Desert Dingo Racing

Category: VORRA

  • A new Class 11 arrives at Prairie City

    Heather helps us out.

    We weren’t quite ready for the first race of the season, so struck a deal with Jessica and Nathan to have them run our 1107 number at Prairie City. They’d just picked up the car previously known as Skittles from Jason Mace in Las Vegas.

    Here’s some photos from the weekend’s race. And video from Sunday’s first moto with Heather at the wheel.

  • We’re looking for a few good members


    Hey, that’s us on the 2011 VORRA calendar/poster!

    We’ve had a couple of folks retire from the team, so I posted the following ad to Craigslist and The Samba…

    Baja 1000 race team recruiting, parts also – $1 (scotts valley)

    Desert Dingo Racing, a Class 11 VW team that races the Baja 1000 and off road desert races in California and Nevada, is looking for a couple of new team members.

    We campaign a Class 11 Stock Bug in the Valley Off Road Racing Association and the Baja 1000. We finished third in class in SNORE in 2009 and second in class in VORRA in 2010. We’ve done the Baja 1000 three times (yet to finish).

    Class 11s are the slowest of the slow, and yet we’re a fan favorite. If you’re unfamiliar with Stock Bug racing, check out this clip from “Dust to Glory.” Now check out our media coverage. We also raise money for diabetes awareness and education programs in partnership with the International Diabetes Federation.

    Reasons for joining the team:

    • You get to say “Baja 1000? Yeah, I race that.”
    • You have more money than sense.
    • You like signing autographs and look good in a race suit.
    • You want to justify that lifted Tacoma as your daily driver.

    Reasons for clicking on the next ad:

    • You have an aversion to grease, bitter cold, sleeping in the dirt, using a catheter or suffer from avian bone syndrome.
    • The idea of spending weeks prepping a 40 year old Volkswagen for a few hours of awesomeness doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.
    • You have difficulty hedging about “where all that money went.”

    Check us out online at http://www.desertdingo.com

    Jim

    P.S. Honor and recognition in case of success.

    P.P.S. To qualify as a classified, I’m willing to sell our leftover Volkswagen parts, of which we have many.

  • VORRA 2011 race series announced


    Stoked for the 2011 race season.

    VORRA’s released their schedule for the 2011 race season and it’s going to be great.

    But before I get into its awesomeness, let’s recap 2010. First place at the Xtreme Outlaws 250. First place at the Yerington 300. Three second place finishes. Two third places. One DNF I don’t want to talk about. Second in class for the 2010 season. Not shabby, considering we were third in class in 2009 racing the SNORE series and didn’t even get a trophy.

    So 2011. First off, VORRA’s the only off road series that has an almost even mix of short course and desert racing. Short course is great. We only rolled in two of the four races at Prairie City. Four short course races this year. Three at Prairie City outside Folsom, one at a new short course track under construction outside Reno.

    Then there are the desert races. The inaugural USA 500 in partnership with the Nugget. Depending on how long BITD’s Vegas to Reno race is, this one could be the longest desert race in the U.S. The USA 500 in mid-July will include a Friday night tech and contingency program sort of like what we did at the Mint 400 a couple years back in Vegas. Here’s Carrie Molho signing autographs for a couple of big fans.

    The real interesting race, IMHO, will be a 24 hour endurance race, which writer Judy Smith tells me hasn’t been done since the 1970s. The race will be down in Fallon and will run in two 12-hour legs over two days. We’re accustomed to running long races, so this should be interesting. Here’s the full series:

    March 12-13 — Short Course — Prairie City OHV Park, Folsom, CA

    April 16-17 — Short Course — Prairie City OHV Park, Folsom, CA

    May 27-30 — 300 Mile Desert Race — Yerington, NV

    July 15-17 — USA 500 Desert Race — Reno, NV

    September 2-5 — 24 Hour Endurance Race — Fallon, NV

    October 1-2 — Short Course — Reno, NV

    October 29-30 — Short Course — Prairie City OHV Park, Folsom, CA

    Is there anyone who hasn’t seen this VW commercial yet?

  • Meet 1107. 2.0

    Crusty and I spent the day stripping down the body that will be 1107 2.0. Crusty pulled the fenders and focused on cleaning up the engine compartment. I removed all the glass, rubber and any mechanical stuff (window cranking stuff, windshield wiper) that we wouldn’t be using.

    Tomorrow we strip out the last remnants of what factory workers in Germany put in it to make it a consumer car.

  • Class 11 pile up

    There’s gotta be $500 worth of VWs out there.

    We raced SNORE in 2009. The Rage at the River Race is a big draw for Class 11s. This is what happens when there’s a pile up. We got rained out for working on the car this weekend. Will hit it hard next weekend. Press release goes out tomorrow.

    Video courtesy Other Level Racing.