The NORRA 1000 was a three day staged rally that was littered with the heroes of desert racing.  Everywhere you turned to look there were the most popular desert racers standing on the corner preparing to race their vintage pre-1989 vehicle, or trying their hand at alternative fuel technology. The Norman Motorsports Team was just as star studded consisting of Roger Norman, Crystal Bay Casino #8 Trophy Truck driver, Larry Roeseler, legendary motorcycle racer and Crystal Bay Casino #8 driver, and Mark Post, Riviera #3 Trophy Truck driver.

            Norman started the race on day one in the 49th position, and began working his way up the field to 4th when he successfully handed off the truck to Post who finished the flawless day in the first position.  With the success of the first day under their belt, Norman was now able to start first and challenge himself to read the GPS and Roadbook while driving solo with no co-pilot to help navigate.  Post once again got handed a running truck but in La Purisima got a flat tire, which was the minor part of his problem…somewhere along the way the jack handle had fallen off.  Post ended up waiting in the desert for almost two hours while the recovery was in process, but thanks to Brian Collins who stopped to help, he was quickly able to change the tire and continue the eight miles to the finish line taking 17th for the day.  The third day, Roeseler started and Post again took it to the finish line.  This time Post was resilient, with another flat tire on his hands, he was going to finish the 20 miles on the flat.  The KMC wheel took the brutal beating all the way to the finish line with no tire, and amazingly didn’t significantly damage the wheel or the brake rotor!  The Norman Motorsports team ended up finishing about 120 minutes behind the overall winner, but proudly took 1st place in the Alternative Fuel Class.

“This was a gentleman’s race,” reflected Norman. “Everyone at the start line wanted to race hard, but there was no nerfing and a lot more courtesy on the course than there is in a typical desert race.  The whole thing was cool.  My favorite part was drinking Tecate and eating the most amazing lobster I have ever tasted with the legends of the sport in the heart of Baja.”

            While Roeseler and Post were competing in the final day of the NORRA 1000, Norman was at Contingency for the Dos Mares 500 where he would be competing in the Zorro Racing Team #69 Camaro Trophy Truck.  Come race day, Norman started in 7th and had a plan of taking it easy in the beginning of the race, but before he knew it he had made his way up into 4th place when they stopped for a fuel pit.  Shortly after they left the pit, coming out of a silt bed, it seemed as if they had lost the transmission and called for rescue.  As they were completing the install on a new transmission, they found that it was actually the rear differential that had broken, so they were back to waiting for rescue with a replacement rear dif on the way.  After countless vehicles passed them on the course, they finally got it all put back together and were now faced with the new transmission overheating and eventually losing first and third gear.  Francisco Cevantez, the truck owner who had taken over driving duties for the second half of the race, did take the checker flag at 4:30am.  They finished 6th place after driving by the oil temperature gauge that limited them to 87mph.

            Coverage from last weeks race action for both the NORRA 1000 and the Dos Mares can be found at http://www.justin.tv/rogernorman8 or http://www.normanmotorsports.com.