Rob MacCachren

Rob MacCachren

MacCachren at Speedworld for LOORRS racing
Nationality  United States
Born March 24, 1965
Championship titles
2000, 2001 CORR Pro 4
2008 CORR Pro 2
2010, 2013 LOORS Pro 2
2007, 2014 Baja 1000
MacCachren celebrates his 200th career win

Rob MacCachren (born March 24, 1965) is an American off-road racer from Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] MacCachren won over 200 off-road races including the 2014 Baja 1000.

He raced the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series early in his career and went on to win championships in Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), SCORE International, SODA, and Best in the Desert (BITD). MacCachren won his 200th event at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway at the 2012 World Championship Pro 2 race. He has won 20 championships during his racing career,[2] including three BorgWarner World Championships and the 2008 CORR Pro-2 championship. He drives the Rockstar Energy Drink Ford Trophy Truck in SCORE and the Rockstar Energy Drink Pro 2 Unlimited in LOORRS.[3] He is a 2011 inductee in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Career

1980s

MacCachren, the son of an off-road racer, began racing dirt bikes in the terrain around Las Vegas, winning the 1973 Nevada State Motorcycle Championship as an eight-year-old.[4]

He raced off-road in Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts (SNORE) in 1982, winning the Driver of the Year points and being named "Rookie of the Year" by the Nevada Motorsports Writers Association.[5] In 1983 he was nominated for the Nevada Sports Writers Association's "Top Off-Road Driver" and in the following year for their "Competitor of the Year".[5] In 1985 he won six straight SNORE events on his way to winning the season championship.[5] That same year he won the Triple Crown at the Silver Dust Racing Association.[5]

In 1986, MacCachren won his second SNORE championship.[5] He also began competing in SCORE International, and was nominated for SCORE's Rookie of the Year award.[5] The following year MacCachren captured his third SNORE championship,[4] as well as winning Driver of the Year awards in SCORE International and High Desert Racing Association (HDRA).[4] In 1989, MacCachren raced in HDRA/SCORE, winning both the Class 7S division for light pickup trucks and the mini metal championship.[5]

1990s

MacCachren won HDRA/SCORE's 7S and mini metal classes again in 1991 and was nominated for their Driver of the Year award.[5] He competed in the final season of the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG) Grand National Sport Trucks Series in 1994.[5] The same season he became the first Desert Trophy Truck Champion for Venable Racing.[5] He followed up the championship by winning MTEG's first Thunder Truck championship in 1995. At SODA's nationally televised events, he took the Governor's Cup at Crandon en route to winning the Class 4 season championship for 4-wheel-drive Trophy Trucks.[5] He also won SNORE's Class 1 / 2 1600 buggy championship,[5] set the qualifying record for CORR's Borg Warner World Championship race, and won CORR's Winter Series championship.[5] By that time CORR had replaced SODA as the top short course in the nation. In 1999, he won the BorgWarner World Championship race at Crandon.[5]

In 1994, MacCachren competed in four NASCAR SuperTruck Series presented by Craftsman exhibition races for Venable Racing, winning at Portland Speedway.[6] With Venable, he also competed at Tucson Raceway Park in the Winston West Series, finishing 14th.[7]

2000s

In 2000, MacCachren won the first of three consecutive Governor's BorgWarner World Championship Shootout races.[8] The following year, he competed in SNORE, SCORE, and CORR. In SNORE, he was the overall and class champion.[5] He also won the Best in the Desert 7300 championship. In SCORE, he was the overall champion and won the class 1 / 2 — 1600 championship.[5] In CORR, he took the Governor's Cup championship at Crandon's Spring Brush Run and the Pro-4 Borg Warner championship at Crandon's World Championships on Labor Day weekend en route to winning the 2002 Pro-4 championship.[5] For his performance that season, he was awarded the Toyota True Grit Award and the AARWBA (American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association) award.[5] His 2003 season ended with a SNORE class championship and a Pro 1600 Class 1 / 2 — 1600 Series Championship.[5]

In 2003 MacCachren and fellow Mexican driver Gus Vildósola took the overall win on board of the #4 Vildosola Racing Trophy Truck during the 2003 San Felipe 250.[9]

MacCachren was nominated for the AARWBA award in 2004 after winning the Laughlin Class Championships (1 / 2 — 1600 & Class 12) and SCORE's Laughlin Leap Championship,[5] with his pit crew helping him win the SCORE Laughlin Pit Crew Challenge Championship.[5] In 2005, he won the AARWBA award after capturing the Best in the Desert Class 7300 Championship.[5]

MacCachren won his first overall SCORE championship in 2007 after winning three of six events.[10][11][12] In 2007, he won 12 events in two CORR classes,[4] adding four SCORE and BITD wins.[4] For the 40th annual Baja 1000, he and co-driver/team owner Mark Post teamed up with CORR driver Carl Renezeder to take the overall race,[11][13] completing the 1,296-mile (2,086 km) course in 25 hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds to win by only six minutes.[11] It was the first time that a Trophy Truck had the overall win in the 13 years that the class has competed in the event.[11] Motorcycles frequently beat trophy trucks and buggies in the event that traverses the Baja California peninsula from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas. It was his first overall win in desert off-road racing's premiere event after his class wins between 1992 and 2004.[11] With the win, MacCachren and Post became the first trophy truck drivers to take SCORE's overall season points championship.[12]

During the 2008 season, MacCachren competed in CORR in the Pro-2 and Pro Buggy divisions, winning the season championship in both divisions. CORR folded at the end of the season, so he raced in the new Traxxas TORC Series in 2009.[2] He returned to SNORE and needed to win several races at the Mint 400 racing weekend to have a chance at winning the championship.[2] MacCachren ended up winning four of five races, missing one event that conflicted with his TORC schedule, and won the 1600 car class at the event in seventh place overall behind trophy trucks and Class 1 cars.[2]

2010s

After decades of winning in the desert, MasterCraft Racing offered MacCachren the opportunity to pilot his own Jimco Trophy Truck as driver of record for the entire SCORE International series.[14] At the 2011 San Felipe 250 MacCachren took the Trophy Truck class win and overall victory with a margin of 44 seconds[9] and a total time of 4:17.45 (58.7MPH). Later in the 2011 SCORE season, MacCachren won the San Felipe Challenge of Champions. These victories, combined with his fourth place finish at the Laughlin Desert Challenge, 9th place finish at the Baja 500, and 11th place finish at the Baja 1000 allowed MacCachren to finish second in points for the season in the marquee Trophy Truck class and take home the coveted Toyota Iron Man Award.

In 2012, MacCachren started the season with a victory at Sunday's Laughlin Desert Challenge (the race was run on Saturday and Sunday as two separate points races). He then won the MasterCraft Safety Tecate San Felipe 250 for the second year in a row.

MacCachren's racing his Pro 2WD truck to his 200th victory in TORC

In short course, MacCachren won the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) Pro 2 title in 2010, winning a record 9 out of the 15 rounds of racing.[15] MacCachren was also successful in the competing TORC Pro 2WD series, where he ended up in second place for the season. In 2011 MacCachren finish second in season points in LOORRS and second in TORC as well, with five victories in LOORRS and three wins in TORC. In 2012 MacCachren won the $20,000 Chairman's Cup at Crandon behind the wheel of the MOPAR RAM Pro 2WD. [16] He won his 200th career event later that year at Crandon during the track's second weekend (on the first weekend in September). He won the Sunday "World Championship" Pro 2 event.

In 2013 MacCachren signed a deal to compete in Robby Gordon's new truck racing series modeled after Mickey Thompson's Stadium series; the Stadium Super Trucks. He won the inaugural event in March 2013[17] and won another round in May 2013. MacCachren ended the season with four wins, but finished second in the championship to Gordon.[18] He skipped the three Stadium Super Truck events at Costa Mesa due to a conflict with his schedule in LOORRS, where he found himself engaged in simultaneous battles for the championship in Pro 2 and Pro 4 with Carl Renezeder. Renezeder would ultimately prevail by a wide margin in Pro 4, but MacCachren was able to squeak out a title in Pro 2.

MacCachren competed in LOORRS in 2014. In November he co-drove the overall truck/car winner at the Baja 1000 along with Andy McMillan and Jason Voss.[13] Their Trophy Truck field had 31 entries and they won over a total of 237 overall entries by 29 minutes.[13] It was MacCachren's second overall win and seventh class win in the race.[13]

Awards

He was named the 2007 Dirtsports Magazine Driver of the Year.[10] He was named the 2007 BFGoodrich Tires Motorsports Person of the Year. Three time American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association AUTO RACING All-America FIRST Team.

MacCachren was induced in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2011.[19]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rob MacCachren.
  1. ↑ "Driver Info". CORR. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Rob MacCachren Crowned 2009 SNORE Overall Champion". Dirtnewz.com. December 15, 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  3. ↑ "CORR Round 9 and 10". Sand Addiction magazine. August 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "BFGoodrich Tires Names Rob MacCachren 2007 Motorsports Person of the Year". DirtNewz.com. April 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 "Rob MacCachren Biography". Rockstar Energy Drink. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
  6. ↑ "1994 Supertruck Portland 20". Racing-Reference. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  7. ↑ "1994 Valvoline / Pit Lube 200". Racing-Reference. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ "News from Crandon International Off-Road Raceway" (PDF). Crandon Off Road. 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "MacCachren Wins Overall And Trophy Truck At 25th MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250". SCORE International. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Rob MacCachren Named "Dirtsports Magazine Driver of the Year"". DirtNewz.com. February 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Wolf, Jeff (November 15, 2007). "MacCachren's team captures Baja 1000". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Baja 1000: Riviera Racing summary". Motorsport.com. November 28, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Clark, Dominic. "MacCachren/A. McMillin/Voss ‘Rockstars’ earns Overall, SCORE Trophy Truck win at 47th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000". SCORE International. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Rob MacCachren Teams With Rockstar Energy and MasterCraft Safety for Entire 2010 SCORE International Series". race-dezert.com. March 9, 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
  15. ↑ "Rob MacCachren DOMINATES Lucas Oil Series Winning Pro 2 Championship". dirtnewz.com. December 12, 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  16. ↑ "Rob MacCachren holds off Adrian Cenni to win Crandon’s $20K Chairman’s Cup Challenge Race". torcseries.com. June 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  17. ↑ "Stadium Super Trucks: Robby Gordon races to Third Place in SST debut". Marathon Rally.com.
  18. ↑ "2013 SST POINT STANDINGS". Stadium Super Trucks. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
  19. ↑ Schutte, Pat. "Traxxas TORC Series & Crandon hosts a big party for new Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Rob MacCachren!". Traxxas TORC Series. Retrieved 5 September 2011.

External links