Pre Race!
Well how do I start this? It was ONE Amazing adventure! We started the day getting stuff ready and the last minute preparations were to get Stickers done on the side of the Team Drake Racing 1943 Car. We met Mike Pulskamp and he Royally hooked us up with some cool numbers, team graphics, and sponsor stickers. Then we were off to Yerington NV! The drive there was an interesting one! We had to stop twice for a frozen Air Intake on the Prerunner because of snow, and overheated brakes down the 89 Hwy grade! That was scary! We finally pulled into the pits around 8:30 and met the talented Jim Graham, owner of the Talented Desert Dingo Racing Team! WOW! They made us feel right at home swarming the TDR Car and analyzing it and helping us make Camp! The next morning after a windy, snowy, rainy night we spent the whole day testing with my Co-Driver and new friend Dave Dougherty of Independent Fabrication based out of Santa Cruz CA! Let me tell you this guy knows his stuff! He can Drive and build! After tweaking on the suspension and working on detail things we got to pre-run with Gary and Ryan. After that we jammed to the Tech and Contingency, getting a quick driving lesson from Yerington’s Finest and passed Tech! After that we went to the pits, buttoned everything up and got ready for WAR the next Day!
RACE DAY MORNING!
So we got suited up and were waiting in line; we drew 3rd place and Dave my Co Driver suggested we take the last place start since we were the slowest guys and we wanted to preserve the car and finish. It was an awesome decision! We started up the course and the first 10 miles were really technical! Then it opened up to some fast course and we let it rip! I hit a rock and we got a flat! We changed it out with our unproven jack and got back on the track. When we pulled into the pit the DDR team pitted for us and took great car of us! We changed drivers and off we went tearing up the track with our man Dave! He is an amazing driver and was driving great! We got nerfed by the 1029 car in the technical parts which was AWESOME! (If you don’t know, Nerfing is getting hit from behind to let you know there’s someone there!) After that Dave and I were flying through the desert at a blistering 55 MPH in a Flying Golf Cart and we hit two rocks in the same place! The 1943 Placerville Polaris car started to bog down and we pulled over just before check 2 and couldn’t find the problem. We kept going past Check 3 when it bogged down and we tried to fix it again. After figuring out that two PERFECT hits broke can even break through the Super awesome and tough UHMF Skid Pan that we got at UTV Factory it bent a stock cross member into the front drive shaft. We decided to limp it into Pro Pits and the RZR wouldn’t start. The Drive shaft pinched some wires and rubbed them raw and we eventually got a tow into Pro Pits where we were treated like Family! They are more than worth the 25 bucks! We spent the next 1/2 hr fixing the drive shaft bending it with at Hydrolic ram and welding some angle iron to the bent cross member. Then spent the next 5 1/2 hrs trying to figure out some wiring gremlins. As soon as the race was called we pushed the 1943 car onto the trailer. The 12 year old who’d steered us in decided to make a last, valiant attempt to turn the car over and VROOM! It started right up! UGH! It was a long, tough day but the funnest day next to my wedding! I want to thank my wife Alyshia Drake, Mike Pulskamp who is the best friend I have ever had, Jim and the crew at Desert Dingo Racing, Dave, my Co Driver at Independent Fabrication, VORRA, NV West Motorsports for being so friendly and Placerville Polaris!
Well how do I start this? It was ONE Amazing adventure! We started the day getting stuff ready and the last minute preparations were to get Stickers done on the side of the Team Drake Racing 1943 Car. We met Mike Pulskamp and he Royally hooked us up with some cool numbers, team graphics, and sponsor stickers. Then we were off to Yerington NV! The drive there was an interesting one! We had to stop twice for a frozen Air Intake on the Prerunner because of snow, and overheated brakes down the 89 Hwy grade! That was scary! We finally pulled into the pits around 8:30 and met the talented Jim Graham, owner of the Talented Desert Dingo Racing Team! WOW! They made us feel right at home swarming the TDR Car and analyzing it and helping us make Camp! The next morning after a windy, snowy, rainy night we spent the whole day testing with my Co-Driver and new friend Dave Dougherty of Independent Fabrication based out of Santa Cruz CA! Let me tell you this guy knows his stuff! He can Drive and build! After tweaking on the suspension and working on detail things we got to pre-run with Gary and Ryan. After that we jammed to the Tech and Contingency, getting a quick driving lesson from Yerington’s Finest and passed Tech! After that we went to the pits, buttoned everything up and got ready for WAR the next Day!
RACE DAY MORNING!
So we got suited up and were waiting in line; we drew 3rd place and Dave my Co Driver suggested we take the last place start since we were the slowest guys and we wanted to preserve the car and finish. It was an awesome decision! We started up the course and the first 10 miles were really technical! Then it opened up to some fast course and we let it rip! I hit a rock and we got a flat! We changed it out with our unproven jack and got back on the track. When we pulled into the pit the DDR team pitted for us and took great car of us! We changed drivers and off we went tearing up the track with our man Dave! He is an amazing driver and was driving great! We got nerfed by the 1029 car in the technical parts which was AWESOME! (If you don’t know, Nerfing is getting hit from behind to let you know there’s someone there!) After that Dave and I were flying through the desert at a blistering 55 MPH in a Flying Golf Cart and we hit two rocks in the same place! The 1943 Placerville Polaris car started to bog down and we pulled over just before check 2 and couldn’t find the problem. We kept going past Check 3 when it bogged down and we tried to fix it again. After figuring out that two PERFECT hits broke can even break through the Super awesome and tough UHMF Skid Pan that we got at UTV Factory it bent a stock cross member into the front drive shaft. We decided to limp it into Pro Pits and the RZR wouldn’t start. The Drive shaft pinched some wires and rubbed them raw and we eventually got a tow into Pro Pits where we were treated like Family! They are more than worth the 25 bucks! We spent the next 1/2 hr fixing the drive shaft bending it with at Hydrolic ram and welding some angle iron to the bent cross member. Then spent the next 5 1/2 hrs trying to figure out some wiring gremlins. As soon as the race was called we pushed the 1943 car onto the trailer. The 12 year old who’d steered us in decided to make a last, valiant attempt to turn the car over and VROOM! It started right up! UGH! It was a long, tough day but the funnest day next to my wedding! I want to thank my wife Alyshia Drake, Mike Pulskamp who is the best friend I have ever had, Jim and the crew at Desert Dingo Racing, Dave, my Co Driver at Independent Fabrication, VORRA, NV West Motorsports for being so friendly and Placerville Polaris!
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