Desert Dingo Racing

Category: Caliente 250

  • Bayside Oil II Sponsors Desert Dingo Racing 2009 Off-Road Racing Season

    July 16, 2009, Santa Cruz, Calif. – Bayside Oil II, Inc., one of Santa Cruz County’s oldest and most respected oil distributors and lubricant recycling centers, announced today that it is sponsoring Desert Dingo Racing’s 2009 off-road racing season, including the Baja 1000 in Mexico in November.

    Desert Dingo Racing campaigns a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle in off road races in the U.S. and Mexico. The team is the official World Diabetes Day off road race team and works with the International Diabetes Federation to raise money for diabetes education and awareness programs.

    Bayside Oil II, Inc., a family-owned business founded in 1973, provides local industrial companies with fuel, lubricants, absorbents and antifreezes and is a licensed recycler for antifreeze, batteries, corrosives, flammable liquids, fluorescent lights, oil filters, paints, solids, and used oils.

    “Several members of our family live with diabetes and we found Desert Dingo’s education and awareness efforts appealing,” said company owner Kim Glenn. “We’re proud to lend our support to their racing efforts and work with them to education people on the growing threat of diabetes.”

    Desert Dingo Racing makes the car available for public events and distributes hero cards with the warning signs of diabetes printed on the back. Two team members have Type 2 diabetes and several other team members have a history of the disease in their families.

    “Fuel is our No. 1 cost and Bayside Oil’s support is tremendous,” said Desert Dingo crew chief and Felton resident Richard Palasik. “We typically travel hundreds of miles to a race in Nevada and between the race car, chase trucks and support vehicles, log thousands of miles for the Baja 1000.”

    The team is ranked third in the Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts racing series, recently finishing third in class at the Caliente 250 in Las Vegas. The team has competed in the 2007 and 2008 Baja 1000 and uses the Nevada series to as warm ups for the race in Mexico.

    About Bayside Oil
    Bayside Oil II is a leading provider of fuels and lubricants for local companies and is a licensed recycler for fuels, lubricants, absorbants and anti-freeze. In addition to Desert Dingo Racing, Bayside Oil also sponsors Dan Rodoni Racing and Scott Racing.

    About Desert Dingo Racing
    Desert Dingo Racing is a team of high tech professionals based in Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley who campaign a 1969 VW Beetle in off road races in the U.S. and Mexico. They are the official World Diabetes Day off road race car and the team raises money for diabetes education and awareness programs sponsored by the International Diabetes Federation.

  • 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.

  • Deconstructing 1107

    Crusty and Robert take a meeting.

    Our next race – the KC Hilites Midnight Special – isn’t until early August, so we’re taking the time to take the car apart and go through it with a fine tooth comb…something we’ll do to varying degrees after every race.

    Crusty worked the past couple of days removing the seats and fenders and today he and Bob pulled the engine, drained the fuel cell and began inspecting things like wheel bearings and brake shoe wear. We made the decision to move the front shock reservoirs back into the space that usually holds the spare tire. We’d moved then under the fender wells to increase the airflow, but found that they were too difficult to work around and the hostes from the shocks to the reservoirs were fraying.

    Shawn put in a good amount of time today primering things like bumpers and fenders (rust is a big issue for bare metal parts). Seth is writing up his notes from Wednesday’s team meeting and we’ll shortly have our marching orders.

    Some photos from today’s work here    .

  • 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.

  • Photos from the Caliente 250

    1107 blows past a Class 9 at the Caliente 250. (Ok, it could happen).

    Bob was kind enough to shoot some photos at the Caliente 250, where, as previously mentioned, we finished third. Next up, in August, is the KC Hilites Midnight Special at Ridgecrest, California, on August 8. This race is unique in that it’s run entirely at night. Should be interesting.

    Bob’s photo gallery is here    .