Best in the Desert – Rockstar Racing

Posted on August 22, 2022 by rockstarracing094

We are Back!

A lot has happened since that last blog post. December 1st 2019, our house burnt down. Taking with it, our entire race program. The car, spare shocks, motors, transmissions, all of it, gone in an instant. Over the last 2.5 years we have been rebuilding. Not only our race program, but our home and our lives. It has taken us a bit to get back to wanting to share our lives with you. We have been racing a little, not as much as we would like, but things are beginning to get back on track! Here are a few photos of recent events. Please join us as regular blogging will be back!

Posted on August 22, 2019 by rockstarracing094

2019 Vegas to Reno

After the tragedy that was the Baja 500, we took special care to make sure #blackbetty was ready to take on the longest off road race in America! A couple nights before we were to leave for the race, we decided to take her out for one last test in the Havasu heat to ensure she wouldn’t over heat during the race. As our luck would have it, we broke an axle that also punched a hole in the transmission. ( insert huge eye roll here) We took her home and Trevor made a quick transmission and axle change while I finished up loading our ITP tires with Tireballs.

We made tech at the very last moment as is our usual mo. The Spielman family, Trevor and I stayed for the drivers meeting while Eric and Mike headed out to the start line to set up camp. At camp, we made pit assignments, checked over the car and said good night. Tomorrow was going to be a long hot day!

We went to staging at about 10am. It was 100 degress already! Luckily, staging went pretty quick and we took the green light and headed out into the desert. The last 2 years in a row, the car began to over heat on the gradual climb out of the start area in a sandy wash. Fingers crossed we blazed up that wash with temps in the 180’s! Yahoo! I believe that we have finally fixed our overheating issues! Travis and I drove the first 3oo miles without incident. Towards the end, we were really getting hot and tired. It was decided that Trevor and Eric would take over driving and co-driving for the next 2 pits so we could take a break and cool down. We got out of the car around 20th position. We started 30th, so this was not too bad. Shortly after they took off, we heard they were hearing belt slip. Soon the tracker showed them stopped and we received word that they needed a tire re racked at pit 10. A pit that were not originally going to go to due to it being down a long road away from the highway. We sent the Spielman family to them, while we hurried on to meet them at pit 12. We had to get going or we would miss them. They got their tire and headed on. Ryan and Ryan had headed to remote pit 11 a little earlier and were there to cheer them on just in case they needed anything. We heard they went through without issue and they would be to us soon. At pit 12 I was getting back in and Trevor was getting out. We prepared for this driver change and they arrived with no issue. I climbed back in and drove the last 80 miles with my husband at my side! The last time we raced together was in 2011 in a RZR 800. We blew the motor at about race mile 400. We were hoping to have much better karma! The last 80 miles went smoothly and before we knew it, we took the checkered flag! This was the most uneventful race we have had in a long time. It was awesome! We finished 21st in Pro Turbo out of about 70 side x sides.

Now that we know #blakbetty is finally solid, we can begin work on getting her back up in the top 10 where she belongs! Thank you to all our family, friends and terrific sponsors that keep us going strong!

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by rockstarracing094

2018 Laughlin Desert Challenge Night Race

After the mishaps at Vegas to Reno, we decided the team needed a moral booster. We decided to rewap the car for a brand new look hoping to boost everyone’s spirits. We contacted Corbin Wells of Union Graphic Co. and had him get to work. Thanks to AO Coolers for helping us to make it happen. Corbin did a fantastic job and all of our spirits were renewed!

This year’s LDC was a night race for the UTVs, so we made sure all our Baja Designs lights were wired up and ready to rock! We made it tech in time to have AIM Sports dial in our race dash and visit with our race family.

Drivers meeting was up next. I stayed for that and the boys headed back to main pit with race car to do their last minute magic. The NA class raced first so I was able to help in the pits for our friends at 3p Off Road. They had a few issues and the pits were super busy. About an hour before our race, it started to rain. I kept my fingers crossed for it to end. I hate racing in the rain. It stopped and Travis and I headed to the start line. It was 10PM, way past my bed time! I actually fell asleep in the car waiting for the start!

We finally got the green light! We took off 3 wide and I was lined up with 2 CanAms. They are super fast off the line, but I caught them quickly and was on the siren at the first corner heading back out to the desert and then….. no boost from the turbo. We radioed in to the let crew know that we would be paying them a visit after the first lap. We went around the track about 40 to 45 MPH getting passed by everyone! We pulled into the pits and they went to working checking all the vacuum lines and changing sensors.

We took off, thinking all was well and about 2 corners in, same thing no boost. The crew told us that it wasn’t hurting anything and if we wanted to finish the race to get out there and get it done! And so we did. Travis and I had a great time in the car just chatting and checking out all the carnage on the track. I almost peed myself laughing at the sharp stutter whoops in the infield. They were so ridiculous! We felt like bobble head dolls!

The car looked amazing even though we couldn’t really race her! We had been counting laps and thought that we were finally finished at about 2AM, but when we approached the finish line, they sent us out for another lap. They said we had only gone 7. Not wanting to lose any more spots, we sucked it up and went another lap. We were out there pretty much all by our selves. When we finally did cross the finish line and got the checkered flag, the course workers were jumping up and down and clapping of us! Or because they knew they were finally done!

We ended up 25th out of the 44 Turbo UTVs that started. Not too bad for not having a turbo! Thank you to all of that help us and to all of you that follow along. Next up for us is the Pahump 250 in December. See ya all then!

Posted on September 6, 2018 by rockstarracing094

2018 Vegas to Reno the Long Way

After blowing a head gasket in the Baja 500, we spent the rest of the summer making sure our Polaris RZR was back in shape to take on the longest race in America. New motor, freshly rebuilt transmission, fresh axles and a new set of ITP Coyote Tires with TireBalls inside on Raceline Wheels was just the start. A little fabrication was needed after we nearly broke the front of the car off and the radiator mount was also broken. Those repairs were made and new dash was installed. We were ready! So we thought…

As usual, we were running behind on tech day. We arrived at tech just as all the vendors were packing up and registration was about to close. Trevor teched the car of us and I and the co drivers went inside to register. Eric and our friends from Just Money Motorsports left Havasu and went straight to the start line to get a camping spot. We finished up quickly in town and headed out to Beatty, Nevada for the start line. With nothing to really be done on the race car, we relaxed, packed pit boxes and the chase truck and enjoyed home made tacos from Joe.

Race day came and we were ready! We lined up at about 10AM Boy, was it hot! We sat in staging for approximately an hour and then, it was GO time!

We started 31st in the Pro Turbo class. There we some pretty fast guys behind us so we knew we had to get some time in after the start. We got the green flag and headed out!

Just about 3 miles into the race, we started overheating. It was the exact same place the car began to over heat last year. I called Eric and informed him of the issue and that we would be making an unplanned stop in pit 1. He agreed and went as fast as my hot RZR would allow us to go. Pit 1 was approximately 50 miles up the way. We actually passed a few cars on the way, saw a ton of wrecked cars and pulled into the pit hoping for a simple solution so we could go make up some time. The crew cracked the bolt and bled the head. And we headed back out. The car was slightly cooler, but not much when we were headed up a grade or in the silt. We also noticed that our clutch was not acting like it should. Again we radioed in and let the crew know our problems. We were asked to skip pit 2 and head for 3. So we pushed on. Only able to go about 60mph max or less in the silt. There was a LOT of silt! We received a pass alert and found a safe spot to slow down and move over and just as we thought the 7250 truck was going by, BAM! He hit us and spun the car around. I just knew there would be a ton of damage because it was a heavy truck. We pulled forward, everything felt tight. My co driver, John got out to check everything out and the truck also pulled over and the co driver got out and apologized to me and wanted to make sure we were ok. Thanks guys! That was great sportsmanship! We got back on the track and headed to pit 3 to meet up with the crew hoping for a fix. In the mean time, Eric had been on the phone with our tuner, Mark Queen about the clutch and he put him together Adam from Airdam who just happened to be a few pits ahead. He agreed to meet Eric half way between where he was and where the crew was. He used his own parts and our back up clutch and made a clutch that assured Eric would be a definite improvement. I really can’t thank him enough for going out of his way for us. He isn’t our usual clutch guy and he really did not have to help us but he did and we appreciate him so much!

We rolled into pit 3 and the crew went to work, changing out the clutch and fixing the passenger rear hub that was bent when the truck hit us. At one point during the pit stop, all of us individually thought ” I wonder if we should splash some fuel”. Not one of us voiced it out loud and we took off out the pit thinking that there should be plenty of fuel. We weren’t planning on stopping for fuel until pit 6. About 3 miles out of Pit 3, the car turned off. Thinking it was something electrical, John began taking the top off the fuel cell to check the pumps. As he reached inside, he looked up at me and pulled his hand out. His hand was dry. There was not a drop of fuel in the car! Apparently, the dragging clutch and deep silt and overheating had used a bunch of fuel! As soon as we called in out issue, I saw Chase 1 pull over off the highway. They were about a mile away from us. So, I started waking to get some fuel while John put the car back together. We got enough fuel to make it to the next pit and off we went again. The car was running great, the clutching change was amazing! Thanks again Adam! We pulled into the pit, the boys began to fuel the car and then Eric came over and asked me to turn off the motor.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “I hear something” he said. We all got out and listened. Then we called Mark Queen on the phone and had him listen. Not ideal, we know. But there was definitely a noise coming from the motor. We pulled the clutches to ensure it wasn’t clutch noise we were hearing, but it wasn’t. We all gathered together and talked it over. It was a unanimous decision to put the car on the trailer. Eric didn’t want us out in the middle of no where with a blown motor. If we stopped now, we could fix the motor with not a lot of expense. If we blew the motor, whole other story. So, dejected, we put her on the trailer, loaded up and headed home. We had a ton of fun while it lasted! Thank you to my crew who gave it all they had! Joe took the race car with Kristin and Emily in her truck and headed back to the start line. Kristin agreed to put the RZR in her toy box and take her home as Joe was heading back to Kingman.

Eric, Trevor, Jason, Travis, Joeylin, Sidney, Mike and I headed to the remote pit to catch our team mates and friends, 3P Offroad and make sure they made it to the finish line as they were having a few issues themselves. We made it out to Pit 12. It was pretty deserted by that time. We all hung out and ate the rest of our snacks and then climbed back in the trucks to have a nap before they arrived. We got radio contact at about 4 am. They were coming in. On the tracker there a bunch of other cars heading our way also. One of them was Ashley Burton and Drew Schultz. We pitted the Texas boys and sent them on their way. We noticed a car just sitting out there a few miles away and could see on the tracker that it was Ashley. We decided to wait to see if we could help her. We missed her coming through but she stopped and the lights went out just outside the pit. We contacted the pit boss who gave us permission to help them the same as if they were in the pits. They were having overheating issues as well as a charging problem. They had just gone about 15 miles on a lithium starter battery! We gave them our spare Odyssey battery, a spare lithium battery and the cables off of our battery charger. Wished them the best and sent them on their way. We then headed towards home. We kept the tracker on and kept up with her and our Texas boys. 3P Offroad finished with no time to spare! They were the last official finishers! We are so proud of them for sticking it out! We saw that Ashley was still at about RM 475 and not moving. She wasn’t able to finish. She and Drew did an awesome job of trying! It isn’t easy doing what we do and even worse when you’re battling issues over the course of well over 24 hours.

Best in the Desert

August 18 at 9:28 AM ·

The last official finisher of this years General Tire Vegas to Reno by Fox is the team of Josh Herzing and Phillip Luce. Despite battling mechanical problems throughout the day the UTV racers from Texas soldiered on to get it across the line. Congratulations to all our finishers! #bestinthedesert #bitd #vegastoreno #vtor #generaltire #fox #booyah

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing and outdoor

Image may contain: one or more people and outdoor

Until next time racing friends! We can’t thank you enough for your support!

Posted on April 23, 2018 by rockstarracing094

2018 UTV World Chapionship

After returning home from the Mint 400, we had only 3 weeks to prepare for the World Championship. Not only were we prepping the 924 Pro Turbo car, but we were building a car from the ground up for Trevor to race in the Production 1000 class . Crew chief Eric’s duties were being spread thin. Even with the help of Trevor and his co driver Travis, it seemed as though this may never happen. The boys would be racing under the Young Guns program of George Felix and Felix Racing. The car came as a rolling chassis that had been top halved a few months before but not finished. There was wiring, plumbing and aluminum work to be done as well as finding a motor to drop in.

While work on the Young Guns car continued, we asked Just Money Motorsports owner, John Caudle, for help in prepping the 924 Pro Turbo car. There aren’t many guys as meticulous as Eric when it comes to the race car, but John is definitely one of them. The plan was for us to be in Laughlin, NV but Thursday night, but we ran into a snag on Thursday morning. The trailing arms we had for the car were too far out of adjustment. A quick call to Lone Star Racing and a new set of arms were to be delivered to Laughlin on Friday. We can’t thank Lone Star Racing enough taking such good care of us and making sure we were covered! With that taken care of, the 924 car was buttoned up and loaded onto the trailer. Trevor and I would head to Laughlin on Friday morning to sign up and tech the Pro Turbo car.

Trevor and I signed up and put the 924 Pro Turbo car into the Pro Eagle booth for the day. Trevor and his co driver, Travis, headed back to Havasu to finish working on their car hoping to be back that afternoon. Miss Dragonfire, the boys from Texas and I had a great day at contengency showing off the car and swaping race sotries with all our race family. We teched the car and headed back to the camping area. The Texas boys were going to swap out my trailing arms so that Eric wouldn’t have to deal with that when he arrived. As we worked, we found that both the rear axles had pulled out. As we were assessing our situation there, Eric called with a desparate cry for help back in Havasu with the Young Guns car. We all jumped in the trucks and headed back to Havasu at 8pm.

We arrived and found the boys exhausted and with a list of items that needed to be completed. Everyone picked something off the list and we finished the car at approximately midnight. I called the tech director to ensure that he would be able to tech Trevor’s car in the AM before the race began. He assured me that we were all good there. The Texas boys headed back to Laughlin for a little rest and Eric, Trevor and I headed to bed and would head to Laughlin in the morning.We stopped about half way and unloaded the car so Trevor could give it a short shake down. He ripped around for about 10 min and all seemed well so off we went to find the tech guy. We found them still in the parking lot where contingency had been the day before. Our friends Nic and Marcy were gracious enough to put their breakfast on hold and take care of teching the car. It went smoothly and headed to the track with about an hour to spare before Trevor would stage for his race.

The boys loaded up with tools and headed to staging while Eric and his crew loaded the chase truck up and headed to the hot pits. Anthony and I stayed back to make sure the 924 car was ready for the race. We buttoned it up and headed over to the track to catch Trevor’s race. He came around the first lap all good but on the 2nd lap he didn’t come around. We heard from the crew chief that he had been hit hard by another driver and had a broken axle. They repaied the axle and sent him back out. We then heard that he broke another axle! Repairs were made again, but in the end Trevor was only able to complete 3 laps. We were all very dissapointed. On a happier note, crew chief and dad, Eric, jumped in for his last lap! While Young Guns car was finishing up, Anthony and I headed to staging for the Pro Turbo race.

We took off from the 4th row ready for a hole shot, but… the car was sluggish. We headed out into the desert and the car went into limp mode. “Not again!” I yelled. We turned the car off and back on and had power but it was short lived. All the temps and other numbers looked good. I asked Anthony to switch to the back up ECU. We were off again and seemed to have solved that problem. The car was still not its usual peppy self so we pulled into the pits on the first lap. The crew found a driver front brake caliper was stuck closed. The repairs were made and we headed back out. This lap there was something making an odd noise in the drive train. We pulled into the pits again and they found a broken rear axle. We headed back out determined to make up some time and get all our laps.

On the 4th lap we were flying and came up over a rise. As I crested the rise I spotted a car sitting at the bottom. “Crap!” I tried to manuver around the car and hit her back tire with my back tire. unbeknownst to her, it crumpled her trailing arm. She then tried to take off and ended up rolling the car on its passenger side. It was a slow roll but she wasn’t getting out. We couldn’t leave her there if something was wrong, so we jumped out and helped the driver of the 972 get out of the car. In the process, we blew a belt. Anthony repaired our car and we then took her strap and pulled her car back on 4 wheels so she could get off the track. We lost 2 laps during this process.

Back on track we blazed around the track trying to make up time. The checkered flag came out on our 6th lap. We were happy to be off the extremely rough course but bummed we were not able to get all 9 laps. But, we finished! This race has been a nemisis for us and we will be back next year to try to redeem ourselves!

All in all, we had some fun and are super proud of the Young Guns for all their hard work and determination. They will be back in October for another chance a t vicotry!

Thank you to my crew, John from Just Money Motorsports and the Texas crew for all your hard work. Thank you to ProDriven for the awesome video. Thank you to UTVUnderground for all the coverage of us during the race. The coverage of the pit stop was awesome! Last but not least, thank you to all my sponsors that believe in us and keep us fighting. See you all in Baja for the 50th anniversary Baja 500!

Posted on March 18, 2018March 18, 2018 by rockstarracing094

2018 50th Anniversary of The Mint 400

Having had a few small issues at the Parker 250, we were pumped to show everyone we were ready to take on our favorite race of the year! We waited until the last minute to tune the car as usual, and ended up tuning way into the night on Wednesday. Missing the parade and afraid we may miss tech on Thursday! Mark Queen of Queen Racing took great care and a lot of time for us and got us where we needed to be. We ended up getting to Vegas on Thursday about 3pm. With the help of the 3P Offroad boys, Trevor had the car in line for tech as soon as we arrived.

Eric and I hit registration and headed down Fremont St to catch up with Trevor and the car. As we went we ran into all our race friends and many of our sponsors. We also picked up our very own Miss DragonFire, Emily Dobrzenski. We kept walking trying to catch up to Trevor, but never quite got there. Before we knew it, it was 6pm and Miss DragonFire and I had a date with Rugged Radios for the meet and greet with our fans. Eric kept on moving and was able to get to the car just as it was being teched.

Emily and I moved from the meet and greet to Polaris RZR Party and had a great time with all our fellow Polaris RZR racers!

Meanwhile the boys put the race car away and set up camp at the RV park. We met up with them in time for dinner and headed off to bed. Tomorrow was a free day for us. Last minute checks with the car and we headed out to the start line of the race to set up camp there.

Before we knew it, it was time to rest. Race day was coming fast! We woke up Bright and early on Saturday morning. Race day jitters were getting the best of me as cameras were loaded and Anthony and I climbed in the car. The rest of the crew headed out to Pits A&B and Trevor and John followed us to the start line. As luck would have it, the transmission selector switch came off and wouldn’t allow us to shift into high gear. Of course it happens as we were moving to the start line. Trevor and John ran over and believed they had it. But, as the green light came on, I knew they did not. Not only did I not get the hole shot I was hoping for, we couldn’t get over 45MPH. We wound around the short course section until we found a good place to pull off. Anthony jumped out and made quick work of getting back together. We only lost 2 spots and roared off into the desert.

We soon discovered that our shocks were way too soft and we were dragging the rear of the car. Trying my best not to do damage to the car and still keep a decent pace, we radioed in to let them know our situation. We made it to Pit A and Joe and his crew tried to make some adjustments to our shocks. We continued on to Pit B and stopped for a quick look over. Off we went to the Main pit, hoping Eric could do something with the shocks. To our surprise, our shock tuner Justin, just happened to be in the pit next to us and came over to help! I was ecstatic to see him! He made some big adjustments, the crew changed a flat that I didn’t know I had, and we went back out ready to make up some time! The shocks were amazingly better and we made up some serious time!

The Fox proving grounds had nothing on us! As we rounded the corner into Pit A I started to hear a clunking noise, so we pulled in to have them take a look. Turns out the passenger tie rod was broken in half. How we made it to the Pit is a miracle! Mike, Travis and Zack made quick work of the change out and we were off yet again.

The car was working flawlessly. We were passing cars and saw a tremendous amount of carnage as we flew by. We saw 90.5MPH on the dry lake bed. This Polaris RZR was nothing short of flying across the desert!

Still trying to make up some time on the last lap and trying to get through Pit B before the Trick Trucks came was making us anxious. Just as we left Pit A the crew radioed in and told us they had just been released. We were trying to calculate how much time we had to make it to Pit B and then they stopped us at a road crossing. We were being detoured to Pit B and then heading into main. Cutting approximately 50 miles off the race course. Relieved that we didn’t have deal with Trick Trucks, but wondering how that would affect our outcome. We crossed the finish line with big smiles on our faces. I knew I had driven harder than I had in a long time. The crew did a fantastic job of keeping us in the hunt and though they scored our race as over when they sent us through the detour, we know in our hearts we did good! The race car is solid, and I think I may have my confidence back! See you all at the World Championship! Thanks to all our great sponsors that make great finishes happen!

Posted on January 10, 2018 by rockstarracing094

2018 BITD Casey Folks Parker 250

The 2018 BITD season came quick. We did our best to prepare for the first race of the season but with the end of the 2017 season and the beginning of the 2018 season so close getting our sponsor deals closed and parts ordered was a challenge. We also took on the challenge of not just racing our Polaris RZR Turbo, we were going to be racing 3 cars! Our son, Trevor was asked by Batz Warehouse to build and race a Polaris XP1K, our friends from 3P Offroad rented our 2 seater and asked us to prep it and of course we had our own turbo RZR to prepare. It was challenge, but we were up for it! Luckily Trevor is more than capable of prepping his own car. Thanks to Batz Warehouse and our good friend Devin for the car to race. Trevor and his co driver Trevor prepped their own car and the car being rented to 3P Off road while Eric took down my car and began to make the minor repairs that come after a complete season of racing. Repairs made, new suspension components, new steering rack, new front diff and new transmission were put on the car. We buttoned her up a few days before the boys arrived from Texas. 3P Off road arrived and the final touches to all the cars was done. We headed to Parker Friday morning all excited for a new season! Tech went well chatting with our fellow racers and sponsors. The crew headed over to main pit while the drivers of the 3 RZRs headed to the driver’s meeting. Dinner was provided by Joe and co driver Trevor’s Dad. Stories of past Parker 250 races were told over the camp fire. It was time to rest. Tomorrow was a big day! We didn’t start the race until 1pm, so it gave me a lot of time to walk around the car feeling very nervous. Not having a stellar season last year, we felt pressure to really perform at this race. At the start line my nerves really kicked in. My new co driver Anthony was feeling my anxiety! When the green flag dropped, my clutch slipped. I felt the car sluggishly start moving. Dang it! I stayed in it trying to catch the car in front of me but it didn’t happen. We flew off the start line jump and the car landed perfectly! Off we went into the blinding dust. We carried on through the wash, over the canal road and into midway pit. We pulled in to see if the crew could see anything wrong with the clutch or could they change the belt. It was elected not to change the belt and off we went. Bad decision by all of us. The clutch continued to slip if I stabbed the gas so I had to ease into the pedal to get the car going. Needless to say our 1st lap was not as fast as should have been. We radioed ahead so main pit could look at the clutch. They had a new one ready for us. We barely made it in through the deep sand of the python without losing the belt, but we did it. Not only did we need a new primary clutch, we needed a rear axle and a driver front tire. The crew made quick work of it and we were off once again trying to make up some time. 2nd lap we started to feel a lot of body roll in the car. We pulled into midway pit to have them tighten the arms and low and behold, there was Trevor and Trevor sitting there with their car pulled off the track! Such a bummer. They had broken their clutch and were waiting for parts to be brought out to them. Lucky for me my Trevor knew just what needed to be done with the sway bar and we were off once again. Hoping the young boys would be off again soon, we headed for the rock garden. The car performed flawlessly the rest of the 2nd lap. We stopped in main pit for a splash of fuel and headed out on our last lap hoping to make up some more time for a better overall finish. Just about the time we his the wash, the wind died down…. It was like being in Baja with the fog at night. We couldn’t see anything! We carried on but were not able to make up much time. We were so happy to see the finish line! The last lap the track was super beat up and the stutter bumps were outrageous! Not at all the finish we were looking for, but a finish is still a great accomplishment. We couldn’t be more proud of our crew or happier with our Polaris RZR. 3P Off road finished not too long behind us and we waited anxiously to hear about our sons. Last they were tracked, they were about 50 miles out and still moving. Knowing Trevor doesn’t like to drive at night or in the dust, I was worried about him. We shared race stories with all our fellow racers keeping an anxious eye on the finish line for the boys. Finally they came! They finished their first ever desert race! They were happy and I was ecstatic! All three of the Rockstar Racing built and prepped cars finished! It was a good day of racing! Thank you to all of you that support us. We couldn’t do it with out your help!

Posted on December 28, 2017January 1, 2018 by rockstarracing094

It’s the end of the season…

It’s the end of the 2017 desert racing season. This year was full of trials and tribulations for us. It began with a new turbo platform. We were so fast with our NA car winning a championship and then following that up with a 2nd in points. No one beat us off the line in that car! So, we were super excited to be even faster in the new turbo RZR. The build process was easy for the boys and it made it’s debut at the Mint 400. We began having problems on the 2nd lap and ended up with a DNF. Our first in 2 seasons of racing. It was heart breaking, but this team does not give up. Thinking we had it figured out we went to the UTV World Championship with high hopes. Those hopes were soon to be dashed. As soon as I passed Robby Gordon in the Speed Artic Cat, it went into limp mode. And, continued to do so the entire race. I did get a spectacular jump photo on the 1st lap! We finished but we finished with broken hearts yet again. With 3 months to figure it out, we were sure we had it! We went to V2R thinking, this is the one! Shortly after the start, limp mode….. The boys spent a couple hours making repairs and that seemed to fix the limp mode problem. While I was sitting in the pits, I received an ice cold gatoraid from Travis Pastrana, who was having similar problems with the Starcar. Trevor and Travis had a conversation about him being passed by a girl! We put our relief driver, Mark Queen in the car with hopes of making up some time, but the race gods had other plans for us. About midnight and approximately race mile 300, the crew replaced the transmission. We carried on, just wanting a finish at this point. But, it was not meant to be. We found our car at race mile 450 with bad injectors and timed out. Another heart breaking DNF for us. We headed home with our heads hung down. The car came apart and the injectors sent off to be analysed. We were going to have to dig deeper to find what the root of our problems were. Our plans were to skip the next 2 BITD races, since there were no longer hopes of a championship, and save our funds to race the 50th Anniversary Baja 1000. A friend of ours asked if they paid the entry fee, would we race the Silver State race in September. It was a short 150 mile race and we decided it would be a good shake down, so, off we went to northern Nevada. The first race of the season, I had my first ever motion sickness in the race car. There after I took medicine for it every race. This was a short one, so I thought I wouldn’t need it. Well, I was wrong. For the first time this season, the car ran flawlessly. I, however, forgot about the winding mountain roads of Silver State! I once again became motion sick. Pulling over several times to vomit. But, Barb and I had a great time in the car with no pressure of points and such, and we finally finished a race with no issues! Next came planning for the big one! We had raced Baja with other teams, but this would be the first time with our own car and team. We were more than excited. We teamed up with 3p Off Road and with the help of our generous sponsors and our team chipping in, we managed to put together a great plan. We headed to Baja the Tuesday before the race to a beautiful beach house. Everyone settled in we were confident that with this team and our preparation we would finish this 1134 mile race and maybe finish well. Wednesday was tech day for us. We hung out with Raceline Wheels and had a great time with the team. Race day came and we headed off for the longest race ever for our car. We started off taking it easy finding our groove. At about mile 40 I came into a soft corner too hot and rolled the car over on it’s side. Luckily there were spectators near by that graciously came over and helped us up right the car. Everything was ok and we were off again. Our friends from 3p Off Road and Trevor met us at the many road crossings along the way to race mile 250 which would be our first pit. They made the first 250 miles go by super fast! We lost the alternator sometime during that first 250 miles, so at that first pit, the boys removed it and replaced it with stock stater cover. From there on we had to play the number game with our fans, lights and fresh air blower. Turn this on, turn that one off and so on… The San Felipe whoops section were no joke. At one point we stopped at friends pit and asked for a once over. They assured us that the car was not breaking in half and we headed on into the next pit at race mile 350 where we handed the car over to the crew chief, Eric. He raced into the dark and would remain in the car until day break. No problems for him except for fog, silt and darkness! We pitted him at race mile 608 and found the front of the car needing to be rebuilt. It took us several hours to replace all the components on the front of the car and we sent the boys from 3p Off Road out into the desert. We made a couple other driver and co driver changes and few more front end part replacements but we made it 1134 miles, 43 hours and 18 minutes! Those finisher medals will forever be a winner medal to us! We finished up the season in Pahrump, Nevada. Wanting to give it all or nothing for the last race of the season, I set my mind on driving hard and fast! Well, Pahrump had other plans. The dust was terrible, the silt was deep and rocks everywhere! My pace slowed, my co driver was ill and I broke a radius rod end that ended our season with DNF 30 miles from the finish line! Through all the trials and tribulations of the race season, we still had fun. We made new friends. We learned a lot. We couldn’t be happier with our Polariz RZR XPT. It definitely took a beating and just kept on going. We can’t thank all of sponsors enough for their generosity. A new season starts just days away!

Posted on October 8, 2017 by rockstarracing094

BITD Silver State 150 Race Report

As the September Best in the Desert race approached, the team debated whether or not we were going to make it. The repairs from our crash at Vegas 2 Reno had still not been made and that race being our 2nd DNF for the season left everyone a little dejected.

2 weeks before the race, our friends at Batz Warehouse made us a proposal. They wanted to pay half the entry fee if we would put Barb in the car as co-driver. We agreed and work began on the 924 Polaris RZR.

The repairs were made and thanks to BP Concepts, a new wrap was completed on the passenger side in record time! We were ready physically, but mentally we still had some doubts.

Tech day came and we hit the road to Caliente, NV! The car and chase truck were on point! We arrived to sunny but cool weather. It was quite a change from the heat of Havasu. Tech went smoothly and thanks to our friends the Mitchells we set up camp in nice RV park in the grass. Last minute touches were done to the car and bundled up and headed to the driver’s meeting.

The drivers meeting over we gassed up the chase truck and the race car and settled down for the night. We woke to freezing temperatures but a bright sunny day.

Barb and I climbed in and prepared for a chilly ride!

They lined us up 4 at time and, because we did not preregister, we started in the very last row. My anxiety was climbing as row x row our fellow UTV racers sped off. It was finally our turn and with a dead engine start, my hands were shaking. The green flag dropped and we fired up the 924 and roared off. Not wanting to get taken out in the first corner we let a couple of the guys go and squeezed in as the 3rd car in our row led by Jake Carver. We would eventually see Jake broken on the side of the track.

The track felt super slippery and with the thoughts of the crash at V2R fresh in my head. I backed off and took it slower than I probably should have. Trying to find my groove so we could move faster was difficult with the twisting mountain terrain. We began to get passed by the fast NA cars. I tried to pick up the pace, some but the car was sliding around all over the track. We blew a couple of corners almost getting stuck. We made it to pit 1 and pulled in just for a quick look over. The crew said we were good and we headed back out. This would be the first race that we didn’t have to pit. Not even once! That was a good feeling. So, since the crew didn’t have to work this round, they made BBQ!

We kept on continually trying to find my groove and speed up our pace, but I began to get motion sick. I pulled off and let it go. Back on track we kept pushing. I just wanted to finish this race! We passed pit 2 waving to the crew as we went. More twisting mountain roads. More cars passed and I knew that we were rapidly falling off pace. I picked up speed when I felt comfortable, in the deep washes and tried to hold onto our position. We soon passed pit 3 and headed to the finish. Once again, I pulled over to vomit and a couple of cars passed. Dang! I lost a few more spots. But we pushed on and finished! We were all so happy with a finish and a no pit stops! The Polaris RZR Turbo ran flawlessly this time! We started 40th and finished 20th. Not too bad for being sick and not being able to get in my groove.

Barb was a great co-driver and we had a good time in the car! Thank you all of my sponsors, followers, fans, family and friends. We couldn’t be more thankful for all you!