Round 1 of the 1998 Whiplash Desert series is over, with a heart breaking loss for the Ragged Edge Racing team.... here's how it went.

It was a great day in Mexico... The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and there was a fresh smell of race fuel in the air. The race was a 42 mile loop just outside of Rocky Point. The course was said to be fast, fast, fast, but wasn't quite as fast as I would have liked.

The RER car drew 1st starting position, followed by Mike Leung, Allan Schaible, and Mike Kellog. I was really excited to be starting first on the road, since we had drawn deeper into the field in previous starts.

The morning of the race was excellent for racing. Cool weather, and a soft breeze would make for an excellent day of racing.... and that couldn't have been more true.

We took the green flag, and immediately headed onto the paved road for a quick mile or so. After jamming down the pavement, the course headed out into the desert ( ? ) down a sticky, sandy 12 mile stretch of whoops. The car was running great, and we were catching the 1/2 1600 cars in front of us within the first 10 miles. The course thus far was arrow straight, and really sandy. We were able to pull third gear, but not very well. The traction really sucked, and it wanted to pull the rear of the car off the course... requiring constant concentration to keep us in the grooves. Yet another new driving surface like none other in our previous races... anyway... We were able to pull right up on 2 1600 cars just at the end of the straight section. The cars quickly disappeared in the dust, but we soon caught them again. In the first turn of the course, both cars lay side by side, upside down on the outside of the turn.... It was quite a sight. One of the combatants was flagging us around, and everybody looked OK, so we hammered through the turn, and into the course. We were now running without dust, so we picked up the pace. The course became firmer, and twisty turny through the desert. It was a BLAST to drive. The car easily pulled 3rd and 4th gears depending on how far I could see down the road. From here, the course got flat, straight, and sandy again, but firmer than the first 12 miles of the race. We were able to catch 2 more 1/2 cars by this time, one on the road, and another broken down. We were flying, and there was no sign of anyone catching us.

We passed our secondary pits near the highway at mile 28, and got the call from Krista that Allan was some 50 seconds behind us. We were happy, and anxious all at the same time since we knew Allan started 60 seconds behind us. OK, great.... so far so good. We're still first on the road.... but Allan was RIGHT THERE.

After passing our pit, the course headed through another twisty section and then into the town dump. Jay warned us that the course ran through the dump, but he didn't mention it would run through the garbage and all.... We figured it kinda skated around the dump, or past the dump, but not this time... right through it. I have an image in my mind of running over a plastic minature shopping cart full of trash...

After the dump, the course ran through a sand dune, and then through a couple of miles of "virgin" desert that was as sandy as anything. It also navigated some 90 plus degree turns that were really chewed up. One turn in particular was a hairpin that I kept missing the line in, and was full of broken concrete on the outside. The high powered vehicles really turned these corners into sand soup. From here, the course followed a narrow path through a section of town, and onto pit road.

We passed our pit at full tilt, and completed our first lap. We got the split time from our crew on Allan, and he was a slim 30 seconds behind us. We were happy to be "first on the road" but knew that Allan was actually ahead of us.... I turned up the wick on the next laps.

The second lap was without incident, or "near death experiences" as I like to refer to them as. We got passed by John Herder at about the 6 mile mark. John was flying. My car would only pull second gear this time around, but John obvously had the horses to go MUCHO faster. He went WAY around us, and then bounced right in front of my car. He was gone as quicly as he had appeared. We didn't get passed by the second place "1" car for another 30 minutes....

On this same stretch, we came across the Hyperactive Motorsports 5/1600 of Mike Leung and crew. Tough day for them, with some type of motor failure. Sorry to see that... we had hoped for some tight racing with these guys and their super clean 5/16... We also came across Mike Kellog and the ex Tim Smith Mile High Cellular car. We heard they also fell victim to motor gremlins in the deep sand. Tough break for these guys. We got the word that this car had been rolled some 6 times at high speed just 2 weeks prior to the race. Good job in getting it back togther, guys... Despite the early exit for them, I have to give them credit for just gettin' there. Hope to see them both in Gila Bend.

Back to the race... after the second lap, we got the split from our crew, and it was nearly a dead heat with Allan. We could see him at a corner in the course, and just knew that we couldn't get away, and he couldn't catch us. It was the race of the day.

The third lap also went off without incident. We got tapped by the class winning "10" car. It was an interesting pass, since we had given him plenty of room, and he failed to get by us. Then, the race course got narrower, and I used both grooves in the course to get safely through when he rammed us. It kinda irritated Todd and I since we had given him a chance.... AND there was a complete different line on the course separated by a few thin bushes that he could have used... Oh well... no harm, no foul.

At the end of the third, we got the split from our crew that we were some 4 minutes ahead of Allan. We were really hauling. Later, we had heard that Allan had 2 flats at the same time... In his own pit. How's that for good and bad luck all at once???

Now... here's the interesting part. I had made a decision that if the race was close, we would not stop for gas. Having heard the latest split well into our 4th lap, there was no going back for gas. At mile 21, just 20 miles from the checkers, and our first win, our good day went south, and we ran out of gas. It was panic city, since we thought that our electric fuel pump would give us a couple of extra gallons that the mechanical pump wouldn't pick up. We shot that theory full of holes, when the car refused to start with the electric pump running. Game over, as Allan came zipping by. How I wish I could have heard what was said inside those helmets as they passed us. Good thing they couldn't hear what we were saying at the time... Definately NC17 audiences only... you get the point. Anyway... we were out of radio contact range with our crew, but were able to relay a message through the helpful Whiplash crew. They were able to get the message to our crew, but time was fleeting. Through the superhuman efforts of Jeff Knupp, and Alan Cluck of class 8 fame, they were able to get 5 gallons of gas to us, and get us going again. We finished just under the 6 hour time limit. Our first 3 laps took just over 3 hours, and our last lap just under 3 hours... Major disappointment for the RER crew, since it was nearly "in the bag".

NOW, since I feel like an idiot... I feel the need to defend my decision on not taking on any gas... Here's the deal - At the Parker 400, and the Snowflake 175 last year, the RER car got some 12 - 13 mpg. Killer mileage for a desert car. I knew that in Mexico you can expect to get fewer mpg's due to the sand. I guessed (here's where the inexperience comes in) that we should get 10 mpg or so. We started the race with 22 in the cell... do the math and we should go 220 miles. The race was a total of 168 miles long so I thought we had plenty of gas to make it. No problem, right? (if you agree, then maybe I'll fell like less of an idiot) Well, that Mexican sand was like racing in bad bean dip, and really ate up the gas... we got less than 7 mpg. You can be sure, this mistake won't happen again. Especially with a 4 minute lead on second place.

Now for a few other comments... I can't say thanks enough to Jeff Knupp. That guy really knows his stuff. The car was HAULIN A**. Period. It hasn't run this well, EVER. Jeff got rid of that nasty little "kick" that kept us from going fast in Parker, and also got the car pumping on all 4 cylinders. Can't say enough about the guy. Jeff's biz is Volkspower Race Prep. Check my SPONSORS page for more details.

Other than that... your run of the mill go fast, tight race, ready to win, run out of gas, finish second kinda race. Hullava party at JJ's afterwards. The RER team was disappointed, but happy with our second place finish and points. It's going to be a heck of a shootout with Allan for the series championship.

Round 1 - Allan Schaible

Round 2 - Gila Bend March 14. SEE YOU THERE!!!!