SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/602700
TROPHY TRUCK INNOVATOR AND RACING LEGEND Curt LeDuc has achieved many things in his 30 plus years of off-road racing, but in 2015 he reached a new milestone that very few have accomplished, being a SCORE veteran who was recently inducted into the Off- Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF). "I really appreciate all the people that got behind it and voted for me. I think it's something I never thought I would be a member of," says LeDuc. "I didn't start out racing with the intention of getting in, but in the end it all worked out. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a verification of the effort I put into racing. I never had a side business. One hundred percent of my efforts went into racing; my real job. The whole time I have lived in California is to turn money into dust, it's all I've ever done. Someone came into my trophy room once and asked wouldn't you like to have all the money you spent to win these trophies? I looked at him and said it's not even a thought because I never had any money. This was all other people's money. There is no regret." LeDuc got his start in the 1970's when he owned a four- wheel drive shop. He built a V-6 Jeep Commando to race in local contests in Massachusetts. His racing life started with a three event contest over a weekend, which included a hill climb, sand drags, and an obstacle course. LeDuc was outgunned in the hill climb and sand drags, but in the obstacle course he took first in class and first overall with the fastest time of the weekend. A racing career was born that day. After several years of competing in short course, at 32, LeDuc packed up his family and moved to Southern California to start a career in desert racing. "For me, to win your first Baja 1000 is a BY MATT KARTOZIAN PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CENTERLINE IMAGES GETSOMEPHOTO.COM 012 SCORE JOURNAL