This Halloween weekend at the Firebird International Raceway, Whiplash Motorsports will be hosting the 2009 Halloween Haunt Off-Road race (taking place at the west course).  For those of you who haven’t been out there in a while, the west course has been transformed into an Off-Road short course, and is capable of some serious mayhem and lots of action. Come out and see all the races, from the big nasty pro trophy trucks to the unlimited class for dirt bikes. The Pure Racing Crew will be out there so keep an eye out for us.  Click here to see the schedule.

Firebird Raceway is a great venue for racing events in the Phoenix metro area. This past weekend at Firebird was the Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars. Keep in mind Firebird International Raceway has awesome race events throughout the entire year. From NHRA Nationals to Indy Car to boat racing (yes, they do have a lake and even a drifting course). Take a look at their major event schedule here.

We highly recommend checking out the 2009 World Rally Championship. This weekend through October 31st, HD Theater is showcasing several hour long highlight reels of the stages in Norway, Cypress and Portugal. HD Theater is a Discovery Company, and as expected, doesn’t disappoint with this world class coverage of the WRC event.  As with everything else Discovery touches, this is an amazing showcase of the challenges and glory experienced in the fearlessness of Rally Racing.

If you follow Rally, or any other action sport for that matter, you’re probably used to seeing RedBull as a major player in racing and extreme sports.  They do a great job with marketing and below you’ll see a few pictures showing RedBull Rally cars.  On the left, you have an image found on the Mirror UK blog.  The post discusses what makes the Finns so fast on the road.   The middle image was taken from RideLust.com and shows the first hybrid rally car by Citroën.  Citroën announced in Paris that it will become the first manufacturer competing in the World Rally Championship to field a hybrid drive WRC competitor.  RideLust says “The concept features a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder that produces 320 hp and is also equipped with a parallel electric motor capable of delivering 167 hp through the rear axle”. The third image on the right shows  the RedBull Citroën car catching air in the Norway race which was an early victory in the 2009 WRC.  You can see more about this article here and a pile of awesome at the RedBull main website.

Unlike some major racing sports (cough cough), rally racing doesn’t kneel to mother nature’s fury.  Rally teams endure all types of weather, track surfaces and conditions.  The second stage in the WRC this year was held in Hamar, Norway amongst the deep snow and biting temperatures as low as -30C.  Drivers kept up with speeds above 200 km/hr on the narrowest of trails within forests managing severe elevation changes and hazardous snow banks. As elevation changes, you may see it dumping powder snow that turns to ice, then slush in another stage.  Snow courses are usually narrower and more technical.  This year’s show cased the debut of Pirelli’s new snow tyre, the Monte Carlo. The steel spikes remain but the tread is as wide as a gravel tire. Check out this video of stage 1 day 2 in Norway…not too far from Lillehammer, where the 1994 Winter Olympics were held.

As the WRC continued to circle the globe this year, teams have to adjust their strategy to accommodate a myriad of different course surfaces including: gravel, mud, dirt and tarmac, and the extremely dangerous night stages. The 12th and final rally stage race is upcoming next weekend, October 23rd – 25th in Cordiff Bay, Great Britain. Arriving in the U.K. they will have seen 25 grueling rally stages spanning 12 countries and 3 continents. You can see the HD Theater tv schedule and air times here.

Make sure to check out more details online where they have an interactive map showing the locations of the 2009 Rally. The official WRC website hosts a ton of goodies including videos, photos, latest news and exclusive behind the scenes information on sponsors and manufacturers. To our surprise Ford World Rally Team has posted 3 of the top 5 point totals for manufacturers. We find that peculiar given that in the U.S. the dominant team is Subaru, which is joined at the top by other foreign companies like Mitsubishi and Audi.

Don’t think we’d forget a colossal shout out to our domestic rally racing efforts. Gaining popularity, the U.S.rally championship, Rally America, spans the entire country mashing up cities like Hillboro, Oregon, Bethel, Maine and Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

By no surprise this season’s champion is none other than extreme sports mega star, Travis Pastrana. Pastrana, 26 yrs old, dominates everything he touches and slaughtered the competition in 2009 racing a WRX STI for Subaru Rally Team USA. You can check out Pastrana’s domination of the standings at the US Subaru Team site or at the official Rally America standings.

Rally is about as pure as it gets. If you still don’t agree, click here…these crazy mofos do all of this at night too. These guys have balls of steel and unreal skills, which is why we couldn’t wait to post something. Check back for more information on Rally Racing and everything else awesome in racing.  Until then here’s a few more great rally videos …

If you haven’t been paying attention, Pure Racing has been on the move and is making strides to make our presence known in the racing industry. From sponsoring Valerie Thompson Racing to wrapping the Class 1 Car for Reynolds Off Road Racing Development, we’ve been up to some good stuff and are getting amped up to see what’s in store.

Speaking of what we’ve been up to, this past weekend we stopped by Foddrill’s Motorsports in Peoria, AZ to show Krista Smith and the KSmith Racing team some support. Krista is currently 3^rd in points for the Trophy Kart class of the Whiplash Racing series, and is gearing up to take down the victory in her class at the Lucas Oil Off Road Race this weekend. If you’re out at the Speedword MX track in Surprise, AZ on Saturday, make sure to show her some love.

As we rolled up to Foddrill’s Motorsports, we were pleasantly surprised to see the diverse selection of bad ass racing machines lining the parking lot. We cruised up and down the alley gazing here and there at various trophy trucks, beam cars, arm cars and class 1 car greatness. Each class had its own trophy to be won, and with several trophy karts in the mix, nothing was a lock. Needless to say, we cast a few votes for the KSmith team as well as those participating in the trophy truck and arm car classes. After a few hot laps, a hot dog and some homemade ice cream (thanks BS Sand) we made our way to the car and headed home. Little did we know, the show wasn’t over.

About 7pm on Saturday night, we got an awesome email from a very excited young lady. It read, “Out of all the trophy karts, mine came in first place. I got Best in Show!” Of course it made our day, but more importantly, Krista was pumped up and now has the image to go along with her killer racing skills. We’re pretty excited for this weekend and look forward to cheering her on at Speedworld. To see more pictures from Foddrill’s as well as Krista’s trophy kart, visit the Pure Racing fan page here.

If you’re heading out to the race this weekend, make sure you’re on the lookout for the Pure Racing crew. We’ll have t-shirts and stickers to give away, and if you’re nice, we might even buy you a beer

Great pic of a drag wagon provided by Justin “the Sneaky Tiki” Umbs.  Be sure to get a decent look at the back tires working hard.  Once a year, he and his posse participate in what looks like a hell of a good time.  This was an event orginized by the H.A.M.B. According to Umbs, that is the “Hokey Ass Message Board”  for traditional hotrods. In collaboration with the Jalopy Journal, it showcases forums targeting the classics and their enthusiasts.  Their goal is to “spread the gospel of traditional Hot Rods and Kustoms to hoodlums worldwide”. As they put it, we wanted to be the voice of the working man, a tool in the toolbox of the guy that does it himself, and a place where citizen journalists could show the “big-time” media a thing or two.”

The event took place at the “Smokin” Mokan Dragstrip in Missouri. This event is to showcase old race cars and such. Justin Umbs was asked how he and his wagon did in the drag race.  His response was simply stated…”There are no points other than cool points.”  Umbs owns and runs Stellar Autoplex out of Phoenix, AZ.  They specialize in everything from diesel pushers to choppers to classic cars.  You can contact Justin with inquiries on auto sales or comments/questions about his draggin waggin.  He’s a stellar cat and yes ladies…he does keep an air matress in the wagon at all times!

Events like this goes to show that there are still a massive collection of racing and auto events for all types of motor heads.  Contingencies and big media aside, it’s simply racing at it’s roots….PURE racing.

After several weeks of deliberation on the type of design we wanted to go with, the Pure Racing team decided to let our creative director go with the flow and bang out a killer billboard design. Located on both sides of the drag strip at Firebird Raceway, the Pure Racing billboards should have plenty of time to work their mojo and attract some attention from spectators… And who knows, maybe they’ll even get Pure Racing a little national exposure during televised events. If you catch a glimpse of one while you’re at the track, let us know how they look in the comments section below.

For some bonus points with the Pure Racing crew, get your picture taken next to one of the billboards when you’re out at an event, and we’ll send you an official Pure Racing t-shirt and sticker kit. Feel free to send pictures to info@pureracing.net with the subject line: Keepin’ it Pure.

Stay tuned for more updates from Pure Racing as we gear up for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing event October 17th-18th at Speedworld Off Road Park in Surprise, Arizona.