March 14... the second race of the season... And it was a big one for the Ragged Edge Racing team. Here's how the race played out.

Sometimes people say that if it weren't for bad luck, they'd have no luck at all. In our case, that's not necessarily true, but things just haven't been going as well as they could be.

We got off on the right foot by drawing the #1 pill, and the #1 starting position for the second straight race. Starting up front is fun, but it sure has some drawbacks too. It allows you to chase faster cars in front of you, but at the same time, allows the other guys to set their sights on you right from the start. Regardless, we took our first starting spot, and headed into the gravel pit from the green flag.

The gravel pit is an interesting short course style area at the beginning of the race with 180 degree turns, and some nasty bumps and jumps. I was still getting warmed up, so I was taking it easy through the early nasties. After zig zagging through there, the course passed through pit road, and headed out into the desert.

This was supposed to be a really fun course... maybe if you like sand, and low hanging trees, and more sand. The first many miles was a 30 yard wide sand wash that was all second gear. The El Nino rains had left the wash FULL of fresh, soft, horsepower eating sand. It was like racing in syurp. All the while, the wash made a few turns through some really low hanging brush and trees just to keep it interesting.

It finally did jump out, and we were able to get some speed up, and start making some dust. This next section was a cross grain section, with some huge bumps, and some scarry cross ditches. It was much more fun to drive than the wash. The course then jumped back into, and out of the wash, and made its way to the halfway point, near highway 8. The halfway point was where some secondary pits were stationed, and we found Woodruff team member Chad with our tires waving us on. The secondary pits lined a section of old pavement from years ago. The pavement was really fast, with a check point at the end, and a 90 degree left hander. Missing the turn meant certain death, as there was a railroad tie reinforced barb wire fence waiting those who could not slow down, or got carried away on the pavement. Jay made a point of this fence, and I understood why...

From here, the course again dove into the sand washes, and headed back to the start. It was in this section that Allan Schaible caught us, as we were dicing with a Jeep. Our cars were very well matched as Allan could not really catch up, and we were able to make some room between us, but not get away. I ended up making a mistake in a turn, and Allan finally did get by us. He couldn't get away from us either. We noticed that Allan was running on a front flat, and guessed that he had no idea it was flat. It certainly didn't slow him down too much. We chased Allan bumper to bumper back to the gravel pit, and onto pit road.

Todd had been calling our pit and asking for some suspension tweaks in the rear end. Jeff Knupp of Volkspower Race Prep peeped us in the gravel pit, and knew that we had serious troubles in the FRONT end, not the rear. We pulled onto pit road, and Jeff quickly identified the problem as a broken adjuster in the front leaves. We needed a quick fix.

Fortunately, the Woodruff and AC Racing team was on the scene, and Glen Cluck backed his Chevy over in a heartbeat, and the welding was on!! Glen was having trouble with the rain, and was getting "hi frequed" by the stick welder as he was inserting sticks into the clamp. It was quite a sight from where we were sitting, and we definately had the best view of the action. Glen knew what he was doing, and the weld job was finished in no time flat. The RER crew threw the hood back on, and away we went... kinda. The car wouldn't fire for some reason, so the RER crew, with the help of the Woodruff clan and the AC Racing boys pushed us for a start. With that many people pushing, we could have made it all the way. But... the car started, and we took off... all welded up, with gas to go. This stop cost us about 6 minutes, and we watched as the Hyperactive Motortports team, and the Mike Kellog team both passed through the gravel pit. The Kellog car passed us and had a few minute lead on us as we left the pit area.

We knew we were in third place, and had much catching up to do. It was hammer time. In the frist wash, we came upon the purple machine of Allan Schaible pulled over with a broken front spindle. They waved us on as good sports, as we pursued the lead car of Mike Kellog. This second lap was uneventful for us, and we chased as hard as we could.

As we come through the gravel pit, our crew gave us the split on the lead car. We were 1 1/2 minutes back. We had made up most of the time, but the tough part would be to catch and pass that car, and then finish 90 seocnd ahead for the win. I drove as hard as I could, and somewhere around the 20 mile mark, we caught the blue 555 car of Mike Kellog. The real chase was on.

I was able to get right up on the rear cage of that darn blue car, but didn't have the power to get by. Mike Kellog was driving his ass off, as we pushed him from corner to corner. As we chased through the cross ditches, he was really flying, and we were right on his tail. I saw him get out of shape a couple of times, but made nice recoveries to keep the car on the course. Again, we passed the secondary pits, and I was still on his tail. We nearly missed the corner, and got into the soft stuff on the outside. I thought for sure we were dead, but the car made the corner. It nearly stalled, and I reved it up before letting out the clutch. I wasn't sure if it would start if I killed it. Sandlizrd of the famous baja page was there, and I would have counted on him for a solo push start. It would have been a tall order.

Meanwhile, while I was nearly stalling, and foolin around in the mud, Mike Kellog was pulling away. I was able to catch him very shortly as we dove into another sand wash. I was able to catch him enough to get close, but didn't have the power to get by. Again, the cars were very well matched. We chased him for the remaining 20 miles of twists and turns in the sand wash, but could not get by. I was hoping Mike would make a mistake, but this was his day.

A perfect example of that was a sharp right hand turn at the top of a rise near the end of the sand. The back side of that was a steep drop off, and Mike FLEW that thing, completely missing the turn. I expected to see him bruised and broken on the other side, but somehow, he landed the car, and made the corner at the bottom of the down slope. I wish I could have seen the look on his face as he crested that hill.....

Mike maintained his lead as we chased him through the turns of the gravel pit for the final time, and took the checkered flag just in front of us. Mike had started 90 seconds behind us, and that was his margin of victory.

Congratulations to Mike Kellog on his first pro win. He deserved it, cause I KNOW he drove his ass off, especially in that last 25 miles with the RER car hot on his heels.

Second straight second place finish for the RER team. We lost the battle, but it appears that we are winning the war... Unofficially, I believe that we have taken over Allan Schaible for the season points lead. Allan ended up fixing that broken spindle, and did finish fourth to get his points....

Heck of a race, and lots of real bumper to bumper racing. It couldn't have been more fun.

Oh, by the way... did I mention we did all of this in the rain??? Maybe it slipped my mind... or maybe it's this cold and flu medicine. Mom always told me to have the sense to come in out of the rain... Oh well.

Next Race: May 16th Rock to Rock in Mexico... SEE YOU THERE!!!