2016 Parker 250 Race Report
The Parker 250 was viewed by our team as the first race of the season and the first stepping-stone to a real run for points. We did worry about running our car a little too hard and losing a chance to compete at the UTV World Championships and the Mint 400 due to the lack of funding for such repairs.
Upon our arrival in Parker, we noticed many returning teams with new cars, some teams with cars they used last season and some new teams with new cars. Tech was uneventful for us and we packed the car back up for transport to camp and waited for the Drivers Meeting. While at camp we were surprised by a visitor from Method Race Wheels and an impromptu photo shoot. We love getting visits from our sponsors and company reps wanting to check out the team and racecar.
Saturday morning, came and we got ready to send out one of our military team members on a quad and get guys to Pit A to assist a dirt bike IM rider than needed some assistance in order to compete in the event. The morning ended up being very busy after the quad failed to go further than the start before it died. For three hours we tried to get the quad rolling under its own power until we exhausted all options and the rider called in an unfortunate DNF. The #XPWARRIOR had sat this whole morning without any attention or slow idle warming of the systems; this would come to haunt us later.
We stage and begin moving to the start and as the cars begin leaving onto the course we notice the order isn’t moving correctly. We should have started against Jeremiah Staggs and his new Yamaha but someone must have failed to show to the start and the officials didn’t catch it until it was too late. Just as Staggs left the start line without us being able to start even though we had the lower start number, the official stopped us and moved Lacrecia Beurrier from behind us to in front of us and allowed her to start in front of us as well. At least two cars with start positions behind us now left the line before us and I was not a happy camper. A car rolled just after the first turn and we knew the moisture could be to blame. We ended up lining up against Felix and headed onto the course.
Felix pushed his car pretty hard and so did we, but my co-driver told me to give Felix the lead since there wasn’t any dust and hopefully he would find the first environmental hazard instead of us. We followed Felix down the main straight and speeds began getting close to 65 mph and climbing. As he approached mile marker 2 our belt exploded and we had to stop to install a spare. I am pretty sure that the combination of wet sand and cold belt caused the failure. We should have driven the car a little bit that morning at low speed just to warm the belt and then checked its condition like usual. Lesson learned, but we know it is possible to lose a belt no matter how many precautions we take. We have had really good luck with this being our first belt failure.
We headed back onto the course after installing a new belt (took about 10-15 minutes) and one mile later the belt temp gauge was already ready 200. I knew something wasn’t right. The temp was not decreasing no matter what we did. As we crest a hill that descended into the wash, we almost hit a dirt bike rider that crashed in the middle of the decline. Pretty scary moment almost running a person over on the racecourse. We had to stop in order to check the rider’s condition and get the stuck stub. The rider was not seriously injured but his bike was in poor shape. Off once again, we get two more miles and the temperature is still high on the clutch/belt. I called to main pit for them to find a race official and inform them on the downed rider. We decide to pull over and check on the belt and read the stuck stub to get the race number of the rider that crashed. We discover that a rat’s nest of crap from the first belt was blocking the exhaust exit of the clutch housing. Chris (co-Driver) clears it and hops back in the car. Another mile or two down the course we find a race official to give the stuck stub to and stop in order to do that.
With four stops before the pit at mile marker 27, we know that we are so far behind the leaders that we are not going to podium this race. We have no spare belt in the car, and have lost at least 30-40 minutes with the belt and crashed rider. I will lose or even not finish a race in order to ensure I didn’t just drive by a seriously injured person that crashed. There is no reason to not check on a human being that may be injured and I hope that every competitor on the course feels the same way.
We get our heads back in the game and press, making sure we finish as strong as possible. The guys at Pit A were able to borrow a spare belt from the 1997 Cognito backed team, top notch group of people to lend us a belt. We approached Pit A and called out over the radio for them to throw it in as we drove by. Leaving the pit and back onto the course the next few miles were super fast. Having peace of mind in a spare belt we started ripping through the course. When we reached the rock garden I began to deteriorate.
During testing, I fell from the top of the racecar and landed on my shin causing a fracture to my right tibia. Until the vibrations of the car going over the rough rock, I could handle the car and discomfort. Now I was in extreme pain and could feel every bump in my bone. I am not even going sugar coat it, from about mile 56 or so to around 67 I had tears in my eyes, thought I was going to pass out and things were scary in the car. Safety is my main concern. I will not put my co-driver, any other competitor, spectator or myself at risk just to race. We pushed as hard as we knew it was safe to push and drove at a speed Chris and I were comfortable with. We were calling to Main Pit about the situation and wanting to know where we were in regards to any team in front of us I might be able to catch if I pushed it and location of the leader. We weren’t hearing anything back and we decided to continue passed the finish line onto lap 2 and main pit. We called to let the team know we needed to do a driver swap, I couldn’t continue in the car. I stopped the car at Main Pit and needed assistance to get out. The driver swap required the co-driver to change seats and I had to give up my suit and helmet. The spare suit and helmet were at Pit A because we thought we would know in the first 27 miles if the injury would be a problem. Now we had a brand new co-driver who had never been in the car heading out on the racecourse. It’s a good thing all these guys are military, we had a super capable Air Force Rescue Aircrew member in the car to navigate and we had confidence he would do great.
Chris took off in the car after it was given 5 gallons of fuel and he began telling Tim what he needed from him. Tim listened to the instructions and complied as if he were at boot camp. The two reported to me that they began pushing the car and reporting back to the pits on progress but weren’t getting calls back. We tried to inform them that McVay left the pits five minutes or less behind them so not to slouch. The car wasn’t answering the radio. As Chris made the bridge crossing he saw a flashing blue light in front of him and chased the car down. He said to Tim, “We are going to pass that car!” They chased the car down and made the pass at Pit A, it was Felix.
Pit A informed Main Pit that the #XPWARRIOR drove through the pit without a radio call and continued back onto the course with McVay on his tail. The two battled the remainder of the race but all of the cameras were at the finish with the leaders celebrating. McVay stayed on the tail of 1965 through the gravel road and made his move in the rough rock that Chris didn’t want to push too hard through and rip off a control arm or blow a shock as happened to a few teams. With McVay leading the two cars raced through the remainder of the course and Chris stuck in sight of McVay. Once they reached within 8 miles of the finish, Chris claims he relaxed a bit and started to have fun. We had a camera waiting at the bridge underpass for a chance to get a good picture of the car and nailed an amazing shot of Chris sliding the car in the entry corner. McVay ended up pulling away on the asphalt next to the river but we finished the race strong and beat McVay on corrected time. He put up a good fight and hopefully the last lap battle helped him increase the pace and made it fun in the end.
The opening race of 2016 proved to the team we could tackle the objective, we could beat the odds and obstacles, and gave us momentum. We are proving that a small budget, actually no budget team, can finish races. It is tough to race in the desert. It is even harder to do it with very few spare parts and no money. It is our determination that has gotten us across that finish line just as much as it is anything else. We don’t give up. We don’t quit. We will find a way and one of these days it will be us in a podium spot!!!
Thank you to Sparks Racing for sponsoring us this season. We are slowly installing Sparks Performance Products on our car and the dividends of their products are already showing with our ability to finish races. Pretty soon the power Sparks can bring to the table will be shown when our average speeds are compared from now and after that work is complete.
Thank you
Method Race Wheels Tensor Tires RideNow Powersports
Lonestar Racing Boost’n & Roost’n Elka Suspension
H-Town Tribal Whips Polaris
The Parker 250 was viewed by our team as the first race of the season and the first stepping-stone to a real run for points. We did worry about running our car a little too hard and losing a chance to compete at the UTV World Championships and the Mint 400 due to the lack of funding for such repairs.
Upon our arrival in Parker, we noticed many returning teams with new cars, some teams with cars they used last season and some new teams with new cars. Tech was uneventful for us and we packed the car back up for transport to camp and waited for the Drivers Meeting. While at camp we were surprised by a visitor from Method Race Wheels and an impromptu photo shoot. We love getting visits from our sponsors and company reps wanting to check out the team and racecar.
Saturday morning, came and we got ready to send out one of our military team members on a quad and get guys to Pit A to assist a dirt bike IM rider than needed some assistance in order to compete in the event. The morning ended up being very busy after the quad failed to go further than the start before it died. For three hours we tried to get the quad rolling under its own power until we exhausted all options and the rider called in an unfortunate DNF. The #XPWARRIOR had sat this whole morning without any attention or slow idle warming of the systems; this would come to haunt us later.
We stage and begin moving to the start and as the cars begin leaving onto the course we notice the order isn’t moving correctly. We should have started against Jeremiah Staggs and his new Yamaha but someone must have failed to show to the start and the officials didn’t catch it until it was too late. Just as Staggs left the start line without us being able to start even though we had the lower start number, the official stopped us and moved Lacrecia Beurrier from behind us to in front of us and allowed her to start in front of us as well. At least two cars with start positions behind us now left the line before us and I was not a happy camper. A car rolled just after the first turn and we knew the moisture could be to blame. We ended up lining up against Felix and headed onto the course.
Felix pushed his car pretty hard and so did we, but my co-driver told me to give Felix the lead since there wasn’t any dust and hopefully he would find the first environmental hazard instead of us. We followed Felix down the main straight and speeds began getting close to 65 mph and climbing. As he approached mile marker 2 our belt exploded and we had to stop to install a spare. I am pretty sure that the combination of wet sand and cold belt caused the failure. We should have driven the car a little bit that morning at low speed just to warm the belt and then checked its condition like usual. Lesson learned, but we know it is possible to lose a belt no matter how many precautions we take. We have had really good luck with this being our first belt failure.
We headed back onto the course after installing a new belt (took about 10-15 minutes) and one mile later the belt temp gauge was already ready 200. I knew something wasn’t right. The temp was not decreasing no matter what we did. As we crest a hill that descended into the wash, we almost hit a dirt bike rider that crashed in the middle of the decline. Pretty scary moment almost running a person over on the racecourse. We had to stop in order to check the rider’s condition and get the stuck stub. The rider was not seriously injured but his bike was in poor shape. Off once again, we get two more miles and the temperature is still high on the clutch/belt. I called to main pit for them to find a race official and inform them on the downed rider. We decide to pull over and check on the belt and read the stuck stub to get the race number of the rider that crashed. We discover that a rat’s nest of crap from the first belt was blocking the exhaust exit of the clutch housing. Chris (co-Driver) clears it and hops back in the car. Another mile or two down the course we find a race official to give the stuck stub to and stop in order to do that.
With four stops before the pit at mile marker 27, we know that we are so far behind the leaders that we are not going to podium this race. We have no spare belt in the car, and have lost at least 30-40 minutes with the belt and crashed rider. I will lose or even not finish a race in order to ensure I didn’t just drive by a seriously injured person that crashed. There is no reason to not check on a human being that may be injured and I hope that every competitor on the course feels the same way.
We get our heads back in the game and press, making sure we finish as strong as possible. The guys at Pit A were able to borrow a spare belt from the 1997 Cognito backed team, top notch group of people to lend us a belt. We approached Pit A and called out over the radio for them to throw it in as we drove by. Leaving the pit and back onto the course the next few miles were super fast. Having peace of mind in a spare belt we started ripping through the course. When we reached the rock garden I began to deteriorate.
During testing, I fell from the top of the racecar and landed on my shin causing a fracture to my right tibia. Until the vibrations of the car going over the rough rock, I could handle the car and discomfort. Now I was in extreme pain and could feel every bump in my bone. I am not even going sugar coat it, from about mile 56 or so to around 67 I had tears in my eyes, thought I was going to pass out and things were scary in the car. Safety is my main concern. I will not put my co-driver, any other competitor, spectator or myself at risk just to race. We pushed as hard as we knew it was safe to push and drove at a speed Chris and I were comfortable with. We were calling to Main Pit about the situation and wanting to know where we were in regards to any team in front of us I might be able to catch if I pushed it and location of the leader. We weren’t hearing anything back and we decided to continue passed the finish line onto lap 2 and main pit. We called to let the team know we needed to do a driver swap, I couldn’t continue in the car. I stopped the car at Main Pit and needed assistance to get out. The driver swap required the co-driver to change seats and I had to give up my suit and helmet. The spare suit and helmet were at Pit A because we thought we would know in the first 27 miles if the injury would be a problem. Now we had a brand new co-driver who had never been in the car heading out on the racecourse. It’s a good thing all these guys are military, we had a super capable Air Force Rescue Aircrew member in the car to navigate and we had confidence he would do great.
Chris took off in the car after it was given 5 gallons of fuel and he began telling Tim what he needed from him. Tim listened to the instructions and complied as if he were at boot camp. The two reported to me that they began pushing the car and reporting back to the pits on progress but weren’t getting calls back. We tried to inform them that McVay left the pits five minutes or less behind them so not to slouch. The car wasn’t answering the radio. As Chris made the bridge crossing he saw a flashing blue light in front of him and chased the car down. He said to Tim, “We are going to pass that car!” They chased the car down and made the pass at Pit A, it was Felix.
Pit A informed Main Pit that the #XPWARRIOR drove through the pit without a radio call and continued back onto the course with McVay on his tail. The two battled the remainder of the race but all of the cameras were at the finish with the leaders celebrating. McVay stayed on the tail of 1965 through the gravel road and made his move in the rough rock that Chris didn’t want to push too hard through and rip off a control arm or blow a shock as happened to a few teams. With McVay leading the two cars raced through the remainder of the course and Chris stuck in sight of McVay. Once they reached within 8 miles of the finish, Chris claims he relaxed a bit and started to have fun. We had a camera waiting at the bridge underpass for a chance to get a good picture of the car and nailed an amazing shot of Chris sliding the car in the entry corner. McVay ended up pulling away on the asphalt next to the river but we finished the race strong and beat McVay on corrected time. He put up a good fight and hopefully the last lap battle helped him increase the pace and made it fun in the end.
The opening race of 2016 proved to the team we could tackle the objective, we could beat the odds and obstacles, and gave us momentum. We are proving that a small budget, actually no budget team, can finish races. It is tough to race in the desert. It is even harder to do it with very few spare parts and no money. It is our determination that has gotten us across that finish line just as much as it is anything else. We don’t give up. We don’t quit. We will find a way and one of these days it will be us in a podium spot!!!
Thank you to Sparks Racing for sponsoring us this season. We are slowly installing Sparks Performance Products on our car and the dividends of their products are already showing with our ability to finish races. Pretty soon the power Sparks can bring to the table will be shown when our average speeds are compared from now and after that work is complete.
Thank you
Method Race Wheels Tensor Tires RideNow Powersports
Lonestar Racing Boost’n & Roost’n Elka Suspension
H-Town Tribal Whips Polaris
