(By Lauren Z. Bonar) With my wife Lynette having a conference in Carlsbad, CA for her work scheduled in early June, we were on the road again and would be spending some time in California. With me simply being the “chaffeur”, I was left with little to do during the days while my wife was attending the conference. Only being a short drive from the home of our good friend Rick Swanson, I took the opportunity to visit Obsession Racing and revive the dusty LZ’s Pit Report feature here on the site. Rick has just returned from a six week tour of the Northwest and was tired, but still took time out of his schedule to show us around. [Read more…]

MENIFEE, CA – The month of August has been very busy for Obsession Racing. The first weekend started with the filming of the new Maytag commercial. The truck went through a lot of changes to look like a Maytag owned truck. This commercial will be airing sometime in the near future. We will let you know when we have more details.

The 8th and 9th of August we were in Grass Valley California for the WGAS Motor sports event. It was two nights of freestyle. The first night was Monster Trucks and tough trucks. The track was set up mostly for the tough trucks to race on making it challenging for the Monster Trucks to freestyle. We were one of five trucks to perform. Rick is known more for his racing ability than free-styling. It was a great honor to have John Borba (the President of WGAS Motor sports) tell us that on Friday night, without a doubt we won freestyle and put on a great performance. Saturday night was another night of nonstop hard hitting, big air freestyle, leaving the crowd wanting more. Rick wanted to give a special thanks to Ron and Debbie Fisher for all of their help and hospitality.

From Grass Valley Rick headed to Grants Pass Oregon to be at one of his favorite shows. This year I was able to attend the show and flew into Oregon on Wednesday night. I got to see why Rick said it was a show that I must come to. It is a really fun event that is promoted by California trucks and stuff. We have to give a special thanks to Randy and Sherry Smallwood for treating us so great. We got to go on a jet boat ride following a great dinner. It was an experience we will always remember. This show is a tough truck competition and the Monster Trucks are brought in for a freestyle expedition to close the show. This was our second year at this event and we kept our tradition as being the first truck to ever jump stacked cars for the show.

On August 22nd Rick did the event for WHR Motor sports in Monroe Washington. This is a one night event. Rick had some troubles with our small back up motor, but worked all night long and was able to fire it a half hour before the show. Having doubts on how it would perform, Rick attacked the big S course and laid down second fastest qualifying time and didn’t look back until he was in the finals. Rick always looks forward to get back to the challenge of racing where his talents and abilities shine through.

MENIFEE, CA – The last three weekends have been extremely busy. In twenty one days we did five shows and four venues for two different promoters. It started off in Lancaster California for a freestyle show for Out Law Monster Trucks. It was three rounds of freestyle where Obsession was a crowd favorite.

The following weekend took place in San Bernardino California, again for Out Law Monster Trucks. This was a very unique show, because it was all done on asphalt. This show was also three rounds of freestyle. This time the crowd judged each round. Rick took the win for round two. The crowd also got to see Eric Swanson in his trophy kart showing off his two wheel driving skills. This made Dad a little nervous but he managed to go home with no damage done.

For forth of July weekend WGAS Motorsports had us booked at two different venues. It started off in Pomona California for the forth of July for their annual Kaboom show. Which consisted of Freestyle motor cross, monster trucks, and an awesome fire works show. On the fifth and Sixth of July we were at Del Mar Fairgrounds for two shows a day for both days. Again Eric got to ham it up in his mini Obsession to start the crowd off cheering. All the freestyle competitions ended with Obsession and Bounty hunter in a cheer off.

Our next scheduled event will be in August for California Trucks and Stuff in Grants Pass Oregon.