Coverage: HDRA Redline at Stateline

Jan. 30, 2012 By Art Eugenio

The High Desert Racing Association (HDRA) made its return official with a successful inaugural event with the Redline at the Stateline, which was held just outside of Las Vegas at Primm Nevada.
Just months ago the announcement of the revival of the once great HDRA series put the off-road racing world into a frenzy of excitement and uncertainty. The questions raised be the revival of this series had the off-road community wondering if another series was the answer. With the vision and backing of longtime Trophy Truck racer Roger Norman and the ability and execution of Ken Flippen and Robert Gross, HDRA is certain to try and answer those questions in a positive fashion.

Jole Whitted (1205) had a heated battle with Scott Wisdom (1288), narrowly taking the win for the weekend.

“About 5 months ago I got together with Ken and Robert and started talking about some possibilities, and a week later we announced that we were going to do it,” said Roger Norman. “I’m the type of person that when I say go, it’s go all the way. I knew with all the people involved it would be a sure success and it is. It’s everything I was hoping it could possibly be for this first event. Every racer has told us how happy they are and are coming back for our next race, even the ones who were doing just this one. I couldn’t be happier.

Steven Eugenio (103) took home over $10,000 for the weekend first overall and first in Class 1.

“We really want to grow the sport and bring it up to the level that we all see it as. We had several TV crews here that came from all over. We had a few come out from as far as New York and Florida; another came from San Diego and most of the desert media are here as well. We had Jim Cook filming from the helicopter all weekend, not only following the big unlimited cars but Class 11s and 9’s, everyone. We have big plans and we’re going to see them through.”

Running the show is race director Robert Gross, who ran a tight ship at the first race of experienced volunteers with precision timing. Not one race of the multi-day, multi-heat event was delayed for any reason, a great accomplishment for the first run out of the box.

A great weekend for the father son team of Robert and Derek Eugenio sweeping the weekend in Class 9 (979).

“We’ve taken a lot of time and planning the last few months,” Gross said. “We started with a blank sheet of paper and went from there, with the help from Roger, Robbie, Jake and the his whole crew is incredible, they are the icing on the cake. With everyone we have in place already, my family are all involved, Mark Bass, Gene Lund, Lawton Shank, all the staff in registration, timing, the flagmen, the recovery guys, checkpoint guys, they all want to do this right and we’ve showed it today that we can do it. We put all the right people in all the right places and bam, the lights are on, the world is watching. BLM has us under a microscope and we ran flawless.”

Brandon Arthur went big and took the win in Class 1400.

Overseeing all this is Ken Flippin who, with his vast experience from years of racing and promotion, left his family business to pursue the dream. “I couldn’t be happier, not because of the turnout, not because it was totally safe, not because Ivan Stewart is here, but because everybody who raced came up and said how happy they were,” Flippin said. “That’s why we formed this. We said it’s by racers for racers and we proved that. We’ve started with a ripple and ultimately we’re going to end it with a splash!”

Steven Eugenio, George Antill, Roger Norman and Ivan Stewart.

HDRA forges ahead to its next event to be held in Plaster City, California, a longtime haven for off-road which has been void of racing since the demise of MDR. Many have been wanting and waiting for someone to take the reigns and bring racing back to the area. With the success of this event, promises of the racers to return and the drive to succeed, HDRA should have no problem meeting expectations.