Desert Dingo Racing

Category: VORRA

  • “Close Encounters” has nothing on us



    For the 24, srsly, we’ll be looking like something out of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

    We’ve loaded so many lights on 1107, we’ll be a moving target for the Fallon NAS Aggressor Squadrons. This is the last major week of work. New skid plate goes on. We run the engine with the pre-oil and then the race oil. Rat rod truck is loaded. Which I’ll be driving to Burning Man. Hitching in on a Tuesday. Hitching out Thursday morning. Arriving Fallon pits that afternoon. The team on site that night.

    The Hartl Bend has been dialed.

  • Sparks fly in advance of VORRA’s 24 hour desert endurance race

    Romy puts the finishing touches on 1107’s rhinoplasty.

    Full day of work yesterday with Romy, Bob, Crusty and me. The rebuilt engine is in. Crusty and Romy focused on getting the new front clip fitted and installed. I chased down some electrical issues and cleaned up some wiring. Bilstein shocks are on their way back. GPS is being repaired. Three weeks to the VORRA “The 24” desert endurance race.

    Some photos from Saturday’s work. And here’s a new video of us by Jared Snider from the 2010 Yerington 300, which we won. Gives you an idea how loud it is in the car.

  • The Hartl Bend



    Crusty demonstrates the Hartl Bend.

    Paul Hartl, Canadian rally driver, came out of nowhere to take Class 11 racing by storm. Sidelined in 2010 with a blown engine, he forged a relationship with Desert Dingo Racing in 2011 and was key to our second place finish at the VORRA USA 500.

    The downside is the dude is like 6 feet, 15 inches tall, and most of that is legs. Srsly, he’s like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of Stock Bug off road racing. Ferdinand Porsche wasn’t thinking of Paul when he designed the Volkswagen Beetle, and Paul emerged from the car at the end of the 500 with his knees beat to heck.

    Desert Dingo Racing is nothing if not accommodating, so we put our best people on developing a solution. That solution is the “Hartl Bend”, a rethinking of the piece of roll cage that normally cuts across the dash to provide structural rigidity. It provides mounting points for our Rugged Radios radio and intercom, but sits higher and bends over the steering column so Paul won’t require multiple visits to sports medicine doctors to correct the damage that would otherwise be inflicted.



    Paul and Emme will reprise their driving roles at The 24 Labor Day weekend.

    It’s not just us, though. Paul’s set on racing the Baja 1000 this year, so I hooked him up with my very good friend Gustavo Garayzar in Mexicali who’s doing the 1000 this year. Paul’s flying in to Vegas prior to the The 24, driving to Mexicali, meeting with Gustavo and his team, driving back to Vegas, driving to Fallon for the race, then driving back to Vegas for his flight back to Ontario, Canada. The dude lives to drive. Gustavo will also likely incorporate the Hartl Bend into his Class 11.

    With Burning Man approaching, most everyone on the team will be out on the playa. So for The 24 we’re shanghaing Romy and Dave (the new guys), Tut and Pepper Cote of TutTech Racing, Emme Hall of Hall Ass Racing (and her dad) and Paul.

    Work day today. The rebuilt engine goes in. We weld on a completely new nose (to the car). A new front bumper. I chase some electrical gremlins. Who’s the new guy?

    How Class 11 rolls at Burning Man. (Flying saucer courtesy of artist Carl Deckart).

    P.S. Emme has teamed with Michele Martineau to create Courage Racing Gazelles to race the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles in early 2012 They will be formidable.

  • 29,000 downloads of the Desert Dingo mobile apps. “The 24”, also



    I didn’t think there were this many people on the planet interested in off road racing.

    We just passed 29,000 downloads of our iPhone, iPad and Android apps. I still think we’re the only off road racing team to have one, though you can always check out the DirtNewz app if you’re jonesing.

    Lastly, the first of our fans in Saudia Arabia who contacts me? I send you a Desert Dingo t-shirt.

    We’re jamming to get 1107 ready for VORRA’s “The 24” desert endurance race Labor Day weekend. Crusty went looking for a new nose but came up empty, so Bob will scour car parts yards in the Bay Area.

    Crusty also shipped our shocks off to Bilstein. Joel said the damage was “commensurate with driving your car off a cliff.”

    Ok, he didn’t really say that, but I think he wanted to. We’ll know more when they disassemble them this week.

    Putting the race schedule together already. We have team members coming in from Ontario, Canada (by way of Las Vegas and Mexicali), Washington, D.C. (by way of Sacramento), someplace in Colorado (by way of Ontario, Calif.), Hesperia, Calif., Berkeley, Felton and Boulder Creek. I’ll be driving the team rat rod hauler with 1107 on board to Gerlach, hitchhiking into Burning Man for a couple of days, hitching out and driving to Fallon.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    We’re huge in Saudi Arabia. Srsly.

  • This is nothing

    When you launch a race-hardened 1969 VW Beetle off a 75 foot cliff doing 40 mph, there are consequences.

    Crusty cut the nose off 1107 this week. Tomorrow he and Bob find a new one. Bob and Romey completed an engine rebuild to address a slight drop in compression in the No. 3 cylinder. Chased down an electrical gremlin today.

    Ordering a lot of fuel, new General Tires this week.

    VORRA’s “The 24” Desert Endurance Race is going to be epic.

    Me repacking everything.