BLM plays hardball......

[dnf736]

with Whiplash, car & trucks out for Wickenburg race, bike, quads, & UTV's allowed to run.

D-38, MDR, & DRIVE take notice.

Form Whiplash's forum

Whiplash received a bill for more than $9000 from the BLM to pay for a downed Saguaro and numerous Palo Verde trees. I spent half a day with Jay in a meeting at the BLM office inquiring about the bill. The majority of damage was claimed to have been caused by the cars and trucks. One of the BLM officers went on to say that there was zero damage found on the portions of the course that were for bikes and quads only. Please do not get me wrong as I am not picking on the car and truck racers. I'm only repeating what was stated at the meeting. We're lucky we didn't lose this race completely. The BLM also agreed to allow Whiplash to pay half of the bill in cash, BEFORE the February race date, and to work the other half off making repairs to the Wickenburg track. I will be assembling a group of racers to do the work voluntarily. A few quad guys have already committed. I'm also going out on the track monday Feb 16th for a full lap of the car and truck course to see what exactly it is Whiplash is paying for. We've seen a few photos that the BLM took already.
What it all boils down to is this. Things have changed at the BLM, and they are enforcing the rules defined in the permit to the letter of the law. Whiplash ended up losing money on the last race because of the damage, so it was either turn it into a bike/quad/UTV only race, or don't race it at all. It's in our best interest to work with the BLM, especially since we're also having to deal with them to make this Quartzite race a reality. Whiplash does intend to still bring trucks and cars to Quartzite as soon as the BLM gives a thumbs up.
This is not the end of truck and car racing with Whiplash, though. John Martensen has been busting his ass, on his own nickle, to make the Mexico race happen! If we can make it work, it could expand into more Mexico races. St. Johns and Quartzite are also additional T&C race possibilities, and we're exploring a few other possibilities on Indian lands.
It sucks that we lost Wickenburg for you guys, but we really weren't left with any other choice. I hope you all will understand.
- Jeff Henson

[JoeyD23]

Wow that sucks but its pretty hard to argue.........bummer for sure! Thanks for posting doug