Talk-It-Up Tuesday with Monster Energy's Casey Currie

  

Welcome to LiveRC's weekly column, "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!" Here we spend a little time talking with industry icons including racers, manufacturers, team managers, developers, promoters, and everyone in between! Sit back, relax, and go behind the scenes as we interview them all! 

In R/C car racing one one of the most popular forms of racing is in fact short course truck racing. R/C short course trucks originated over a decade ago when companies such as Tamiya released replicas of the REAL short course trucks racing in events such as the Mickey Thompson Offroad Series. The class never really caught on for racing, however, until the release of the Traxxas Slash only a few short years ago. Today, almost all of the major manufacturer's offer some form of short course truck or buggy designed for both racing and bashing. Today's short course trucks are also modeled after the real-life full size short course trucks seen in the Lucas Oil Offroad Racing Series, the Traxxas TORC Series, Robby Gordon Stadium Super Truck Series, Baja, and more. 

 

Not long ago Monster Energy short course champion, Casey Currie, signed on board to partner up with Axial Racing for the 2013 racing season, and we caught up with the two and four wheel superstar for this week's edition of "Talk-It-Up Tuesday!"
 

 

  

Casey: I have been involved with racing my entire life. My Dad and my Grandpa both raced and have been enthusiasts! I never thought about becoming a professional until I was 21 in college. I started a dirt bike shop that helped me pay for my racing efforts and from there it never seemed to slow down.
 
LiveRC: Since that start in racing you've become known worldwide for your results and accomplishments in everything from supermoto to baja. What would you consider your biggest accomplishment in racing?

  

Casey: My biggest accomplishments would be winning a championship 2 years ago and winning 2 World Championships. I also won an AMA title in '05 in Supermoto Lites class.
 
LiveRC: Of ALL the different types of racing you've been involved with, what is your favorite and least favorite?

Casey: My favorite sport is short course off road. There is no rush like battling 30 trucks at 1 time on a moto track. My least favorite sport would be… none. If there is racing, I'm in. I am pretty competitive with whatever I do.
 
 
LiveRC: You recently teamed up with Axial Racing (known for the competition R/C crawlers). Can you tell us a little about that partnership and how it came about?

Casey: Yeah, Axial is an awesome company! Their product fits my lifestyle and I love Jeeps!! We started talking a while ago and when everything lined up it all came together. They have the most amazing Jeep Crawlers that from a distance you could not tell that they are a R/C Jeep verse the real thing.
  
LiveRC: Should we expect to see a "Casey Currie edition" vehicle or two in the future from Axial? Possibly a short course truck?
 
Casey: We have some things in the works! Can't let the cat out of the hat yet but there are some exciting things happening right now!
 
LiveRC: How long have you been involved with R/C cars?

Casey: I have been racing R/C trucks since I was probably 10! It’s the easiest and closest way to racing without having to pay the big bucks!

LiveRC: Several of the top offroad racers have teamed up with R/C car companies, and do a little R/C racing of their own. Which of your full-size racing competitors do you think would be your closest competition on the R/C track?

Casey: I really don't pay attention to other athletes in our sport, so I really have no idea who drives the R/C trucks.

LiveRC: In everything you are seen doing now, whether it is R/C cars of full size short course truck racing, Monster Energy is right there with you. At what point did you become part of the Monster Energy team?

Casey: I become apart of the Monster Family 5 years ago. They are an amazing company and seem to do everything right!

LiveRC: Monster offers 30+ different drinks and flavors. How many have you tried them all, and if so which do you recommend the most?

Casey: I have tried them all!! My favorite right now is the new Chocolate Muscle!! Its so good.

LiveRC: It wasn't that long ago, and you were hanging out with Rob Dyrdek on MTV's "The Fantasy Factory" TV show. Tell us a little about that, and a day with Rob.

Casey: Yeah getting to do the Fantasy Factory was awesome. Rob is a cool guy. Rob thought it was going to be so easy to drive my race truck and when we went out for the day it was the total opposite! He called me out that anyone can drive and no one can just skate board so I made a point of it to drop in on this huge quarter pipe at the Factory.
 
LiveRC: If you could be a professional at anything in the world besides racing, what would you be?

Casey: I rode a bull a couple weeks ago so I would say I would like to go down that road and see if I could become good at that.
 
LiveRC: What does a day in the life of Casey usually consist of?

Casey: Busy! Haha. If I'm at work I oversee my race program making sure everything is going good. I write a lot of emails and try to keep up with all my partners. I train 3 days a week with a trainer, ride motorcycles, jet skis, bicycles and anything else I can do to stay active.
 
 
LiveRC: Best Casey Currie pickup line?

Casey: The best line I have ever heard was someone bragging to me that they knew Casey Currie the off road racer. They had no idea that they were talking to me.

LiveRC: Most memorable and most embarrassing racing moments?

Casey: Most memorable racing moment was being half way through the last race of the year and My spotter telling me that I can win the race or I can DNF because I am the 2010 Champion! Most embarrassing moment was crashing when I was in the lead. It was my mistake but it looked stupid.
 

(While this is not the "embarassing crash" that Casey speaks of,  after watching this one...breaking a shock tower or a-arm on our R/C truck doesn't seem so bad after all.)

   

LiveRC: Favorite and least favorite places in the world?

Casey: My favorite places to go would be Thailand or Baja. My least favorite places are places that get humid when we are racing! Not a fan of humidity.

LiveRC: One thing most people don't know about Casey Currie?

Casey: That I love to work! If I could work 80 plus hours in the shop a week I would!

LiveRC: Casey, thanks so much for joining us today. We look forward to hearing from you soon, we wish you the best of luck at the upcoming races!

Casey: Thanks for the interview! 

  

 

 

Photos courtesy of CaseyCurrie.com and Casey Currie Facebook Page. 

 

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