2015 San Felipe race report
Utvinc.com Polaris RZR racing
First off I would like to thank all of our great sponsors that make this possible; Polaris RZR XP1000, Fox racing shocks, ITP tires, Method race wheels, Lone Star Racing suspension, Wolf Designs wraps, PCI race radios, Rigid Industries led lighting.
Also the guys who help with our Ford F-350 chase trucks: General Tire, XTC motorsports, Wolf Designs and CR Designs custom paint.
Coming off of our win at the ‘Best In The Desert Parker 250’ we had heard from a couple of people that the San Felipe 250 race was a rough race, but we had no idea how rough it really was. We wanted to take every advantage we had at our disposal and felt like going down a couple of days early to prerun the race course would be a great idea. So i called up my brother, Al, and asked if he wanted to go down on Tuesday to help us get some prerunning done. Before I was done asking he said he “was in”! So my co-driver, Boner, my brother and myself headed down to San Felipe at 5AM on Tuesday morning to check out the race course and see what was in store for us. We would be prerunning in my other Polaris RZR XP4 1000 that was set up kind of like our racer. About 1PM after driving all morning we arrive at mile 40 of the race course. It is close to the highway so we unload and head out with plans of prerunning from mile 40 to approx. mile 125. My brother is driving the truck and trailer about 10 miles down the road to race mile 125. He will sit and wait till we come around because this section is a big loop that crosses the road twice during the race. Everything goes well with the prerunning but we quickly learn that the San Felipe 250 is not to be taken lightly. It is brutal! With miles of whoops, washed out drop offs, big rocks, hills, etc, etc. It turns out to be the most punishing race course we have encountered to date.
So after three days of getting tossed around in the prerunner, knowing that on Saturday we will need to race the course going as fast as we can. We will race in blinding dust, during the night, after 130 or so other racers tear up the race course even more. They will kick even more large rocks into the track. They churn the dirt into silt beds that are so deep when we get to them the front of our car hits it and throws it up into the air in front of our faces and it’s so thick we are blinded while driving. The tire ruts they dig with their 800 and 900 horsepower are so deep the bottom of our car drags on the ground for miles.
Ok, so on Thursday afternoon my second chase truck shows up. It has the enclosed trailer, race car and the rest of the team; Craig, Nate, Jeremy and Richard. Boner and I are just getting done with the last day of prerunning and we are beat up. We head to town for some lunch and to let the guys can check it all out. Tomorrow is Friday, contingency day, a day to parade the car through town and have it inspected. All goes well and we head to the drivers meeting they have before every race. I get interviewed by Score and head to the meeting. It’s the same thing: be safe, no cheating, no blocking other racers - if you get caught move over and let the guy behind you pass, etc. etc.
We leave the driver meeting and as we get to the trucks we see that one of our competitors has stuck his stickers on our truck. It’s a fun thing we all do, once in a while, and the stickers peel right off so it is no big deal. Well, we learn this guy bought some cheap ass 2 cent paper stickers that don’t peel off. I am pissed, thinking to myself ‘that is pretty shitty”. I call and leave a shitty message on his answering machine ... actually more about this later.
Oh, oh, wait, I missed some funny shit … So sometime before the meeting we are taking a couple of pictures from the 3rd floor balcony of our hotel and figure ‘hey let’s all go up to the 11th floor and take some pictures!” All of us except for Richard get in the elevator and head up to the Penthouse Suite floor. Richard had to run back to his room to rub one out or something. Anyway, it is so cool, the elevator door opens and the whole floor is still under construction. We step out to check it out and we are seeing how the whole hotel is built. Let me tell you this, I don’t think there are any “building codes” and definitely no building inspector, LOL. So we get our pictures, Nate and I, standing by the elevator door and you won’t believe this. Nate says “There is no elevator door button.” I look and to my disbelief concur and tell the others ‘we are screwed’. We all start laughing, yep, we are stranded on the top floor! I forgot to mention there is no staircase at the hotel at all. So we are stranded until Richard makes his way up to meet us and lets us back on the elevator.
Continued Below!
Utvinc.com Polaris RZR racing
First off I would like to thank all of our great sponsors that make this possible; Polaris RZR XP1000, Fox racing shocks, ITP tires, Method race wheels, Lone Star Racing suspension, Wolf Designs wraps, PCI race radios, Rigid Industries led lighting.
Also the guys who help with our Ford F-350 chase trucks: General Tire, XTC motorsports, Wolf Designs and CR Designs custom paint.
Coming off of our win at the ‘Best In The Desert Parker 250’ we had heard from a couple of people that the San Felipe 250 race was a rough race, but we had no idea how rough it really was. We wanted to take every advantage we had at our disposal and felt like going down a couple of days early to prerun the race course would be a great idea. So i called up my brother, Al, and asked if he wanted to go down on Tuesday to help us get some prerunning done. Before I was done asking he said he “was in”! So my co-driver, Boner, my brother and myself headed down to San Felipe at 5AM on Tuesday morning to check out the race course and see what was in store for us. We would be prerunning in my other Polaris RZR XP4 1000 that was set up kind of like our racer. About 1PM after driving all morning we arrive at mile 40 of the race course. It is close to the highway so we unload and head out with plans of prerunning from mile 40 to approx. mile 125. My brother is driving the truck and trailer about 10 miles down the road to race mile 125. He will sit and wait till we come around because this section is a big loop that crosses the road twice during the race. Everything goes well with the prerunning but we quickly learn that the San Felipe 250 is not to be taken lightly. It is brutal! With miles of whoops, washed out drop offs, big rocks, hills, etc, etc. It turns out to be the most punishing race course we have encountered to date.
So after three days of getting tossed around in the prerunner, knowing that on Saturday we will need to race the course going as fast as we can. We will race in blinding dust, during the night, after 130 or so other racers tear up the race course even more. They will kick even more large rocks into the track. They churn the dirt into silt beds that are so deep when we get to them the front of our car hits it and throws it up into the air in front of our faces and it’s so thick we are blinded while driving. The tire ruts they dig with their 800 and 900 horsepower are so deep the bottom of our car drags on the ground for miles.
Ok, so on Thursday afternoon my second chase truck shows up. It has the enclosed trailer, race car and the rest of the team; Craig, Nate, Jeremy and Richard. Boner and I are just getting done with the last day of prerunning and we are beat up. We head to town for some lunch and to let the guys can check it all out. Tomorrow is Friday, contingency day, a day to parade the car through town and have it inspected. All goes well and we head to the drivers meeting they have before every race. I get interviewed by Score and head to the meeting. It’s the same thing: be safe, no cheating, no blocking other racers - if you get caught move over and let the guy behind you pass, etc. etc.
We leave the driver meeting and as we get to the trucks we see that one of our competitors has stuck his stickers on our truck. It’s a fun thing we all do, once in a while, and the stickers peel right off so it is no big deal. Well, we learn this guy bought some cheap ass 2 cent paper stickers that don’t peel off. I am pissed, thinking to myself ‘that is pretty shitty”. I call and leave a shitty message on his answering machine ... actually more about this later.
Oh, oh, wait, I missed some funny shit … So sometime before the meeting we are taking a couple of pictures from the 3rd floor balcony of our hotel and figure ‘hey let’s all go up to the 11th floor and take some pictures!” All of us except for Richard get in the elevator and head up to the Penthouse Suite floor. Richard had to run back to his room to rub one out or something. Anyway, it is so cool, the elevator door opens and the whole floor is still under construction. We step out to check it out and we are seeing how the whole hotel is built. Let me tell you this, I don’t think there are any “building codes” and definitely no building inspector, LOL. So we get our pictures, Nate and I, standing by the elevator door and you won’t believe this. Nate says “There is no elevator door button.” I look and to my disbelief concur and tell the others ‘we are screwed’. We all start laughing, yep, we are stranded on the top floor! I forgot to mention there is no staircase at the hotel at all. So we are stranded until Richard makes his way up to meet us and lets us back on the elevator.
Continued Below!
