Dinsmore Reports On His 1st Race of the Year - The Bighouse Brawl

Our first race of the year, and we headed to the Bighouse -- CRANDON, WI. We felt good and when practice came the truck handled great, but our new carb was not set up the way Travis would have liked. So it was back to the pits, some adjustments were made, and the crew got the carb close enough that Travis shook the rust off and qualified 2nd in the Atturo Tires #43.

When the green flag dropped on Saturday he came around Corner One in the 4th spot. Some smooth driving soon moved his hotrod into the #3 slot. However, as the race progressed Travis was making time on the #2 truck when a rock got stuck in the throttle linkage hanging the throttle open and ending his run.

The crew went to work on the truck Saturday night and prepped it for Sunday. A different carb was mounted on top of the Pro Power engine and they were ready for the race.

Sunday's start resulted in 2 trucks getting together in Turn One. Travis narrowly missed the wreck and ended up at the tail end of the field. Through the first half of the race Travis tried to get around the 5th place truck several times and was forced to check up to avoid damage. When the restart flag came at half-way point,  the Atturo #43 was pointed hard into the barn turn taking the inside line again.

But the door was slammed closed.

Travis jumped hard on the brakes to avoid heavy contact and drove around the outside of the spinning truck. Through the next several laps his Pro Light Truck was tearing up the track making its way into the second position before the checkered flag flew. “I just needed a couple more laps and I would have had him too” exclaimed Travis, “this truck was set perfect, I could put it anywhere”

We have to thank Ryan and Jessica Mottinger for their support and help, Dale Chestnut and his crew,  Roger and City Homes for this great truck.

 Remember that Travis races on the Atturo Trail Blade MT, the same tire available at your local independent Atturo Tire Dealer.

Atturo Kicks Off 2017 TORC Race Season with Expanded Team in Pro-Lite and Pro 2 Classes

New Rules Allow for Both Trail Blade M/T® and Trail Blade X/T® to Race

Atturo Tire, Chicago’s own tire company, announced their lineup for 2017’s The Off Road Championship (TORC) series.  Kicking off this May 13th in Joliet, IL, with the Chicagoland Slam, this TORC series will feature Atturo tires racing in two classes of off road competition - the Pro Lite and Pro 2.  This is an expansion of the Atturo brand into the Pro 2 class pitting the Trail Blade M/T® and the Trail Blade X/T® tires against the harsh driving conditions that make up the TORC race experience.

Atturo has been a major player in the Pro Lite class of the TORC series, having sponsored 2016’s series and nabbing 11 podium finishes with veteran drivers Andrew Carlson #151 and Travis Dinsmore #43.  Both drivers race on the Atturo Trail Blade M/T.  The unique design of the Trail Blade M/T is based on the cutting edge blades of designer Jared West, of Quartermaster Knives, creating something fresh in the LT tire segment. Atturo selected knife blades to incorporate into the tire design based on their intended use as a gouging or clawing type tool. The shoulder and corresponding sidewall tread blocks are based on a pusher style double tipped blade, even including the contoured edges. The alternate sidewall lugs are from the Karambit type blades. All of these elements have combined to create a winner on and off the track, and while 2017’s competition is fierce, Atturo is poised to build on their earlier successes in the series.

“Consumers know that when they go to their local independent Atturo tire dealer to get a Trail Blade M/T, they are going to get an aggressive tire that is not only designed well, but it’s race-proven,” says Atturo president, Michael Mathis.  “We are eager to expand into the Pro 2 class and show our SUV, Crossover, and Light Truck consumers exactly what our Urban All-Terrain Trail Blade X/T can do.”  The Trail Blade X/T debuts in 2017’s TORC Pro2 class racing alongside the M/T thanks to a rule change allowing for a DOT  rated street tire. The Trail Blade X/T, a new type of multi-terrain tire, is another collaboration with Quartermaster Knives, and cuts into the segment between traditional M/T and A/T tires. The Trail Blade X/T offers the open shoulder and sidewall tread lugs of a mud terrain, combined with the off road ability of an all-terrain and the road feel of a highway tire. The design and variety of sizes brings a whole new look to SUV, Crossovers, and Pickups.

Atturo’s expansion into the Pro 2 class not only gives race fans opportunities to see the TrailBlade  X/T and M/T in action, but also introduces the Atturo audience to its newest drivers, Scott Mueller and Matt Solka. Mueller brings two Crandon Classix World Champion wins to the team while Solka brings a diverse background  with multiple Holeshot awards, multiple podium finishes, and a 4th overall in race points.
Both are eager to show what they can do on May 13th at the upcoming 2017 TORC series kickoff, the Chicagoland Slam.  

Pro-Lite  * Running the LT265/75R16 Trail Blade M/T

#151 Andrew Carlson – hometown ERX (Elk River, MN)

#43   Travis Dinsmore – hometown Paris, ON Canada

Pro-2 * Running the 35x12.5R17LT Trail Blade M/T & Trail Blade X/T

#31 Scott Mueller – hometown Owen, WI

#28 Matt Solka – hometown Houghton, MI

For more information:
Atturo Tire – www.Atturo.com 
Facebook.com/atturotires
Twitter - @atturotire
Instagram – atturotires
TORC, The Off Road Championship Series – www.torcseries.com 
Quarter Master Knives – www.quartermasterknives.com 

Dinsmore Racing Labor Day Weekend TORC Race Report from Crandon , WI

Travis Dinsmore and the Atturo Tires/ Sle-Co #43 Team headed to Crandon Wi. Labour Day weekend for the final round of TORC and the Red Bull World Cup.

The team new they would be fast and during practice the times showed that this truck would be hard to beat. Greg said “when we downloaded the lap times we knew the truck and Travis were ready, the difference between lap times did not vary by more than 3/10ths of a second on this long raceway”

Qualifying came on Saturday morning and Travis was conservative qualifying in the #6 spot, this was good, it would put the truck in a spot for the land-rush start that would give Travis a straight run to #1 corner.

When the flag waved for round 13 Travis and the #43 shot out into the lead through corner one, every lap Travis hit his marks on this high speed track and lead the field by the mandatory caution.


When the restart came Travis and the Atturo Tires #43 again jumped into the lead and finished 1st leading from flag to flag.

Sunday's qualifying for the World Cup Race would see the #43 in the second spot for the start of the race. When the race started lack of traction through a mud hole slowed the acceleration and Travis come out of corner 1 in the 8th spot.

The next few laps showed the skill of the driver and the speed of the #43 rocket when on lap 3, Travis drove his truck into the 1st position, making clean passes in the corners and out-accelerating the other trucks with the grip he found from his Atturo tires. When the mandatory caution came Travis was ready.

On the drop of the flag and once again the Sle-Co entry launched out into the lead and continued to hold off the other racers. With 2 laps remaining Travis came on the radio “the engine has started to make a different noise from the exhaust, something sounds wrong” with no smoke from the exhaust he was told to proceed and try to maintain the pace he was used to. With one lap left the radio silence broke again, “the engine has begun to pop through the carb and is laying down, it is getting lazy losing power bad.”

As the lap proceeded Travis nursed the #43 Atturo Tire/Sle-Co Pro light to the finish in 2nd place, a broken Valve Spring had taken away the World Cup win.

Thanks to all our sponsors for a great year!

Atturo Pro Light Class Final Rounds - Replay Featuring Travis Dinsmore's Narrow Victory

Video: The Checkered Flag Tells All in Crandon - Final Rounds of The Off Road Championship Series

Bitter Sweet Results for Atturo Driver Travis Dinsmore at Bark River TORC Series

The weather at Bark River could not have been better for the 41st running of the Bark River race. The track was great and Travis and the Atturo Tires / SleCo #43 were excited to challenge this technical layout

The truck showed speed during Friday`s practice, running fastest lap in one practice session with Travis being able to position the truck where ever he wanted on the track ``I like the set up`` Travis said `` lets prep it and leave it``

Qualifying came Saturday morning and the team was ready, during qualifying the electronic transmitter that times the laps failed and was sending no lap times to USAC control, during this time USAC manually timed the #43 and Travis laid down the fastest lap. During meetings it was decided that manual timing could not be used for qualifying and the #43 would have to start at the rear.



In the start of the race Travis advanced forward quickly getting to 5th place in 3 laps when another truck forced him off the track, When Travis entered back onto the circuit he was now in 8th. The #43 ran flawless to the mandatory caution working its way back up to 6th. As the green flag flew again Travis and the #43 moved into 5th but luck would elude the team on the next lap, a power steering hose failure would erupt the truck into flames ending the day.




Quick response by the Track Safety Crew would extinguish the flames to cause minimal harm. The Cool It Thermo Tec heat barriers saved the valuable parts of the engine compartment and the team worked into the night to resolve the minor fire damage.

Sunday Travis started in the 3rd row and by corner 1 would have the #43 in the 3rd spot, as the next couple laps unfolded Travis was in second closing on 1st place when the mandatory caution came out. The second half of the race would prove to be one of the best fought battles in Pro Light in a long time. Kyle Hart, the points leader,  jumped into second place on the restart.

Travis, reluctant to give up this position and valuable points, raced Kyle clean and hard, passing him on lap 7 for the second spot. The following 3 laps had the stands on their feet as Kyle would get inside and outside of Travis but the #43 hotrod was driven with perfection to stay ahead of Kyle and race clean to a second place finish.



Hats off to these 2 drivers for racing so well and giving the fans a great race to watch!

Travis races on Atturo Trail Blade M/T tires.  Visit www.atturo.com for more information on this and our other great tires. 

Dinsmore Closes Points Gap at ERX Motor Park Twin Cities Takedown Event

After a great run at Crandon, the team set their goals high heading to the new track in Elk River Minnesota - ERX Motor Park. With an 18 Point gap between the first place truck of Kyle Hart and Travis, the team prepped and set the truck for podium finishes. When the truck hit the track for practice at the beautiful rolling groomed ERX track Travis and the #43 showed promising speed on this new technical race surface. “I like it “ Travis said.

Qualifying would put the Atturo Tires, Sle-Co Ford on the front row for the start of Saturday's race. When the green flag dropped Travis chased the first place truck, Atturo teammate Andrew Carlson #151 for the whole race, challenging him a couple times but unable to safely make the pass stick. As the race progressed the track with its new surface began to rut up really bad causing many teams to have problems forcing them further back in the field. With 4 laps left the #43 team decided to take it easy and bring the truck to the checkers in one piece in a comfortable 2nd place finish.

  

Saturday night saw heavy rain fall which helped to bond the track dirt together, the track design allowed water to drain away so the track was perfect and ready for Sundays race.

Sunday would see Travis and the #43 Pro Light start in the 3rd row. When the race started the Atturo Tire / Sle-Co Ford fell back a little to 8th place as the race sorted itself out and Travis avoided harmful contact from hard chargers in the opening laps. Travis worked his way to the 5th position by the mandatory caution as was ready for his charge. In a caution filled second half of the race the #43 was driven with precision through the field and wrecks. With 3 laps left Travis had worked his way into the second spot but another caution forced him back to his last lap position of 3rd with 2 laps left.



When the race restarted Travis drove with winning in his eyes, he managed to get around 2nd to take the spot and closed in on 1st place during the last lap. Travis drove hard through the rhythm section to the last corner before the checkers going hard to drive inside the #27 of Shawn Morris trying to take the win. As he entered the corner he biked the truck on 2 wheels leaning it against Morris for a thrilling dash to the flag. When the flag waved it was Morris 1st and Travis second. “I had to go for it, if it hadn’t have biked I would of had him, needed 1 more lap” Travis exclaimed “I ate a lot of dirt and went through almost a roll of tear off in the Mud Muncher”.

The team and Driver have worked hard and managed to click off a few more points they are looking forward to another fast track at Bark River Mi. July 30-31st.

All races can be watched live the day of the race at www.torcseries.com

CARLSON EARNS FIRST TORC VICTORY IN FRONT OF HOMETOWN FANS in ATTURO PRO LIGHT CLASS

Elk River, Minn. July 18, 2016 – How sweet it is, and for Andrew Carlson’s first win in The Off-Road Championship (TORC) series at ERX Motor Park in Elk River, Minnesota, it couldn’t get much sweeter. Racing on his home track in front of his hometown fans, friends, and family, Carlson broke through to the top of the box with a commanding Atturo Pro-Light Class win Saturday afternoon.

The build up to Carlson’s win was a culmination of perseverance, preparation, hard work and perhaps most importantly a love for racing by the entire Carlson Moto organization. After a successful rookie season where Andrew netted a handful of top-five finishes and his first podium, the 2016 season started out with unexpected setbacks. Yet the team pushed forward and momentum swung in their favor in Crandon, Wis., where Carlson earned a third-place podium finish.

Buoyed by those results and the energy coming from thousands of fans cheering their hometown racer on, Carlson ran the best TORC final of his blossoming off-road racing career, passing Pro-Light top gun Travis Dinsmore #43 early and then holding him off and pulling away from the rest of the field despite several caution flags early in the race.



“I don’t even know what to say,” an emotional Carlson said after he exited the truck in victory lane. “Everyone on our team has worked so hard…I know how much work went into making this race happen. Travis (Dinsmore) kept me honest…in my dreams this is the kind of race I wished for…hats off to my guys they were awesome.”

Part of that dream was a track and an event that was nearly two years in the making. Featuring a one-mile track sculpted into the natural rolling terrain of the 300-acre park, Andrew’s father Chris Carlson and his business partner Todd Plaisted, along with the help of hundreds of employees and volunteers, created a track unlike any other on the TORC circuit. Featuring huge fall-away jumps, sand wash moguls, and banked turns reminiscent of the famed Talladega Speedway, the track presented a new challenge for all drivers with its constantly changing make-up and multiple racing lines.

On Sunday Carlson attempted to repeat his podium results. Starting in the 8th position Andrew climbed through the pack as high as 4th, but a series of full-course cautions and contact in the closing laps spoiled his back-to-back podium bid.


With victory filling in their sails, the team will now turn their attention to rounds 9 and 10 in Bark River, Michigan July 30 and 31.

Twin Cities Takedown Highlights from Atturo Driver #43 Travis Dinsmore

Travis Dinsmore sent us some terrific highlight pictures from the Twin Cities Takedown - part of  TORC: The Off Road Championship Series.

Enjoy!

Atturo Tire grabs first 1-2 finish in TORC Atturo Tire Pro Light!

Atturo Tires got its second win of the 2016 TORC season at ERX Motorpark last weekend and its first-ever 1-2 podium in the Atturo Tire Pro Light class! Additionally, the win was the first for driver Andrew Carlson. Travis Dinsmore finished second and already has 3 career wins on his Atturo Trail Blade M/T tires.

Congratulations to our race teams for a great weekend, proving once again that Atturo tires are built tough and built to win! 

Coming up next is the THROWDOWN IN THE U.P. 

The Atturo Trail Blade M/ T is the official tire of the Atturo Motorsports team... For more information on this terrific mud terrain tire please visit here. 

Report from the Chicagoland Slam!

The Pro light #43 Team headed to Chicago for rounds 3 and 4 hoping to build on their success and work on their short track setup.

Track conditions for qualifying were favorable but very different form the previous days testing. The team decided it was better to try different lines with a different approach to the truck setup and it took all three laps of qualifying to get comfortable in the truck with the changes. This approach gave us the worst qualifying position for the race nevertheless we learned were the #43 was fast.

 

Starting dead last for Friday nights race, the #43 Ford powered Pro-Light was glued to the track and immediately started to advance to the front.

As the race progressed Travis drove clean through the pack and by the mandatory caution he had been saving the truck enough to make a hard charge through the field to challenge for the podium.

Multiple cautions in the second half kept the leaders close as Travis battled through more competitors putting him in 3rd place with a green white checkered to finish.

A hard fought battle in the remaining laps saw him advance past 3rd. When the checkered waved Travis had managed to position the Sle-Co, Atturo Tire, sponsored #43 on the podium in 2nd place.
The following day had the team fighting fuel issues causing an early finish to practice, the team worked hard and when the race came they were confident they had resolved the problem.
During the first half of the race Travis worked smart putting the #43 Pro Light with in striking distance again for the podium.

When the flag dropped on the restart the truck was on rails and advanced to the 4th position, as the race progressed the fuel issue emerged and the truck slowly fell of the pace.

Under powered on the last lap while running 6th Travis was forced off the track ending the race with heavy damage to the truck.

Happy Independence Day!

Atturo Tires Race Team grabs first Pro Light win of 2016 in Crandon, WI! Returning to the scene of his historic first win for Atturo Tires, Travis Dinsmore continued his winning ways in Crandon, Wisconsin last weekend. The #43 SLE-CO/Atturo sponsored truck captured a second-place finish on Saturday, but the sophomore racer was not to be denied a win. On Sunday, Dinsmore was determined to take home gold in what has become his favorite track. Dinsmore scored 1st Place, giving Dinsmore and Atturo each their first Pro Light win of 2016! #151 Andrew Carlson joined Dinsmore on the podium Sunday with a 3rd place finish and a first-ever podium with 2 Atturo-equipped drivers. It was an outstanding weekend for Atturo! Crandon is the "Talladega of dirt tracks" as the teams put it, and drew in over 20,000 people to watch the races over the course of two days. As we fast approach the July 4th weekend, we want to wish all of our customers, dealers and friends a safe and happy Independence Day weekend. Atturo will be closed Monday, July 4th in observance of the holiday. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, July 5th.

   

Happy 4th of July!