to finish while stretching his win streak to seven straight Unlimited Pro Lite wins in a row! In this highly competitive class, seven wins in a row is something only a few drivers have accomplished in this class – ever! In both days of racing Marty put the Team ReadyLift® Racing/Stronghold Motorsports/Maxxis Tire/Lucas Oil/Lamb Energy Ford hot rod out front and never looked back. He drove the epitome of the perfect races! Sweeping the weekend wins was great, but even better is the fact that Marty’s complete domination over the weekend has now earned him the series points lead and Hart looks to be the one to beat for the 2010 Championship!

2009 Unlimited Pro Buggy Champion Chuck Cheek piloted his ReadyLift® co-sponsored open wheeler like a man on a mission while wowing the crowd with some spectacular moves only to fall victim to mechanical woes in both of the weekend’s events. The same fate awaited veteran ReadyLift® driver Rob “Fig” Naughton who was in position to take a top three podium spot before a mechanical set back removed him from the race. Contact by another competitor in Sunday’s race crippled the Stronghold Motorsports/ReadyLift®/Maxxis Tire/Lucas Oil machine and stymied yet another great racing effort. As we have all become accustomed to, the mean yellow machines of Stronghold Motorsports will rally back and steady their aim on dominating next month in Surprise, Arizona for the second to last rounds of the season.

Everyone at ReadyLift® would like to congratulate our teams on their performances and look forward to the continued domination in September in Surprise, Arizona for rounds 11 & 12. If you like high speed, dirt flying action then make plans to head to the valley of the sun on September 25th & 26th and watch Team ReadyLift® Racing continue to purse championships in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series.

For more information:
www.robertnaughton.com
www.seangeiser.com
www.lucasoiloffroad.com
www.readylift.com
www.strongholdmotorsports.com

For more photos or information about Team ReadyLift® Racing please email brian@readylift.com

Marty Hart Leads All Team ReadyLift Racing Drivers With A Win and Huge Point Gains At Rounds 5 & 6 In Sin City

Wed, 2 Jun 2010 11:11:57 -0500

For Immediate Release:
Short Course Off Road Racing Lucas Oil style isn’t for the faint of heart or those who only bet on a sure thing. The ground pounding, high octane, dirt churning sport challenges even the best drivers on the planet. Every driver and team is at the mercy of both mechanical and competition luck. You have to have a little of both. Combine the positive side of those two elements with a honed racing skill set and more times than not the cream will rise to the top. At the recent LOORRS Round 5 & 6 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 22nd and 23rd it became clear that Team ReadyLift® Racing/Stronghold Motorsports Unlimited Pro Lite driver and past Champion Marty Hart is one of only a few true contenders for the 2010 Championship.

While mechanical gremlins wreaked unusual havoc on most of the Team ReadyLift® drivers on this weekend, it was the seasoned veteran Hart’s time to serve up a dose of domination. In the previous two round weekends of racing Hart has enjoyed both the spoils of podium finishes as well as the disappointment of mechanical woes. It’s been feast or famine. And rounds 5 & 6 were the weekend Hart and the Stronghold Motorsports/ReadyLift® Racing/Maxxis Tire/Lamb Energy team got to enjoy a healthy feast of success. A solid performance by Hart in Saturday’s round 5 race left all competitors in the dust while securing another win for the team. Sunday’s racing action was a little more challenging as Hart battled hard with Deegan and Brandt for the lead, ultimately settling for a second place podium finish. The combination of Saturday’s win and Sunday’s second place finish catapulted Hart up the points chart and into contention for yet another Unlimited Pro Lite Championship.

Team ReadyLift’s Rob Naughton, Chuck Cheek and Sean Geiser didn’t get to experience the same feast of success that Hart did. But while the finishes were not what the driver’s would have expected, each showed they were contenders for the lead throughout the respective races. Rob Naughton in his mean ReadyLift® sponsored Pro-2 machine battled for the lead with the sport’s most successful drivers. In short course off road racing sometimes you are the bat and sometimes you are the ball. Unfortunately for Naughton his Pro-2 ride became the ball on another driver’s bat relegating Rob to a 10th place finish on Saturday, a finish not even close to representative of Rob’s racing performance. Sunday race was an improvement as Rob bettered a 12th place starting position to finish 5th overall.

Chuck Cheek continued to be force in the Unlimited Pro Buggy class which he won a championship in 2009. Solid performances for the lead were stifled both racing days by mechanical issues. A bum clutch held Cheek to a 5th place finish on Saturday while an ill motor knocked Chuck back to 12th on Sunday.

ReadyLift® Racing’s Sean Geiser suffered similar fates over the weekend. After a brand new motor decided to meet its maker in practice Sean had to start at the back of the Unlimited Pro Lite field in Saturday’s race. Although he would make up many spots on the track it was a failed fuel pump that would result in a 10th place finish. In Sunday’s round 6 race Sean started 9th and worked his way up to a battle for fourth place when his backup motor decided it wanted to visit Saturday’s motor in engine heaven.

Rounds 5 & 6 of LOORRS racing in Las Vegas were filled with a wide range of emotions and desires. While Team ReadyLift® Racing didn’t bring home the finishes all of its driver’s and teams deserved, all of our driver’s showed why they are champion caliber competitors both on and off the track. We look forward to Rounds 7 & 8 in Tooele, Utah on June 26-27, 2010 and invite everyone to come out and check out the exciting racing action that is short course off road Lucas Oil style.

For more information:
www.robertnaughton.com
www.seangeiser.com
www.lucasoiloffroad.com
www.readylift.com
www.strongholdmotorsports.com

For more photos or information about Team ReadyLift® Racing please email brian@readylift.com

Tribute to a Hall of Famer

Thu, 8 Apr 2010 13:38:58 -0500

Crandon, WI - We are sad to announce the passing of Jack Flannery on Tuesday Morning, the 6th of April 2010. Jack bravely battled cancer for a number of years without voicing a single complaint or looking back. He was as brave in his suffering as he was brave on the race track.

Mr. Flannery was a son, father, brother and a friend to everyone in the racing community; he will be remembered for his smile and his wit. The entire racing community will recall his driving skills and the many victories posted in his beloved 'Chevy Thunder".

The wake will be held on Friday April 9th at Praise Chapel in Crandon, Wisconsin from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Burial to follow. A dinner will be held thereafter starting at 6:00 PM at the Crandon Community Center. Keep Jack in your prayers and remember him for the winner that he was. Crandon will miss you Jack!

In tribute we are posting a brief biography that was written when Jack was inducted into the the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2009 in the Competition: Off-Road Racing category:

Championship off-road racer Jack Flannery is one of the most well-known names in off-road racing for his talents as a competitor and an innovator. Born and raised in Crandon, Wisconsin, Flannery joins an extremely elite group of other legends such as Walker Evans and Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, among others, in the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. The achievement is also significant in that Flannery is the first off-road champion from the Midwest to be inducted into the Hall.
Flannery brought short course off-road racing to the mainstream by being the first Midwest native to organize a professional off-road race team that was capable of competing against, and beating, the best off-road racers in the world. His passion and commitment to the sport and innovative truck designs helped bring short course off-road racing to a higher level. Being continuously involved in every aspect of the sport, from track designs and layout, to bridging the gap between promoters, racers, fans, and sponsors alike, he enabled more people to experience and enjoy the sport on all levels.
Starting his career at the legendary Crandon International Off-Road Raceway as a grass roots off-road racer, his charismatic personality, techniques and refinements allowed him success in a variety of venues. Competing against factory sponsored teams in the initial stages of his career, privateer Flannery, with the financial backing from Flannery Trucking, owned by his father Melvin and late mother Dorothy, proved early on he was quite talented behind the wheel and a force to be reckoned with.
Beginning his nearly three-decade racing career by piloting a snowmobile, he switched his efforts in the ‘70's to a Class 6 two wheel drive sedan and utility vehicle. In '74 he discovered a new niche and began piloting rear engine off-road buggies. In the late 70's he began to focus his talents and passion on the full-size truck classes.
Competing in the Mint 400 in the Nevada desert in ‘78 and ‘79 helped Flannery gain valuable experience.
Venturing into Canadian territory in the early ‘80's, Flannery competed in the Canadian Off-Road Series two times, all the while dominating the Midwest SODA series and racking up five Pro Series Championship titles. He also competed in the SCORE Off-Road Championships in Riverside, California.
In 1990, Flannery added another victory at the Inaugural SCORE Off-Road Championships in Phoenix, Arizona. The highlight of 1990 was when Flannery captured the Class F truck title in the Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb and earned "Rookie of the Year" honors while piloting a Ford F-150.
The following year brought a major sponsorship on behalf of Chevrolet and launch of the famous “Chevy Thunder” Team as well as 9 wins out of 10 events in the SODA ESPN-TV Pro Series. Jack also once again returned to Pikes Peak, this time driving a new full-size Chevrolet, and not only won the Heavy Metal title, but shattered his own record by a whopping 22 seconds! In ‘92 Flannery made the trek back to the "Hill" finishing second. 1993 again showcased Flannery’s talent as he stormed through the SODA circuit by winning five of six events, and taking home the ESPN Pro Series Championship for a sixth time.
In subsequent years, Flannery was a solid fixture in professional short course off-road racing and again no stranger in victory circle scoring numerous Pro 4 and Heavy Metal wins. The pinnacle of his career came in 1996 when he won the coveted $125,000 Borg Warner Cup Race at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway. “Mr. Chevy Thunder” followed that up in 1997 with a clean sweep at Crandon, once again winning both Pro 4 classes and the prestigious Governor’s (now called “Chairman’s”) Cup Race. Victory followed Flannery into 1998 when against a world class field of off-road competitors; he dominated and claimed the CORR Pro 4 Championship title and in 1999 won a second Chairman’s Cup as his curtain call.
Having accomplished goals most can only dream of with well over 150 class wins and series titles, Jack has enough championship rings to fit every finger and toe on his body.