From the October 2017 issue
In Corona, California, there?s a massive, wooden, camel-humped building that Sunkist erected during the 1920s in which to squeeze lemons. There, on the lower level of the old citrus-processing plant, Lucas Oil Products now manufactures many of its 272 different additives, fuel treatments, and lubricants. But upstairs are the offices and studios of the Lucas-owned I-10 Race Promotions and MAVTV, likely the widest-spread motorsports and motorsports media organizations in America.
?We were sponsoring tractor pulls and late models long ago. Both series fell apart,? explains Indiana-born Forrest Lucas, 75, who incorporated Lucas Oil in 1989 and, with his wife, Charlotte, owns the interconnected enterprises. ?One guy got to doing dope, and the other guy­?I don?t know what happened to him. We picked the series up, cleaned them off, and put them on television.? That was in 2004. Since then, I-10 Race Promotions has grown its portfolio to eight grassroots motorsports series, each of which now has ?Lucas Oil? preceding its name: ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series, Drag Boat Racing Series, Late Model Dirt Series, Midwest Latemodel Racing Association, Modified Series, Off Road Racing Series, Pro Motocross Championship, and Pro Pulling League. Beyond that, there?s the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 in Phoenix, and support for individual road racers, stock c...