Part of serving your country is that you have to move "occasionally". I have been lucky enough to live in Arizona since 1994. In that short time I have been lucky enough to participate in some of the most extreme and awesome motorsports in the world, and make some lifetime friends.
Extreme like, holy moly, did anybody get that on video, awesome like, that’s what that dude meant by purple mountains majesty. At my other Duty locations I only experienced the mud bogging type of terrain. My first Arizona Off-Highway experience introduced me at full bore, the drinking from a fire hose type deal. The Charleau Gap trail with a rating of 4.5 was my first lesson with the Tucson Rough Riders. "Air down my tires, why?" "Follow the other Blazer, Ok." "We have to go up that? (gulp)". My experiences later included events like Trail Dust Days, the Arizona Rough Riders Spook rally, several Baja 500’s, 1000’s, Baja 2000, The Nevada 2000, 3 Whiplash Championship series, Mikes Sky Rancho, and a bunch of Tecates and Margarita’s in Mexico.
During my initial rock crawling days I met what my wife calls the evil man of all time, Brent, the President of the Tucson Rough Riders. I did not know at the time that Brent was a regular co-driver for Don Kolt. Sometime after that Aaron Commons, a fellow "brother in arms" and rock crawler, says to me while we are watching the Dakar in Italian at a deployed location, "hey if you build a Desert Truck I’ll ride with you" and thus became my first fearless Co-Driver. This is where Brent’s "evil" comes in, he introduces me to the Arizona racing legend Don Kolt to help me install a cage in my rock crawler. A friendship was established on short order, as he helped me work on my truck I helped on his. This I learned is the first principle of Desert Racing. I soon learned about suspension, shocks, wheel travel, cooling, Murphy’s law, etc.. Through him I met many other Desert Racers at all levels, which have all enhanced the experience exponentially. Along the way I met World famous Class 8 Racer Mike Doherty who provided hand me down Chevy parts, lessons on how to promote your race team, and how to prepare for a race. Another friend that I owe our success to is Chad Nichols of Nichols fabrication. He has been a dedicated team member from our first race, he was the key player that enabled us to "step up" our race program with better race prep, additional expert fabrication, motivation, clarity at times of confusion, and of course co-drivership. I owe Brent for introducing me to Chad also. Chad introduced me to the most skillful and dependable pit/chase crew in southern Arizona Alfred and Justin. Other Tucson racers are envious of my crew.
So the point of this is that duty calls, Team Scoob will have to be split up. I have received marching orders to move to San Antonio to use my real job experience to teach bright shiny trainees how to be aircrew members. I am supposed to be ready for duty no later than April 30th, 2002. Team Scoob is considering how to participate at the San Felipe 250 for one more extreme race before the race truck is sold or hauled off to Alamo City. I will still be able to work on web pages and radio stuff, but there will be some shipping involved now. Some of the bits that will stay with me:
"The Fastest guy doesn’t always win!" DK
"Slow is Fast" LR
"Don’t worry about beating the other guys until you have beaten the desert" DK
"You have to finish to win" UNK
"Just gas it" SK
"Race prep starts before you take it off the trailer after the race" MD
Team Scoob has participated in the Whiplash Champion series for 3 years out of our 3 years Desert Racing experience. Of those years we came away with two 1st Place Championships and one 2nd place. Our success could not have been attained without our team mates, sponsors, and friends.
THANK YOU!
El Quesso
Chad Nichols of Nichols fabrication Co-Driver/Fabricator/Race Prep
Aaron Commons Co-Driver/Race Prep
Alfred Hudgin - Crew Chief/Mechanic/Pit Crew/Chase
Justin Kelly - Crew Chief/Mechanic/Pit Crew/Chase
Tiffany Commons - Pit Boss
Collin Hyde - Parts/Tire Consult
Don Kolt - Training/Fabrication/Car Washes/Networking/Catering
Mike Doherty - Training/Promotion
Riley Maloney - Chemical Warfare
GRG Construction
Steve and Pam-ADS Machine
Larry and Danny-Foddrill Fabrication
Sheppard/Ragland Racing
King Shocks
Shoei Helmets
El Quesso
Copper State Bolt and Nut
Art Carr
Don's Hot Rod
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