BITD Terrible's 400

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2006 BITD Terrible's 400

1/28/2007 - What can I say? I've been VERY lax in the write up of this Off Road Adventure. I'm only two months behind. Sorry, I've been busy working on trying to start up a new business - building off road vehicles!

11/30/06 - Thursday

Once again, Lady Luck has shined her little light on me. I'm navigating again in Pistol Pete's Trophy Truck for the BITD Terrible's 400 just south of Las Vegas this weekend. I appearantly proved myself to Pete during our short, but fun, run in the Baja 1000 a couple weeks back. After the race, Pete came to me with the offer of letting me navigate for him any time that I can. Who in their right mind (Desert Racer Mind - so maybe it's not "right", by suit and tie standards - but I don't own a suit or a tie, so there!) would pass up an opprotunity like this?

The plan goes something like this: Fly out of Cincinnati on Thursday (11/30) morning, get into Las Vegas around 10:30, grab the rent-a-racer and head down to Henderson to meet Pete. From there, it's not too terribly clear, but from what I understand we're qualifying for starting postion today. I don't exactly know what to expect - I'm under the impression that quals are on a short course of some sort. I guess I'll see here in a couple hours. The rest of the weekend will consist of pre-running on Friday and then putting it all to the test for the race on Saturday.

As I was getting off the plane Pete called. "Head into Henderson, got to the Convention Center and get signed up. You have to sign away your life to BITD then come on out to the track." No problem. He gave me directions and off I went. I arrived at the course just in time to get ready to suit up and hop into the TT.
A little side note: Always check the weather of the destination your headed to. It was in the mid 60's when I left Cincinnati (odd weather for the time of year). I had it in my mind "Hey, I'm heading to the Desert - it'll be nice there. Arriving in shorts, a short sleeve shirt and flip-flops wasn't such a good idea. It was in the mid 30's in Vegas. Doh. Time for some better clothing. Fortunately, I'd packed a couple long sleeve shirts and a "hoodie", so I was gonna survive. I was also happy (this time) that my fire suit is three layers thick.

We were qualifying for starting position at 1:00 in the afternoon. Pete was set and ready. The TT had 36" tall, very lugged, tires on the rear - short course stuff - make it quicker out of the shoot and have better acceleration. Usually the qualifying lap is closer to five or six miles. This time, no where near that long - how about two? We ran the infield of the track area - a couple short straights with some good jumps (the first jump was a kicker that wanted to throw the rear end high) tied together with some tight corners. Out of the infield, we ran up a powerline road, made another tight turn and then ran back to the finish line. Everyone got to make one pre-run lap on the time trial course and then they let us loose one at a time for the quals. The times were close - we ended up sixth. The top ten positions were all within three seconds of each other. We watched a couple cars completely cut the bermed 180 corner at the end of the infield. This wasn't gonna fly. We sent a "representative" (one of Todd Wyllie's crew) over to talk to Casey Folks (head of BITD) about it. If you're gonna qualify, do it fairly, right?

After quals, we put the race tires back on the truck and started prepping for Friday's pre-run. While the crew worked on the truck, I worked on the GPS and then got free to do a little bit of video taping of a couple of the other qualifying runs on the infield. Here's a Class 1 Car running the infield, a 1 Car over the main jump, a TT over the main jump and a 10 Car running the infield. The 10 car's powered by a Honda and sounds wicked. He was probably the most agressive run I saw.
Pete got to run two more qual laps later in the session. Neither one counted, as he was giving rides to some of the people that help put on the races. After he came in, I heard him say something about hearing a whine during the laps. We knew it wasn't the drive shaft, as that was brand new, but there was something. We'd discover it the next day.

Thursday night everyone gathered at the Fiesta Casino in Henderson to see where they qualified. When we got into the bar, there were a couple boards with the results posted: We qualified 6th out of twenty something (sorry, two margaritas and I'm not good at remembering the details). Casey Folks walked up to the boards and pinned up new results. The guy that qualified in front of us, along with one behind us, had been docked fifteen seconds for cutting the course! We were now fifth off the line.

12/01/06 - Friday

Pre-running was bright and early on Friday morning. It was a chilly 36 degrees and once again, I sure was glad to have a three layer suit. Chad Bunch (second driver) had shown up with the pre-runner and we all met out at the track about 6:30. Pre-running started at 7:00. Pete, Chad and I loaded up in Harbor Freight (the pre-runner) and went out to see what the track was going to be like. I had the GPS in record mode, Chad had a recorder to make notes and record waypoints we'd mark, Pete drove.

The course was impressive. 80 miles around and it contained the roughest, rockiest terrain I've ever seen:
As I'm writing this, I'm sitting here with the course map from BITD trying to get my mile markers correct. Don't pick on me if I'm not exact, okay?
I also have Google Earth running as I sit here typing to help me navigate the loop - I can see a lot of the course with it!
The first thirteen miles or so are typical desert dirt. Rough road, washes, silt, dirt. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's general flow follows the ridges in the desert floor. At mile 13, the course made a tight 120 degree right hander - Pit 1 is here too. The next roughly ten miles or so ran across the natural water flow lines that are in the desert floor. The silt and dirt's been washed away for years, leaving the hard, rough underlayer more exposed. The water, over the years, had carved a lot of deep ruts and whoops (and I'm sure years of running on it don't help smooth it out) that ran perpendicular to the course. There were a couple deep crossings that we had to mark as dangerous. Pit two came up at mile 19, we made a fairly fast left hander and then started down some more high speed sections - still rough, but not as bad as the previous six miles. This stayed pretty fast for about four more miles and then we came to Mile Marker 23.

I was thinking the section leading up to Pit 2 was pretty bad. Nope, I was wrong. Right around mile 23 things changed. Someone very large from a very long time ago left his rock collection scattered all over the desert floor. The rocks were everywhere; On the side of the course, on the course, on the ground, stuck in the ground, sticking out from the ground - there wasn't much dirt - it was all rocks.. It only lasted about three miles or so, but it seemed like it was ten. To make it worse, the course had gone from fairly straight and fast to slow, tight switchbacks that were peppered with rocks that ranged from golf ball size to beach ball size. There were rocks EVERYWHERE! We kept a close eye for the dreaded Hiding Rock. This type of rock is usually pointed and likes to sit on the inside of a corner (usually in a plant shadow) waiting on a nice sidewall to come by. Given the opprotunity, a Hiding Rock will lunge out and puncture a sidewall with lightning speed. Fortunately we missed them all.

Somewhere near 24 miles in, the twisty rocky road opened back up, the rocks got smaller (if you want to call volley ball sized rocks smaller) and it lead to the mountain pass. Tight switchbacks and fairly rough road took us up over the top of the ridge. The course wound down the backside of the mountain and it didn't seem quite as rocky. We got off the moutain trail around mile 29. From there we ran down a fast straight, took a very hard right and then worked back into the flats tucked in a recess in the mountain range. Out of that, down another long straight and then turned tight right into Pit 3 at mile 34.5. We stopped and talked with a few other guys pre-running the course. It was cold and a bunch of the guys were standing around the back of a 1 Car, warming their hands in the exhaust. I held mine in it for a couple seconds to break the chill a tad.

Out of the pit road we ran a long fairly flat, but snaking, wash out onto an old dry lake bed - near mile 38 or so. Onto the lake bed and put the hammer down. Harbor Freight hit 91 mph - the Trophy Truck will run 110 - 115. Off the lake bed we made a long, long left hand sweeping turn. The ground gradually became rougher and rougher as we got closer to the mountains again. It finally ended up tightening down into some sweepers with rocks in them - did I mention that there were rocks EVERYWHERE??? We crossed a road and then got into one of the roughest sections of the track. It was like driving across an old run down, fallen over set of very large stair steps. The ground had rises, drop aways and was relentless in it's pounding. There was one really deep gulley we had to go through - mark that - it's not a good one to hit. When ever you run along the base of a hill or mountain, the washouts and rain runs come straight down (more or less) the side of the mountain/hill and the course usually runs perpendicular to these washouts and rain ruts. It can make for some really nasty stuff.

Just after mile 45 the course made a tight right hand corner and worked away from the edge of the mountain, gradually becoming flatter and smoother. This ran along for right at a mile and became sandy/silty. This turned into a long, fast right hander in deep silt and then went into a couple miles of long sweepers back and forth in the sandy/silty dirt. No rocks, just keep the go pedal down and rail back and forth in the sweepers. These sweepers continued, more or less, in a long left turn and finally dumped us right next to an old road. This was the only section of the 80 mile course that was "regulated". It ran right along the road and nobody was allowed to pass in this section. Fortunately, it only lasted about a mile or so and it was high speed too.

At the end of the road, the course crossed over it and then headed back out into the rough desert. We were back between some of the smaller mountains, so the rocks were becoming more present again. I think I said that there were rocks all over this course... (anyone beginning to see a theme?) There was what appeared to be an old construction site (mine maybe?) and the course had a couple little things to watch for - it looked like it ran straight in one part, but you had to make a left and go around a washed out section, it made a fast up hill sweeper that tucked right at the top. It was blind over the rise, but there wasn't anything to worry about. It then went over a really cool rise - fairly steep up and a quick drop over the top. We had to be careful not to bottom out at the bottom of the hill - it was pretty severe at the bottom of it. It then ran up over another ridge and on the other side the course made a really tight right hander. Mark this one on the GPS also - not the place to screw up. From here the course ran through some really tight and twisty corners and over a bunch of smaller ridges. It was a fun section that had a roller coaster feel to it. The scenery was really nice too. Rocks the size of bowling balls were hiding in a lot of these corners, so we had to be careful.

After about five miles of this the course got back down to the desert floor and opened up, becoming sandy/silty again. This is where the BIG whoops were. Fence line on both sides and a couple miles of pounders. Harbor Freight handled them well and Pete kept saying that the Trophy Truck would fly through them. Okay, if you insist! While pre-running, we tried the right side of the fenceline - nope, not good. Turn around, go back a little, get back between the fences and pound away some more. The end of the whoops came at a cattle guard and we dropped down into the lower, flat desert floor. It was fairly fast and we just kept working left. There were four or five possible lines though this section - we just had to keep left... It eventually dropped us under a powerline and the course began to follow the powerline road. It was fast, but they'd thrown in a few sudden corners. It was going to keep me on my toes with navigation here. The last thing we wanted to do was get caught off guard by a sudden corner out here - it may have been fairly tame, rock wise, but it still would have been bad to go blitzing off the course out here, as there was a lot of stuff to hit. The course was also heading back into a mountain pass that looked like it could be ugly.

Ugly it was. Right around mile 57 the course began to wind between the two mountains along the power line road. This part of the course was not as tight as the first section (where it went along the mountain), so it allowed for a bit more speed, but the problem was that the speed also made for some pretty dangerous sections. The downhills were pretty severe and there were some seriously large rocks on both sides of the trail. Get sideways though here and you're going to loose a tire, if not a complete wheel. Pete and Chad discussed keeping the truck under control and not getting loose through here. This section lasted for about six and a half miles and then finally dropped us down to about twelve miles of long, fast powerline road. You couldn't just fly down the road, though - it had the occasional switchback thrown in. They weren't switchbacks you could screw up on either - the dreaded rocks were all over the place. In fact, the powerline road had rocks that probably averaged soft ball size all over it, with the occasional bowling ball thrown in for good measure. There was one switchback that had a whole cluster of bowling ball rocks strewn across it. We'd go from a few miles of running 100+ down to about 15 or so though one switch back could be an issue if I didn't keep my nose burried in the GPS screen when we were going through this in the Trophy Truck. There was also a sudden, tight left at mile 73 that we didn't want to blow. Once again, from 100+ down to making the corner would be critical. If any of this section was dusty, it was going make it interesting.

Just after mile 75 the course dropped off the straight, smoother road section and made a tight right hander that went into the roughest section on the track. The ground was the base of the mountain - rocky, hard, no dirt - and of course the track went perpendicular to the washes and ruts. This was going to be the pounder section. It dipped, turned, rose, turned, dipped, tossed us about and generally beat the snot out of us. Fortunately it only lasted about three miles. (it seemed a lot longer) At the end of this section, we made another very tight right hander and came along a fence line. This was the final straight of the course. It lasted for just at a mile and was a high speed run. It also had a quick left/right combo just before the end that could prove to be bad if anyone got in too hot.

At the end of the fence line the course came back into the infield section of the course and made a tight left. Sprint a few yards, tight right and head into the infield. The first thing we saw was a small, peaky jump. This thing was a bit of a kicker (as noted in the qual laps). After the kicker was a short straight, another smaller jump, a sweep to the right a short shoot and then a 180 degree bermed turn. A bit farther down the line was the main jump, a straight and then the course took a 180 degree right hander. The corner started out sweeping and gradually tightened up. This ran along the pit area for the length of the infield, dropped into a small wash, turned tight right, swept back left, then right as it climbed out of the wash, ran along the other pit straight and then made a big bermed left hander where it met the start line section and headed back on out to the desert for the next lap.

80 miles of everything. Sand, silt, ROCKS, rocky mountain passes, deep whoops, tight rocky sections, long fast sections, a dry lake bed, long sweeping switch backs, high speed fire roads, wash board sections - I'd never seen such variation on a course before. This really is the big time. (compared to Whiplash)

After doing the pre-running it was time to check the Trophy Truck over.

12/02/06 - Sunday

tranny change, third member change