Short-course Off-road Drivers Association

For other uses, see Soda (disambiguation).

Short-Course Off-road Drivers Association

Sport	Short course off-road racing
Jurisdiction	Midwestern United States
Abbreviation	SODA
Founded	1970s (1970s)[1]
CEO	Jeff Conway[1]
Closure date	circa 1997[1]

The Short-course Off-road Drivers Association (usually abbreviated as SODA) was a short course off-road racing sanctioning body in the United States.

History

SODA began as a Midwestern United States off-road racing series in the early 1970s.[2] Most races were held in Wisconsin but a few were held in Michigan. The crown jewel of the series was the off-road championship event held at the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway - the "home of the world championship off-road race".[1]

The vehicles used were primarily trophy trucks, buggies (which were based on the original Volkswagen Beetle called Baja Bugs), pickup trucks, and a few stock cars. All vehicles had heavily modified suspensions.

Most drivers from SODA moved to CORR (Championship Off-Road Racing) after the 1997 season, which basically ended SODA's existence. A greatly diminished series continued on for at least a few years afterwards.

Classes

• Class 1-1600, 1600 cc engine buggies with driver only
• Class 2-1600, 1600 cc engine buggies with driver plus co-pilot (Sometimes run with class 1-1600)
• Class 3, 4-wheel-drive short wheelbase vehicles (Jeep CJ, Ford Bronco, etc.)
• Class 4, 4-wheel-drive full-size trucks
• Class 5-1600, buggies with driver only
• Class 6 modified passenger cars, and later 2wd SUVs
• Class 7s, 2-wheel-drive four-cylinder trucks
• Class 8, 2-wheel-drive full-size trucks
• Class 8s 2-wheel-drive full-size trucks (nearly stock vehicles, with restrictor plate V8 engines)
• Class 9, modified buggies with up to 1914 cc air-cooled engines, or 1600 cc engines water-cooled
• Class 10, Class 9 with co-pilot[3]
• Class 11, stock 1600 cc engine buggies with driver only
• Class 12, stock 1600 cc engine buggies with driver plus co-pilot (sometimes run with Class 11)
• Class 13, 2-wheel-drive full-sized trucks with more restrictions than Class 8
• Heavy Metal, combined race with Class 3, Class 4 and Class 8 trucks
• SODA Light, small single-seat short-wheelbase buggies with small CC snowmobile engines

Television

The series was televised in starting with Crandon's race in 1989 on ESPN.[1] Series races appeared tape delayed on ESPN/ESPN2[4] (often during the winter months). ESPN covered the two trophy truck classes (4 and 8) along with 7S. ESPN2 started covering races in 1995.[5] It covered Classes 13, 9/10, and 1600.[6] The ESPN2 races featured Marty Reid as the lead announcer, Ivan Stewart as color commentator, and Jimmie Johnson as pit reporter.[5] In late 1996, SODA sanctioned the Chevrolet Off-Road Winter Series; drivers traveled across the country in the Glen Helen Raceway in California.[1]

Video game

In 1997, Sierra Entertainment released a SODA-themed racing video game called SODA Off-Road Racing!.

Tracks that held races

Many Wisconsin and Michigan tracks held races, including:

• Bark River Off-road Raceway, Bark River, Michigan[4]
• Crandon International Off-Road Raceway,[6] Crandon, Wisconsin
• Ionia Fairgrounds Speedway, Ionia, Michigan
• I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa, Michigan
• Langlade County Speedway, Antigo, Wisconsin[4]
• Lake Geneva Raceway,[6][4] Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
• Luxemburg Speedway, Luxemburg, Wisconsin
• Milan Dragway,[6] Milan, Michigan
• RedBud MX, Buchanan, Michigan
• Road America,[6] Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
• Sunnyview Expo Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin[4]
• Memorial Total Off-Road Rally, Dresser, Wisconsin

Drivers

• Scott Douglas[4]
• Evan Evans, 1996 Class 13 Champion
• Walker Evans - 1994 and 1995 Class 4 champion
• Jack Flannery, 7-time series champion
• Brendan Gaughan[4] - 1995 Class 13 champion, 1996 Class 8 champion
• Johnny Greaves[4]
• Chad Hord[3]
• Jimmie Johnson[4]
• Jeff Kincaid
• Curt LeDuc
• Rob MacCachren, 1995 Class 4 champion
• Scott Taylor[4]

References

1. "SODA/CORR/TORC". shortcourseracer.com. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
2. "Background on CORR". Championship Off-Road Racing. October 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
3. "Road America". True Value Off Road Series. 1995. 33 minutes in. ESPN2.
4. "DOUGLAS SCORES DOUBLE WIN AT LAKE GENEVA RACE - Off-Road Racing at Off-Road.com". Archived from the original on 2006-05-19. Retrieved 2007-09-29., Retrieved from August 27, 2007 Google cache but no longer accessible; Douglas scored double win at Lake Geneva Race; July 13, 1997; Retrieved September 29, 2007
5. "Road America". True Value Off Road Series. 1995. 1 minutes in. ESPN2.
6. "Road America". True Value Off Road Series. 1995. 58 minutes in. ESPN2.

External links

• 1997 Crandon Spring results