POST RACE WRAP UP
So, the number one question that we are getting since we got home from V2R is, "Did you win?” Well, the answer is not as clear as one would imagine. On paper, we DNF'd at mile 136 because of multiple issues (more on that later), but the reality is that we scored a victory for our team and accomplished quite a few of our goals.
Our first victory was in assembling the RumbleGoat Racing crew. We recruited a group that totaled 10 very capable people including 6 volunteers and the 4 team owners. Just finding people insane enough to travel a 2000 mile plus round trip with the only possible reward being bragging rights is a challenge. Through a combination of dumb luck and the shotgun approach, RGR found the best crew anyone could hope for. There are engineers, fabricators, automotive technicians, skilled tradesmen, a guy with a big mouth (me) and even a chiropractor!!! On paper this looks good but in reality, the personalities made it a trip to remember.
The race started off with Jose Ybarra behind the wheel and Fozzie Walters in the right seat. No problems for the first mile or so. After moving over to let a really fast sportsman's buggy by, the truck lost all forward gears except 3rd gear, low range. Even with this handicap, Jose (with gentle coaxing from Fozzie's clipboard) was able to keep the truck rolling on the rev limiter at about 50 mph within about 5 miles of the lead group in our class. At pit one; we decided that we should limp the truck to pit 2 where our factory trained Ford technician was waiting with a scanner. Jose got El Chivo back up to speed and set off chasing the rest of the field. We were in 4th place at the time. At RM 44, there was a major hill that had a bunch of buggies struggling to summit. This stopped the whole field and we were able to close the gap. Still in 4th place, but now just behind the leaders, Jose pulled the truck into pit 2 for some repairs. Tim hooked up the scanner, but there were just too many codes. We had a short in the tranny harness. We decided to keep on going since we could get 50 mph and maybe we could narrow it down by pit 3. Now with Don Healy in the driver's seat and Jim Moss in at co-dog, El Chivo set out through the rocks. All was well until after the narrow overpass under US95. Don managed to pass several other vehicles and make up a little ground, but we were developing another problem. The rear-end was slowly cracking and we were loosing four wheel drive. Having the front wheels turn turned out to be very important with our limited power band and top speed. The cracked axle tube could be welded if we could find the crack.
7314 was making good time until around RM105 where the silt sucked us in for the first time. After some frantic digging and rock stacking we got underway. Then we managed to peel back the belly skid on some big rocks. We removed it with much prying and swearing and sneaked in to pit 3 just before it closed. We had to decide to keep on going after a tire change and restocking our water supply. Company policy is that we race until we cross the finish line or an official tells us to stop. After pit 3, we were making great time. So great in fact that there was talk that the chase trucks might not beat us to pit 4. Don was pushing El Chivo right on the rev limiter, the gauges were good and we were flying. Many trucks and buggies were buried in the silt at this point and it was a challenge just to navigate around them. Most had given up but we still had hope of making pit 4 before it closed. Then it happened. . .the mother of all silt beds. We buried the truck no less than 5 times and recovered it by digging, jacking and stacking rocks under the tires right up until the jack was overcome by the silt. We gave it one last try and got underway for another couple of miles with one tire up on the burm and the other in the silt. At RM136 there was a narrow spot that sucked us in and buried the truck to the frame. 3rd gear wasn't cutting it, 4x4 was completely gone, the jack was broken, and the rear axle housing was now in two pieces. Combine that with the fact that Don and Jim had been digging, jacking and stacking for nearly 6 hours and they had only the emergency water left in the tool box and it is obvious that things were stacked against RGR. We timed out. . .but our race wasn't over. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no paved roads or people or anything but desert for miles and miles. We hailed BITD on the radio and Donald vowed that he would do his best to recover us. He had to take his stockish 4x4 truck 10 miles backwards through some of the worst silt beds on planet Earth to get to us. So, we waited. . . Finally, we got a second wind and decided to just give it a try because we needed to do something out there in no-man's land. We attacked the silt with the shovels and made our own trenches backwards to safety so we could give it another shot. Fingers crossed, tires flattened, Don backed it out. We were able to drive El Chivo for the next 10 miles on the race course with only the C-Clips in the rear-end holding the entire housing together and then another 5 or so miles with Donald from BITD showing us a shortcut to highway 6 where our team met us to get the truck on the trailer.
This wrap-up doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of roller coaster ride that our first Vegas to Reno turned out to be. We are in the process of writing a full article on the experience that will be published in an upcoming issue of Crawl magazine.
Special thanks to Goodyear Tires (no flats in spite of having to air down the rears a few times to get out of the silt), Ford Trucks,
http://www.bizrad.com,
http://www.4wheelingplus.com and to our families for allowing us to participate in this kind of craziness!!!
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