RENO, NV (Jan. 19) – VORRA, Valley Off Road Racing Association, back in the day was a popular off road series. Spring and fall they would run short track races at Prairie City in California then move to Northern Nevada for three or four desert races each summer.
A few years ago David Cole, who owns Hammer King, the group that owns and runs the Ultra 4 series, bought VORRA and made it part of the Norcal Rock Racing series, which stages events in California as well as one at the Wild West Motorsports Park.
For B.J. Butcher being around VORRA is a life long involvement. As a boy he attended races with his parents then later helped the series and now, with his wife Laura Hardesty-Butcher, is breathing new live into the series.
This all began when he wanted to use the VORRA logo on t-shirts. At the Off Road Hall of Fame ceremony earlier this year Butcher spoke with Dave Cole; the outcome was very different than expected.
B.J. Butcher and his wife Laura Hardesty-Butcher are bringing the VORRA series back to life.
“He basically handed it to us,” Butcher said. “He told me, ‘I couldn’t see it going to anyone better than people that have been around for their whole life so here you go.’ I’ve been around it since I was five years old so that’s 31 years now.”
Butcher explained that Cole has expanded Hammer King so Ultra 4 is not only a national series but an international one as well. Needless to say he’s extremely busy these days.
Now both VORRA and Norcal Rock Racing are cooperating with each other.
For the Butcher’s it’s been a work in progress. One goal is to keep the family atmosphere that VORRA was known for as well as finding out what the competitors want.
Changing VORRA from just being a name as it was a few months ago back to a viable organization takes a lot of work.
“Being around VORRA as long as I have I knew there was a lot of work but didn’t realize the ins and outs,” he said. “I’d show up for the weekends, work my tail off but then after that it was over. I didn’t have to worry about the permits, didn’t have to worry about the insurance, about the map and didn’t have to worry about all that stuff.”
A few weeks ago the Butchers organized two meetings and were overwhelmed by the response. There were over 100 people at the one in Sacramento and at least that many at the Reno meeting the following evening.
After introductions in Reno Butcher showed VORRA’s mission statement, which focuses on how much he wants not only racing but the family relationships he grew up with.
Those in attendance at the Reno meeting could sign up for membership cards.
That evening those attending not only could get a t-shirt but sign up for memberships as well.
During the evening Butcher went over things from how he’s trying to keep costs down yet afford insurance as well as racing classes. Those even include a class for the youngest kids that will compete in power wheels, on a very short course however.
The prices for memberships in VORRA were discussed.
He’s also looking into including UTV’s into the group and maybe even motorcycles but that last one is to be determined.
One possible hang up right now is the government shut down as BLM is on furlough although they have gone out of his way to help get this going.
“They’ve gone above and beyond, been so helpful, I can’t say enough about Paul Amar and the guys over at BLM,” he said. “He’s one of the district reps for the Stillwater Office out at Fallon. Paul’s been a fantastic person to work with so far.”
In his remarks Butcher mentioned how they have all the VORRA records from the past and if he wanted to see a specific event they’d make it available for him.
He also covered what BLM expects from them and once again Dave Cole was helpful in helping not make that not too much of a burden.
John Goodby at Norcal Rock Racing is also cooperating with VORRA, which only has three events listed for this inaugural year but plans on adding more in 2020.
The 2019 schedule for VORRA. More events are planned for 2020.
The result will be dual events when both series are racing at the same facility.
“They’ll have their races on Saturday and we’ll have ours on Sunday,” Butcher said.
So the first race at Wild West Motorsports Park, is a split event. Saturday, June 1st is Norcal Rock Racing but on Sunday, June 2nd, that’ a VORRA event.
The next split event is in October at Prairie City so October 11 is Norcal while October 12th is VORRA. Due to a legal situation at the California track only series and events that are grandfathered in can use the facility.
Thankfully VORRA is able to get around this by piggy backing their event with NorCal.
The weekend of July 26 to 28 is a stand-alone event, the Fallon 250. Exactly how that’s to be run is still under discussion but should be finalized in the coming weeks.
Another aspect having an affect is an environmental assessment that Ultra 4, Best in the Desert and another organization are doing. While VORRA won’t be a major player in that they benefit from this as virtually anywhere in the state where there is desert racing will be covered.
“The center to the east side of the state is pretty much covered by this environmental assessment,” he said. “Try to get things worked out for the future so they can continue to have their races and do what they need to do.”
“We would never have the funds to make that possible. That’s a huge chunk of money and we were so lucky he (Dave Cole) was nice enough to include us in something that huge,” Laura said.
Asked about the response to restarting VORRA Laura said, “Oh man we really packed both rooms way more people than we anticipated. Had over 100 people at both meetings amazing support amazing.”
“It’s above and beyond, the phone calls, the e-mails, Facebook messages, text messages and then all the over whelming support here tonight,” B.J. said. “We were expecting about 50 at each one, we got 110 last night, don’t have the official number for tonight but I have to say it’s over 100.”
“Standing room only both nights,” Laura added. “People have been very helpful, gracious and kind.”
it was standing room only at the Reno meeting about VORRA, the same in Sacramento the previous night.
Butcher explained their goal is to have the amount of racers VORRA used to enjoy back in the day. And they plan to return to return to Yerington in 2020 on Labor Day, which traditionally ended the Nevada desert series.
Another positive thing is that VORRA already has four sponsors to keep thing rolling and three of them are based in this area.
FooR is doing the t-shirts while the next is Silver State Forklift and Doug Seymour, a part owner, also owns Factory Ride Racing.
“The combination of those two will be huge with us,” he said.
Another is Reno Off Road, Jason Bayden owner runs an off-road parts supplier and offers huge discounts to the racers and contingency program to the them as well.
The final one is Fords Only in Placerville, California and the owner is Russ Murphy. He’s also offered the Butchers the use of his trailer and he’s paying customers bills so they can buy life time VORRA memberships.
“He brought us a cake last night to the meeting in Sacramento, a VORRA cake for everyone,” Laura said. “Our sponsors are the nicest people.”
Butcher added that these sponsors have actually came to them and said what they will do for the series. This even before they really started looking for sponsors.
Sponsors so far for the reborn VORRA series.
Now the hard work begins getting things settled, dealing with the permit process, insurance and rounding up enough volunteers to properly run these events. Judging by the response at both meetings that shouldn’t be too hard although next exactly easy.
At the Reno meeting he was asked about his feelings toward the future and his answer was, “We’re excited, I mean with all the people here makes it that much better. It’s like that rejuvenation to keep on going.”
Those wishing more information have two sources to check. First is the series Face Book page, www.facebook.com/vorra-valleyoffroadracingassociation. The next is the series website, which will be brought up to date and is, www.vorra.net.
VORRA is now reborn and will soon return to Northern Nevada as well as Northern California. Now desert racers driving trucks, buggies and UTV’s won’t have so far to travel if they want to race.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
- Remember on Tuesday from 2 until 3 p.m. do listen to Teresa’s Garage Radio Show. This week the featured guest is Kevin Moore from the Nevada Department of Public Safety discussing the effort to have Zero Teen Fatalities.
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