Desert Dingo Racing

Category: Class 11

  • Barstow Bound for the MORE Powder Puff race


    And we have another winner in the “Who the heck are you people?” contest.

    We’re headed to Barstow in a couple of hours for the MORE Powder Puff race where we’ll meet up with Tut and Pepper Cote of Tut Tech Racing, Emme Hall of Dulce de Leche Racing and Miss Motor Mouth herself, Michelle Naranjo. While I’m lounging by the pool at the Comfort Suites, Roxanne and they will be confabbing. Driving with us (actually, driving us), is fellow NASCAR fan and good friend Catherine Hicks, who I think Roxanne as strong-armed into shooting photos for us. Pepper will be racing her Sportsman Class buggy, “Kitt”, and Emme will be racing her father’s Class 5 Trophy Bug.

    Because, for once, I won’t be responsible for anything, I’m going to play around with the technologies and will be running our first-gen SPOT tracking device, beginning around 9 a.m. You can follow our adventures here. Be patient. It takes forever to load.

    Richard, Crusty, Charley and maybe Bob are headed to Prairie City this morning for the next to last race of the VORRA season. Charlie is making his triumphant return to the team after accompanying us to the first Baja 1000 back in 2007. They’ll be practicing later today, doing the official practicing tomorrow and all out racing on Sunday. I’ll be posting updates as long as the battery on my lousy iPhone holds out.

    Oh, and that handsome fellow in the photo? That’s Christian H. from Germany, a good friend and long time supporter of Desert Dingo Racing. (Notice how he photographed himself with a mirror in the background so you can see the DDR t-shirt he’s wearing). He sent the photo in response to our “Who the heck are you people?” contest.

    Christian already has all of our hero cards and stickers and pins and t-shirts, so I’m thinking I’m going to send him one of 1107’s fenders after it’s been thoroughly trashed at this weekend’s short course racing. No, two fenders. COD to Germany.

  • We’re red-shirting the Baja 1000 this year

    Take a meeting
    Shawn and Scott confab on Bob’s futon/sofa during the team meeting.

    We decided Wednesday night to skip the Baja 1000 this year, focus on beating our arch rivals Two Larry’s and a Megan Racing for the Stock Bug season points championship in VORRA and spend the off season doing a body-off rebuild of 1107.

    The issue was financial. The 1000 is our most expensive race, costing close to $8,000 to run in a good year. Because the course this year is a straight shot from Ensenada to La Paz, our fuel bill – always our biggest line item – automatically doubled.

    So the plan is to race the last two VORRA short course races at Prairie City the weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 31 and then cut what’s left of 1107’s body away and begin a ground up rebuild. This gives us the time and access we need to make tweaks you can’t otherwise do with the car body on. We’ll replace 1107’s current body with that of a 1970 Bug body now covered in pine needles in the front yard.

    It’s a bummer knowing we won’t be in Ensenada in November, but we’ll be back at it next year and giving nine-time Baja 1000 winner (and good friend) Eric Solorzano a run for his money.

    The wait is almost over

  • We have a winner (first of 20)

    Chad takes first
    Chad leads the pack.

    So a couple of days ago we broke 7,000 downloads of the Desert Dingo Racing iPhone, iPad and Android apps (we’re at 7,354 as I write this) and I decided to try and figure out who all you all are and announced a contest. I said the first 20 folks who send me a photo with their mobile device showing the DDR app will get a hero card and whatever other schwag I dig out of my tub of stuff.

    Chad S. of Las Vegas was first across the line. Chad writes:

    I follow the desert dingos on my iPhone. The class 11s are the true racers of desert racing. From start to finish, it’s a challenge. I have a 5-1600 and am trying to build a class 1/2 1600 for my kids. Congrats on the 7000 mark.

    Chad knows I’m flattery operated, but a 1/2 1600 for the kids is awesome five ways.

    The hero card goes in the mail tonight.

    One week to the Hawthorne 250.

  • Off road racing and social media


    From Crusty’s place to mine courtesy of Nation of Go’s iPhone app.

    I really like what the Nation of Go folks are doing. Creating a social network for drivers of all sorts. I’m more frustrated with the technology, aka the iPhone, because it doesn’t multitask, you can’t play Words with Friends and do a NOG Drive at the same time. Call me biased because they did a feature on us on their cross country tour.

    Anyway, here’s the route from Crusty’s place back to mine (I mis-labeled it.) You can find me on Nation of Go as DesertDingo.

    P.S. We’ve just passed through 1,200 downloads of the Desert Dingo Racing iPhone and Android apps.

  • “It looks like Jelly Bellies racin’ out there”


    Car cam video from the first moto at last weekend’s “Bug Invasion I” at Prairie City, California.

    We had green, red, white and silver VW Beetles racing the VORRA series this past weekend and a good time was had by all, apparently including the race fans. One of them came up to me afterward and said “It looks like Jelly Bellies racing out there.”

    Team meeting this Thursday night and probably a work day this weekend. More video to come.