What a weekend, LOL …. Our plan was to podium and do the best we could do. We really felt like we finally had the truck and the speed to compete.
We did a pretty major prep on the truck getting ready for BWDC and so we could also be ready for the B1K. We got new engine, full prep, and some upgrades.
With the truck just about ready to load up for heading to the race we noticed the fuel pumps making cavitation noise. Long story short and 8 hours later we solved the problem. The fuel Mats had moved up the side of the cell. Apparently, we did not have enough foam in the cell.
Off to qualifying. This time we decided to let Connor (24) drive and Carson (17) co drive for qualifying and for the start of the race. Last few qualifying efforts I felt like I left way too much on the track. I am just too conservative to hang it out there. So it was time to see what Connor could do. After watching his V2R in car cams compared to mine it was clear he is now faster than I am. I usually do better in berms than he does and he does better letting it loose in the big stuff. So I was a little concerned when we found out we were running the Python for qualifying. But I still think they will do well.
They ran strong but I could tell he was coming in the corners slow and conservative. After watching the fast guys come thru after them it was clear we were not in the top 5 and not even sure we would be in the top 10. We had great exit speed but just too conservative on entry. I guess even Connor is worried about wrecking the truck LOL. After watching the in car video they had great lines and ran a very solid conservative run that got them P12. Not great but given they were at 85% pace it shows the truck is there. We had our qualifying gear set in and after talking to some we decided to keep it in for this race as we didn’t think we needed to get over 100mph much, our lower gear will get us 105 on hard pack and 95 in sand.
Since we could not pre run and we do not live close enough to “test” in Parker we decided to run 8100 class in the morning race. This will let us see the course and give Carson (17) more seat time. He has raced at Laughlin and this was his first time in the driver seat in Parker. Connor would co drive to get good notes for the 6100 race. Originally this seemed like a cheap way to pre run but BITD raised the price of 8100 and we found out last minute that we had to rent two RacingTrax. So it ended up costing us more than we thought. This would end up being a massive understatement, Haha
The boys lined up with about 16 or more TT and 6100 two by two. They started the 8100 after the smaller vehicles left. I was not far from the start line and it was really dusty. When the first couple TT took of it was crazy dusty, we could not see a thing. They were on 30 second splits. Carson was on the inside lane next to Grabowski. Grabowski gets Carson off the line and then I see Carson stay in it to try and catch up. As they disappeared into the dust I thought man I thought he said he would take it easy. Then I hear a big crunch and Grabowski comes out of the dust alone. I think Oh no, that’s not good. Then finally I hear our truck, which is a unique sound get going again. The buys come out of the dust and the truck is destroyed, every panel is broke. I can’t even understand what happened. I got on the radio and they could not hear me as the antenna was gone. But they are still racing. LOL I go to the Hot pit and wait for them to come in.
They came in and I ran up to Carson to tell him its OK. Tough for a 17yr old to roll his family’s race truck and I knew he would be freaked out. I made sure he knew it was OK and its just racing. I was bummed for sure but not at him. Its part of the job and we have to accept that risk when we get in the truck. He took it like a man and handled it very well, so impressed with this kid. The truck was a mess so I tell them to get back to the pits to get working on the truck so we can fix it the best we can for the 6100 race.
What had happened was the came into the first corner hot and bad dust. Connor called out hard left and Carson turned a little early. They ran up the sharp edge on the inside of the corner rolling them up into the berm. Fortunately, they landed on the tires. It was a rookie move and a simple mistake. That’s what seat time fixes. Haha. I was pretty upset about the dust and kind of lost it on BITD about it. They had water truck failures and did not water it. They admitted it was a mess and I cooled down. In the end it was still our fault. I felt bad I got on those guys like that. I forget that I am 6’5” 250lbs, I guess I can be a little intimidating when I get fired up. Haha
After a lot of work by the crew we got the truck ready for the race. Without a hood I was worried about our oil cooler being exposed to rocks. As we were talking about that Reed Dodenbier another 6100 racer had just stopped by to see how we were doing (which was cool) he asked if he could help and I said we need some mesh or expanded metal to protect our oil cooler. He said I got it handled. Not long after he shows up with some expanded metal that he had someone bring from Home Depot in Havasu. What a great guy, so cool to have a fellow racer helping us. Thanks Reed.
We checked the truck out the best we could and the boys lined up for the 6100 race. I had a friend bring down his R44 helicopter so I could chase the boys and get a birds eye view. I was blown away at how cool that was and had an absolute blast up there. It was great to learn about the helicopter operations for a BITD race. Very well organized and a really great group of guys. There are so many aspects of putting on these races that we don’t get to see.
The boys were starting next to Dan Werle in the Von Zipper truck. Dan beat them off the line and out of the first corners. I thought maybe Connor was shook up and had no plans of a repeat. They were for sure being conservative. Dan started to pull away on Shae Rd. I was a little surprised as I felt like we should hang better than that. I was not sure if there was something wrong with the truck or it was them taking it easy. Later I found out they had fuel pump issues on pump 1 and didn’t go to pump 2 until almost the end of lap 1. Connor said he was not shook up and was going as fast as he could LOL. The second lap they seemed to be moving strong. On the leader board they dropped to 18th on the 1st lap and the end of the 2nd lap back to 11th. The caught back up to Dan So I was feeling good. Truck was strong looking and they were taking great lines. What a view up there but it was so hard to not yell at them and tell them what to do. Haha I felt like a bad overbearing Soccer mom. Maybe that’s why they call it a helicopter Mom. Hehe
Its amazing what you can see when in a helicopter. We watched a 10 car roll coming into hot pits. We also saw a 10 car stuck in the berm in the Python ahead of the boys. It sucked to not be able to warn them and they hit the 10 car, but not hard. It was fun to see trucks racing and you could really see when they were gaining or pulling away.
On the 3rd lap they were flying and making up good time. They were coming to the end of a long straight and for some reason locked up the tires, I think they had too much speed and tried to stop fast to make the sharp corner. I saw a bunch of fluid come out of the truck and they just sat there. We hovered and made a call on the Air channel that BITD monitors to let them know they were broke down on the corner, It was a scary spot for sure. My pilot buddy was going to land and got pretty low and I was like what are you doing. He said I am going to land so you can go see what’s up. I said hell no, Do Not Land.. Haha he said oh OK and went back up. I had thought he knew that rule but I guess in the heat of the moment forgot. LOL Finally they got it started and took off.
We were following along and they were not on pace. Then noticed smoke and what looked like fire on the engine. They pulled over and I can see them get the fire extinguisher. They got the fire out fast. It was on the same side as the fire that almost burned our truck down at SS300 last year. So I was freaking out to say the least. The fire was from oil blowing out the breather on the header.
We think after that long hard pull on the strait they had it rung out. With this gearing they were high rpm. Then with the hard stop it shocked the engine and blew the head gasket. We looked at the max temps and we got to 250 on water and 220 oil. That’s hot but not hot enough to blow a head gasket. We have had our last engine way hotter than that and even had it shut its self down twice for cooling issues that we got fixed. So we are not sure what happened. This was the first time that new engine got raced and maybe just a weak one, not sure.
Either way we ended the weekend early with no body panels and a blown motor. Not what we wanted at all. One thing I will say is our truck is tough as hell. It took that rollover and did not bend one tube, very impressive. But this ended our B1K plans and maybe even our racing program. This one hurt for sure, not just financially but just one more big kick in the nuts. It’s a long drive back to Utah and these bad weekends make for an even longer ride home. I know we learned a lot but at some point we need to learn when to give up. To be honest I don’t think I can give up even though I should, we want a podium so bad. I have never worked so hard for anything in my life.
This sport has got to be one of the most difficult things in the world. I know we only have 2 years under our belt and guys do it for 10 and can’t get there, I know that. But I feel like we are so close to breaking thru to the top 5. But we also seem so far away.
Not looking for sympathy, just sharing my experience and thoughts. I know I sound like a wussy.
All that being said we are trying to figure out sponsors and our program for 2021. We may race less races and try to prepare better and practice more. I really really want to do KOH in 2021. So I think we will figure out a way to race that and a few other big races in 2021. Maybe with more Luck, work, a lot of money, blood, sweat, and tears we can get to the top 5 of a legit race. LOL
Here is a clip of them going down Shae Rd.
Mike
We did a pretty major prep on the truck getting ready for BWDC and so we could also be ready for the B1K. We got new engine, full prep, and some upgrades.
With the truck just about ready to load up for heading to the race we noticed the fuel pumps making cavitation noise. Long story short and 8 hours later we solved the problem. The fuel Mats had moved up the side of the cell. Apparently, we did not have enough foam in the cell.
Off to qualifying. This time we decided to let Connor (24) drive and Carson (17) co drive for qualifying and for the start of the race. Last few qualifying efforts I felt like I left way too much on the track. I am just too conservative to hang it out there. So it was time to see what Connor could do. After watching his V2R in car cams compared to mine it was clear he is now faster than I am. I usually do better in berms than he does and he does better letting it loose in the big stuff. So I was a little concerned when we found out we were running the Python for qualifying. But I still think they will do well.
They ran strong but I could tell he was coming in the corners slow and conservative. After watching the fast guys come thru after them it was clear we were not in the top 5 and not even sure we would be in the top 10. We had great exit speed but just too conservative on entry. I guess even Connor is worried about wrecking the truck LOL. After watching the in car video they had great lines and ran a very solid conservative run that got them P12. Not great but given they were at 85% pace it shows the truck is there. We had our qualifying gear set in and after talking to some we decided to keep it in for this race as we didn’t think we needed to get over 100mph much, our lower gear will get us 105 on hard pack and 95 in sand.
Since we could not pre run and we do not live close enough to “test” in Parker we decided to run 8100 class in the morning race. This will let us see the course and give Carson (17) more seat time. He has raced at Laughlin and this was his first time in the driver seat in Parker. Connor would co drive to get good notes for the 6100 race. Originally this seemed like a cheap way to pre run but BITD raised the price of 8100 and we found out last minute that we had to rent two RacingTrax. So it ended up costing us more than we thought. This would end up being a massive understatement, Haha
The boys lined up with about 16 or more TT and 6100 two by two. They started the 8100 after the smaller vehicles left. I was not far from the start line and it was really dusty. When the first couple TT took of it was crazy dusty, we could not see a thing. They were on 30 second splits. Carson was on the inside lane next to Grabowski. Grabowski gets Carson off the line and then I see Carson stay in it to try and catch up. As they disappeared into the dust I thought man I thought he said he would take it easy. Then I hear a big crunch and Grabowski comes out of the dust alone. I think Oh no, that’s not good. Then finally I hear our truck, which is a unique sound get going again. The buys come out of the dust and the truck is destroyed, every panel is broke. I can’t even understand what happened. I got on the radio and they could not hear me as the antenna was gone. But they are still racing. LOL I go to the Hot pit and wait for them to come in.
They came in and I ran up to Carson to tell him its OK. Tough for a 17yr old to roll his family’s race truck and I knew he would be freaked out. I made sure he knew it was OK and its just racing. I was bummed for sure but not at him. Its part of the job and we have to accept that risk when we get in the truck. He took it like a man and handled it very well, so impressed with this kid. The truck was a mess so I tell them to get back to the pits to get working on the truck so we can fix it the best we can for the 6100 race.
What had happened was the came into the first corner hot and bad dust. Connor called out hard left and Carson turned a little early. They ran up the sharp edge on the inside of the corner rolling them up into the berm. Fortunately, they landed on the tires. It was a rookie move and a simple mistake. That’s what seat time fixes. Haha. I was pretty upset about the dust and kind of lost it on BITD about it. They had water truck failures and did not water it. They admitted it was a mess and I cooled down. In the end it was still our fault. I felt bad I got on those guys like that. I forget that I am 6’5” 250lbs, I guess I can be a little intimidating when I get fired up. Haha
After a lot of work by the crew we got the truck ready for the race. Without a hood I was worried about our oil cooler being exposed to rocks. As we were talking about that Reed Dodenbier another 6100 racer had just stopped by to see how we were doing (which was cool) he asked if he could help and I said we need some mesh or expanded metal to protect our oil cooler. He said I got it handled. Not long after he shows up with some expanded metal that he had someone bring from Home Depot in Havasu. What a great guy, so cool to have a fellow racer helping us. Thanks Reed.
We checked the truck out the best we could and the boys lined up for the 6100 race. I had a friend bring down his R44 helicopter so I could chase the boys and get a birds eye view. I was blown away at how cool that was and had an absolute blast up there. It was great to learn about the helicopter operations for a BITD race. Very well organized and a really great group of guys. There are so many aspects of putting on these races that we don’t get to see.
The boys were starting next to Dan Werle in the Von Zipper truck. Dan beat them off the line and out of the first corners. I thought maybe Connor was shook up and had no plans of a repeat. They were for sure being conservative. Dan started to pull away on Shae Rd. I was a little surprised as I felt like we should hang better than that. I was not sure if there was something wrong with the truck or it was them taking it easy. Later I found out they had fuel pump issues on pump 1 and didn’t go to pump 2 until almost the end of lap 1. Connor said he was not shook up and was going as fast as he could LOL. The second lap they seemed to be moving strong. On the leader board they dropped to 18th on the 1st lap and the end of the 2nd lap back to 11th. The caught back up to Dan So I was feeling good. Truck was strong looking and they were taking great lines. What a view up there but it was so hard to not yell at them and tell them what to do. Haha I felt like a bad overbearing Soccer mom. Maybe that’s why they call it a helicopter Mom. Hehe
Its amazing what you can see when in a helicopter. We watched a 10 car roll coming into hot pits. We also saw a 10 car stuck in the berm in the Python ahead of the boys. It sucked to not be able to warn them and they hit the 10 car, but not hard. It was fun to see trucks racing and you could really see when they were gaining or pulling away.
On the 3rd lap they were flying and making up good time. They were coming to the end of a long straight and for some reason locked up the tires, I think they had too much speed and tried to stop fast to make the sharp corner. I saw a bunch of fluid come out of the truck and they just sat there. We hovered and made a call on the Air channel that BITD monitors to let them know they were broke down on the corner, It was a scary spot for sure. My pilot buddy was going to land and got pretty low and I was like what are you doing. He said I am going to land so you can go see what’s up. I said hell no, Do Not Land.. Haha he said oh OK and went back up. I had thought he knew that rule but I guess in the heat of the moment forgot. LOL Finally they got it started and took off.
We were following along and they were not on pace. Then noticed smoke and what looked like fire on the engine. They pulled over and I can see them get the fire extinguisher. They got the fire out fast. It was on the same side as the fire that almost burned our truck down at SS300 last year. So I was freaking out to say the least. The fire was from oil blowing out the breather on the header.
We think after that long hard pull on the strait they had it rung out. With this gearing they were high rpm. Then with the hard stop it shocked the engine and blew the head gasket. We looked at the max temps and we got to 250 on water and 220 oil. That’s hot but not hot enough to blow a head gasket. We have had our last engine way hotter than that and even had it shut its self down twice for cooling issues that we got fixed. So we are not sure what happened. This was the first time that new engine got raced and maybe just a weak one, not sure.
Either way we ended the weekend early with no body panels and a blown motor. Not what we wanted at all. One thing I will say is our truck is tough as hell. It took that rollover and did not bend one tube, very impressive. But this ended our B1K plans and maybe even our racing program. This one hurt for sure, not just financially but just one more big kick in the nuts. It’s a long drive back to Utah and these bad weekends make for an even longer ride home. I know we learned a lot but at some point we need to learn when to give up. To be honest I don’t think I can give up even though I should, we want a podium so bad. I have never worked so hard for anything in my life.
This sport has got to be one of the most difficult things in the world. I know we only have 2 years under our belt and guys do it for 10 and can’t get there, I know that. But I feel like we are so close to breaking thru to the top 5. But we also seem so far away.
Not looking for sympathy, just sharing my experience and thoughts. I know I sound like a wussy.
All that being said we are trying to figure out sponsors and our program for 2021. We may race less races and try to prepare better and practice more. I really really want to do KOH in 2021. So I think we will figure out a way to race that and a few other big races in 2021. Maybe with more Luck, work, a lot of money, blood, sweat, and tears we can get to the top 5 of a legit race. LOL
Here is a clip of them going down Shae Rd.
Mike
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) and keep you in the sport for much longer. Just my $.02
