Pro Buggy racing has its cheerleaders among Lucas Oil
Off Road Racing Series drivers and fans, thanks to a
fast-and-fun-to-cost ratio that’s off the charts.
WORDS & IMAGES Richard S. James
hat’s as fast as a Pro Lite but has
half the horsepower, half the weight,
costs a lot less to run and has almost
100 percent less flying fiberglass?
The answer is a Pro Buggy. On most
tracks in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing
Series, the Pro Buggies are turning about
the same lap times as the Pro Lite trucks.
But they do it with a four-cylinder hanging
out back, instead of a big V8 up front, a
much wider footprint and no fenders – not
that Pro Lites usually have any fenders left
at the end of a race anyway...
Among fans and drivers, the buggies –
as in, Pro Buggy or the Limited Buggy
class that runs in the Lucas Oil Regional
Racing Series – have their devotees. For
some it’s the looks; for others, it’s the
lower cost of entry; for still others, it’s the
way they drive. And there are even some
who love buggies because of the open
wheels and, just like their brethren that race
on asphalt, the carnage that sometimes
ensues when the wheels tangle. For most of
the drivers, though, it’s about the driving
and the competitiveness of the class.
“They’re completely different from a
truck,” explains Dave Mason Jr., driver of
the No. 65 LoanMart/Competitive Metals
Pro Buggy. “The engine is all the way in
the rear of the car, the center of gravity is
really low and they’re a lot wider than the
Pro Lite trucks. They’re also really light
compared to any class out here in short
course. While they don’t have nearly as
much power as the truck classes, they get
around the track incredibly fast. They
handle so well; if you really dial them in with
the suspension, they’ll fly through the air
and over the jumps as well as any truck.”
Mason explains some of what a buggy
is and what separates it from the trucks,
but it’s not quite the whole story. Like the
short course off-road trucks, a buggy’s a
tubeframe racer with four wheels, big
shocks and lots of suspension travel. But
unlike the trucks, the buggies are all
function without a lot of form. And where
the four-cylinder engine has all but
disappeared in Pro Lite in favor of sealed
stock V8s, it’s very much alive in Pro
Buggy. Those four-cylinders come in two
LUCASOILOFFROAD.COM
(MAIN) Eric Fitch
in flight at Firebird
Raceway. For sheer
spectacle, Pro Buggies
can hold their own
with the truck classes.
(LEFT) The no-tangle
zone... Open wheels and
a wide track demand
respect among drivers.
W
