As the sun rose on January 17, a parade of racers made their way from the starting line of Eastern Plaster City to the Southern trestles of the California drywall capital to qualify in the TROPHYLITE 200, the inaugural race of the DRIVE Series.

DRIVE Racing is the third sanctioning body to call Plaster City home. First was FUD then MDR and now DRIVE. The founders of DRIVE, Jon Schleif and Doug Wasser, are trying to bring more racers back to the Imperial Valley through fun, affordable, grassroots racing with a customer service approach. If the first DRIVE race is any indication, they are definitely on the right track.

Qualifying was a point-to-point affair and was open to all classes. Mile 1 of the qualifying course featured a tricky dropdown and whoop section that caught a few drivers off guard, causing two rollovers and several nose wheelies.

First off the line and into the history books for the main event was Jeff Farris in Class 101. The class of the day, however, was the TROPHYLITE. The spec truck class numbered 16 strong and put on a great show throughout the day.
When the checkers flags flew in the afternoon, Kyle Conlon and Steven Eugenio went down into the books as the first overall winner's, racing a Class 1001 Jimco entered in Class 101. The duo ran away from the field and had a 10-minute lead midway though the second lap of the six-lap race.

In TROPHYLITE, Glen Rolfe (above) took the win and second overall. Caleb Sanden drove hard all day to take the win in Class 1601.

DRIVE is onto a good thing in the Imperial Valley. The staff and volunteers are to be commended for running a well organized race, especially when you consider that it was the first one. Keep an eye on DRIVE as the series is bound to only grow and improve!