Desert Dingo Racing

Category: Baja 1000

  • International Diabetes Federation announces 2009 World Diabetes Day theme

    We’ve been working with the great people at the International Diabetes Federation in Brussels, Belgium since before our first attempt on the Baja 1000 back in 2007. We’re the official World Diabetes Day race car and take every opportunity at races to distribute information (like our hero cards) to race fans. We also do a drive-a-thon fundraiser to support the IDF’s education and awareness programs.

    They’ve just announced their new campaign for 2009-2013 and we’re looking forward to helping them spread the word. The key messages are:

    • Know the diabetes risks and know the warning signs
    • Know how to respond to diabetes and who to turn to
    • Know how to manage diabetes and take control

    They’ve done some great graphic design work and I’m hoping I can convince them to send us some of the posters to distribute at the Baja 1000 this coming November.

  • Men at work

    Shawn and Bob work on the co-driver side front drum brake.

    In advance of our first logistics meeting for the Baja 1000 on June 21 at Seth’s place, the team put in time doing advance prep on the car. Crusty continued stripping out the car, eliminating rust and painting any bare metal. Shawn and Bob worked on the brakes, replacing some bits that kept the passenger side wheel from rolling relatively freely. Richard pulled the fuel cell, power washed it in preparation for pulling the bladder and sponge, which apparently needs replacing every couple of years.

    We may have some interesting developments in the communications department. Photos from last weekend’s work are here.

  • Baja 500 in progress

    Hear Weatherman get really cranky with people, live on the radio.

    We’re saving up our pennies for the Baja 1000, but this is the weekend for the Baja 500. Nearly as fun as being in the car sucking in lungfuls of silt is listening to Weatherman get increasingly cranky with people who walk over his broadcasts, who are universally referred to as “Richard Craniums.” He’s also threatened to lock some kid in a closet full of spiders for playing with a radio and broadcasting over him. Then there was this:

    “Weatherman, radio check.”

    “You’re a 10.”

    “Is 10 good or bad? Is the scale from 1 to 10 or 10 to 1?”

    “10 is good. It goes from 1 to 10.”

    “Ok, thanks Weatherman. Out.”

    Thanks to the Race Dezert folks for rebroadcasting this.

  • Food, folks and logistics

    An army marches on tri-tip, salmon bruschetta and wine.

    The team gathered at Scott’s place earlier this week (he totally has a custom-built motorcycle displayed in his living room) to celebrate our third place finish in SNORE’s Caliente 250 and to start mapping out logistics for future races and the Baja 1000.

    After a phenomenal dinner prepared by Scott & Carrie, we settled in to talk our way through the car from front bumper to exhaust pipe, mapping out what we need to do to improve the car, what spares we need and map out what we’ll be doing between now and the KC Hilites Midnight Race to up our game. A.J. updated everyone on the progress on AWACS and Francis (more on this later).

    A photo gallery of us eating is here.

    I haven’t mentioned this to Roxanne yet, but I’ll be entering separately to reprise Mouse’s 2003 solo ride on the course. Creech gives me my first lesson.

  • Meet Francis, the newest member of the Desert Dingo team

    Something came over A.J. tonight and he decided that he really really really needed an M274 mechanical mule, aka “Carrier, Light Weapons, Infantry, 1/2 ton, 4×4”.

    After lengthy consideration, we decided to name it “Francis.”

    This from Wikipedia:

    The M274 Mule was introduced in 1956 to supplement both the 1/4 ton trucks (“Jeeps”) and 3/4 ton trucks (Weapons Carrier Series and M37 series) in airborne and infantry battalions. 11,240 Mules were produced between their introduction and 1970 when production ceased. They were used throughout the Vietnam Conflict and other U.S. military operations until the 1980s as platforms for various weapons and for carrying men, supplies, and weaponry/ammunition. They offered absolutely no protection to the driver yet that was relatively unimportant as they were mainly used as cargo carriers and medium-range infantry support vehicles rather than close-combat anti-infantry vehicles. They were phased out from military usage in the 1980s with the introduction of the HMMWV series vehicles. The HMMWV was however unable to fulfill the role of the Mule so the M-Gator, a military variant of the popular John Deere Gator vehicle, was introduced.

    Francis will live in A.J.’s renovated 28′ U-Haul, which we’ve named AWACS because it will have a satellite dish. Francis will go for food, haul spare parts and retrieve 1107 if it breaks down in a particularly technical section of the course.

    Here’s a video of someone putting a mule through its paces: