1906 DBS Racing Mint 400 Race Report

Hollywood77

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Jun 6, 2017
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#1906 Mint 400 Race Report

We started prepping for our first Mint 400 immediately after Parker. Not long after… we got the bad news, your transmission is smoked, you need a new one. Looks like the prep budget just went out the window, we need to get the clutch done soon as well so why not add that to the list while we are it and make sure we are at the line with new parts. We installed the new Transmission and new Clutch. Let’s go test and make sure the car is dialed in. We tested the car the Sunday before the race, all of us agreed the car felt a little sluggish with the new clutch, so we made the decision to test the car with Airdam clutches on the way to the Mint to make sure we get the clutch dialed in and hopefully find some speed with some adjustments.

Thursday morning, we stop in Barstow, Adam makes the adjustments he thinks the clutch needs, one run later and an additional 13 mph, Roxy is ready to race. Thank You Adam. We strap on a new belt from UTVBelts and load the car on the trailer and head to Vegas.

Friday, we get to contingency early and get through early with no problems and get everybody registered and head off to Primm to get ready for race day.

Race Day: We Start 45th out of 50 in Class

4:30am wake up time, 4:31 nerves start. We get out to the pit and get our chase crew heading to Pit A and Pit B loaded up with parts and food and get them on their way. Dan Kaatz and I get in the car and start heading over for staging. We get in line and start rolling to the start line. Dan pushes the radio button to tell the team, we hear a beep and our air, radio and intercom shut off. This is going to be a long day with no air or communication. After a couple seconds it comes back on. Not much we can do about it now, we are 5 minutes from the green flag. We pull up to the line, green light, I hit the throttle and over the first two jumps we go and start getting into the first turn.

Me: “I don’t see him”

Dan: “He’s right next to us still”

I keep my foot in the throttle and we pull ahead on the outside of the turn, we go through the next few turns and come up on a car upside down in the middle of a left turn, I start to pull up out of the berm and somebody runs directly in front of Dan and I trying to get to the flipped over car, so I hammer the brakes and stop about 3 feet from running him over. I think Dan and I both are yelling What the F are you doing? As he tries to back out of our way he falls down and I can’t see him so finally Dan gets a glimpse of him and says go, but in the meantime the car behind us dives low and passes us and the upside-down car. Two turns later we hear a loud squealing sound and we both think it's the belt, so I pull off but before we stop I hit the gas and it feels okay so let’s run it and see. After we cross the bridge the dust starts, and it is thick. Our plan was to just pick our way through and not kill the car trying to charge through the dust. At Mile 13 we are catching a car and all of the sudden wham, a huge rock right in the middle of my visor, it opened my visor halfway after it hit me and now I have 3 big gouges right in the middle of it, oh well nothing I can do about it now. Our run was pretty uneventful up until just before pit B, we were running in the top 15 by now after working through all the dust and traffic. We catch a car right at the no passing zone, I slow down 10-15mph to his pace since it’s a no passing zone. We cross the road in the dust ready to pass and bang! Flat tire. We pull over and the wheel is broken (we thought it might’ve been a broken hub at first). We change the tire and get into pit B a mile later and get a new spare and a splash of fuel. The Rest of the lap went quick. The turn before the short course, we are on the outside trying to make a pass and out of nowhere another class car comes flying through the inside of the turn and like a water skier cutting a turn Dan and I are covered in Mud and immediately cannot see. I try and wipe my visor and it just smears the mud. After a couple turns of not really seeing I lift my visor and realize are now in the middle of the short course. Luckily we only had a mile or so left on lap 1 and I was able to drive with my visor up for vision. We get it into the main pit, Dan and I get out.

Brayden Baker (15 years old) gets in with Eddie Frisk and away they go. Its Brayden’s first off road race as well since he didn’t get in at Parker. They set out on a good fast pace now that some of the dust had dissipated with the gaps in cars after a lap and a little breeze that picked up on the back half of lap 1. The miles click off, 1906 mile 12 running good, mile 30 all good, mile 70 all good. We are eating lunch in the pits saying dang the kid is getting it done. We finally get the live leaderboard to load on the I pad, and we had moved up from 18th to 8th. Brayden and Eddie run the final 50 miles or so trouble free and make a few more passes and get us into the pit and we make our second driver change and fill the car again.

Scott Baker and Robert Enloe get in for the third lap and we get them out of the pits in 6th place, 3 minutes and 13 seconds behind the 1916 for 5th and 4 minutes and 16 seconds behind the 1907 for 4th. Scott set a good pace and was catching both cars in front of him when he arrived at mile 34 and was told that for safety they were being diverted to pit b. From pit B to the finish they continued to run a strong pace and ended up finishing before the leaders thanks to the diversion and caused all kinds of confusion at the finish line.

The finish line was a cluster as the officials moved us aside for about an hour telling us they thought we won because the tracker had us at the finish first, despite me telling them that is because you guys diverted us. I am not sure how the timing is being decided considering some cars were diverted and some not, despite being within 5 minutes of the two cars we were battling on time.

Unofficially we Finished 6th in class in our second ever race. To say we are happy with this is an understatement.

We want to thank everybody who helped us get to the finish line at the Mint 400. First Our Families and Wives who allow us to participate and support us in this endeavor, Stefanie Holland, Tammy Baker, Andrea Kaatz, and Chrisa Enloe.

Eddie Frisk for allowing us to prep this car in his garage and how much he has taught us and helped us along the way.

Dave Ramocinski for all the help he has been both hands on, and with all the experience he brings to the table.

Scott Bracci and Desertworks Fab for running our remote pits this race, couldn’t have made a lap without you.

Ryan Pobanz for coming out and helping us fuel.

Jason and Tate Gorsuch and Rivershore Resources, without you we wouldn’t be celebrating a 6th place finish.

Mike Ehrle and UTVBelts; Method Race Wheels; Tensor Tire; Airdam Clutches; CryoHeat; LeadNavSystems; Baja Designs; Sign Pros; Fox Shocks; FF1


Congratulations to Dodge Poleman, Seth Quintero, and Kristen Matlock on finishing Top 3, see everyone at the UTV World Championships


Derek Holland
 

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rico

New Member
Oct 16, 2014
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Lehi, UT
Great write up. I laughed out loud when you described being hit in the helmet shield and leaving gouges in it. I think I would probably go cross-eyed if I stared at at that for 100 miles. I have been slugged in the shoulder by a baseball sized rock before while co-driving, luckily only at about 40 mph. It was a wake up call for sure!

6th in class is excellent for your second race ever, especially with a few obstacles along the way. Keep it up!
 
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