Category: Fallon 250 Night Race

Thank you Megan of Two Larrys Racing for providing proof positive that VORRA officials looked the other way at team collusion. At least that’s my story on why we finished third.

Considering everything that happened, it’s a freaking miracle we finished at all. Here are the highlights:

1. During pre-running on Thursday, 1107 breaks a ball joint at Route Mile 25. Richard and Crusty spend two hours stranded in the desert before Shannon of Off Course Racing picks them up and brings them back to the pits.

2. Half way out (on the active race course) to repair 1107, the F-350 develops vapor lock and it takes us nearly an hour to get the truck turned around on the narrow track. Shannon to the rescue again with his 132 Taco pre-runner. He takes Richard and Crusty out to the car, while David Oram (who came along for moral support) and I drive the F-350 back to the pits.

3. On the way back, the F-350’s carburetor float sticks, which I could figure out in the three seconds if it were a computer, but it isn’t. It takes David and me an hour and a half driving 15 mph on Highway 50 to get back to the pits.

4. While replacing the ball joint, a pry bar slips, smashing Richard’s thumb. Blood everywhere. They complete the repairs, drive 1107 back to the pits and Richard heads to the hospital.

5. While David and I are crawling on Highway 50, a wind and rain storm whips through the pits, scattering our stuff everywhere (rain in freaking July?!), flipping my tent, crushing several spars and ripping the tent fabric. After a failed attempt to splint the spars, Crusty and I decide to sleep in it anyway, using the tent fabric as a top sheet over our sleeping bags – to protect us from the mosquitoes.

6. Richard returns from the hospital with four stitches, antibiotics and a thumb splint. He takes 1107 out for a quick spin and realizes there’s no way he can drive during the race. I start making jokes about the value of opposable thumbs. He is not amused.

7. Race day cometh. We spend most of the day hiding out in the shade, where it was about 100 degrees, according to Scott’s infrared thermometer/laser pointer. We’re down to Crusty (the only person who’s actually pre-run the course), Bob and Scott to drive. I’m enlisted to co-drive 160 miles non-stop. We get a good start off the line around 6:30 p.m. On lap 2, 1107’s throttle starts sticking, wide open. Bob uses some fancy footwork to unstick it, but it’s a problem that plagues us for most of the race.

8. Then we start leaking oil.

9. On Lap 4 we get high-centered on the silt hill in a narrow canyon (because the throttle stuck again). Bob enlists an 8-class truck to pull us out. The 8 truck gets stuck. Then other race trucks and buggies start backing up behind us. It’s around midnight. It takes an hour for Bob to get us unstuck (with me offering helpful advice), plus an extra 20 minutes using a mini-mag flashlight to walk up and down the silt hill to figure out where we left the shovel and car jack.

10. By this time, we’re putting a quart of oil in every lap.

11. Bob pulls into the pits at the end of Lap 4 and goes to work on the accelerator issue. Turns out to be a bolt on the accelerator assembly catching on the shift tunnel. A minute with a big hammer and the problem is resolved. Scott takes over driving and we tear off into the night.

11.5. Charging toward Checkpoint One at 45 mph, the steering wheel comes off in Scott’s hands. It’s removable, but we usually don’t do it while we’re racing. He jams it back in place before something really bad happens. I say over our intercom, “I thought that only happens in the cartoons.”

12. Finally something good happens. We just complete the section everyone called “The Roller Coaster” and we spot the telltale lights of another Class 11 about half a mile in front of us. Scott gives chase. Within a few miles, we catch Bob Messer and his son Rob in 1177. Miracle of miracles, THEY JUST GET OUT OF OUR WAY. (We later learned that they didn’t realize it was us, or they would have tried to nerf us, which I’m totally cool with). We were under the impression they were an entire lap behind us, so just before attacking Silt Hill for the final time, we pull over, add our last quart of oil and change a flat tire. Bob and Rob honk and wave as they pass us. Back in the car, we fly up the hill, blast through the finish and take the checkered flag, only to learn that Messer & Son were on the same lap as us and finished 10 minutes earlier. There’s a new dent in the roof of the car where I banged my forehead for about half an hour.

Needless to say, we’ll be going through the car to sort out everything, starting with the oil leak. We’ve got rims to pound out, some radios issues to deal with and generally start prepping 1107 for the Hawthorne race on Labor Day weekend.

We had a tremendous amount of fun hanging out with the Messers, Larry and Larry and Megan of Two Larrys Racing and with David Orum and his Class 9 team. Shannon saved our bacon so many times that I’ll probably rename one of our cats after him. Thanks to our sponsor TrailGlow, we were the brightest car in the race. Despite a minor amount of vandalism on Megan’s part, we exchanged trophies from the Xtreme Outlaws 250 race with Two Larrys Racing.

I smell like roadkill and will now spend about 45 minutes in the shower. Video to come.