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Traction Products, Inc.
Weismann Marine, LLC.
May 18, 2008
Facing the nation’s toughest off road racers and some of the most extreme heat conditions in Championship Off Road Racing history, Rick Huseman captivated thousands of CORR fans, friends, sponsors and family with a gratifying victory Sunday afternoon to lead the Pro-4 championship.
Huseman made the most of this early season opportunity by putting the #3 FABTECH Weismann 4x4 Pro 4 truck in victory lane. This early win catapults Rick into the championship series point’s lead after he dominated the full field of Pro 4 trucks all charging for the top spot. Racing the entire day with a flawless race truck, Huseman confidently raced to the front of the pack and then ran away from the field in clean air.
“It was nice to get out in front and run my own race. We were in a similar position only a few weeks ago* and let it get away from us, but that wasn’t going to happen today. My brother and crew chief, Danny Huseman, gave me a great truck today and I drove it as hard as I could, that’s really what made the difference,” said Rick. “We just keep fighting to stay in the top three and moving forward in the series points. This win is for the team and I’m pretty happy about winning this early in the season. I’ve said it all along, that we can run up in front with Greaves, Renezeder and Douglas and well, here we are on top.”
*( In round 1 in Pomona, Ca. Rick was having trouble with the whoop section, and ran 4th behind the leaders losing time each lap. Towards the end of the race, Rick found away thru them and was reeling in the leaders setting fastest laps, but ran out of laps and finished 4th. In round 2, he led all the way, only to slow down on the last lap to ensure the win, and he got passed by Carl Renezeder in the final corner to finish 2nd. Rick was the number 1 qualifier and set the the fastest race laps on both days. In round 3 in Primm, Rick qualified 1st again, but spun out early in the race. After letting the field go by before being able to get turned around, he ripped throught the field to take the lead, but with only 3 laps to go, a front CV joint failed (due to some wheel banging early on) and he wound up finishing 6th.)
Chased by some of the best off road racers in the world, Huseman’s showdown with the competition was wild from the start. The pace was wicked fast, as the battle for the top three spots merged together coming out of the second turn only seconds into the 18 lap race.
Huseman diced around the competition who banged bumpers and doors coming out of the precarious turn two and that’s when Huseman made his charge to the front of the pack. Exiting the race truck with a big smile, Huseman explained his view from inside the cockpit.
“Coming out of the second turn, I saw some daylight and put the front of the truck where I thought we’d have some room to run and this time it worked out perfect. The Toyota TRD package was excellent and charged extremely hard under full power. We needed every bit of horsepower to stay out in front of Douglas, Coyne and Renezeder and today we got it done. I’ve said it before, but here this afternoon the combination of power transferred to our Toyo Tires along with the FABTECH Suspension taking all of the abuse along this tough race course, says a lot for our partners involved in our race program.”
Rick's truck runs a standard Weismann 5 speed Imsa Transmission that has been slightly modified for Pro-4. We converted the Shuttle shifter into a Sequential, removed the 2WD Quick Change cover and bolted a custom 4WD Quick Change Transfer Case. And driving the front wheels is our innovative "Weismann Unlocker". The "Unlocker" greatly reduces the rotational mass of the drivetrain by eliminating the need for any sort of center diff or clutch. The "Unlocker" provides maximum torque transfer to the wheels with traction lick the standard "Weismann Locker". However when the truck loads on the front wheels, no torque is transfered back through the drivetrain, thus there is no drivetrain binding. The "Unlocker" allows the truck to rotate easily and acts like the truck has power steering.
Rick Huseman, Curt Le Duc, and 2006 Pro-4 Champion Carl Renezeder have all been racing with the "Unlocker".
