As many of you know - my little 5/1600 car is a gonner - sold. I'm now in the market for a zippy 10 car - and they don't get any zippier that Steve Kuker's car. It's a 2 seat Chenowth A-arm car - Toyota powered, with a Fortin gear box. All top notch. Steve's co-driver - Current Whiplash class 10 and overall points Champ Jeff Wells really prefers driving to riding - and offered me the right seat for a day at Laughlin and I jumped at the chance. I was open to riding either day - and was somewhat happy that Eric Pavolka stepped in to ride on Saturday - since a high speed rollover sent Eric scrambling for the trailer. You might question my sanity for jumping in with Steve after a crash on the day before - but I know that Steve is a pro - and have seen him race many times while I was racing myself. I knew he was aggressive - but not reckless - and the chances of 2 straight days with a wreck were pretty slim. Regardless - those things happen as I well know myself from experience. You don't plan them, never know when they are coming, and just have to accept them when they come. Riding on Sunday was an opportunity that I would have never passed up crash or no crash.

Because of the roll and lost time the day before - SCORE started Steve 1st on Sunday in an inverted start of the finish order from Sunday. I jumped into the right seat - strapped in, and we were ready to go. Staging was a slow process - but we did have front row seats to see the trucks finish. I got a really good look at the Collins trophy truck dragging ass as it crossed the finish line... Very entertaining. We were on the front row - starting with Doug Powell in the Orange car next to us. In Laughlin - they start 2 cars at a time - every 30 seconds. Doug let us know on the line that he had only 1 gear working in the tranny - and would be just taking the green flag for starting points - and calling it a day. We would be all by our selves - with the pack behind us. It would be clean air.

The green flag dropped - and we were off. The course meandered through a man made infield that contained a few big bumps, and of course - the Laughlin Leap. Steve hammered the throttle and the car launched down the first straight over a big bump, and into the first corner... Steve stayed on the gas - never lifted very deep into the corner. I was really surprised - as the car had great brakes, slowed, and carved through the 180 degree right hander... I would have never pulled that off at that speed in the 5/1600. The car exited the corner - and accelerated to the Laughlin Leap... It's a hill about 7-10 feet tall - that launched the car off the back side - and slammed it down in a hard landing... Steve rocketed into the next corner - and carved though another 180 degree turn... We pounded through the rest of the infield - and headed down "the runway". It is a dirt strip - that heads away from Laughlin and into the desert. Steve was grabbing gears and accelerated through 'em all - as we raced into the desert. The car pulled hard - and was very fast - Shifting this tranny was cool - and did not require a clutch. It seemed that it didn't even require lifting your foot off the gas - just grab a gear and go. At the end of the strip - was the desert - we pounded through a couple of rollers, made a quick uphill left, and flew over a hill and into the rough. It was indeed rough - and the course was well worn. The whoops were huge, but the car was eating them up. Steve was aggressive - but the car was up to the task. We pounded through the first couple of miles very quickly - graded road, whoopers, all taken at speed and without hesitation. The car works great. A couple of areas were really soft - including an uphill sand wash where we were caught by the red RCD Honda of Hunter Racing... They must have had some torque in that car to power through that sand... They were gone nearly as quickly as they had appeared. The course was really whooped out - but we bounced though. At the end of a particularly fast straight - we came to the first road crossing - It seemed really tall - and I couldn't see anything over the top of the hill where the road crossed. Steve knew the way - and never lifted just sailing across the road. The car landed just at the edge of the pavement on the other side - and accelerated at the tires touched down and we launched down the other side... Once again - Steve was on the throttle and we pounded through the rough. The course got much more technical here - narrow, curvy, rocky and rough. We carved through the course here - climbed a sandy hill, carved left, and headed down the other side... Continued rough and technical. The car was working like a champ... Lots of power, agile, and soaking up the rough. From here - the course curled it's way back toward Laughlin - under large power lines overhead. The course continued to get faster - and rougher with larger and larger hills with long straights separating ranges of hills. The course traversed the hills, sometimes straight over the top, and sometimes off camber blind turns on the back side... We came back to another road crossing and again Steve never lifted flying over the road and back down into the whoops. The course finished with a long straight in top gear heading back to the infield. There were several lines here - and Steve knew which was the quickest. He navigated left down the straight, cross right, back left, and then middle as we entered the infield. I watched cars go through there for 2 straight days - and this was the best line that the top drivers were using...

We completed lap 1 - and could see several cars entering the infield in pursuit as we sprinted though the switch backs. Myers, Whit Courtney, Danny Anderson were all back there...

Lap 2 was much of the same - We saw several cars broken down here and there - but still no cars could catch us. We finished lap 2 with the field behind us. Once again - Several cars were in hot pursuit.

Lap 3 we saw the bright yellow Charles Lathrem entry sidelined with a flat and a destroyed rim.

On the final lap We did get caught by Danny Anderson in the uphill sand wash- I've gotta believe that the extra weight of a 2 seater, with my 170 pounds were a definite disadvantage in the sand. Shortly after Danny passed - We got a flat rear tire - and the pack caught us. Several cars passed us on the way back to the finish...

We finished the day in 8th place, finishing the last 4-5 miles on the flat. It was a hell of a ride...

So - Am I buying this car ?? The answer - If I could, I would without a doubt. However - it's going to have to wait a while until I can get a few things cleaned up, and get some cashola. It's an awesome car - works killer, looks great - and is as fast as hell.

Thanks Steve for the great ride - I had a blast - and would love to sit in there again if you ever need another rider.

Next race will be the Parker 400 - Anyone out there got a empty seat and looking for a rider?? I'm available!!

Adios!!

Mike