Traxxas, the leading manufacturer of hobby-class radio-controlled (R/C) vehicles, will sponsor Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) and its No. 18 Toyota Tundra in three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races - Aug. 27 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Oct. 30 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, and the Nov. 19 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway - with driver-owner Kyle Busch behind the wheel for each event.
The sponsor is a perfect fit for Busch, as the 25-year-old Las Vegas-native has been an R/C car enthusiast nearly all his life.
"It's incredibly cool for me to have Traxxas as a sponsor of the No. 18 KBM Toyota at Chicagoland, Talladega and Homestead," said Busch, who has 19 career victories in the Camping World Truck Series, including last week's O'Reilly 200 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. "I worked at a hobby store in Las Vegas when I was a teenager and remember selling a lot of Traxxas vehicles and equipment. I've used the vehicles throughout my life because R/C cars have always been a huge passion of mine. Traxxas' reputation is second-to-none, and it's an honor for me to have them as a partner with Kyle Busch Motorsports."
Traxxas, known as the "fastest name in radio control®," is located in Plano, Texas, and creates, designs and manufactures hobby-class R/C cars, trucks and boats in both nitro and electric categories. All aspects of the business are performed in-house, from the original pencil sketches to the finished product on the shelf.
The company pioneered Ready-To-Race® models that are fully assembled and ready to drive within minutes of opening the box. In addition, all Traxxas vehicles operate and handle like full-size racing vehicles with similar adjustability and are the fastest R/C vehicles available, with speeds as high as 70 mph.
Augmenting Traxxas' sponsorship of Busch in the Camping World Truck Series event at Chicagoland will be Busch's participation in the Aug. 25 Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL race at the half-mile dirt oval at Route 66 Raceway. Located on the grounds of Chicagoland Speedway behind the facility's 1.5-mile oval, the short oval will be transformed into an undulating and twisting dirt course, and it's there where Busch will pilot a different kind of truck when he makes his Pro 2WD off-road racing debut.
"I've always wanted to try out one of the Traxxas TORC Series trucks, so being able to race one at Chicago is going to be a lot of fun," Busch said. "Racing an off-road truck has been on my list of vehicles I wanted to try out before my racing career was over, so I have to thank Traxxas for giving me a chance to race one of these short-course trucks for the first time. It's the perfect way to help kick off the new partnership with Traxxas and KBM."
"We've found a perfect fit in Kyle Busch to represent Traxxas," said Mike Jenkins, president of Traxxas and driver of the No. 47 Traxxas Pro 4WD TORC Series Truck. "His passion for motorsports and drive to win fit our creed as the 'fastest name in radio control.' Kyle shows us how a love for the fun and excitement of racing R/C cars can help nurture and feed a motorsports passion that can grow into a lifelong racing career. He still enjoys the competition of radio control to this day. Kyle will bring a tremendous amount of recognition to the R/C hobby in general and, specifically, the benchmark performance that we have established in the top-selling line of Traxxas products. We are proud to have Kyle as a new member of the Traxxas family."
While Busch is not running the full Camping World Truck Series schedule, KBM's No. 18 Toyota is competing for the owner's title. It is second in the standings, 68 points behind the first-place No. 30 truck of Germain Racing with nine races remaining in the 2010 season.
