first off thanks to all my friends and family for support.
thanks Alan. this was a long time coming. ive been helping chad hummer with his class 8 (fullsize stock mod) bronco since last yr and rode copilot multiple times and loved it. Jack Adams (raced koh 4x i think and now races ascc-short course) has been hounding me since last yr also to get my buggy out there and race with him. so recently i decided im pretty much done with the hardcore rock crawling, its just too stressful at the top level of hard trails and when you break you really break stuff. i had almost gone as far as parting out my buggy and building a desert/play truck that has glass, doors, heater,ac, and more but decided to give it one more attemp at something.
so... i got the window nets installed a few weeks ago, replaced my bellcranks(cantilever arms) with new stronger ones i built, and made the other necessary changes to the buggy to meet safety tech. up until this past weds i actually almost couldnt walk half the time since i hurt my lower back 2.5 wks ago. Fri i got my short course wheels back from powdercoat(wheels gotta be black) and found out theres no more beadlock rings available or going to be made for my wheels. way pissed, but figured well ill just rock the 39" desert tires and still try and race. made half a lap on fri nights practice and had the fuel pump fuse blow and front driveshaft start rubbing the frame. the driveshaft was an unknown since i havent had it in 4wd since i swapped out the doubler for a single case. went home. got up at 430am on sat and went to the shop. traced all the wire nothing. decided to pull the fuel tank apart. wallah. the ethanol in gas reacts with heat shrink and unshrunk where i had butt spliced the factory fuel pump harness. just the right slosh would cause the wire to move and ground out on the post holding everything. cool thats fixed, now on to the driveshaft. found that the drivetrain was actually shifting to the drivers side about an 1/8", just enough to hit the frame. modified the mount and good. then looked at the clock and figured i got time to mount 4 35" short course tires, taking the rings off my desert wheels. got it all done and made the heat race..... made 2 laps. a wire that i had forgot about found its way through the floor and the driveshaft said ummmm i want. sucked it completely through the floor and shorted another fuse. crap!
got towed back to the trailer, sorted it out and made the main race. they inverted the starting order and i got to start pole position(1st) awesome! stayed in 1st for half the race. when i went wide in turn 1 i slid and hit the wall pretty good(bent the front wheel) and went into 2nd. held nd till the 3rd to last lap and in turn 5 i almost rolled. turn 5 is a left hand 180 with the second half of the turn dropping about 10ft. i turned to hard and put it on the pass side 2 wheels darn near 90s to the ground. a quick right turn and throttle saved it but the mistake had been made. i fell into 4th and finished 4th in my class of 4(me racing for the first time against 3 other guys who have been doing it for 2 seasons). but did get 4th overall out of 9 in the race. we race with the open v8 desert trucks also.
good times for sure. had a blast despite the uphill battle. the next race is Oct 14th at firebird. kinda sucks its a sunday but its a 1 day event. speedworld is always 2days with practice on fri and heat and mains on sat. nationals are in vegas in nov. ill try and find pics. havent seen a single one from this past weekend yet from anybody. kinda sucks, first race and no pics.