Anyone in off road racing will tell you that some days  just don’t go your way.  On April 6th, outside of Ridgecrest, California, at the HDRA 250,  the Dirt Circus crew fought back hard against what the desert would throw at them.  Rewind to Thursday before the race, Scott, Cronus, Kevin, and Brandon headed out to the desert early to secure a pit location and get setup.   Race truck in tow, fully prepped and fueled.  Friday was busy guiding in all the RV rigs which held our valuable pit crew and family and friends.  Around 3pm it was time to head to the fairgrounds for tech.  What a great experience, this was our first HDRA event and it was top notch.  Truck passed inspection and after checking out some other vehicles, vendor booths, and talking to other racers, we headed back to camp.

Friday night at 8pm was the drivers meeting in town at a sports bar.  Another great experience, with Monster Energy sponsoring the evening and making the racers feel welcome….hey, the meeting is mandatory, so we had to go.

Saturday morning, staging for the race starts around 8:30. The race will be 60 mile loops with Class 1400 running 3 laps, there are 23 trucks starting in our group.  Not much wind to speak of.  Desert racing is really the only time we wish for wind.  The green flag drops and we fairly quickly start gaining on trucks ahead of us, but the dust and a mandatory stop check at the Trona Rd crossing causes us to lose a couple positions, but desert races are not won in the first 10 minutes, apparently they are not won in 9 hours either, but we’ll get to that.

Cronus set a good pace and before long we are passing through Pit B, where Jake and Todd are posted as our remote pit.  About 3 miles later, a hard front end hit on a rock causes the engine to cut out and it feels like the driveline may have been damaged.  Scott jumps out and there is nothing obvious but the motor will not restart.  We determine it’s a fuel pump issue and the HDRA retrieval guys tow us back to Pit B for repairs but not before the helicopter filming the race does a fly by.

So with help from our crew, we get power to the fuel pump and get back on the course….for about 3 miles, until the engine cuts out….again.  We decide to pull power for the fuel pump from a different source, and we are going again.  The whole ordeal cost us about an hour and a half and we had only covered about 27 miles of the first lap.  Forgot to add that, while troubleshooting the fuel pump issue, we noticed an oil leak from the right front shock reservoir fitting.  Not getting a warm fuzzy feeling for how this race is playing out.

We make it through the rest of the lap without issue and at our main pit, Scott switches over to the drivers seat and David jumps in as co-dog for lap 2.     The second lap is without incident, and into the main pit to switch drivers for lap 3.  Cronus jumps back in as driver and his 13 year old daughter takes the co-dog seat for the first time.  Knowing we are way behind on time, the goal is just finish the race.  One 60 mile lap to go, so strategy says take it easy.  12 miles in, the call on the radio is not good. The left front wheel came off and the damage report sounds unrepairable.  Pit crews gather tools and spare parts and head out to try and locate the truck.  Fortunately it is accessible and Cronus and the crew from Pit B are already trying to sort out the mess.  A broken spindle nut caused the wheel assembly to come loose.  We bolt on a spare spindle, reassemble the hub, and crimp off the brake line.  Back on four wheels, with time running out.

The whole team anxiously waiting at the finish line to see the truck come over the horizon.  Finally it appears and crosses the line with 6 minutes to spare.  The time limit was 9 hours.  According to the race director, we celebrated more than the overall winner of the race.  Long, tough day but the Dirt Circus team finished 11th place in class out of 23 starters.

Big thanks to the crew and our sponsors Maxtrax, SoCalFirePits, Valley Plating, and Fox Shox! Also thanks to Phil Kaos Photography for the awesome action shot at the top and for covering the race.

As in any desert race, the key word is FINISH, which we did! Grabbing a very respectable 4th place out of 12 trucks in our class.  The 3rd place truck was a mere 35 seconds ahead of us after 200 miles.  M.O.R.E. put on a great event. This was a double loop course with our class running 6 laps on the large loop and 6 laps on the small loop which meant a lot of action in the pits for our crew and good opportunities to swap drivers and co-drivers.  All the preparation and testing paid off with our only issue being one flat tire.  The new Lee power steering system worked flawlessly.

Scott and Cronus took turns in the drivers seat, while Brandon, Cindy, Susie and our good friend Bryan did the co-driving.  Brandon is becoming a solid co-driver now after having been in a few races and is calling out information rather than just saying the occasional “This is soooo awesome.”  This was Bryan’s first time racing and after 20 miles of pushing his foot against the floor board (as if it would slow Cronus down), he relegated himself to be at the mercy of whatever the desert might throw at him and relax and have fun.  Cindy and Susie each co-drove for 3 of the last 6 laps and since Barstow is “their territory” from racing the Powder Puff races, Cronus and Scott did whatever the girls told them to do for fear of the “I told you so.”  Well it payed off and we can chalk up another finish with the guys behind the wheel!

All in all we had a great weekend and we have a great team to thank for all the support!   Stay tuned for info on the next race….

>>>>>>CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY<<<<<<

Holiday 200 12-1-12

51 Photos

The Dirt Circus crew is just finishing up prep on the truck for the M.O.R.E. Holiday 200 race in Barstow on December 1st.  This race is also a Toys for Tots fund raiser so we get to have fun and help out a great charity.  The truck has a whole new power steering system by Lee Manufacturing and nothing better to give it a good test like the rough stuff in Barstow. Plus freshened up shocks back from FOX Racing, new police siren, and lots of new Grade 8 hardware holding it together.    All that and we still found time to hit Mammoth Mountain on opening weekend…  Check out some of the pics and wish us luck on race day!

Dirt Circus Racing is proud to announce the addition of our newest sponsor: VALLEY PLATING WORKS, INC.  Based out of Los Angeles, Valley Plating specializes in all types of electroplating including zinc and chrome plating and also offers polishing and tooling services.  It’s a family owned and operated business that can take care of all size jobs and delivers a quick turn around all while being environmentally conscious.  Many metal components and automotive parts used in off-road racing can benefit from a protective durable finish and Valley Plating can deliver!  They can service not only automotive applications, but virtually every industry from construction hardware to medical and computer equipment.

We are pleased to have the support of such a long-standing family business that provides quality products and services.  You can check them out in more detail at www.valleyplating.com or give them a call at (323) 838-9208.

Yes, you read it right! Wow, what an awesome race and great event despite the bad weather leading up to race day. An almost perfect race, no flats, smooth pit stops and lots and lots of fun.  Cronus drove the first two laps, Scott drove laps 3 and 4, and Cindy drove lap 5 with Susie as co-dog to take the checkered flag.  THANK YOU to all our friends and family that came out to help, we can’t do it without you!  Thanks to our Sponsors: MAXTRAX, So Cal Fire Pits, Fox Racing Shox, Rigid Lighting and Mickey Thompson Tires!

Check back for a full race write up and video…..for now, here’s a few stills from the weekend.

Not as far as Dirt Circus is concerned!  We just got the big 3.0 front shocks back from Fox all freshened up and they look like brand new!  Thanks Fox Racing!

Front end is ready to go back together with the shocks and new bushings for the front kingpins.  New harnesses are installed and getting the rest of the truck prepped for the April 14th SNORE PCI Race Radios 300 in Ridgecrest, CA.

Also, we will have a booth at tech /contingency at the fairgrounds selling the MAXTRAX.  Check them out on our MAXTRAX page!

Now that hockey is winding down the racing effort is getting ready to kick into high gear. Over the last few weeks the truck traded in its old-school lightbar for a sleek new 50″ LED from Rigid Industries. Rigid’s LEDs are practically indestructible. Along with that, the bumper was enlarged to accommodate an additional LED up front. The broken engine mounts from the last race have been replaced with beefier ones, a new radiator and fan were installed, and the truck is sporting new window trim. Lastly, the front shocks are at Fox Racing being rebuilt.

All of this is being done with an eye toward the upcoming PCI Race Radios 300 race in Ridgecrest on Saturday, April 14th. We hope to see a lot of you out there! In the meantime, be sure to check out the pics below.

At the SNORE 250 the stage was set for the guys to try to match the girls’ success two weeks before.  It would be a five lap race around a 42 mile loop, with Scott driving the first two laps and Cronus driving for the last three.  There were originally four trucks in our class, but one didn’t start the race due to mechanical problems, so we only had two direct competitors:  A well-built, red Toyota Tacoma and a very high-dollar truck which was built from the ground up for racing.  The high-dollar truck was yellow and built like a tank, with an engine that puts out over 500 HP.  If race trucks were Transformers then the yellow one would have taken our little green machine’s lunch money and thrown him in the trashcan.  The yellow beast was leading the class in points for the 2011 season, with the red Tacoma in second.  But upsets do happen, right?  As Chris Berman says, “That’s why they play the game.”

Click “Read more…” below to see the rest of the story.

The 2011 Powder Puff race was a huge success.  Our girls had a great time in the dirt while placing first in their class.  They were the fastest truck in the morning race, and finished three laps in the allotted time.  All those hours of crossfit seem to have paid off!

Bree and Christy are officially desert racers now, and they can be proud of the fact that they got their start on what many consider to be the roughest desert racing course in North America.  But a video is worth a million words, so check it out:

Click here for video

Click here for race pic

The truck is primed and ready to go!  In a recent testing session one of the girls was overheard saying “it straight up hauls ass.”  I won’t say whether it was Nora or Josie.  But seriously, Scott has the truck dialed-in and ready for the Powder Puff race in Barstow this coming weekend.  Improvements include a power steering cooler, a rewired electrical system, a sweet new LED light bar, and a brand new driveline.  The old driveline was refurbished and is now mounted on the truck as a backup.  Needless to say, now that we have a spare we’ll never need it.

The ladies are excited for the race.  Bree and Christy are probably having second thoughts after being shown all the safety stuff on the truck.  Isn’t it weird how all the safety stuff actually makes it seem less safe?   It’s still safer than bullfighting.  Really.  Ernest Hemingway supposedly said, “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”  But nobody has ever been gored by a bull in a desert race, so the girls can sleep soundly.

Click “Read more” for pics of the preparations.