Josh Daniel Earns First Win With New Twin Turbo Trophy Truck
at BITD BlueWater Desert Challenge
From the moment Josh Daniel took the TTTT off the trailer this past weekend, the race was his. The TTTT, being Daniel’s 1000 horsepower twin turbo trophy truck, was debuted at this year’s Mint 400 and three races is all it took for Danzio Motorsports to flawlessly tune the engine housed in the Geiser built trophy truck. First to the podium in both days of racing, Daniel earned his first win in the new truck at this weekend’s Best in the Desert’s BlueWater Desert Challenge.
Daniel began the weekend qualifying +04.350 seconds faster than 2013 BITD Champion, Jason Voss, averaging a blistering 61.2mph on the three and half mile track. It was a perfect start to two days of 76 miles in which an all or nothing sprint to the finish was inevitable each day. Immediately, people began speculate that Josh’s truck was “set up perfectly for this course†to which he replied, “if it’s going to work here, it’s going to work anywhere. We have this truck dialed.â€
The top qualifying position granted Daniel the lone starting position off the line. The rest of the field started side by side in a head to head duel to the open desert. The open air allowed him to average two miles per hour faster than #99 Kyle Leduc, who was +00:42 back at that point. He got after it particularly on lap two and put an additional +01:56 on Leduc. Day one was wrapped with Daniel first to the finish line ahead of Jason Voss and Steve Olliges.
“Here we are. No issues today puts us up here on the podium in first place,†commented Daniel at the finish line. “Tomorrow’s another day, I know I’ll these guys behind me breathing down my back.â€
Historically, Parker has been Daniel’s nemesis. Home to two of only three crashes in his career, the Arizona desert has left him pulled off the course broken on every other attempt. Even with a +04:20 minute lead on Voss and +05:07 on Olliges, Daniel knew that it wouldn’t be an easy cruise to the finish on Sunday. Looking back he said, “I had to push it hard for the first two laps to keep a cushion in case I had a flat or any issue.â€
This time around, Josh started side by side next to Jason Voss. It was do or die. Open air meant controlling race pace and an easier time keeping his lead built on day one. However, the day was spent mostly fending off off-road hall of famer, Rob MacCachren, who took over driving duties from Steve Olliges on Sunday. Rob needed to make up five minutes and eight seconds to steal the win on Sunday.
Josh smoked Voss off the line and the time splits after lap one read:
1. Josh Daniel
2. Kyle Leduc +00:00:02
3. Steve Rob MacCachren +00:00:03
With Voss now out of the mix and Leduc eventually out on the second lap, Daniel and MacCachren came in to the Parker Python separated by one second, with Josh still ahead physically. The Danzio crew was watching splits and communicating that Rob was all over him. By this time, Josh was driving at about 75% to ensure the overall win and knew that MacCachren would eventually catch him.
Near the river with five miles to go, Rob caught Josh and gave him a little bump. Josh played it cool and let MacCachren go by knowing that he could cruise to the finish. Though MacCachren continued on to win the day, Josh won the race on overall time by +03:54.
“Rob Mac is a badass dude. We didn’t ‘win’ today but that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to win the race overall and that’s what we did,†said Josh at the line. He came up on us and gave us a little tap. I said, see you later! This win is just the beginning with such a great crew and endless list of sponsors.â€
Josh Daniel will end the season at the Henderson 250 on December 7th.
Josh Daniel’s program is title sponsored by Rockstar Energy. The team is also supported by Jamar, Rancho Drivetrain, Turbonetics, Baja Designs, Daily Engineering, Richards Performance Mufflers, Dapper Man Brand, Mastercraft, Team Ford, Danzio Performance, D&D Laser Screed, Fox, Geiser Brothers, Heatshield products.
