2007 was a very successful year of racing for me. The year started with the Dakar Rally in which our three man team became the first American’s in history to finish the rally in the T-4 Race Truck class. The Dakar Rally is known worldwide as the most challenging off road race on the planet and it’s comparable to the World Cup Soccer Final within the international media. The race takes place over fifteen days and encompasses five thousand miles of racing across two continents.
While I was gone to Africa, Rob MacCachren drove my car for me at the Laughlin Desert Challenge. Rob’s driving skills put the Reliable Lumber Slime Crocodile in the early lead on day one of the two day event. The Croc suffered a cracked engine block as the result of a hard landing off the Laughlin Leap and could not compete on day two.
Shortly after mentally returning from Europe and Africa, my team and I raced in the SNORE Buffalo Bill’s 400 at Stateline, Nevada. I suffered a torn outer CV boot early in the race and this cost us forty five minutes to remedy. We fought back all day in this grueling event finishing second place in Class 10 and coming home twenty minutes behind the overall Class 1 winner for third overall. This was a bitter sweet finish knowing that we potentially had the entire field covered by twenty five minutes.
The next race of the year was my favorite, the Baja 500. Once again the rug got pulled out from underneath me with a fluke broken suspension piece after leading the first half of the race. With a solid plan and quality team in place we repaired the car in a timely fashion and I brought the Croc home in second place.
Craziness prevailed at the fast and furious Terrible’s Cup which took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This unique event is a huge challenge against the peak summer elements and the competition even though the actual racing period is very short. This was probably my most challenging race of the year because I went into it expecting to be able to race at 95 percent. My bad… When it was said and done third place ended up feeling like a victory!
The year finished out with a DNF at the Primm 300 where we blew a motor after having a good race in the works.
Every year that passes I realize how lucky I am to have the support of the people around me. Off Road Racing is a passion of mine and I am so lucky to have family and friends who embrace it with me, thank you all.
Let’s go grab us a win or two in 2008!