Collins and Ragland Overall It
BITD Vegas to Reno

BITD "Vegas to Reno" Overall Winners - Collins and Ragland

Brian Collins and Larry Ragland teamed in their Chevrolet Trick Truck to whup all 132 other entries in the Best in The Desert Vegas to Reno event this past weekend.

The race started about 70 miles north of Las Vegas on Highway 93, in the middle of nowhere (just south of Alamo), and 584 miles later it finished in Dayton, about an hour south of Reno. Along the way the racers visited some of Nevada’s old mining communities, a lot of old roads, mountain vistas, and some trails that hadn’t been raced on for about 20 years. The course ran roughly parallel to Highway 93 for 60 miles, and then went into Area 51, skirting Rachel, then north to the Test Range outside of Tonopah. Once through there it approximately paralleled Highway 95 until Race Mile 510, when it crossed the highway and headed west, into the rocky hills, and then down to finish in the familiar, often used area, south of the Carson River, within blocks of civilized Dayton.

MacCachren gets fastest Time at Time Trials in Gus Vildosola's Ford Trick Truck

Amazingly, after 584 miles, many of the winners were pushing hard right to the finish line, fighting off hard charging challengers who would move to the lead if the driver in front made an error. Fierce competition was the order of the day.
Along the way there were 16 official Pit areas, where teams could repair and refuel. The trick was for the chase crews to make it on time. Some of the distances traveled made it impossible for a one-truck chase crew to get to the pit ahead of the race vehicle. It was a long, hard day for most teams.

The weather was good; warm, not hot, but the breezes weren’t consistent, and in some areas the dust hung. The silt was very deep in many sections, and rough for limited cars, bikes and small trucks. Lots of racers got stuck.
At the Time Trials before the race, Rob MacCachren had been quickest in Gus Vildosola’s Ford Trick Truck, and earned the first start position. John Herder was second fastest in his Chevy Jimco. The Trick Truck led the troops off the line, with Vildosola at the wheel, and Herder was the first Class 1500 car, right behind him.

John Herder was second fastest in his Chevy Jimco during Time Trials

Herder went into the lead, and with no dust, sailed along majestically, looking unbeatable. He put Steve Melton in to drive the second half to the finish line, but at Pit 16, just 44 miles from the finish, their transmission quit. So, while nearly everyone went by, the crew rebuilt the trans. And the Collins/Ragland team rose to the top and stayed there. They took the overall win in a time of 9:51:07, finishing second on the road behind Garron Cadiente and Rick Geiser in their Ford, but ahead on corrected time. Collins and Ragland, who’d had only one flat, were seven-and-a-half minutes ahead of Cadiente and Geiser, who were second overall.

Third overall, and first in Class 1500 were brothers Dale and Danny Ebberts in a Jimco. Danny, who’s been racing sprint cars for years, is fairly new to offroad racing, and this was his first finish. They were about four minutes ahead of the second place Class 1500 finisher, B. J. Richardson, in a Bunderson

In the Protruck class, Gustavo Vildosola, Jr., and Bryan Freeman took the win in their Toyota, after a fierce battle with Rick L. Johnson and Dane Cardone in another Toyota. They were only a minute and 20 seconds apart at the finish.
Mark Beeler drove his Ford the whole distance to take the Class 8000 win by just 40 seconds in his Ford. Mark Shoaff, in another Ford, soloed to second place behind him. Neither had any problems.

Garron Cadiente and Rick Geiser

Josh Hall put his Class 4100 (full size SUV) H2 Hummer into the lead and stayed there, to take the win by over two hours. In the 3100 class (small SUVs) Mike Falkosky, in a Ford, was the only one in the class to finish, taking 17 hours and two minutes for the trip.

In the 1600 buggies (Class 2000) only one team managed a finish, and that was Brian Jeffrey and Brian Burgess, in their Porter. Silt was their only problem, causing them to take the time to stop and clean the air filters.
Randy Merritt was the winner in the Stock Full Size trucks, (8100), his Ford squeaking across the finish line a skinny 40 seconds in front of Greg Foutz and Jeremy Spirkoff’s Ford.

Class 10 (1000) was won by Dennis Kordonowy in a Fast Track chassis powered by an air-cooled VW. He had a litany of problems that started when he hit a rock and tore up a tire and his brakes. He was almost an hour in front of the second car in the class.
The modified mini-truck class (7200) went to Mike Ruane and his son, Jason, who was racing the Ford truck for the first time. Their usual driver, Larry Roeseler, wasn’t there for this one. They had over three hours on second place.

Class 7200 (same as SCORE’s 7S) was won by Ben and Seth Williams, who’d had to have their front I-beam mount welded. They had over two hours on second place.

Ebberts and Ebberts Win Class 1500

John Webster drove his Class 7300 (stock mini-truck) Ford to the victory, enjoying a fairly smooth day, and winning by a margin of 22 minutes.
In the JeepSpeed group, Guy Alldredge and Cale Wood had a nearly perfect race with just one flat, and described the course as “fast.” They were the only finishers in the class.

The BITD has two more races this season: the Las Vegas 300 in October and the Henderson’s Terrible 400 in early December. The points hunt is closing in on a finish, but with two events left, championships can still be lost, or won.

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