Racefab Inc. is a company formed by Joel Jackson in 1991. Based in

Rusk, Texas Rusk is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, Texas, United States. At the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 5,285. History The town was established by an act of the Texas Legislature on April 11, 1846. It was na ...

, Racefab Inc. is a North American designer and manufacturer of competition automobiles for sports car and prototype racing, as well as desert racing under the name of Off-Road International. They have constructed over 600 racers for competition around the world.

History

Before opening Racefab Inc., Joel worked designing, constructing, and as crew chief at Shelby Automobiles, where his efforts led to numerous

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

victories and in 1988, an

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

championship in International Sedan competition as well as special recognition for his efforts receiving the

TRW Mechanic of the Year Award. Here, Joel worked on the design/build team for The

Shelby Can-Am The Shelby Can-Am is a sports car that had its own racing class in the United States between 1991 and 1996. Some of the models were shipped off to South Africa to race there, where they continued to be campaigned until about 2015. History Unit ...

and was crew chief for the development of the spec racer. Here, he also worked designing and building the prototype for the

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by Street & Racing Technology, SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer Chrysler from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2011 to 20 ...

. After leaving Shelby Automobiles, Joel began work on the factory

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

motorsports team in

SCORE International SCORE International (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) is an off-road racing sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE International was purchased from Sal Fish in late 2012. and is run ...

competition working to design and develop what would become one of the original Trophy Trucks for off-road racing. This truck went on to win the SCORE Championship in 1997 as well as the 1995

Baja 500 The Baja 500 is a Mexican off-road motorsport race on the Baja California Peninsula that is sanctioned by SCORE International. The course has remained relatively the same over the years with the majority of events being loop races starting and fi ...

. First opening in 1991 in Houston, Racefab Inc. began designing and building chassis for

GT1 and

Trans Am Series The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of ...

competition. This same year, they were contracted as the official constructor for the Shelby Dodge Pro Series, building over 80 chassis with suspension and spares. At the end of 1996, the SCCA Shelby Dodge Pro Series ended, but the cars continued to compete in SCCA Club Racing and soon found a home overseas in South Africa. These cars are at the top level of African motorsports competing in their own series as well as in endurance events to this day, where they compete for and win overall. Racefab's efforts in GT1 and Trans Am have also continued with multiple victories. They are the only constructor to win the South Atlantic Road Racing Championship and the North Atlantic Road Racing Championships in the same year, as well numerous SCCA championships and the Canadian GT Championship. In 1998, Racefab Inc. partnered with

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

to construct a driving experience series called CART Driving 101. Designs included a single seat Champ Car and a tandem seat Champ Car for ride-alongs. After CART ended in 2004, Driving 101 became The

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...

Racing Experience. You can drive one of these Indy Cars today as they travel around the US. In 2001, these cars went on to be used in the movie Driven starring

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

. In 1999, Racefab re-located to Rusk, Texas where they are presently located. In that same year, they began work with

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

to design and construct a Ford Expedition for the

Best in the Desert The Best In The Desert Racing Association (BITD) is an American desert off-road racing association, based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Casey Folks in 1984, and is currently owned by his sons Daryl and Bryan Folks. The BITD was ori ...

Nevada 2000, a 2,000 mile desert race to celebrate the year 2000 that circled the entire state. With very little testing, the Expedition finished the event, taking 3rd place on the podium. Here Racefab Inc. created their off-road division Off-Road International, to head their off-road racing program. Along with developing an off-road racing program under Off-Road International, they also worked to create Scientific Exploration Vehicles as well as a line of off-road accessories. In 2007, Racefab Inc., working with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

was contracted to work on the design and construction of two

Lunar Electric Rover The Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) is a modular design, modular vehicle concept developed by NASA from 2008 to 2015. It would have consisted of a pressurized cabin that could be mated either with a wheeled chassis to form a Rover (space explora ...

s under the Advanced Explorations Systems Program. These were constructed for the planned 2020 Orion Missions for the planned return to the Moon. In 2009, the Racefab Inc. built rovers participated in the

First inauguration of Barack Obama The first United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The 56th ina ...

concluding the ceremonies. The rovers were later featured in an episode of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...

'' as well as many other print publications. After the Orion program was cancelled, the rovers were reclassified as Space Exploration Vehicles and given new missions for the future including Mars Exploration as well as asteroid landings. The rovers can be seen in action on Mars before they launch however in the 2015 film '' The Martian'' starring

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

. Today Racefab Inc continues to build on its accomplishments and creating unique vehicles for a variety of applications. For 2015, a Racefab Inc. built Camaro placed 3rd in Open Class at the

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile Hillclimbing, hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. The track measures and has over 156 tur ...

and in South Africa, a Racefab Inc. prototype took top honors with an overall victory at the 3-hour

Phakisa Freeway Phakisa Freeway is a motor racing circuit located between Welkom and Odendaalsrus, South Africa. It is one of the few oval speedways outside of the United States and the only one in Africa. History Phakisa Freeway was built on the same site ...

endurance race.

Accomplishments

* 1988 Founder Joel Jackson wins IMSA IS championship * 1988 IMSA TRW Mechanic of the Year awarded to Joel * 1989 Design, Builds, Develops Shelby Can Am * 1989 Design and builds Dodge Viper Prototype * 1990 Design, builds and crew chief for factory Jeep desert racer * 1991 Racefab Inc. is founded * 1991 Racefab Inc. official constructor Shelby/Dodge Pro Series * 1991-1996 SCCA Pro Racing Champions * 1991-1996 SCCA National Run-offs Champions * 1995 1st Place SCCA June Sprints * Canadian GT Champions * North Atlantic Road Racing Champions * South Atlantic Road Racing Champions * 1995 1st place SCORE Baja 500 * 1997 SCORE International Champions * 1998 partners with CART Driving 101 * 1999 re-locates to Rusk, Texas * 2000 3rd place Best In The Desert Nevada 2000 * 2000-2005 South African VodaCom LeMans Champions * 2001 Racefab Inc. built cars featured in Driven with Sylvester Stallone * 2004 Mario Andretti Driving School uses Racefab Inc built cars * 2006-2014 South African Shelby Can Am Champions * 2007 Racefab Inc. works with NASA to design and construct Lunar Electric Rovers * 2009 Racefab Inc. L.E.R. concludes Presidential Inaugural Parade * 2011 Top Gear features Racefab Inc. built L.E.R. * 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 2nd Super Stock Car * 2013 African 6-Hour Enduro 1st place in class and 2nd-5th overall * 2014 African 3-Hour Enduro 1st place in class 3rd Overall * 2015 African 3-Hour Enduro 1st place in class 1st Overall * 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb 3rd place Unlimited * 2015 Racefab Built L.E.R. featured in The Martian with Matt Damon

External links

Racefab Inc. Off-Road International

References

{{Reflist Automotive motorsports and performance companies Car manufacturers of the United States American racecar constructors