Rick Huseman

1973 ~ 2011

Sadly, Rick Huseman passed away on October 16, 2011 in a plane crash along with his brother Jeff and Daniel Hicks. Rick was a champion on and off the race track and held in the highest regard by everyone in off-road racing. He will be missed.

Below is Rick's bio:

Born: July 9, 1973

Rick Huseman, driver of the number-36 Pro 4x4 Toyota Tundra, is making his mark on short-course off-road racing with a winning attitude and an innovative approach to his racing strategy. He has been building a highly competitive racing program since 1997 and in 2009, Rick took home his first PRO 4X4 Championship in the new Traxxas TORC Series. His championship run started early in the season with an amazing 5 wins in the first 6 races. He completed the year with 6 wins and 10 podiums and earned 7 Oakley Bomb Run Awards for fastest lap times. He was voted 2009 TORC Series Driver of the Year by his fellow drivers.

Rick followed up his TORC Series championship with a 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Pro-4 Championship. He dominated the class with 10 wins in 15 rounds of racing. This amazing feat has placed him in the record book for the most single season wins in short-course history. He was also awarded the prestigious 2010 "Driver of the Year" award presented by Ryan Communications Group's (RCG) Dirt Sports Magazine. In the TORC Series, he narrowly missed the championship by a meer 3 points.

Rick reached another milestone on August 7, 2011 at Glen Helen, the place where he started his career, by winning his 50th race.

Career Highlights

In 1996, Rick Huseman and his brothers ventured to the Glen Helen Raceway in Devore, Calif., to watch a SODA series truck race. After an exciting night at the races, the Huseman brothers began to fuel their passion for off road racing. Already avid off road enthusiasts who played at the Glamis Sand Dunes and the Mojave Desert on motorcycles, Rick Huseman and his older brother, Danny, teamed together in building a dual-purpose FORT Ranger. The idea was to race the truck in the desert off road series in Class 7S and also compete at the famed Glen Helen Raceway.

Rick Huseman Racing was immediately recognized as a top contender with a very fast truck. In the following two years, Rick established his team as a front-runner winning short-course championships at Estero Beach, Ensenada, Baja California, and Glen Helen Raceway.

In 1999, Huseman and his crew were invited to compete at the Crandon World Championships where they raced two weekends of racing at the famed off road Motorsports raceway, Crandon International Raceway. After successfully racing against the nation's top teams, Rick Huseman Racing took their first step in becoming a full-time professional race team and built a CORR Pro-Lite chassis, committing to the entire 2000 CORR Series. Overcoming many challenges in their first season, they finished the year in ninth position of the 15 teams that vied for the Pro-Lite Championship.

In 2001, Huseman took on veteran off road champion, Jeff Kincaid, battling back and forth all season long. Huseman secured victories in five of the 14 races ahead of Kincaid, who scored four wins. At the end of the season, a mere seven points separated the two teams, with Huseman finishing a close second to Kincaid.In the following three consecutive years, 2002, 2003, and 2004, Huseman charged his FABTECH Pro-Lite to second-place finishes in the CORR Series' points championship.

In 2005, Huseman made the move into full-size trucks with a 4-wheel-drive Pro 4 Class truck. He became a part of the Toyota family when he purchased Johnny Greaves' 4-year-old Pro 4 Toyota Tundra.

Rookie Pro 4 racer Huseman raced against veterans such as Carl Renezeder, the late Jason Baldwin and Curt LeDuc, and successfully secured the podium twice, claiming a second- and third-place finish in 14 rounds of fender-to-fender off road racing. He finished seventh in the series' standings.

Heading into the 2006 season, Huseman Engineering built a state-of-the-art Pro 4 truck in the off-season. Spending several months in their Riverside shop, the Huseman crew debuted the 2006 FABTECH Toyota Tundra at the first race of the season in Chula Vista, Calif.

2007 brought Huseman much success. He had his first Pro 4 victory at Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Calif. and concluded the season with six top-five finishes and a sixth place finish in the 2007 championship point's race.

2008 felt like the year Rick would contend for the championship. Unfortunantly, CORR hit financial difficulty and had to cut the season short with 2 races left in the seaons. Huseman captured 2 wins and several top-5's in CORR Pro-4 which tied him in points for the championship, but CORR gave Carl Renezeder the championship with the tie-breaker being more wins to Carl (4).

When 2009 began, there was a lot of uncertainty in the sport of off-road racing. However, with the emergence of The Off Road Championship (TORC) Series, Rick was excited to once again have the opportunity to prove his racing prowess and shoot for a championship. And prove it he did–winning an amazing 5 of the first 6 races of the inaugural PRO 4X4 TORC season. He also took home the coveted Oakley Bomb Award for the fastest lap in 7 races which included breaking the track record for the fastest lap time at the fabled Crandon International Off-road Raceway. Rick Huseman took the first place points spot in the first race and never looked back–clinching his first PRO 4X4 championship in the season finale in Las Vegas, NV! Rick’s amazing championship season consisted of 6 wins, 10 podiums and 13 top 5 finishes. And, to cap things off, Rick received the 2009 TORC Driver of the Year honors.

Rick ran both the Lucas Oil Of Road Series (LOORRS) and The Off Road Championship (TORC) sereis in 2010. He absolutely dominated the LOORRS Pro-4 class with 13 podiums including 10 wins, 2 second place and 1 third place finishes. He set the record for the most single season wins in short-course history. He was awarded the prestegious 2010 Dirt Sports Magazine's Driver of the Year. In the TORC, he had 9 podiums including 5 wins, 3 seconds and 1 third. He missed the back-to-back championship by only 3 points—second only to fellow Monster Energy /Toyota driver Johnny Greaves.

2011, Rick decided to stay closer to home an run only in the Lucas Series. He picked up right where he left off in 2010 by extending his winning streak by taking the top spot in the first 4 races of the season. followed by a 2nd and 3rd before a suffering a couple of dnf's. He then won rounds 9 and 10 and took 3rd in round 11. He was looking forward to the final race weekend to make a run for his 3rd championship in 3 years, but it was not to be .

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