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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
– March 29, 2008. Class 8 took an unprecedented thrashing
when KORE’s Stock Full class race truck beat all nine
competitors in the legendary Mint 400.
“It’s one thing to win in
your own class, but when you can stomp an entire class of
theoretically faster vehicles, nothing could be better,”
said Kent Kroeker, President and CEO of KORE. “We spend a
lot of time and energy tuning this truck. Now, after five
races, it’s finally paying off.”
KORE’s Dodge Ram race truck
is powered by Mopar’s 5.7 liter Hemi® motor built by XV
Motorsports. A custom South Bend ceramic clutch connects the
motor to a Blumenthal’s blueprinted NV4500 5 speed manual
transmission. Eight huge Fox bypass shocks control the most
advanced rubber on the market – the new General Grabber™
competition tires.
Strong winds and cool
temperatures made the grueling 95 mile course perfect for
racing. Kent Kroeker and Rodolfo Iribe shared the driving
duties, alternating every lap. Robin Stover, Four
Wheeler Magazine’s Feature Editor, co-drove for Iribe
during the start.
Robin said, “That truck
just wants to run hard. I felt like we could have gone a
lot faster, but Rudy was playing it safe. The course is
pretty gnarly and it gets worse every lap.”
Lap two was a little harder
on the truck, but some minor welding at the Mopar/Collins
pit put the Hemi® back in the fight.
“Stock Production is a
tough class to race because rules don’t allow changing the
basic design. We’ve added some sophisticated parts that
allow us to go very fast in the desert - but it’s still
essentially a stock truck that wasn’t designed to hit giant
bumps at 70 mph. So, you end up laying in the dirt a lot,
frankensteining everything back in place,” said Keg
Parker, KORE Engineer.
Tony Talbert, General
Tire’s Off Road Project Manager co-drove for Kroeker during
the last lap.
“I literally can’t believe
the beating that truck could take,” said Talbert. “It was
amazing going that fast over stuff that rough. The Dodge is
one tough truck.”
After getting the checkered
flag Kroeker said, “When I was growing up, three races were
important to me, Barstow to Vegas, the Baja 1000 and the
Mint 400. I’ve been fortunate enough to compete in the
first two many times, but the Mint 400 disappeared before I
was racing cars. Many thanks to SNORE for bringing back the
Mint, many thanks to General Tire for no flats, Fox Racing
Shocks for making the baddest shocks on the planet, Baja
Designs for our super bright Soltek LED’s – and all the KORE
volunteers for helping us get the win - the first time at
the Mint!”
On April 26th
see footage of the race from inside the KORE race truck on
the Speed Channel as well as full coverage of the
General Tire Mint 400 on Versus TV.
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For more information
contact: KORE
P.O. Box 2628
Valley Center CA 92082
760-749-8687
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