2010 Parker 425 report from 1716
We had a plan. We put over 500 miles on the car before the race, mostly driven by my 16 year old son Ben. Even before the race, Ben had driven more miles in the race car than on the street. We knew what the car was capable of and what it could sustain. We made a plan to push the car to maximum sustainable speeds and finish the race. We also developed dreams of a glorious finish at Parker.
We started the race in 4WD and ran the speeds planned. In 10 miles or so we got passed by 1708 and a couple of other 1700s but it was Eric Helgeson in 1708 that provided the definitive ego smashing experience. I told Ben “I guess Im not as fast as I thought” as we watched Blue Express hop over some whoops like a rock skipping over water while we bashed over them like a bag of bowling balls drug behind a farm tractor.
Anyway, we went back to racing our race as planned but this time WITHOUT the dreams of a glorious finish.
By mile 20 we were seeing broken cars on the side including least one of the 1700 cars that passed us earlier.
Ben heard a knock somewhere under the car but I didnt. He insisted we check it out so we pulled over and checked underneath but couldnt find anything. Got back in the race and finally I heard something banging at driveshaft speed from the transmission or transfer case. Put it in 2WD and the noise went away. Stopped again and checked drive shafts and front axles but those were OK. Decided the trouble was inside the transfer case so we stuck with 2WD for the rest of the race. We were running BFG 33×9.50 tires all the way around until a week before the race when we decided to put two 10.50 KM2s on the rear. That really paid off in 2WD.
Got passed by a high power race car what was kind enough to pull right in front of us and spray us with rocks. It was early and we might have been slow to spot him and pull over. Rocks hammered our face shields and broke some plastic in the front. Everybody else was really cool about passing and being passed. Never got bumped. We definitely need a louder horn and we need to mount it where the mud can’t get in.
Ben started getting numb legs and we tried driving slower for a while but that didnt help. We both have trouble with this in the codriver seat so we stopped and swapped seats somewhere around pit 1.
We got back to driving the car the way we planned. We took one real hard hit where I felt the floorboard pop up and back down between my feet. We will have to remove the heat shield and carpet to see if we popped some spot welds loose.
I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since dinner the night before so I thought I had completed all digestive processing by the time the race started. Yet I still managed a painfully full bladder before pit #2. We pulled into pit #2 expecting to see a Howard Johnsons but no luck. We kept going and found a spot on the side to take a break.
Just before pit 3 MY legs started to go numb so we pulled over and swapped seats again.
We continued the race though midway pits and it started to rain lightly before pit 4. A few miles before pit 4 a rock smashed a rear brake line and we lost the rear brakes. We radioed CHASE1 at pit #4 that we had a problem. A few minutes later we pulled onto the PitWorks carpet and it was like freakin NASCAR. CHASE1/Pitworks/Keith Stewart you guys are great! In less that 2 minutes they had the line corked off, added brake fluid, did a quick and dirty bleed and the remaining rear brake was working again. With one big Ford disc brake and a spooled rear axle we could stop in a straight line and could continue the race.
At one point the intercomm started squealing real loud because rain got inside the helmet connector. Ben unplugged his helmet and it stopped. He managed to communicate for the next 5 minutes using only hand signals while he drained the water and got reconnected.
It started raining harder and Ben got soaked and was getting colder and colder. He eventually got too cold to continue so we radioed our main pit crew to have Bruno jump in as codriver when we got to the main pit so Ben could get out and work on getting dry. Our pals from Georgia, Ted Holt and Gary Cann, brought a 120,000 BTU barn heater with them, so Ben stood in front of the heater while Bruno and I drove off to continue the race.
Bruno and I hadnt practiced together but we quickly negotiated a working routine. Thanks Bruno.
It was hard to stick with our original plan since we had so many stops. I found myself frequently saying out loud “slow down, Tom”, especially after a few one wheel landings; having a spinout corrected by a large well placed bush; or hearing the unibody flex and complain.
Between main pit and pit 3 we spent a lot of time running with the 4401 rock crawlers, Dave Schneider and Tim Priess. We passed back and forth a few times and finally I decided to just follow them and let them spot the bumps and pot holes for us. Ben and I ran with them some on the first lap as well. They were very cool about letting us pass and a highlight of lap 1 was a pass where the road had high steep berms. 4401 drove sidehill on the right to give us just enough room to drive sidehill on the left to pass. It was nearly roof to roof and I was worried we would bump but I don’t think we did. Ben said “That was cool, Dad”.
Bruno kept tabs on Ben back at the main pit and figured out there was time to get him dry and back in the race at midway. By the time we got to midway my legs were going numb again even though I was driving, so Bruno stayed as codriver while Ben got back in the driver seat. The rain started up again even harder than before. Ben fought the mud and the rain even worse than on the first lap. For a while Ben was stuck between two race cars, one he wanted to pass and a trophy truck what wanted to pass him. When he finally got the chance to pass Ben worked hard to make up time lost. He mananged to bring the car safely home to a 4th place finish. Ben - I am so proud of you.
The TODO list is already two pages long with repairs, improvements and prep. I cant wait to do it again.
Thanks Pro Gear and my wife Charlene who is our biggest fan.
Tom
P.S.
I almost gave up on this whole thing last September when I lost my best friend of 40+ years, Dan Jasobsen. It was Dan that got me into this way back in 1970 when he pointed out that I could be driving a 4 wheel vehicle with roll bars instead of buying that Husqvarna 250 I wanted. I built a two seater SCORE-compliant race car and Dan and I got to race together in the early 70s in a couple of novice desert races around Superstition mountain similar to the MDR McMillan series today. He and I planned to race the Baja 1000 together and even pre-ran the race course in August 1971. We both got married, had kids and racing was just out of the picture financially until Bruno discovered Jeepspeed and told me about it a couple of years ago. Being in this race has helped fulfill a lifelong dream. I am honored to be a part of this organization. Thank you Jeepspeed.