Off-Road Championship Gran Prix : Sports-Truck Title Battle to Continue Tonight
A heated battle for the manufacturers’ championship of the Grand National sports trucks resumes at 7 tonight in the sixth round of Mickey Thompson’s Off-Road Championship Gran Prix at the Coliseum.
Toyota, with factory drivers Ivan Stewart and Steve Millen, has claimed the manufacturers’ championship four consecutive years, but Mazda is the current leader with 578 points to 470 for Toyota.
Glenn Harris, team manager for Mazda, has won three stadium races, and teammate Rod Millen, Steve’s brother, won the season opener in Anaheim to give Mazda the series lead. Steve Millen won the last event at the Rose Bowl to end Mazda’s domination.
“Since Day 1, my personal goal has been to dethrone Toyota,” Harris said. “We’re constantly testing our equipment and making changes to improve. We’re going to keep trying until we make it happen.”
Harris has traveled nearly 40,000 miles in the past seven months, competing on the national circuit and in international races in France and Canada. He has won 7 of 10 races, including his first attempt at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb last week.
Harris’ success on the Mickey Thompson circuit has been his ability to qualify, under an inverted starting system, for the front row in four of five events. In an inverted system, the fastest drivers in the two heat races are moved to the back of the pack for the start of the main event.
“We’ve qualified the fastest at every race, but Glenn has won three times by starting on the front row,” Steve Millen said. Millen is the class leader with 226 points, followed by his brother, Rod, with 222 points and Ivan Stewart with 219 points.
“Winning the manufacturers’ trophy is a big selling point,” Stewart said. “I’ve had fans come up to me at the autograph sessions and tell me they bought a Toyota because they saw me win a race.
“It means a lot to the manufacturers to win. The Mazda team has done a lot of hard work, and I think they’re tired of Toyotas beating them.”
Steve Millen credited his younger brother for helping Mazda move to the top. Millen joined Harris’ team as full-time driver this season.
“If Rod wasn’t on their team, we would be way ahead,” Millen said. “Mazda has run three trucks at every race except Houston. We’ve had two all season. There’s two races left, so we’re still in the hunt.”
More than 150 entries are expected in six classes, including 1600cc dune buggies, ultra stocks, four-wheel ATVs and 250cc motorcycles. The 3/5-mile course features double peristyle jumps in which vehicles race 90 feet up the east end of the Coliseum to the peristyle level and then return to the field.
The 1600cc class features a race for the title between Fred Castle of Buena Park and Frank Arciero Jr. of Laguna Hills. Castle leads Arciero, 179-178.