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HAVING THE RIGHT STUFF
KOENIG RACING ENDS THE YEAR WITH A VORRA
CLASS T CHAMPIONSHIP AND SECOND OVERALL FOR 2010.
What a year it has been. To end it in second place overall to the great Sam Berri and his uber fast unlimited Jimco buggy is both a thrill and an honor. But it’s only one of the 2010 highlights for Koenig Racing. Passing 52 trucks in the final race at The Battle At Primm wasn’t too shabby. Taking first in class and third overall at the Fallon night race was a huge team effort. Grabbing fourth in class after a very challenging day at the first ever Xtreme Outlaw race in Reno was a big achievement. And winning the MORE Powder Puff Race for a Cure on Saturday and a VORRA short course race on Sunday, over 400 miles away, was probably the ultimate tribute to what this race team can accomplish.
Our thanks goes to all the hard working Koenig Racing team members, you made this year possible. And thanks, too, to our sponsors, not just the logos, but to the great people at Total Chaos, Goodyear, Currie Enterprises, Off Road Warehouse, Doug Thorley Headers, King Shocks and Desert People Films. If you want to win, these are the people that can make it happen.
See you next year!!
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Oct 10, 2010
RACE PREP? WHO NEEDS IT? 
Koenig Racing wins both M.O.R.E. Powder Puff and VORRA Prairie City in the same weekend!
On Saturday Koenig Racing, with Karen Koenig and Tina Brink driving, won Class 1450 at the M.O.R.E. Powder Puff Race in Barstow. All night Saturday they drove back to Sacramento. Then on Sunday Mike got behind the wheel and flew to a win in Class T at the VORRA Prairie City Short Course Race.
Prep between the two races consisted of mainly changing the numbers – but only on the side visible to the spectators. Why change both sides? Even the pretty pink Powder Puff paint was left in place.
Mike took second in Moto One. In Moto Two Mike again took second after unavoidably punting another truck in mid-air that had barrel rolled in front of him. (Sorry, Marty.) The Koenig Racing Toyota sustained minor damage,
Including some inflicted when a racer apparently couldn’t stop at the finish and crashed hard into Mike. But it wasn’t enough to end the Team’s day. Mike went on to win the final Moto and Class T overall.
Koenig Racing thanks all our generous sponsors, Total Chaos, Goodyear, Currie, Off Road Warehouse, Doug Thorley, King Shocks, Streamline Graphics, Desert People Films and the entire Koenig Racing Team, including those who appeared in drag at the Powder Puff race.
--------------------------------------------------- Oct 9, 2010
TWO TRUCKS, TWO WINS
AT M.O.R.E. POWDER PUFF RACE
Koenig Racing winner Class 1450
Total Chaos Racing winner Class 1400
Koenig Racing teamed up with key sponsor Total Chaos Fabrication for this special event. It was a first time effort for both teams and each won their class.
Is the Koenig Racing truck set up for speed? Ask Karen Koenig, Tina Brink, Ashley Robinson and Adrienne Patterson. They jumped in – after a brutal nine-hour drive down from Sacramento the night before – and won Class 1450 having never raced the truck at all, ever. And they had it flying! Even team owner Mike Koenig’s own mother suggested maybe it was time for Mike to step aside and let Karen handle the driving chores. Ouch. Karen said, “We flew by car after car slowing for the ditches and bumps that our Chaos suspension and King shocks just absorbed. What an awesome race! Thank you Cedar-Sinai and M.O.R.E. for helping us get closer to a cure for breast cancer.”
Later that same day, Nicole Pitell-Vaughan wore ugly blister on her fingers as she rocketed the Total Chaos Tacoma to victory in Class 1400. Said co-driver Denyce Stiles, “We were moving really fast, but it never bothered me at all, although I did see a lot of flashes of nothing but blue sky through the windshield.!” Nicole, who is still recovering from breaking her back in a little dirt bike mishap, trained a month for this race. At the finish, before she and Denyce even got out of the truck, Nicole said to husband Matt Vaughan, “Now I get it! Now I know why you keep saying racing is so damned addictive. Thanks to everyone at M.O.R.E. and to all the Total Chaos crew.”
Koenig Racing wants to thank all of our sponsors. You make great events like this possible. You are the best.
And special thanks to Uniball for driving everyone in his motor home all night from Barstow to Sacramento and not crashing even though you missed four potholes on the way home--you hit all the others.
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August 15, 2010
All the team members of Koenig Racing would like to extend our thoughts and prays to those injured at the MDR California 200 over the past weekend. It’s times like these that make us truly take a step back to cherish our loved ones just a little more. Please help us in supporting those injured over this past weekend by going to http://www.fast-aid.org/california-200.html
Koenig Racing has always been a family supported team. Let’s show that our family extends beyond those of our blood and to the extended family in the racing community. Our hearts and prays go out to those who lost friends and family members.
Koenig Racing- in the Total Chaos/Goodyear sponsored Toyota Tacoma - scored BIG at the annual VORRA Fallon Nevada 250 Night Race: First in class, third overall - plus Koenig Racing is now overall points leader!
According to team owner Mike Koenig, “We only slowed down for thick dust and one fueling stop”. Otherwise it was pedal to the metal with consistent, flawless racing. Four of their six laps timed within a minute of each other.
Mike started the race three minutes behind the leader. By Check Point One he had cut that lead in half and continued gaining ground. At the end of lap three the Koenig pit crew performed a lightening fast driver change putting Troy Robinson into the driver’s seat and ahead of the V8-powered field. Getting in with Troy was co-driver and expert rally navigator Tina Brink. Using rally pace notes mapped out on earlier preruns, Tina kept Troy moving at top speed calling out turn after turn well before they showed up in the driving lights.
As usual, the Total Chaos suspension performed perfectly. The Team’s Goodyear tires had already completed four races, but they ended the Fallon bash ready for more. “With the Goodyears”, said Mike, “We were able to increase our speed through Fallon’s long sandy sections like never before.”
We want to thank Goodyear, Total Chaos, Currie, Desert People Films, Doug Thorley, Off Road Warehouse, King Shocks and all the members of Koenig Racing. See you at the next race!
NEXT RACE: MDR California 200 Night Race, August 14.
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June 21. 2010
Team Koenig Goes Outlaw in Reno!
The Xtreme Outlaws 250 was a great race! Even qualifying was extra exciting with Koenig Racing driver Troy Robinson pushing so hard he put our Total Chaos Toyota up on two wheels for a long, long way.
Team owner Mike Koenig was in the driver’s seat for the first two laps. “Halfway through lap one we caught up to three other Group T trucks. From then on it was thirty miles of bumper-to-bumper action going up rocky hill climbs so close to each other rocks were flying through the windshield. It’s amazing what we hit with the Goodyear tires and no flats, and we’d already ran a 400 mile race on them! Finally, I got past one guy and then another. Near the start of lap two we passed one more on the inside as he put it up on two wheels. Then, still in the dust of a truck we were chasing down, he suddenly gets stuck in a tree trying to pass a Class 11 car. We make the pass and boogie down to the end of the second lap, fifth overall and first in class by five minutes ready for the driver change…”
Now Troy “Bicycle Man” Robinson was behind the wheel. “We were flying right up until we came to the first hill climb. A Class 9 car was stuck right in the smack MIDDLE of the road. We tried slipping past on the low side but our race truck slid off the track and got stuck right on the edge of a cliff. Our only choice was to slowly back down the cliff itself. Finally back on the course, a mystery vibration was making the whole truck shake at anything over 54mph. But we never gave up and fought our way back, winding up fourth in class.”
The first ever VORRA-sanctioned Xtreme Outlaws 250 was a blast for us, thanks to our great sponsors, Total Chaos, Goodyear, Currie, Desert People Films, Dough Thorley, King Shocks, Off Road Warehouse, and of course all the great team embers of Koenig Racing. See you at Fallon!
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June 1, 2010
TOTAL CHAOS Team Racers Play Cat and Mouse while earning 1st and 2nd place in Group T Class Finishes at the VORRA Yerington 300.
TC debuted their project Tacoma at this event and out of the box landed a 1st in class and 2nd overall finish after running a flawless race day for 300 miles. Matt Vaughan out of Corona, Ca. is the owner of TOTAL CHAOS Fabrication Inc. and driver while the co builder Jeremy Bonds of Lake Elsinore, Ca. navigated the dusty 6 lap 50 mile VORRA race course. “The course was super dusty the first 3 laps and we were lucky that when we blew the corners we never caused any damage to the truck,” Matt stated after the race. “You only get one chance to race a brand new truck. The first place in class was a goal we set. The 2nd place overall in the race was a bonus for sure! We threaded the needle the whole race and never had a flat tire. My GOODYEAR Kevlar MTR tires were put to the test and this production tire withstood 300 miles of desert abuse and could have run more.”
The TC Toyota Tacoma has been a project vehicle that was used to develop the entire 2005+ Toyota 2wd product line that is currently available to the general public. TOTAL CHAOS offers mid travel performance lift kits and a long travel IFS system that this vehicle was used to test during all the R&D stages. The final kit TC developed was the current “race system” that is 5” over stock and bolts to all factory mounting locations. It incorporates a modified 07 Tundra steering rack, 1990 4wd Toyota custom TC lift spindles, heim steering and uses heim upper pivot control arms. TC stuck with its traditional tubular boxed lower control arms that mount inline 2.5” coil over and 3.0 bypass Fox shocks. Its powered by a Toyota 4.0L V6 that replaced the stock 2.7L motor.
TC played cat and mouse with team drivers Mike Koenig and Troy Robinson who run a TC Toyota Gen 3 Caddy system & trailing arms. Off the start only 1 vehicle separated them but the dust and single line track formed a conga line that forced drivers to be smart when they went for passes. The dust was so thick Troy got around Matt after TC’s Tacoma nerfed a stuck truck in class on the course. TOTAL CHAOS reeled in Koenig racing and the door-to-door battle was on for a few miles. Shortly thereafter friendly fire almost took out another Locos Mocos racer as Scott Rodgers pulled off for TC to make a clean pass. Koenig racing could not see the course and when Scotts Ford pulled back in the lane Troy smashed the back of his truck. They improvised and repaired all the damaged fuel fittings and were back on the run! 2nd lap Koenig Racing got by TC during a scheduled fuel stop and they chased each other around the course until Koenig racing pulled in for fuel starting lap 3. After a scheduled fuel stop at main pit TC was back in the lead with Koenig racing just under a minute behind all 3rd lap until calling out a blown rear end near checkpoint 4.
Some clean air enabled the TC crew to pick up the pace and visibility was better laps 4, 5 & 6. Toward the end lappers became another dust factor. The blown rear diff was actually a snapped spare drive line tab off the rear cage smacking around. With driver changes and fuel stops Koenig racing hammered down and battled back to second place on the race course. “We beat all the class 8 trucks out there and pulled off a 5th overall. Our TC suspension and GOODYEAR tires railed all day and stuck the corners. My truck worked great. We had no flats.” stated Mike after the race. Koenig Racing now stands in 3rd place overall for 2010 VORRA series points.
Our crew had an incredible pit support staff from Team Locos Mocos all day to man each and every pit location around the course. Without BCG 1 running race radio relay on the mountain all day for every VORRA racer radio communication this race would have been a much greater challenge. THANKS for taking a sun burn for the team!
TOTAL CHAOS would like to thank the entire crew who helps at TOTAL CHAOS & behind the scenes, GOODYEAR tires, Toyota, Toyota T-Ten, Fox Racing Shox, Off Road Warehouse, K&N, Lift Safety, Mastercraft, SPY, Doug Thorley, and Team Locos Mocos for all your support.
Koenig Racing would like to thank: TOTAL CHAOS for killer suspension, GOODYEAR tires for the best tires we’ve ever raced on, Off Road Warehouse, Currie Racing Rear ends, Doug Thorley, Team Locos Mocos, our wives, families and friends.
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May 1, 2010
Another podium finish for Koenig Racing.
When asked to comment on this race, owner/driver Mike Koenig said simply, “What can you say about a race that went almost perfectly?”
With almost no prep, the truck ran flawlessly all day. Prior to the race, the only tweaks were minor. Mike added,” We lowered the ride height, remounted the seats to lower the center of gravity, removed everything that wasn’t needed for short course racing , like a jack, tool bags, spare oil and a spare tire. And we were ready to go.”
For all six laps of all three motos, the Koenig Racing Total Chaos Toyota Tacoma was right on the rear bumper of a much lighter (1200 lbs lighter) truck. Lap after lap, Mike put pressure on the other racer trying to shake him up. Where Mike could use this power to pass, the track was way to narrow. At one point, Mike attempted a pass by muscling his truck off the course, but when he came back on, his competition edged his way past again also coming from way off the course.
Our Goodyear MT-R’s were hooking up so well that our Total Chaos-suspended Toy was one of only three vehicles able to clear the infamous Prairie City 80-foot double jump.
This was our second, second place finish in as many races. It keeps the momentum going as we start our 4-race summer desert series before returning to the short course arena this fall.
By the way, this was our first experience with our new Go Pro HD camera. We got some spectacular footage using a camera boom hanging 4 feet off the side of the truck. We used it only during single pass qualifying since it would have been an irresistible target for other racers.
Thanks again to our team and our sponsors, Total Chaos, Goodyear, Currie Enterprises, King Shocks, Doug Thorley Headers, Desert People Films and Off Road Warehouse.
Next Race: May 28-31, VORRA Yerington 300, Yerington NV
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KOENIG Racing opens the 2010 VORRA race season with a 2nd place podium finish at Prairie City, Ca. “My GOODYEAR MTR tires hooked up great in the corners, and I could stick my lines. They gave me confidence to battle with the field at this short course track. This is a great way to start our season and chase a class championship. There is a lot of
racing still this year, but we could not be happier”, stated Mike Koenig after the race.
Moto 1- Koenig qualified 2nd and earned a front row position, but Jake Povey squeaked away with the hole shot in his big v8 ranger. He didn't make it far carrying too much speed into the corner in turn one and endowed his truck 2 1/2 times. “ I was able to stick my line and cut under the flipping truck and avoid any carnage.” But the race was red flagged which forced a restart, bummer. Koenig fought his way through the field to finish that moto to 2ND place, edging out all the v8 trucks in class T.
Moto 2- Tight racing with the top 3 drivers had the crowd on their feet. Koenig ran third all 5 laps but snuck on the inside of the final turn to pass the second place truck right before the checkered flag.
Moto 3- Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time in life! TEAM KOENIG Racing took a random kid who was cruising the pits with his dad checking out the truck for the ride of his life. They strapped him into the truck for the whole 3rd moto and gave him his first ride in a race truck.
KOENIG Racing would like to thank: TOTAL CHAOS Fabrication, GOODYEAR Tires, Currie Enterprises, JD Films, Streamline Forms and Graphics, Rugged Radio, KING, Doug Thorley.
And a special thanks to Ryan Piggott for the great Pics.
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For Team Koenig the 2010 Snore Battle of Primm wasn’t a simple “we did real good blah-blah-blah” race. It was a monster struggle, with a good helping of luck that ended better than we could have hoped.
Our chosen class, 1450 unlimited prerunner trucks, had 83 pre-entered to race. 83 trucks!! None of them looked like they came here to lose. Just getting through contingency was a bear with race vehicles waiting in a line that stretched out for over a mile . But thanks to Team Koenig’s very excellent sponsors - Total Chaos Fabrication, Goodyear and Currie rear ends - our Toyota race truck was proudly displayed in the sponsor’s booth instead of waiting out there with everyone else. We felt guilty.
Owner Mike Koenig drew 28th on the grid putting him on the 7 th row. Not bad. But our luck quickly turned to crapola. At race mile 1.65 with no room to maneuver Mike plowed into a stalled race truck. Our steering box was dusted. The truck sat helpless on the side of the course. Crap. But luck was with us. Our co-driver’s Tundra just happened to be parked right there next to the track! He ran over and drove back to the pits for the spare steering box. In under 40 minutes Team Koenig was back at it, but missing the cut off by a slim two minutes wasn’t allowed to start lap 2.
A late finish on Saturday resulted in a 62 nd starting position for Sunday. No problem for Team Koenig. Mike Koenig, powered by pure determination, confidence in his Total Chaos/ Goodyear/ Currie rear end Toyota and a stock V6 (yes, a stock V6), was on a mission to go straight to the front of the pack on race day.
In a short 3-lap sprint race - on a course only 25% of the premiere Unlimited Trucks could finish -Mike managed to pass an incredible 52 trucks and finish the day in 10th place. Yes, 10th place! Was it the man? Was it the Total Chaos suspension? The Goodyear Tires? The Currie rear end? Well, yes.
Check out the Video's page to see us in action at The Battle At Primm
February 23, 2010
A full race report is currently being put together by Mike Koenig and Troy Robinson about the Battle at Primm which you can expect by the end of this week. The down and dirty is that Koenig Racing had a steering box fail early in the race on day 1 which pushed us out of the cut off time to continue on. Day 2 went much better though earning us a 40th overall finish in our class out of 72 trucks that took the green flag.
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February 18, 2010
Koenig Racing is bound for the great state of Nevada for the Battle at Primm. Stay tuned for race updates.
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February 15, 2010
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February 14, 2010
Koenig Racing had intended to team up with Kevin Davidson and run a LTR-450 during the 2010 VORRA Season; however since the ATVs are running a separate schedule Koenig Racing and Kevin Davidson have decided against it. It would require too much time in their already busy lives to run vehicles on two separate weekends every month.
