The Laughlin Desert Challenge

The 2008 desert racing season kicked off in Laughlin, NV as it does every year with the first round of the SCORE series. A few weeks before the event Dirt Workshop co-founder, Mike DeFord got a call from Greg Adler the man behind 4 Wheel Parts, Greg invited Mike to come out to Laughlin and co-drive the race. Without hesitation Mike packed his helmet and flew off to Nevada.


The Laughlin race is different from most desert races, the course is a short 6 miles long, teams run 6 or 8 laps per day depending on the class that they compete in. Another difference in Laughlin is that about 3/4 of a mile of the track takes place in a stadium type of setting where spectators can sit in the grandstands and watch the racing. This section of the track is filled with decent sized jumps and bermed turns. Another fan favorite at the race is the annual Laughlin Leap where competitors take place in a jumping contest the night before the actual race starts. While some will argue that Laughlin is not a real desert race it is a very cool event that combines about 5 miles of real desert racing with about a mile of short course, CORR style action.
The Class 8 trucks do not compete in the Leap so the 4 Wheel Parts crew got to sit back and watch the action on track. Friday morning came very early as the team went to work prepping the truck for the weekends race. Greg took the truck out for a couple of shake down runs before Mike strapped in. The team was fighting a fuel pick up problem that had plagued them in Baja at the 1000, after a couple of hours trhe truck was running perfect so Mike got suited up. We'll let him take the story for here.

This was my first time in a real desert race, while I have had plenty of seat time in rally cars, playing at the dunes in sand cars and Baja Bugs and have had a ton of experience flying down Jeep trails this was totally different, instead of driving I was a passenger and while Greg is a great guy and can drive really well I was still very nervous. We took one lap around the track, from the passenger seat it felt like Greg was driving at about 8 or 9/10ths. I thought he was really pushing hard. At about the 3 mile marker I started to relax and focus on the task at hand, co-driving for Greg which meant looking out for traffic in front and behind us, watching the gauges to ensure that everything was running right and comunicating with the team. By mile marker 5 the fuel problem came back so we pulled into the pits and the team went back to work.


    

Greg's team worked well into the night to get the fuel problem fixed, Saturday morning she ran like a top, it was time to race! Strapping into the truck I was not nervous, I was ready for what was ahead.... At least I thought I was. The day before when I thought that Greg was pushing it, I was wrong. At the drop of the green flag we raced off with the rest of the Class 8 trucks right on top of us. In the 24 hours since we were last on track the course had really gone to crap, it was very rutted and washed out in many area, it was rough and then there was greg behind the wheel, pushing very hard. Lap number 2 started with a lot of excitment as we went into the first turn right on the tail of another Class 8 truck. We hit a jump and came down on the nose of the truck, it was a hard hit. I thought for a brief minute that I may have bitten through my tounge as for some reason my tounge was hanging out of my mouth when we hit the jump. I must have groaned pretty loud as Greg came over the radio and asked if I was OK.
The start of the third lap, same area and almost the same thing happens, but this time when the truck comes down the rear wheels are still moving at a good pace, the wheels hit the ground and "SNAP" followed by a horrible rubbing. We pulled over and jumped out to see if we could see a problem, everything looked good and where we had stopped it was not very safe. Greg and I climbed back in the truck and nursed it around the track for a while until we could get to the Hot Pits where the Adler team diagnosed the problem, busted right axle shaft. Our day was over. Hopefully Sunday would bring a better result.

    

Woke up Sunday morning to rain and a lot of it, this would make the racing much more complicated. The hours before the race were spent trying to fabricate various things to keep the engine, the electronics and the cockpit dry. While all were a valid attempt the rain was just to much, everything would be soaked by the end of the race. But the race went off without a hitch for the most part and the team finished third in the class.
My firt desert racing experience had been a real eye opener and a lot of fun and is something that I will do again in the future, hopefully with the Dirt Workshop name on the side of the truck.

There were a couple of notable experiences in Laughlin.

• Robby Gordon was there straight from what was supposed to be the Dakar Rally which was cancelled. He had a great fight on Sunday only to break on the last lap. Love or hate the guy you have to respect what he is doing and his love for off road. In the pits Sunday he had his Dakar H3 on display.
• There is a new race truck being built and a new series starting called Trophy Lite, basically a scalled down trophy truck. This is the first race where a Trohy Lite competed and it survived and did very well.
• A lot of team made the debut of their new race trucks and/or new sponsors, Josh Baldwin with Bully Dog, Pistol Pete with KC Lights and the Mopar effort broke both days and failed to finish, the same result they had in Baja.