TT250 Pit Crew
Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:27 am
I made it back from my adventure in Las Vegas. For those who don't know, I had the opportunity to work on the chase pit crew for Team Xterra http://www.teamxterraracing.com for the BITD Terrible's Town 250 Desert race in Parhump, NV. It was an amazing experience!
My friend Rich and I drove to Salt Lake City last week to help prep the car for a day before heading to Vegas. We spend 1 night in Vegas, then headed to Parhump which was about an hour away. Friday was contingency, where basicle all the the vehicles registered, then drove through a long winding line to meet with sponsors and have there vehicles inspected. All of the race vehicle were absolutely amazing. They ranged from $500,000+ Trophy trucks to full on race prepped Rhinos. Terrible's Town casino put on a nice BBQ with a band and beer that night.
Saturday morning was race day, and started at about 6am with a police escort through town to the starting line. At the starting line 170 race trucks were lined up with about 300 chase vehicle littering the landscape. There were about 8 helicopters circling the starting line to chase and film the trophy trucks. We started toward the back of the pack, so we had plenty of time to watch most of the rigs take off.
As the Chase crew, we had 7 pits stops along the 250 mi course where we had the opportunity to work on the truck. We worked our butts off. We ended up with 4 flat tires, one shackle disappearing, tearing off the entire front facade of the truck, and a broken stearing stem U-joint. It was hot, dusty, crazy work, but it was incredibly fun!
Early numbers showed about 50% of the field not finishing the race. We finished 3rd in our class of 7 starts. Just finishing was a HUGE accomplishment, let alone taking a decent finish.
On a somber note, after the race we learned that there was an accident in one of the pits killing one member and rendering a second brain dead, of reigning champion Team Riviera. They were raising an attena and struck over head power line. Our thoughts and prayers are with there team and families.
Here are some of the pictures from the race. Unfortunetly I don't have many pit pictures because I was running my a$$ off
We've also been invited back in August for the Vegas to Reno race ... I can't wait!
Lastly, here is an in-car video of part of this race from Camburg Racing
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5gvPulQOFeA
My friend Rich and I drove to Salt Lake City last week to help prep the car for a day before heading to Vegas. We spend 1 night in Vegas, then headed to Parhump which was about an hour away. Friday was contingency, where basicle all the the vehicles registered, then drove through a long winding line to meet with sponsors and have there vehicles inspected. All of the race vehicle were absolutely amazing. They ranged from $500,000+ Trophy trucks to full on race prepped Rhinos. Terrible's Town casino put on a nice BBQ with a band and beer that night.
Saturday morning was race day, and started at about 6am with a police escort through town to the starting line. At the starting line 170 race trucks were lined up with about 300 chase vehicle littering the landscape. There were about 8 helicopters circling the starting line to chase and film the trophy trucks. We started toward the back of the pack, so we had plenty of time to watch most of the rigs take off.
As the Chase crew, we had 7 pits stops along the 250 mi course where we had the opportunity to work on the truck. We worked our butts off. We ended up with 4 flat tires, one shackle disappearing, tearing off the entire front facade of the truck, and a broken stearing stem U-joint. It was hot, dusty, crazy work, but it was incredibly fun!
Early numbers showed about 50% of the field not finishing the race. We finished 3rd in our class of 7 starts. Just finishing was a HUGE accomplishment, let alone taking a decent finish.
On a somber note, after the race we learned that there was an accident in one of the pits killing one member and rendering a second brain dead, of reigning champion Team Riviera. They were raising an attena and struck over head power line. Our thoughts and prayers are with there team and families.
Here are some of the pictures from the race. Unfortunetly I don't have many pit pictures because I was running my a$$ off
We've also been invited back in August for the Vegas to Reno race ... I can't wait!
Lastly, here is an in-car video of part of this race from Camburg Racing
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5gvPulQOFeA
C'mon over, I'll find a project for ya 
