2010 BOR Wendover 300 "Rewound" Race Report

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OldGreen
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2010 BOR Wendover 300 "Rewound" Race Report

Postby OldGreen » Mon Oct 25, 2010 8:39 am

After a long break from racing, the Rumblegoat Racing team headed back to the desert for Bonneville Off-Road Racing's Wendover 300 "Rewound".

Our preparation for this race was a culmination of the knowledge that we have gained over the last three years of racing and repairing our race truck. While the Ford Ranger is an excellent platform, the extreme abuse of desert racing combined with our driving style dictated that we begin making some changes. Along with these changes, MasterPull (http://www.masterpull.com) and Auburn Car Repair and Off-Road (http://www.auburncarrepair.com) agreed to be our title sponsors for this race. MasterPull provides synthetic winch and recovery ropes including their Super Yanker. In the desert, a quality recovery rope is key and these guys sell the best. ACRO provides high quality modification, repair, and maintenance services in Western Washington State.

We were also able to partner with Camburg Engineering (http://www.camburg.com) to put together a new front suspension that includes their off the shelf Ranger Edge 6.0 fabricated uprights and tubular upper control arms along with our newly reinforced lower control arms and dual 2.5" Sway-A-Way triple bypass Racerunners on each front corner. The quality, fit, and finish of the Camburg pieces is perfect and they are exactly the same parts that anyone can buy. There are more changes in store for our 2006 Ranger Sport, but you'll just have to wait and see!!! Needless to say, we are officially no longer racing in the Stock Mini or 7300 classes at this point.

Now, off to the races!!

After a 10 Hour drive to West Wendover, NV, we quickly unloaded the Ranger so that Jose and Jafo could take it out on a quick pre-run/function test on loop 2 of the Wendover track. They returned a couple of hours later with wide grins at the performance of the truck and the overall quality of the BOR course. Other than some radio issues, everything was set for race day. After some high quality carne asada at the MD Racing camp along with picking up dust from old friends and making a few new ones, we settled in our camp for a restless night's sleep. As we turned in for the evening, I couldn't help thinking that the atmosphere in the BOR pits is just like I remember racing as a kid. Families, dogs, friends, a little friendly smack talking and a lot of good times.

In the morning, we had a short pre-race meeting. I was going to start the race and run the first two loops with Alex from MasterPull in the co-dog seat. This would be Alex's first desert race so he and I had a long walk around of the truck and went over his duties. Having co-driven many miles myself, I know how demanding and overwhelming it can be, but he picked up on his tasks very quickly.

We were third off of the line out of 9 Class 7 trucks. Since I hadn't had any seat time in the truck since the new front suspension was completed, we set a pace at about 70% of full race speed for the first few miles. Almost immediately, we started seeing other vehicles along the track with flat tires and other issues. Within about 20 miles, we were physically leading our class. At that point, I got kind of excited because I realized that we were a basically stock class truck running with and leading quite a few open class (7 open and 7200) trucks. Still, based on our race plan, I kept my speed down and just drove around the rocks.

When we entered one of the first big washes on loop 1, we were passed by the 7312 truck. He was hauling the mail. Normally, if that particular yellow Ford Ranger is within sight, I mash the gas and drive like there is no tomorrow, but I was determined to run the race that Jose and I had agreed upon so I sucked up my pride and soldiered on.

The track itself had something for everyone. Rocks, sand, tight washes, tight trees, high speed, big hills and a little silt. With Alex helping me spot big rocks and call out dangers, we were able to hold our position in 2nd place and start to slowly pick up the pace without damaging the truck or having any flat tires even though our visibility and track conditions were adversely affected by a constant drizzle that sometimes got heavy.

After getting to show off my best rally car driving skills in the trees and a little rock crawling in the canyons, we made it through the first loop with zero issues. The truck was perfect and the new front suspension works like a dream come true. I couldn't have been happier. While making short work of our fuel stop, the RGR volunteer pit crew informed me that the 7312 truck was about 10 minutes ahead of us and moving fast. No other Class 7 trucks had been through the pits.

We were off on loop 2. It is shorter and a little faster than loop 1 so I picked up my pace a little more on the hard packed roads on the valley floor. We got up to around 87 MPH on one long straight (Jose got all the way to 88.7 later that evening in the same spot). The first 40 or so miles of this part of the track was extremely fun. We climbed through the trees on some very narrow trails at very high speeds. It was a blast and Alex was really picking up the pace with his co-driving duties calling out corners and spotting rocks. No other racers were to be seen so once it stopped raining, we had clean air for the rest of the lap. After almost 140 miles on a very rough course with our stock truck, we were getting pretty tired by the time we got through the last wash and got on the final straight away toward the pits. The smooth road gave me a second wind and we hit the last silt bed at around 75MPH. . .the truck just floated over it like it wasn't even there.

Back to the pits for the driver change and fuel stop. We delivered the truck in perfect shape and in 2nd place. Jose Ybarra (team co-owner) and John Mathews from ACRO jumped in the truck to repeat the two loops that Alex and I had just finished. John is an experienced co-driver and Jose is seasoned behind the wheel of a limited race car so I had confidence in their ability to bring it home.

At around RM3 on loop one, the truck found a silt pocket and sunk to the skidplate. Jose and John dug and jacked their way free and got back on track. In spite of getting a mouth full of silt, Jose was able to keep pushing and was actually gaining on the 7312!

When the truck hit RM69, we got a call on the radio that John's back was acting up and he would have to get out of the truck at the fuel stop. At that point, without much information to go on, we were concerned for his safety. Jose was able to ease the truck back in so that Jafo, our pit captain, could replace John in the co-dog chair and get back out on the track. John was OK, it was an old injury acting up, but it was better to get him some rest, some Advil and a cold beverage rather than risk hurting him any more.

On the way into the pits, Jose actually passed 7312!! They had lost a front brake caliper so their driver was nursing it to the pits to get the line pinched off. This caused them to slow and gave us the lead in our class!!

Jose and Jafo went off into the night with the HID lights blazing and a sense of purpose. They were making great time when a basketball sized rock bounded from the side of the track and smacked the left rear tire leaving a big dent and a hole. . .we had a flat. The guys worked hard to change it but the jack had lost a seal in the silt so the job was difficult. While they were struggling with the repair, the 7312 regained the lead and the 707 truck that was in third place started to close the gap. Like the pros that they are, Jose and Jafo improvised a solution and got back on course.

After a long night in the desert, the #775 MasterPull ACRO Ford Ranger of RumbleGoat Racing crossed the finish line in 2nd place. The truck is still in perfect shape and could race another 300 miles tomorrow. Our crew was fantastic and the entire BOR organization left us with a great impression. We'll be back at BOR. Better, stronger, faster. . .

Thank you to everyone!!!

Jim Moss
RumbleGoat Racing #775

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Mon Oct 25, 2010 12:11 pm

Super cool!!! Congratulations and thanks for posting it up here at PP. :thu: :thu2:
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
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Grumpy
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Postby Grumpy » Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:15 pm

8)
Dave
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Originally Posted by Oregon80
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OldGreen
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Map of the course

Postby OldGreen » Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:59 am

Here it is:

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Dromero
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Postby Dromero » Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:40 pm

YES!!!! Nice work guys!! That's an awesome write up!! Really awesome that you're giving the "built" class 7 guys a run for their money with smart driving!!!
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