Rent A Race?

[Tim_Price]

Are there any teams offering a seat to civilians for a price? You know, 100 miles of a race for $500, or whatever.

 

[Guest]

I think a lot of teams would do that. They would have to meet you and be comfortable with you and your ability to get the hell beat out of you first though. Also, you would probalby need to go farther as to not force the team to make an extra pit stop.

 

[TRDshaunTRD]

There is rent a race truck too. I belive that the oneil short course truck could be rented.

"Those who risk nothing, are nothing."

 

[Desert_Roller]

Tim this is not directed at you.
I would think these days in our litigation crazy society, the liability issue is a concern.
That depends on how well your known, and of course your mechanical skills / knowledge.

 

[Tim_Price]

I should clarify things a little. I'm asking about opportunities to rent a seat in a race as part of magazine article I hope I can get published. You see, I'm a writer and a racer and I'm sick and tired of people going "Oh you mean monster trucks!" every time I mention off road racing. Ignorance of our sport is rampant. So I want to do something about it. I want to do an article based around the the "adventure" of Joe Average riding in a real race as way to explain to the uninitiated masses what we do. And you're right, I hadn't considered the liability thing. But a signed release might overcome it.

 

[Kritter]

I sent you a private message...check it.

Kris
"I was thinking the exact same thing about you..."

 

[partybarge_pilot]

the Baja challenge cars are always a good bet. Good ride, good price for the first time adventurer.

 

[Bryan_D]

This might be a little less than what you want, but there are some Jeepspeed guys that had talked about renting their jeeps for an entire race. You might be able to check that out, go to the Jeepspeed.com and ask that question on the message board.

 

[hoeker]

i just want to encourage you in your project. i race the CORR series and have started referring to my race truck as a race car in general conversation. i know this is a disgrace to our sport, but in the midwest i have to spend 10 minutes explaining what my race truck is every time i say the word. if you want any insight into the short-course side of off-road truck racing feel free to contact me. i'd love to help.

Build it right, Drive it hard.
www.rosshoek.com

 

[jcorsico]

Liability won't be an issue if you talk to a lawyer ahead of time and just explain what you are planning to do. When SCORE organized rides in a couple race cars before one of the Laughlin races a few years ago, they made all the passengers sign releases where they agreed that they wouldn't hold SCORE or the race teams liable if somebody got hurt. A lawyer should be able to get one of these releases for you without much hassle or expense - they are generally just fill-in-the-blank forms.

Also, although I think your article is a great idea and I would really enjoy reading it, the idea has kind of been done before. Off-Road.com had a long article a while back on one of the Baja races where Pat Chicas (I think it was Pat) rode along in the car, and I wrote an article in Off-Road Magazine about a ride with Troy Herbst in his Truggy (which wasn’t about the “adventure” or the excitement of race – more about just what it felt like to ride in the car).

Also, don’t underestimate how little money people are willing to pay for your work. Off-Road magazine gave me a measly $100 even though I took all the photos. And even then it took them over 1 year to pay me! It nowhere offset my costs.

If you really want to get a reasonable amount of money, try to get a publication deal set up before you arrange for the ride. Not only will this get you guaranteed publication and more money, but it will also make you a much more attractive passenger to the race teams because they are assured of publicity.

But don’t get me wrong - I don’t want this to sound overly discouraging – I’m just trying to point out where you might bump into trouble.

So good luck! This sport always needs more publicity and at a minimum you should have a blast riding in the car!

Jon Corsico

 

[PLS]

I wish we were running this race. We would be more then happy to give you a ride for the $500. Any publicity would just be an added bonus. A ride in a limited class car may not be what you are looking for, but the $ would be a big help to a smaller team like ours.
Pete S.-BOYD RACING

 

[billymanfroy]

Tim,

What are you doing this weekend? I just sent you an email as well. I'm racing this weekend in Sacramento. It's not desert, but it's not baseball on TV, either. We won last time out, and THEN decided to put the short course set up in it to make it fast. It'll be fun. We're having 2 haunted trailers on Saturday for the kids.

We'd love to have you out there with us!

Billy

 

[Tim_Price]

Hey Jon C--

If your article about riding in the truggy is the one I think it is, it was terrific. Your description of how a high-dollar truck can manuever across the desert was the best. Which is why I always wished it could have shown up in Mens Journal or Automobile or Esquire or somewhere where it could've talk to a wider, non-racing audience. For me, the $$ involved doesn't matter. What I hope to accomplish is to simply tell the uninformed "adventure-seekers" out there (hopefully the readers of Men's Journal, or ?) that there is a niche adventure they haven't tried, that they may have heard about somewhere, and it involves riding shotgun in a real off road race vehicle. I mean, the back of Men's Journal is filled with opportunities to drive NASCAR vehicles, dirt bikes in Baja, karts, Bondurant-type schools. Desert racing is AWOL except for Wide Open Baja which has seen several mentions/articles in Men's Journal if I remember correctly. If I can get a little publicity for, say, three teams who are interested in offering rides for money in a real race...AND I can further clarify our sport to the masses, I'll be one happy guy. But I'm a novice at magazine work, so I got my fingers crossed.

 

[FABRICATOR]

The legendary Willie Valdez has Score Class 7 trucks that he rents out for racing. He had 3 trucks at the last Laughlin race.

<font color=orange>The best ideas are the ones that look obvious to the casual observer.</font color=orange>

 

[J_Dog]

Billy,
You guys won and THEN changed the truck?? I figured it held up both motos so you guys would stay with the winning combination. Maybe your short course setup will be even faster. Good luck this weekend, we'll see you out there. We got some of the dents out and the truck prepped after getting tangled up with the Fuhs truck last race. We dropped the inner brake pad on both front brakes last race and the pedal hit the floor going into the east hairpin. You find out real quick the brake piston doesn't work as well the pad does. 7s may only be Fred Calosso and us this weekend. If thats the case, do they usually run us with the 7 open guys?

Jeff Matlock
CODE 3 Motorsports
Class 7s Ford Ranger - VORRA

 

[jcorsico]

Tim -

I'm glad you liked my truggy article. I enjoyed researching it...

Your idea of trying to get something like that to run in GQ or Maxim or something like that is a pretty good one. I didn't even try to get it published in those places. My only gut reaction is that magazines like that are typically big enough that they have staff writers, and what happens then is the staff writer comes up with the idea and then gets the magazine to pick up the costs of going to the race...

But anyway, I'd go for it. At a minimum you will get a ride which is pretty cool on its own.

Jon

 

[billymanfroy]

RE: "I figured it held up both motos so you guys would stay with the winning combination."

Hey, Jeff! Yeah, if it works don't fix it, right? Winning does not suck. We have had such bad luck this year, we haven't had time to do the little things we'd normally like to. We've had to pull the motor after 6 of the 7 races we did this year. We're also running a "new" C4 trans that unfortunately only gets 1st & 2nd gear.

Since it did so well last time, we decided to get rid of the desert setup by putting in lower, lighter springs, adding a sway bar, and adding more - camber. Should be a blast!

RE: "We dropped the inner brake pad on both front brakes..."

So THAT'S how you ended up parked on top of his rolled truck! When we saw that coming out of the turn, we just figured the two trucks were in heat! HAHAHAHA

RE: "...do they usually run us with the 7 open guys?"

We'd LOVE to have you run with us, because it's way funner with a lot of trucks. (and more points & $ for the winner) If there's less than 3, then yes, they usually combine those vehicles with the other class. My only chance for the championship now is to WIN, and then have as many trucks as possible beat Patty Hayos. Oh, and then she still probably has to DNF. Go ahead and lean on her! You and Fred both have my blessing. I wouldn't take her out to win, but you certainly can!!

See you there... Oh, and to stay on topic: Tim, the offer still stands if you want a short course ride closer to home. (See Pic)

Billy

 

[Tim_Price]

Mr. Manfroy: I'll be out at Prarie City this weekend. But the deal is, I'm trying to line up at least three teams who'd be interested in giving some Joe-average-non-racing guy a ride for a price--sometime in the future, probably next season. ( Not me. I'm the writer guy.) This sort of propostion (or "angle") should interest a big-time magazine editor. I already have one, maybe two, great 7s desert teams interested, plus maybe a 5-1600 team. Your truck would be a great addition. Any class 8, protruck or full-size stock teams interested?

 

[Tim_Price]

Good grief! I just checked my "other" address (bigenchilada@bajabros.com)! I have 8 or 9 teams willing to rent out a seat. I'll contact each of you by phone or email tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday at the latest to confirm your interest. This is great. Can you imagine a magazine article offering, no daring, average guys to take the ride of a lifetime??!! Excellent. Thanks to all of you for such a great response.

 

[jimpat]

if you want a ride in a front runner you may have to spend time with the crew for couple races before you get in.
You'll have to learn the mechanics of the truck or car and be able to help in repairs in case of break down.
My driver and codriver are able to repair any portion of the Blazer, and sometime improvise ( remember the Craftsman tool ad?.. its been done many times......) using what ever is handy.
A race vehicle has enough problems out there, let alone having a rider that would just sit there and look at the broken parts and scratch his head!!!!!
You could have had some good stories if you had been in the Blazer when we were racing Benny and Nick side by side at Henderson at over 100 MPH. It scared me just watching in the side line.
You are always welcome to our shop, come and get familiar with the workings of a racer (unless you are already),
then you'll be ready to rumble!!
jim

when everything is under control, you are going to slow!!!!!