Great stories from all the racers! We were really looking forward to contingency on Friday, and getting to see all the new rides for the 2011 season. Unfortunately we were a little behind. Joey, thanks for the kind words. We try hard to be as organized, and prepaired as possible for these races, but on this one we were truly scrambling to the last minutes. We had been working hard over the last 2 months to build up our new Can Am Commander to break in at Silver State. The last week we were helping Cory finish up the details to ensure the new car was built to the highest standards. Cory did a great job on the suspension, and fab, but the details, just took lots of time, and we did not want to skip any details nor cut any corners. We had 2 hours of sleep from wed- Sat at the race. After having one of our teamates drive earlier to the drivers meeting we left Phoenix at 1030 pm friday night by pushing the Commander into the toyhauler. We had not even started her up. On the way in the trailer (which is not safe or reccomended) we installed and primed the fuel system, hooked up the safety harnesses, filled the brakes and bled them, installed the seats, filled the radiator, started the Commander for the first time, tightened all bolts, hooked up all the electrical systems- radio, horn, lights, irc, parker pump, intercom, etc and before we know it we pulled up as we were about to install the body panels that everyone was already lining up. We throw the body panels on and relize that we are missing one front quarter panel somehow? so it becomes a tape job. We scramble to put the number stickers on with the help of a few people who I did not even know. To you thanks so much!!! Then we remembered we still did not have diff oil in, so we add it, throw our suits on and scramble out. We ended up leaving the line about 30+ minutes late, and decied to just do a shake down since we had no suspension adjustmetns, nor miles on the car. Immediately we relize our ride height with our weight is extreemly low. 2" rocks are a big problem, and we are grading out the course for the trophy trucks. And we have only begun the first 100 yards of the low speed section before that actual start. We knew it was going to be a long day. We almost called it quits in the low speed section, but decied lets get the starting points, and try to get to pit 1 to jack up the Commander and get more ride height. We were impressed with the power, and capiblities of the new Commander. We struggled with the suspension due to the lack of tuning, and somehow make it to pit 1. We raise the car about 3 inches, and off agin. Better, but not close. Pit 2 more ride height, and tuning. About 100 miles in, we finally can start to drive at a medium pace. And we began to enjoy and remember why its so much fun to race. The pure challeng and adventure of the sport. Somehow we managed to pull into running place of 5th by pit 6. We were making good time and the Can Am was running perfectly. Then going up a steep hill we lost fuel pressure, and came to a stop about 9 miles out. We tried to find out the problem and after sitting for 20 minutes more we had a older couple who happed to be watching the race on a quad had 1 gallon of gas straped to their hood. We begged them for it and were on the way again. 1 mile from the finish we ran out again. We check and saw we had 4-5 gallons of fuel in the tank once we opened it, but found our fuel pick up had not been fully to the bottom of the tank. Fixed this, and pulled in to the finish after being passed by 3-4 utvs while getting gas in the last 10 miles. Over all we were happy just to finish, the odds were against us. The Can Am ran amazing, the Desert Toyz build was perfect, the ITP Baja Cross tires took a beating and performed all race long. Thanks to everyone for the help, and we look forward to seeing everyone for a good time in Parker in 2 weeks! Thanks to Jagged for help after the race!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V2WxjTsdeE]YouTube - 2011 BITD Silver State 300 limited class highlights[/ame]
Can view at 45 seconds