Gila Bend - I was lucky enough to be asked by Tim Hayosh to sit in the right seat - Of course - I accepted.

Gila Bend used to be a tough course - but this year's course was 50% new course because of the new "National Monument" that our ex-prez Clinton designated in his last days in office... The BLM was kind enough to help Whiplash find a new course - and it was really pretty good.

There were only 3 cars entered in class 9 - and Tim drew the last starting spot behind Nolan Blackwell. It was actually a good spot to have, since the dust would be held in check by lots of rain over the days and hours before the race. After an hour delay to clear an injured bike rider, and then round up an Ostrich that got loose on the course - we watched the other two 9's go off the line. We were off next - and the car hauled down the pavement, through a right hander, and into the dirt. The car felt pretty fast, just about the same feeling as in my 5/1600... It handled very well in the dirt, but was definitely different than the 5/1600. The car was very nimble through the turns, and Tim was able to pitch it into the corners and maintain momentum much better than I could have in the 5/16. It was a typical limited car in the deep sand washes, - severely underpowered. Within the 1st 10 miles or so - we were able to reel in Nolan Blackwell - and made a clean pass through some of the rough cross grain between washes. We were able to put some dust between us - and found the 1st 9 car just after passing Nolan. We later learned that his tranny gave out... We continued to move steadily - and since we were now first on the road, and on time, we were taking it easy through the rough, and keeping it clean. In the last sand wash at the end of the lap - the pink and blue car of Nolan appeared in the rear view mirrors... Nolan out powered us in the deep sand, pulled up behind, and was knocking on the door. We let him go - and we was able to extend a small lead when we caught a truck moving slowly through the rough... Nolan was able to get by, but the truck slammed the door in our faces, without seeing us. I layed on the horn, but it took several hundred yards before an opportunity to pass. The truck pulled over and let us by. Nolan was now nearly out of sight, and we chased his amber through the silt. We nearly lost him on a couple of occasions, but were able to keep him from running away in the dust. We chased Nolan through the pit, and into the gravel pit to complete lap one. Tim was hot on Nolan's heels through each corner, and we pounded through the infield. Moving into a 90 degree right hander - it appeared that Nolan blew the corner as he launched over the outside berm, and missed the turn. We passed by - and never looked back. Tim finished the lap - and headed out for lap 2 with Nolan in the pit. We later learned that Nolan took a 145 minute pit stop to change the steering wheel, which had disintegrated in his hands... It was smooth sailing, but Tim continued to push since we didn't know how far Nolan was behind us. We didn't want to get caught in the sand washes again.

The course deteriorated on each lap, where once desert roads had become silt pits - that were barely passable. We came into a sharp 90 degree corner at the end of lap 2 where 2 cars were stuck in the sand trying to climb out of the wash, and another was just in front of us having just went by. There was very little room, and I didn't want to get out and push. I saw an opening just to the left of the stuck cars, as the car in front of us seemingly "got in line" behind the stuck cars... Heck with that. I pointed to the opening and told Tim to "hammer it" and the car climbed out of the wash spinning and throwing rocks all the way... It cleared the top, and ground through the sand and away we went... No pushing required...

We were passed by several cars, including the very fast 10 car of Melton Racing... It passed us in a particularly rough section - and never looked back. That guy was on a mission - and took the overall spot in the 10 car... We also got passed by Jesse Jones in the Red Chevy. Jesse passed us on a long straight flat road - and we left him plenty of room. We went by with probably a 50 MPH closing speed - It was awesome.... Unfortunately we saw Jesse stopped just a mile or so down the course with fluid under the truck... I later heard it was radiator problems...

We made a brief stop after lap 3 for gas and a once over, and the crew made it happen like clockwork... We were off, and churned through lap 4 without any problems...

Tim ended up WINNING class 9 - Congrats Tim, and thanks again for the ride... I was really impressed with the 9 car - and that was some excellent racing with Nolan.

Unfortunately - I'm going to miss the Mexico race - but will be ready for the next one...

Good Luck to all of the Warriors who will make the trip to San Felipe this week - Wish I could go too - but can't make it happen this time... Be safe.

Mike