On August 15'th, the men & women of the SNORE
desert series drove north to the rugged mountains surrounding Ely
Nevada for a different kind of "desert racing" The SNORE / NAPA
250. At nearly 7000 feet, the old mining turned tourist town of Ely
is a far cry from the bright lights & barren landscape of the
Las Vegas area. The millenia old Bristlecone pines, mountainous
terrain & small town atmosphere stand in stark contrast to the
rock gardens, cactus, and casinos which are part & parcel of
the "typical" Nevada desert racing experience.
To race in Ely, 'ya gotta want it. The 5 hr drive
from Vegas is not exactly around the corner for the majority of
SNORE's racers, but when you consider that many racers made the
haul from points as far as San Deigo and Colorado, you know they
had to want it pretty bad. So whats to want? Well, theres a
beautiful course, great scenery, great competition, and...oh
yea....over $10,000 in cash & prizes. Not counting contingency.
Impressed? So were we.
Over 70 cars vied
for the big bucks, but that number was doubtlessly affected by an
MDR race held the same weekend in Barstow CA. Had the 2 races been
scheduled on seperate weekends, it's likely that both would have
seen increased entries.
This race marked my second outing in the 917 car
of Tim & Gary Hart, and 3rd SNORE race to date. After a series
of broken ball joints at the last Vegas event, the car had been
thoroughly gone through, and readied for Ely. No cause was ever
determined for thier failure, but the coming event would give us an
idea or two.
A brief thundershower the
night before was thought to have done wonders for the silty course
conditions, but alas, it was not to be. Innitial test runs into the
course left no doubt that the air filters were in for a workout.
the dust contrails rivialed those of the Bonneville cars doing time
trials farther east. Fortunately for us, we drew a #2 starting
position in Class 9, minimizing the innital first lap dust
problem.
Tim & Gary were scheduled for
lap 1 & 2, while Rich Culver & I were to take the reins on
lap 3 & 4. Once underway, Tim quickly took over 1st place, and
proceded to put over 5 min on the #2 car. While the course was
fast, the lack of a pre-run held most everyone to a reasonable
"sort it out" pace, as the racers familiarized themselves with the
course. Before the 917 team had a chance to enjoy thier early lead
however, Tim was forced into a pit with ball joint gremlins rearing
thier ugly heads yet again.
With assistance
from a fellow Class 9 pit crew, Tim & Gary were once again on
the course, and headed for the main pit. Repairs were affected, and
Tim elected to put Rich & I in the car for the remainder of the
race. Twist my arm Tim........
Once on
track (literally), Rich & I noticed a suprising number of cars
broken down. the course was actually pretty smooth, and was far
from its "late in the race" condition. Rich set a comfortable pace,
and we set ourselves in for the long haul.
About half a lap later, that long haul was interupted with
over 20 min. of down time. Wile navigating a tight wash, we came
upon a broken Class 9 stranded in mid course. The silty terrain
made pushing the disabled car a virtual impossibility, and Rich
made the decision to climb the bank and attempt a VERY tight
go-around. In normal sand, we might have
made it. In this powder, we didn't. The rear dug in hard, and slid
us into the other 9 car, locking us rear wheel to rear wheel.
Definately not what we had in mind. Adding insult to injury, the
extreme angle caused our fuel pump to cavitate, leaving both
vehicles dead in the sand. As we got out of the car to seperate the
two, the other car's chase crew arrived and together we managed to
do the deed.
Meanwhile, several cars had
made it to our location, and successfully jumped the bank to get
around. For most it was a minor inconvienence, but 2 vehicles were
less fortunate. A Jeep Commanche rolled up onto it's passenger door
when dropping back into the wash directly in front of us, while a
Class 10 car didn't drop back in soon enough. He found himself high
centered and very, very stuck.
Were it not
for a lot of cooperative effort, this situation had the potential
to turn into a used car lot. SNORE was reported to have scrambled
several chase crews to clear the area, but fortunately, the
guesture was largely unneeded. Within a short time (depending on
your perspective), everyone was on their way, and back in the hunt
for greater glory, free dinner, and a cold beer to wash the dust
out.
As the day wore on, we encountered no
additional problems. Rich pitted for fuel at the end of lap 2, the
ball joints checked out fine, and away we went again. Lap 3 passed
with great sucess, as the 917 car picked up several lost positions.
There were a couple suprises in store, with Rich doing his best
bicycle imitation around an off camber right hander, and a double
jump that we seemed to have "misplaced" from the previous
lap.
With the car handling well, no engine
or ball joint problems, and a solid finish within our grasp, Tim
waived us on into lap 4. By now the silt had developed into a
hellacious set of oscillating whoop de doos that were enough to
give a bull elephant whiplash. Nonetheless, we showed our fastest
times yet through the checkpoints, hoping to pick up just one more
position.
In our zeal and enthusiasm, we
forgot about that double jump yet again. I had said to Rich on our
previous lap, "That wasnt that bad....mabye we should try clearing
them next lap". "Nope" he said, we'd break the car". As it turns
out, the car held together nicely thank you....even the front skid
plate we landed on remained intact.
When we took the checkered flag, it was in 6'th
place out of 18 cars. We were also the last of the 9's to complete
the required 4 laps. Definately an improvement over our previous
outing, but still not as well as we'd hoped. We could have taken
4'th without any down time, but thats the way it goes...wudda cudda
shudda......didn't. Thats the nice thing about desert racing though
- there's another one on the way. Next stop, back to Vegas &
the Gold Coast!
Off-Road.Com would like to thank &
congratulate the city & people of Ely Nevada for putting on an
outstanding event. We must also give a special thanks to NAPA for
continuing to sponsor & promote off-road motorsports in a time
when companies are put under pressure by various "environmental"
groups for doing such.
Lastly, we have give our congrats to the
class winners.....
Mark Weyhrich - Class 1 / 2
Jim Price - Class 10
Rick Duncan - Class 1/2 - 1600
Ryan Shank - Class 9
Dee Towles - Class 5 - 1600
Eric Gremm - Sportsman Buggy
Scott Noall - Sportsman Truck
Way to guys!
With a free post race dinner / award cerimony (with
trophies), and a drawing for over $2,000 in prizes, everyone went
home with something good. Good memories, good people, and a VERY
full belly to say the least! |
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