Prerace:
There were many factors that came into play that made preparing for this race almost impossible, matter of fact we had given ourselves a less than 50% chance of making the race with only 1 week to go. Most of our problems stemmed from an accident I was involved in on April 3rd that damaged my tow vehicle, totaled my trailer, and damaged my race truck as it went sliding across the I-15 at almost 60 mph. I had not touched the race truck since the day of the accident in order to let the insurance companies view the vehicle. Weeks went by before I finally decided that I could no longer wait for them and I needed to begin my prep. Starting the prep only 2 weeks before the race I discovered a cracked brake rotor and an unrepairable hub, after receiving parts from LC Engineering and switching to our back up hub I began reassembly only 1 week before the race only to discover that both front spindles were cracked beyond repair. This appeared to be the nail in the coffin for our race effort, we quickly got on the phone and had Ryan Lewis set up as a backup to race incase we couldn’t find a solution. Luckily we were able to have new spindles built, Tim and I finished up the truck at 11:30 on Thursday night only a few hours before we planned to leave for the race.
We arrived in Plaster City on Friday and set up our pit with Cameron and 1450-ORG. Tim and I set off for a prerun lap and shake down of the race truck, this being the first time the truck had seen dirt since the accident. The track was amazing, brand new desert that hasn’t been ran in a long time, dry lake beds, sand washes, silt hills, levee crossings, trestle crossings, this course had it all. Tim drove half the prerun lap to get used to the truck as he would be driving the second half of the race. The truck felt and performed great, we were now very optimistic about the race and couldn’t wait to get started.
Race Day, Laps 1 & 2 per A.J.’s recollection:
Dave and I started the race, with the plan to run the first 2 laps and then hand the truck over to Tim and Brad for the final 2 laps. We started around 8:15 pm, mid pack in class 1450 and ran hard through the dust as the truck felt and sounded great. The washes were already getting really soft and treacherous, but the truck was going through them without a problem. Approximately 8 miles in as we approached Tucker’s Trench I said to Dave “The truck really sounds good, it’s running strong!” Less than a mile later I made the comment, “You know, I don’t think the truck should be this loud!” Next we heard and felt metal on metal contact and the exhaust exploded into an unmuffled roar. We knew we had lost the exhaust but we were unaware of any damages that it may have caused or could cause by loose or hanging parts. We couldn’t stop in the deep, soft sands of Tucker’s Trench so we decided to slow down and make it through the wash first. As soon as we had open land Dave jumped out with a flash light and inspected the exhaust, he yelled “It broke off clean, we’re good!” Dave jumped back in and we took off with the pedal to the floor, and the exhaust screaming! At mile marker 20 we stopped to have it all inspected again, Ryan Lewis and Ryan Mathews inspected the truck and found loose wires where the O2 sensor used to be, Kristina jumped right in and grabbed zip ties for them. We raced on, battling through heavy dust and working hard to stay on course, using the GPS to help find our way. Finally around mile 26 we overshot a corner and hit what had to be the softest silt in the Plaster City area! We tried reversing but could only make it so far, finally after working the truck for a couple of minutes we were able to drive into the hard pack rocks that surrounded the area, we were able to get over the hill and continue on course. The rest of the lap went smoothly, we stopped at our pit to have the truck checked over, everything looked good, so we continued on to start lap 2. Lap 2 we set a much faster pace, the truck was working very well and was a blast to drive on this course. We didn’t see much traffic all lap until the final turn, about 1 mile from our main pit area we caught Cameron (#1457) and made the pass, pumped up from the pass we raced as fast as the truck would go back to our pit, to our amazement we caught and passed two more trucks on the straightaway before reaching our pit. We slid in to our pit, handed the truck over to Brad and Tim, took fuel, and a quick inspection and off they raced to start lap 3.
Race Day, Laps 3 & 4 per Tim’s recollection:
After watching A.J. and Dave race off into the night at the start of lap one, all Brad and I could do was wait, listen to the radio for progress reports, and pray that a dust clearing breeze would come up at least by the time we took over pilot and copilot duties. Early on we heard that the truck had shed its muffler, but was still moving with no real negative effect and it was obvious when they passed through main pit that there was no exhaust past the header flange, it sounded raspy. It did not seem like another hour had passed when we got the word to get ready as they were just a couple miles out, and that is when it set in that A.J. was going to let an old guy that can’t see well at night drive his race truck in a night race, dang, I’d better do well and more importantly don’t wad it up! A.J. and Dave came sliding in to main pit, Brad and I jumped in, waited for a fast moving truck to pass, and we were off! It quickly became evident that the shocks were pretty toasty and wouldn’t be doing much dampening and our prayers for even a light dust clearing breeze would not be answered. At times we were able to move at a pretty good pace, but whenever we would get close to the truck ahead of us, the dust was so bad that we couldn’t see 10 feet and had to slow down to keep it safe. The rest of the lap went pretty smooth, but after accidentally shutting the fuel pump off 3 different times while shifting into 2nd gear, I made a mental note to build A.J. a dash and move the switches! At the start of lap 4 we finally had some clean air and with what we learned on our first lap, we were really moving, picking some clean lines, and actually staying on course. We navigated the washes, silt beds, and dead/stuck race vehicles nearly flawlessly. However about half way through the lap we were passed by a class 1 car in one of the fast sections and the dust was so bad we actually had to stop a few times (too bad the GPS doesn’t have radar!). We cruised through the rest of lap 4 fighting serious dust most of the way, but getting more excited with every mile that we got closer to the finish line and before we knew it we took the checkered flag and were relaxing in the pits amazed that the only vehicle to pass us in 2 laps was a class 1 car! Seeing the look on A.J.’s face when they announced that we had secured 4th in class and we were the fastest leaf sprung truck made all the last minute work to get the truck ready to race worth it!
Overall, the weekend couldn’t have gone any better for T.S.U. Motorsports, we stretched our 1450-ORG points lead to 17 points over Steve Herrera, we were the first leaf sprung vehicle to finish, we finished 4th in class, 3rd in 1450-ORG, and went home with a wallet full of cash thanks to DRIVE and 1450-ORG. Due to the recent success at the DRIVE Night Race and surviving the freeway accident with minimal damage, we have been kicking around changing the nickname of the race truck affectionately known as “the Mutt.” Leading the list of new nicknames is “the Underdog” because it may not be the biggest, baddest dog in the pack, but it sure is hard to kill!
TSU Motorsports would like to thank:
DMZ Fab and Race Prep, not only for building a bullet proof chassis that is a lot of fun to drive, but for helping me finish the race truck at my house, away from the shop. If it weren’t for Tim and the rest of the crew at DMZ we never would have made it!
A huge thanks also goes out to SUD Productions, Desertfreedom.com, Copasetic Designs, Offset Photography, The Axe Shock Tuning, Lucas Oil, Trailglow Lights, Shells Shapes and Steel, RPC Commercial Inc., and Vista Paint.
Lastly thanks to everyone that helped us on the track, in the pits, or in the garage. Tim Duncan, Brad Lindseth, Dave Plueger, Chris “Noodle” Cobb, Adam Carter, Kristina Steavens, Tim @ RRP Fabrications, Ryan “Bonzen” Lewis, Ryan Mathews, Trever Leach, Tony Iwami, Sean @ Norco Tires, my parents John and Michele, Cameron and the 1450-ORG crew, Doug and the incredible group at DRIVE Racing, and finally all the friends, family, and racing fans who have supported me from the beginning. Thank you all!
-A.J. Steeber & Tim Duncan #1495
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