This is my jumbled up take on the race we ran yesterday.....
It started last Saturday night with a phone call from Jesse..."my co-driver bailed on my, you in?" Yep, it's been something I have wanted to do my whole life. Sunday I went to the Torchmate shop to start getting the buggy back together, the next 2 nights I got home after midnight from Reno from Torchmate. Friday, I got to the shop at 4:05PM, I didn't leave the shop for home until 12:30 on Saturday....ALL NIGHTER!! Come home, get the last few things packed, wash the sweat off my from being up for 2 days and waited for Jesse and Pat to pick me up in the motorhome.
We finally headed for Hawthorne, and when we drove up, we had 7 minutes before tech closed. We snatch the buggy out, haul ass across the parking lot just in time. We passed tech, but by showing them what all we had still to put on the buggy before the race started. Got the holes drilled in my helmet for the R3 restraint and headed for the start finish line. Worked on the buggy til pretty late, FINALLY getting some sleep around midnight.
RACEDAY!!! We still have to put the other supercharger pulley on, set the belts for me, strap in tools and spare, fill it up with fuel, and a ton of other things I have forgotten. We were to start 41st....we ended up starting dead last because we were still getting things ready. When we came off the line, the last person had been gone by 3 minutes or so.
First lap, fairly uneventful, except for no brakes(thankful for cutting brakes, they kinda worked). We pass a ton of cars, while using the first lap as our pre-run lap. In the first 20 miles or so, we went to pass a Baja that seemed to be moving for us, but in fact he was avoiding a wash. We were pinned out and dove into a 4-5 foot wash wide ass open, sending the buggy tail up...if not for window nets, I could have probably touched the ground!! By the end of the first lap, I am feeling pretty confident I have a good handle on the course, and with brakes....we are about to fully GET IT!! We pull into the pits, ready to fix the bleeder, get fuel, get a splash of water and get out of there....except for one thing. EVERYBODY IS YELLING THAT WE ARE ON FIRE!! My left foot was starting to get a little hot as the put it out. The catch can had sprayed on my legs and visor a little bit, but FIRE?? The pit crew fixes the bleeder, run a piece of hose to the rear from the catch can, and we are back on the course hauling the mail.
Second lap. Pass a few cars, completely destoy a silt berm, covering visors, can't see for 10 seconds or so. We come up on a sharp turn in a wash and see a truck stuck...we faintly hear something from them about fire, I yelled, "ya'll caught fire? is everybody ok?", NO, YOUR BUGGY IS ON FIRE!!! Oh really, again, 8 miles from the pit?? GREAT!! We pull off to the side, let the stuck rig borrow the hilift and set off to see what the deal is. I then realize that the left leg of my firesuit is black and the outside of my left shoe is beginning to melt...hmmm, not good. We find out the fire melted a plug wire, then saw that the fitting on the remote filter mount was girly finger tight...theres our problem, tighten it up, throw a small piece of hose around the semi-melted wire, and we are off again. Few miles later is Pit 1, we pull in, have someone's crew pull the hood, check for more oil spray and....ummm, are we on fire again? No fire, just residual oil...hey guys, keep the hood...see ya later. Off we go! Brakes are doing better, but not bled and still spongy. Jesse works the tranny, brake pedal and the cutting brakes like a damn champ. We also started catching a 7200 truck coming into the valley. I knew the guys in it, and after the race, they couldn't believe it was us a few miles behind them and gaining. Getting into the last section of the race, we come up on a desert truck on it's side. It had been passed by some of the 2wd trucks for fear of being stuck, but we had the Atlas in 2hi and drug them back over. We slide back into the pits for a regular stop, throw on a new plug wire, few other things and we are back at it.
Third lap. Buggy is running good, we are fully hauling ass...hit that same silt berm, this time even worse, took us 10 or 15 seconds to get our visors back right, and thank goodness for a parker pumper! The radios have acted up, Jesse can only hear me, no worries, thats who needs the info! About 9 miles from ProPit, we start floating all around...left rear tire has turned loose on us! We keep driving because ProPit has one of our spares and fuel. It's starting to get really sketchy, then the tire completely checks out...now we are getting traction from a Raceline beadlock wheel. Pieces of aluminum are flying around, with the occasional 2 inch piece of rubber. We get to ProPit, they change the tire, fuel us up and we get out of there. About 300 yards from the pit, the buggy decides to stop running. Pull the rear firewall and cool the pumps off with our drinking water, after a few minutes it is fired back up and we have fuel pressure again. Again we get into the silt bed section of the course at the end and a truck is stuck, we pull them out and head the last few miles into the pits. Our brakes have went out again, this time a rear bleeder. Fix it in the pits and on to the finishing lap.
Last lap. The last lap was fairly uneventful until the end. We didn't hit that silt berm in the beginning...it wasn't there anymore because we destroyed it. About the last 10 miles of the race, the buggy is trying to die, something electrical, off, on, off, on. Finally around 3 miles to go, it clears up and we tear down the hill for the finish. We pull in to screaming people that are I think more excited that we finished than we are. We get out, the buggy, us, everything is oily, dirty, about as nasty as you can imagine!! We were told we finished in 3rd, which is really good considering. Rock buggies took 1, 2, and 3 in sportsman. Kevin Yoder took the gold, Tom Wayes took silver and we finished up with a dirty bronze!
It was an amazing experience, tired, no sleep, buggy getting finished when the start in going on, all the issues and fires, no brakes, fuel, hot ass camelback water, and not realizing me and Jesse both ran the majority of the last lap without our helmets buckled...ooooops, too much of a hurry sometimes!!
I know this is a long read, but I wanted to share it with everyone. If you ever get the chance to run a desert race...DO IT!!!! You will never regret it, nor forget it! My body aches, my nose has finally quit bleeding from the dust, my eyes are getting adjusted, and I think I am going to finally catch up on sleep tonight! It was worth it, every damn bit!!!!
It started last Saturday night with a phone call from Jesse..."my co-driver bailed on my, you in?" Yep, it's been something I have wanted to do my whole life. Sunday I went to the Torchmate shop to start getting the buggy back together, the next 2 nights I got home after midnight from Reno from Torchmate. Friday, I got to the shop at 4:05PM, I didn't leave the shop for home until 12:30 on Saturday....ALL NIGHTER!! Come home, get the last few things packed, wash the sweat off my from being up for 2 days and waited for Jesse and Pat to pick me up in the motorhome.
We finally headed for Hawthorne, and when we drove up, we had 7 minutes before tech closed. We snatch the buggy out, haul ass across the parking lot just in time. We passed tech, but by showing them what all we had still to put on the buggy before the race started. Got the holes drilled in my helmet for the R3 restraint and headed for the start finish line. Worked on the buggy til pretty late, FINALLY getting some sleep around midnight.
RACEDAY!!! We still have to put the other supercharger pulley on, set the belts for me, strap in tools and spare, fill it up with fuel, and a ton of other things I have forgotten. We were to start 41st....we ended up starting dead last because we were still getting things ready. When we came off the line, the last person had been gone by 3 minutes or so.
First lap, fairly uneventful, except for no brakes(thankful for cutting brakes, they kinda worked). We pass a ton of cars, while using the first lap as our pre-run lap. In the first 20 miles or so, we went to pass a Baja that seemed to be moving for us, but in fact he was avoiding a wash. We were pinned out and dove into a 4-5 foot wash wide ass open, sending the buggy tail up...if not for window nets, I could have probably touched the ground!! By the end of the first lap, I am feeling pretty confident I have a good handle on the course, and with brakes....we are about to fully GET IT!! We pull into the pits, ready to fix the bleeder, get fuel, get a splash of water and get out of there....except for one thing. EVERYBODY IS YELLING THAT WE ARE ON FIRE!! My left foot was starting to get a little hot as the put it out. The catch can had sprayed on my legs and visor a little bit, but FIRE?? The pit crew fixes the bleeder, run a piece of hose to the rear from the catch can, and we are back on the course hauling the mail.
Second lap. Pass a few cars, completely destoy a silt berm, covering visors, can't see for 10 seconds or so. We come up on a sharp turn in a wash and see a truck stuck...we faintly hear something from them about fire, I yelled, "ya'll caught fire? is everybody ok?", NO, YOUR BUGGY IS ON FIRE!!! Oh really, again, 8 miles from the pit?? GREAT!! We pull off to the side, let the stuck rig borrow the hilift and set off to see what the deal is. I then realize that the left leg of my firesuit is black and the outside of my left shoe is beginning to melt...hmmm, not good. We find out the fire melted a plug wire, then saw that the fitting on the remote filter mount was girly finger tight...theres our problem, tighten it up, throw a small piece of hose around the semi-melted wire, and we are off again. Few miles later is Pit 1, we pull in, have someone's crew pull the hood, check for more oil spray and....ummm, are we on fire again? No fire, just residual oil...hey guys, keep the hood...see ya later. Off we go! Brakes are doing better, but not bled and still spongy. Jesse works the tranny, brake pedal and the cutting brakes like a damn champ. We also started catching a 7200 truck coming into the valley. I knew the guys in it, and after the race, they couldn't believe it was us a few miles behind them and gaining. Getting into the last section of the race, we come up on a desert truck on it's side. It had been passed by some of the 2wd trucks for fear of being stuck, but we had the Atlas in 2hi and drug them back over. We slide back into the pits for a regular stop, throw on a new plug wire, few other things and we are back at it.
Third lap. Buggy is running good, we are fully hauling ass...hit that same silt berm, this time even worse, took us 10 or 15 seconds to get our visors back right, and thank goodness for a parker pumper! The radios have acted up, Jesse can only hear me, no worries, thats who needs the info! About 9 miles from ProPit, we start floating all around...left rear tire has turned loose on us! We keep driving because ProPit has one of our spares and fuel. It's starting to get really sketchy, then the tire completely checks out...now we are getting traction from a Raceline beadlock wheel. Pieces of aluminum are flying around, with the occasional 2 inch piece of rubber. We get to ProPit, they change the tire, fuel us up and we get out of there. About 300 yards from the pit, the buggy decides to stop running. Pull the rear firewall and cool the pumps off with our drinking water, after a few minutes it is fired back up and we have fuel pressure again. Again we get into the silt bed section of the course at the end and a truck is stuck, we pull them out and head the last few miles into the pits. Our brakes have went out again, this time a rear bleeder. Fix it in the pits and on to the finishing lap.
Last lap. The last lap was fairly uneventful until the end. We didn't hit that silt berm in the beginning...it wasn't there anymore because we destroyed it. About the last 10 miles of the race, the buggy is trying to die, something electrical, off, on, off, on. Finally around 3 miles to go, it clears up and we tear down the hill for the finish. We pull in to screaming people that are I think more excited that we finished than we are. We get out, the buggy, us, everything is oily, dirty, about as nasty as you can imagine!! We were told we finished in 3rd, which is really good considering. Rock buggies took 1, 2, and 3 in sportsman. Kevin Yoder took the gold, Tom Wayes took silver and we finished up with a dirty bronze!
It was an amazing experience, tired, no sleep, buggy getting finished when the start in going on, all the issues and fires, no brakes, fuel, hot ass camelback water, and not realizing me and Jesse both ran the majority of the last lap without our helmets buckled...ooooops, too much of a hurry sometimes!!
I know this is a long read, but I wanted to share it with everyone. If you ever get the chance to run a desert race...DO IT!!!! You will never regret it, nor forget it! My body aches, my nose has finally quit bleeding from the dust, my eyes are getting adjusted, and I think I am going to finally catch up on sleep tonight! It was worth it, every damn bit!!!!
I would seriously like to take a ride/drive in something that was built for it. I can do without the fire.
