I have to say, that was the most fun I have had in a very long time. My class 11 car was 1 and a half years in the making and I am SUPER pleased that it managed to hold together (barely).

FOA busted butt in getting me a set of front shocks on the Thurs before the race. I had them on and was ready to prerun with the car on Fri. This was the first time I had gotten a chance to actually test out the car. I had driven it around the block a couple of times, but really it was never run off road before. Nothin like a Newbie driver in a Newbie car he built himself. Pure comedy. The motor that Derek Campbell built for me just loved to spin, I cannot thank him enough for the time and effort he put into this motor. It made up for lack of driving skills :D

My whole plan was simple. Finish the race. Everything else was gravy..

Tech was fun on Fri, Got to meet a lot of new people and saw some “Holy crap, he actually is gonna race!” expressions :D.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well on Fri night. I was too excited. Sat morning came slowly and I was up getting ready. Okay, get the car running, let it warm up. My co-driver, Frank Baird, has been in numerous off road races and was a wealth of information for me. He gave me some suggestions on getting the car prepped for a flogging. 7:00 am came and it was time to stage. Staging always takes forever ;).
It was interesting watching the 9 cars take off tho. 4 cars leaving at once. Then another set. Actually, it screwed me up. I was in the far left second row at the start, and I completely forgot that everyone was starting at once. So when the flag dropped, I casually pulled forward to the start line and stopped.. As everyone passed me by. !@#%!%#%!@$%! Floor it and we were away!!!! I was trying to stay as calm as I could. But man it was fun to spin that motor up and drive. I did not really mind being in the back of the pack. It let me watch the others drive and see exactly how much abuse these bugs can take. I still don’t understand how they do it.. I was catching air, sliding around corners, braking (my brakes suck btw) and pinning the throttle whenever I could. Whee!!!
I came into the left hand corner at the end of the cali/Nevada fence line with too much speed and lifted the DS wheels.. I figured I just ruined the possibility of finishing the race.. Spun the wheel to the right and gassed it.. Did I mention that the motor saved me a couple of times???? Apparently, that was the right thing to do and I landed back on my feet.. Then got passed as I was trying to get back on the track :D I was still in the race!!! Get into the parts that are not as rough and start using the motor.. Singing along in third along the railroad track was great going under the bridge (25 mph, no passing zone) had folks with speed guns.. Hmm, no speedo and no clue how fast I was really going I went pretty damn slow to make sure that I was not going to get a 5 min penalty.. Out from there it was back to wide open.. WHEE!! All of a sudden the first lap was done and I was back in the CORR track. Cool, 2 more to go… I was getting more comfortable with the car. First lap was ~ 21 mins, second lap was just under 19 (need to verify with the “official” times). It meant that I was getting faster. All of a sudden, I was coming to the pits again. The last time!! I blew it a bit and ended up in the mud puddle that was right before the pitts sliding sideways. But I was crossing the finish line on my first official off road race. Holy Crap, I finished!!! Okay, goal met, happy camper

Get back to camp and start perusing the damage. My fenders are hanging on by a thread. I suck at locktite usage apparently :D But everything seemed pretty much in one piece (sans multiple bolts of course) I drove into town to buy some 3/8” bolts for the fenders, came back, and got to work. Reattatched everything that was falling off and happened to notice that the upper ball joint nut had fallen off. THAT’s why I had such a hard time staying out of the mud!!! Ran around for a while, bought a new Balljoint, and drove over to say “hi” to Jason and Jeremy since they had stopped by a couple of times to say hello to me during tech and I was never there. They asked me how I felt after finishing the first race and if I needed anything. “Well, since you mentioned it..” They gladly handed over some upper trailing arms that they had as spares and I was golden.. Thank you guys, if it was not for you, I probably would not have raced the second day. Installed the parts and we were good to go!!!

I slept better sat night than Fri night but was still excited!!

Sun, I remembered the landrust start thing (makes a big difference) and was off. Today, I was going to have a good time :D I had a perfect line coming into the hill on the CORR track but Johnson’s car shut the door on me. Ahh well, I passed him in the next corner or so and was off (he then passed me in the second set of pitts after the dyke jump). From then on it was amusement. The track was WAY rougher than sat. We beat that little car from head to tail, pinning it to deal with the soft sections and slowing way down in the tight corners. One lap down, 2 laps down, getting caught in the rough sections and making up for it in the flatter sections. 10 miles or so into the third lap and I am feeling GREAT!! A couple of turns and the dry lakebed is ahead of me!! Making the turn away from the RR track, the engine quits. My Copilot says “we’re broke!!” Damnit!!! Flip the ignition back on and try to start it back up. She FIRES UP! WHOO HOOO!! Shove it in first and try to go. Nothing. It just barely seems to want to go. Like the trans would only hit third or so. Cycle through the gears again, same thing.. Shove it in first again and something releases. We are OFF!!! 2 turns and onto the Dry lake bed again at WOT. Through the pits and FINISHED!!

I went to the post tech area, climbed out of the car and became a blundering idiot. Giggling, jumping, if I embarrassed anyone, sorry

I then got to meet and shake the hands of a bunch of the other drivers. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!! Thanks for the good time. That was great!

I really want to thank my lovely wife for putting up with me
Frank Baird for telling me to go left, right, faster, slowdown and actually agree to ride with me a second day
Derek Campbell for building the motor and lining me up with Baker Cylinder heads and DRP machine shop. If I was not for the motor, I would not have finished where I did (9th or 10th as far as I can figure right now).
FOA for thinking outside the box with new concepts for shocks. I beat the tar out of those shocks and they did not miss a beat!!
Jeremy and Jason for the upper trailing arm. That was super cool of you to help out. The guy I had with me was astounded that you were so willing to just hand a competitor a part (not that I could have beat you but..).

Congrats DaveCo!

My god that was fun.

Future things, replace stock rear torsions with new SAW’s
Tune the shocks a bit more
Learn to use locktite
Put a actual race tranny in there
Race Caliente

I was happy to see your car out there.
Im glad you had a great time! I just with I could have watched you guys race but i was in class 9.