Lucas Oil Off Road: McGrath coming into his own

Jeremy McGrath has made a big leap to being a Pro 2 frontrunner in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series.

Even before he notched his second career Pro 2 win in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in Round 8 at Miller Motorsports Park, it was clear that Jeremy McGrath was on to something this season. A year out from forming his own team, which happened after he left Stronghold in the middle of the prior season, something has clicked. Perhaps it didn't happen as quickly as he'd have liked, but in 2015, McGrath has been a regular on the podium.

"Obviously you want it to happen overnight, but I figured out real quick it takes a lot of time to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," says the former motocross star. "We're consistently fast, which is something we were not last year. So we're making all the right moves, it seems. I'm happy with where we sit. We couldn't even swat flies this time last year, so it's good."

Much of the improvement has come with experience and knowledge gained over the prior season that was such a struggle. But a new crew chief in Danny Eberts has certainly been a big help, along with the wisdom gained in transmissions, torque converters and gearing. A lot of testing and working on getting the setups correct has resulted in McGrath stepping into the same truck every time out.

"When it's the same every time, it makes a huge difference, because if you get in and you're testing all this stuff, you're familiar with it all the time," he says. It also goes a long way toward having confidence, which McGrath says comes from having trust in the truck to do its job.

"We've made it faster, for sure; but when you get close, you can start fine-tuning things instead of taking big swings at it. I think mostly just being smarter, that's what I've focused on – being smarter and not making the same mistakes we made last year."

But it's not just the truck that's getting improvements. While there was no doubting the talents of the man who won seven Supercross championships, he realizes that he's still relatively new to trucks and has a few things to learn.

"We put a lot of laps in in testing. I went out in a sprint car a couple of times," MMcGrath notes. "So I've been driving quite a lot, which helps."

McGrath is not the first person to discover the value in getting some seat time in something other than a short course off road truck. There are many top drivers in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series paddock who have tried their hand at the powerful circle track machines and come away with newfound understanding.

"I think if I have to say my weakest point in off road, it has always been entry into the corners," McGrath explains. "That's the most nerve-wracking part. You've got to rotate, you've got to go into the corner, and you almost have to slide it in backward and there's big bumps. Who wouldn't be nervous with that? In the sprint car, you take that to another level. You've got to go in really hard. I think after driving a sprint car a few times, you start to recognize that driving it in hard in an off-road truck isn't as nerve-wracking."

It may not be possible to point to any one thing that has vaulted McGrath from an also-ran into a title contender – experience, changes to the truck and driver improvement have all played a part. But the result is regular appearances on the podium and a definite shot at the championship at the mid-point of the season. And McGrath has no intention of staying still.

"We're not going to sit idle, that's for sure," he says. "We're going to keep trying stuff and keep trying to figure it out. We've got to figure out how to be a little bit smarter. We're not far off."