What could you say about this race.... It was an interesting one. I hope you're not in a hurry, cause this story is going to take an awfully long time to tell. So, get comfortable, get a cold beverage, sit back and relax....

For the RER team, the fun really started the weekend before the race. We were very well prepared... better than we ever had been, and earlier, too. The Sunday before the race, we visited the Sycamore Creek area where we do our testing. It was a great day for testing. Todd and I were joined by web doctor and VW fanatic Sandlizrd and were in the desert by 6:30 am. Everything was going smoothly. The car was running GREAT... we had found a few things that we thought would make us faster, and we were right. The car was really working. We were running the whoops like never before. On the last run of the morning, after all the test punishment was handed out, we had an unfortunate incident. Somewhere down the wrong wash, in the sand, the reverse gear in the transmission broke while trying to turn the car around. This was a major bummer.

With only 5 days to the race, and the transmission broken, our season points championship run looked dim, and making the race looked impossible. After recovering the car, and getting home on Sunday afternoon, I called Pat Hughes on the outside shot that he could help. In my opinion, Pat builds the toughest, most well built trannys in the race world. However, Pat does things at his own pace, and does them the right way. I explained to Pat what had happened, and he said that if we were lucky, he had the necessary parts to fix it, and get it done in time. However there were no guarantees. So... after the long day in the desert, Todd came over, and we removed the tranny Sunday night. It was a long shot... but still a shot...

The week seemed to drag on, and I had to keep myself from bugging Pat. He Finally called on Thursday afternoon with the good news that the tranny was fixed... almost as good as new, and was ready to be picked up. I was excited, yet I knew that alot of hard work would be required to make the race. I picked up the tranny on Thursday night. I can't say thanks enough to Pat... It was a tall order, and he delivered as promised. Even better yet... knowing Pat... I'm confident that this tranny is built RIGHT.

I thought it would be a long night, but it turned out to be alot of fun... Sandlizrd came over, my next door neighbor Barry Defer pitched in, and Todd and I got to work. A case of beer, and 3 hours later.... the job was done. We were off to Holbrook the next morning.

Friday was also an interesting day.... It started by loading the endless amount of race gear, stopping off for groceries, hitting Lopers Performance to replace a cracked oil fitting, and we were off. It rained nearly the whole way to Holbrook, but Holbrook was clear. We got registered, teched, and headed out to jet on the course. Jetting was fun... and with a little help from Class 10 champ Dave Sundquist, we felt the proper mixture was found....

Finally... RACE DAY!! And if you've felt like reading all of this has been alot of work... you know exactly how Todd and I felt come the morning of the race!!! Now - let's have some fun!

The morning of the race was clear. I was a little worried that it would be raining... it was just how my luck was going. Mother Nature had played a little havoc with the course... which was now underwater from the previous day's rains. We also heard that a earthen dam had broken, unleashing even more water onto the course. Mr. Whiplash Jay McKinley was able to locate an alternate that wouldn't be as fun, but was lightning fast.... We were to run five 17 1/2 mile laps, followed by a 25 mile trip on the original course to the finish.

There were 7 starters in the 5/1600 class... with Woodruff racing starting first, arch nemesis Allan Schaible second, the the RER team starting third. I couldn't have asked for a better draw... I've always wanted to take on Woodruff, and chasing Allan was right where I wanted to be.

The course was as fast as Jay had promised it to be. We took the green flag, put the hammer down, and were off. This first 3-4 miles followed a fence in an open field. It was where we had jetted the car, so I was on the gas.

An interesting side note on the fence... I had expected to have class 1 cars breathing us down right off the start, but it didn't happen. I later learned that the gate of the fence was closed at the start of the race. Apparently, the first car to the gate was supposed to open it...?? I heard that the first class 1 car cut the course at the closed gate, and the following cars followed but turned around. Apparently, a class 10 driver ended up opening the gate. Anyway, this was enough of a delay that we didn't have any passing fast cars into the second lap.

After the fence, the course made a couple of quick turns, through a gravel pit, and then followed another fence. This section was full of Volkswagen sized burms and hills. It was still 4th gear, but required a bit of restraint to keep the shiny side up... In the gravel pit was the remains of Mecham racing's class 7 truck that crashed. Check out the pics of this wreck... it's a doosie. I understand that the Mecham racers were dazed, but OK....

After following the fence for a couple of miles, the course took a sweeping left hander through the fields onto another primitive road. It was also very fast, but had a couple of gotchas thrown in. Here, we later found other crashes... one being a 1/2 1600 that was upside down. The course then got on to another really fast road, took another left hander, and wound it's way back to the pits, and the start line.

After the first lap... Allan Schaible found himself first on the road, followed by that silver Woodruff Racing machine, with the RER car close behind. I think that I caught the Woodruff car in the first straight of the second lap... and the battle was on.

As I said earlier, I have always wanted to challenge the Woodruff car on the road. This was the first start with them in front of us.... John Woodruff has always teased about pulling over and letting us by. Somehow, I knew this wouldn't be the case. We were able to stay right on his bumper for the first few miles, and I wanted to pass in the rough section at about the halfway part of the lap. John was driving his ass off however, and was putting up a huge battle. When I could get close, I'd try to pass on the left, but the course was just too rough, and I couldn't carry enough speed to get by cleanly. I later learned that John was downshifting and redlining the motor to keep us at bay. A couple of times in the rough, I was trying to give John a bump to get him out of the way... but each time, something would come up, brake lights would come on, and we both found ourselves in flight fighting to control the cars in the big bumps. On 2 occasions, John had slammed on the brakes in the bumps, and nearly landed on the hood of my car as I nearly drove under him. It was a sight.

This went on for the next entire lap. John was also making alot of dust, and in some sections I was forced to back off in the heavy dust. By now, we were also getting passed by faster cars, and the dust was tough to see through.

Into the third lap, on the "back straight-away" I was able to tap John, and he let us by. A "tap" at top speed is an interesting maneuver. I will say, that being the tap-er is much better than being the tap-ee.... I'll also say that the battle with the Woodruff Racing car was all I had hoped it would be. I definitely gained alot of respect for John and Shane on that day... those guys can drive that car!!! AND that car really works!!!

Finally, with John out of the way... I focused on Allan who was still on the road. Splits from the pits said that we were neck and neck for the lead on time. Allan was some 20-30 seconds ahead, and we were making up about 10 seconds per lap. It seemed that I was able to catch Allan, he would see me, and turn up the wick... and pull away. Somewhere on the 5th lap, I actually did get right behind him and threaten to pass. However, Allan was really clean in the couple of turns, and was able again to open a small gap between us. He was really flying. On the back stretch, Allan seemed to have a little more top speed, and the gap got bigger. Todd was trying to estimate the gap, and timed it to be about 20 seconds. A dead heat for the lead.

After completing the 5th and final lap, we headed out into the 6th, and the home stretch. Allan's final split from the pits was 13 seconds, and we were hot on his heels. He again used the lap to extend his gap, but not by much. Heading into the new section of the course.... we were close behind. This new section was really cool. It headed through a hilly gravel pit, with plenty of sharp corners, off camber turns, and some steep cliffs for those missing the corners. It was fun driving, and I think we were making up time on Allan here. From there, it headed into the slit bed from Hell...

This stuff was soft. Nasty. Deep. Dirty. It was nearly impossible to steer in. We were plowing down trees left an right, and were eating Allan's dust, but couldn't see him. He wasn't far ahead. Around one corner, the car was choking, and I attempted a down shift from second gear to first. The car choked again, and quit... and there we sat in the middle of the road. We ground and ground on the starter, but no fire. We could hear a big motor approaching, and braced for impact. It was a Class 7 mini-truck, and ran into the rear of the car... in backing up, it got stuck - further reinforcing this roadblock. Todd jumped out, and began trying to help them extricate themselves, and direct traffic around us. One by one... they came. Woodruff racing... Stuart Baxter.... a Class 9 car... a class 8 truck that sounded like it would run right over us.... I was on the radio with our chase asking for help, not knowing where we were. The car wasn't starting, and the battery was dying... GAME OVER... I thought. I bailed and helped get that 7 truck unstuck. Then, another 9 car came by, and got hung up on the rear wheel of my car. We helped him get loose, and hoped the parade would end soon. I called our chase again, and was told that help was on the way.

Within seconds, Jethro - the blue MAD MAX machine showed up, and we hooked on a line. It was our ticket out of this mess... Todd piled in, we piled the helmets into his lap, the rope got tight, and off we went.....

Ever try water skiing behind your 4 wheel drive... through the desert... the bushes... the sand.... eating mouthfuls of dirt with every breath??? WE DID!!! I couldn't see SH**!! Every time I opened my eyes, only more dirt would go in. Jethro was churning all 4 BFG 35" Mudders in that silt, and was absolutely shoveling it into the car. I was following by sound only, and trying to look at the angle of the tow rope to know if I was still on the road. From the number of trees we plowed through, I wasn't very good at this. I did open my eyes long enough to narrowly miss a telephone pole, and to see a 5 foot deep ditch that Todd and I bounced through. Todd hit his head on the roll cage padding, and I don't know where I hit mine. On the other side of the ditch, Jethro stopped, and so did we. We bailed out of the car on the side of the road to catch our breath, and to blink out the dirt in our eyes. When I finally could see.....

There was a huge mud pit under the freeway crossing... with about 7 cars in it. Everyone who passed us in the silt was there... BURIED in the mud. There were people everywhere digging, pushing, pulling... It was a mess.

From out of nowhere, rookie RER team members Jerry and Brian Nielson showed up. They were eager to help, but after that wild ride... I was conceding defeat. I inspected the engine of the car, and found that the air cleaner box had separated from the carb. I looked into the throat of the carb, and was not happy to find that it had been swallowing dirt too. It was coated. No wonder she didn't want to run... We tried our best to get it cleaned up and running, but no cigar....

While all of this was going on - more cars showed up. We pointed them over a tree, and under the overpass on the high bank that was dry.

All the while, RER Crew chief Dana Andrews was in my truck in the middle of the fray pulling out stuck race cars... One by one they were pulled free, and finished the race. Apparently, the AC Racing Class 8 truck was a contributor to the mess, hitting a concrete support of the bridge, and getting stuck. Allan is often blamed for blocking the course, and in this case, it may or may not have been true.

In another interesting tale... the Allan Schaible crew members Tim Smith and Carl were in the mud pit. I heard that Carl was actually swimming in the mud under the stuck Schaible car, to scoop the mud from under it.... That must have been a sight. At the same time, Tim had laid his wallet, keys, and hand held radio on the surface away from the stuck car, in an effort to keep them clean while he also tried to remove the mud from around Allan's car... To his surprise, a truck came along and ran over all of his possessions in front of his eyes!!! Tim said that he did recover his belongings... even though the truck buried them DEEP into that muck....

Meanwhile, I was on the other side of the mud pit, trying to restart the RER car, and helping to guide other cars through the mud pit to avoid the stuck cars. After a while... the number 599 5/1600 of Mike Mounts shows up. Mike takes the line we show him under the overpass... revs it up, and MAKES IT THROUGH THE MUD!!! Mike was well off the pace all day long... He must have run his own pace all day... he shows up 30 minutes after everybody gets stuck.... hammers through the mud and the "desert tortoise" passes all of the stuck "hares" to WIN THE RACE!!! What a classic.... Mike, If you're reading this... My crew and I drink Miller Lite... see you in Snowflake!!!

Unbelievable... Interestingly enough.. we weren't too disappointed over our 5th place finish. I think it's because of all the work we did on the tranny the week before the race... and did all the race prep on our own... I was actually pretty happy with everything. I also have to say that this was some of the most fun racing I've had. Racing the Woodruff car for 25 miles was a real thrill. Those guys sure surprised me. They'll be tough in the next races. Chasing Allan Schaible and Jay is why we go to these races... Those guys fly.

If there was a moral victory to this story.. it was that the RER car had the 2 fastest laps in the 5/1600 class. The best lap was 14:53 to cover a 17.5 mile lap. Do the math folks... that's better than a 70 mph average... IN A 5/1600 CAR!!! Amazing...

Before I go.. there's a few people that I need to thank. First... to Pat Hughes for his hard work in getting that tranny fixed in time. Pat builds some of the best trannys in the race world. He does all classes, and knows his stuff. If you'd like to get in touch with him, call (602) 438-1137. I also'd like to say thanks to Dave Sundquist for all of his help this weekend. Last but not least.. to American Spring in Flagstaff. That big blue mud eating Chevy pulled us through that mud pit in awesome style - and got us bump started to finish the race, and keep us in the points.

Next race... Snowflake 175 on Labor Day weekend!!! More lightning fast racing - SEE YOU THERE!!!