Bigburlynakedguy
05-09-2008, 05:48 AM
We started race prep for Primm with great anticipation as we had won the last two BITD races. Never sitting still, we changed the entire front end of the jeep, added Staun beadlocks, Delta HID lights and were testing with new Interco TSL tires. We also lowered the seats about 1½" to lower the center of gravity and gain some much needed head room. We owe a great amount of gratitude to Brian and Robert Hartman and LJ who unselfishly toiled countless hours during the boys' spring break while others had to work. Without them we would not be racing. There are no 'spring breaks' for LJ!
The Pre-run went very smooth, it was going to be a very fast race if we could get out of the dust. We drew 13th position and were poised and ready to make some time on the jeeps in front of us. We heard, "Where is the mud bog?" from the peanut gallery before the race, obviously looking at the new Interco TSL's. Those tires made us faster and smoother than any other thing we have done to the car. Dan Turner and Scott Hartman started the race for DJR and set a great pace for the first 40 miles, catching Ray Griffith, 2007 points champion and perrenial favorite, by race mile 15. They had made up the 3:30 time differential in such a short amount of track. The car was perfect. The dust was like thick fog with visibility down to 10 feet at times. There was carnage everywhere with trucks and buggies upsidedown all over the course. Twice we had to bail off the course to avoid an accident. The only issue we had was a few of the jeeps that we would catch would wave once they saw us and heard our horn then try to jackrabbit and stay ahead of us. One jeep on the pole line road would speed up every time we gave him a little tap, then while passing him in the dust we hit a beach ball sized rock with the left front that launched the whole car in the air. We drove for a while and didn't notice any issues so we kept pressing on. We drove for about 20 miles, passing pit 1, before the tire let go. We should have stopped and let JT Taylor and Brian Hartman change the tire! The tire is still perfect as is the beadlock, but the wheel is missing about 8" of the inner bead. If you have never changed a tire in the middle of a race with a Head and Neck Restraint, you need to. It's an 8 minute adrenaline sprint that leaves you without an ounce of energy to spare.
We got back on course and started to make some ground. We diced back and forth with Jeff Jordan for a bit while we both fought some slower traffic and dust. Somewhere between pit one and two we developed a slight vibration that was not going away. We passed pit 2 then the road crossing when we lost the transmission. We pulled off onto an access road about 100 yards past the road crossing with 2 jeepspeeds and about 5 class 3100's immediately behind us. We ran into the BLM at the road crossing and a rush to judgement put us out of the race. We had a spare transmission and Bob and Machelle Green with the Total Carnage crew would have replaced ours and we would have been racing, but that's how things go sometimes.
We learned some things and had a good time with family and friends. It's never easy to accept defeat, but we will be back, stronger than we were before. Thank you to our families and friends for giving us so much of yourselves and our sponsors for keeping us on the race course.
The Pre-run went very smooth, it was going to be a very fast race if we could get out of the dust. We drew 13th position and were poised and ready to make some time on the jeeps in front of us. We heard, "Where is the mud bog?" from the peanut gallery before the race, obviously looking at the new Interco TSL's. Those tires made us faster and smoother than any other thing we have done to the car. Dan Turner and Scott Hartman started the race for DJR and set a great pace for the first 40 miles, catching Ray Griffith, 2007 points champion and perrenial favorite, by race mile 15. They had made up the 3:30 time differential in such a short amount of track. The car was perfect. The dust was like thick fog with visibility down to 10 feet at times. There was carnage everywhere with trucks and buggies upsidedown all over the course. Twice we had to bail off the course to avoid an accident. The only issue we had was a few of the jeeps that we would catch would wave once they saw us and heard our horn then try to jackrabbit and stay ahead of us. One jeep on the pole line road would speed up every time we gave him a little tap, then while passing him in the dust we hit a beach ball sized rock with the left front that launched the whole car in the air. We drove for a while and didn't notice any issues so we kept pressing on. We drove for about 20 miles, passing pit 1, before the tire let go. We should have stopped and let JT Taylor and Brian Hartman change the tire! The tire is still perfect as is the beadlock, but the wheel is missing about 8" of the inner bead. If you have never changed a tire in the middle of a race with a Head and Neck Restraint, you need to. It's an 8 minute adrenaline sprint that leaves you without an ounce of energy to spare.
We got back on course and started to make some ground. We diced back and forth with Jeff Jordan for a bit while we both fought some slower traffic and dust. Somewhere between pit one and two we developed a slight vibration that was not going away. We passed pit 2 then the road crossing when we lost the transmission. We pulled off onto an access road about 100 yards past the road crossing with 2 jeepspeeds and about 5 class 3100's immediately behind us. We ran into the BLM at the road crossing and a rush to judgement put us out of the race. We had a spare transmission and Bob and Machelle Green with the Total Carnage crew would have replaced ours and we would have been racing, but that's how things go sometimes.
We learned some things and had a good time with family and friends. It's never easy to accept defeat, but we will be back, stronger than we were before. Thank you to our families and friends for giving us so much of yourselves and our sponsors for keeping us on the race course.