Scoob scoop: Rock to Rock 2000

Scoob Scoop - Rock to Rock 2000

It seems that there was more to the problems at Gila Monster then we knew. On trouble shooting the fuel injection I ended up completely removing the wiring harness for it and carefully re-installing it, which included all the wiring procedures that should be done; solder, shrink tube, grommets etc. To make this easier the old metal fenders and hood were removed; I had fiberglass hood and fenders on the shelf waiting to be mounted anyway. You ask, "what has that got to do with anything?" Well once the injection was rewired I couldn't really drive it around the neighborhood with out attracting a lot of attention. So I cranked the motor in the garage made some adjustments here and there and had it running ok but still a little rough. My co-drivers and I then took our time mounting the fenders thinking that was the only thing we had left to do. Jokes on me! Once we got the fenders mounted I drove it around a bit. The engine was running strong but was still missing a bit at lower rpm's. I figured it must be fouled plugs or bad wires or something. I brought it back to the shop and was inspecting the plug wires closely while I was changing the plugs, and I figured that I might as well do a compression check on the cylinders at the same time. The compression check showed that I had 0 compression on cylinders 3 and 4. A week and a half to go before the race. I immediately pulled the cylinder heads and found two bent valves and valve strike marks on the number 3 and 4 piston. Well since the motor was last rebuilt in 1994 it was probably about time to rebuild the bottom end anyway. Further tear down of the engine revealed a mushroomed lifter, a ground off cam lobe, copper showing on most of the bearings, warped heads, 3 bent valves, and 2 bent push rod's. Moral of that story.... overheating your engine is bad...(duh). Last years Gila monster busted the radiator which resulted in 250+ water temp, and this years Gila Monster same deal except for a thrown fan belt. With the help of my Tucson Racer friends we got the engine removed and found a good machinist and engine builder that could get the motor done in time. We completed some minor things over the weekend while we waited for the motor to get back, which we got back Tuesday afternoon. We had it installed Tuesday night and finally got it cranked Wednesday night 9p.m., two days before the race. I was able to put about 150 miles on it around town to get it broken in. We still had the belt-tossing problem but that was quickly fixed with some pulley shims and a washer. The tranny didn't quite feel like it was shifting correctly but was still working fine.

We had planned on an 8am Friday departure from Tucson to get us to Rocky Point around lunch. We stayed up late Thursday night loading the truck getting as much done as we could. We ended up departing at 11a.m.... It was a relatively uneventful trip to the beach, only one incident where a sleeping bag decided it wanted to make a break for it, flying out of the back of the pickup, diving under the race trailer and getting ran over by a car. My chase crew pulled over and jogged back to get it, and a little ol' lady actually picked him up and brought him back up to the truck, with the injured sleeping bag.

Once in Rocky Point we went straight to the Best Western registered, tech'd, and had a couple "frozen drinks" at the pool. We then relaxed at Manny's restaurant bartered with the vendors ended up with a new Baja shirt and straw hat. We had a few more items to do on the race truck but considered how tired we were, and the reasonable race start time in the morning. We decided wrenching in the morning would be more effective. We secured the race truck and trailer in town for the night and went out to Cholla bay for some ZZZZZ's. After the best night sleep all week we finished up the details on the truck which included installing the in car camera (Scoob Design), checking the fluids and all that normal stuff. On the way to the drivers meeting the race truck stalled a couple of times but we passed it off as being cold (wrong!). The drivers meeting went as usual "the ultimate down arrow is two or more locals standing near the race course", and someone got abused for having a un-pretty truck in front of the whole group, another truck guy got teased about "looping it" on the starting line. Besides all that 12 heavies showed for this race. There was some discussion whether the 3's should run with the 8's we decided to split. That was one of those should've, would've, could've deals. Little did we know that we had a very good chance this day.

Starting line: Engines were revving, race gas was in the air, drivers and co-drivers trying to remain calm. We were all strapped in, helmets on, engine temp good, oil pressure good, in car camera rolling, creeping up into position. 3 cars back from the start line I goosed the truck to move up, it accelerated strong then the engine quit! We cranked and cranked to no avail, while my crew pushed us up to then to the side of the start line. My start position passed, the clock has started. Check the fuel- getting fuel, must be flooded-not flooded, check spark-dang no spark, hot-wire the coil-still no spark. It's got to be something dumb, we can't DNF on the start line, the adrenaline is making it hard to think through the troubleshooting, all the cars have left the start line, argh. Hey what's that, dang the ignition wire coming off the starter has melted in two on the header (rushed engine install...). All right button it up, twist and wrap the wires of we go. Wife "Hey be careful the policia are gone so you'll have to watch traffic" Me "yes, pick you up later"(she was scheduled to get in at check 8). The truck was running great we wove our way around traffic, paused at the stop sign and made our way down the asphalt to the race course I think we surprised a few locals on the way. I hadn't burned down the adrenaline to a manageable level yet so we blasted/pounded our way down the first mile or so, got surprised by a big hole which gained us considerable air. My co-driver commented later that he was wondering if the whole 200 miles was going to be like this (no). A few miles later I settled in the "groove". We saw some dust ahead, I thought, all right we are catching somebody already. We did catch somebody but it was just some gringos packed into a jeep having some fun, they got surprised also. Later I found out that we passed a few 8 trucks that were done, didn't see 'em. 15 miles into the race the tranny was hunting between 1st and 2nd and I couldn't hold 2nd gear. 20 miles is kinda tough driving in 1st or 3rd gear, 1st was to low and 3rd was to high. Met our chase crew at check 2 to look over the truck and get some drinking water. Everything looked good on the temps so we continued. We made good time up to the well road, we heard Jay talk about the construction on the well road and the dirt work, but we were still surprised by the big truck swallowing ditch, kinda unnerving at 80mph. We finished the well road, but the tranny was getting worse and the temp was coming up. At race mile 36 or so at the base of a small hill we found #800 Mike Doherty, #306 Mark Wright, and a MC guy having a picnic or something. We got them to dump in a couple of quarts of tranny fluid and headed on down the racecourse. As soon as we took off we couldn't get 3rd gear anymore, so we were down to only first...well maybe it'll come back. We passed another MC rider sunbathing about race mile 38. I was still trying to get it to shift to 3rd on whoop-de-doo road. At race mile 40 we hung a U-turn and called it quits, not looking forward to loosing the tranny on the back side of the mountains. On the way back we picked up the MC rider and strapped his bike to the top of the spare tires, a little further down the policia estati was helping another MC rider and we tied a strap to his handle bars and towed him out also. He only took a dive once in some really deep silt, I was worried about him but the MC rider riding in the truck matter-of-factly said he was fine. We made it to the well road check where we left the towed MC rider, he wisely decided he didn't want to be towed down the highway, as we were headed for the Oasis in 1st gear topped out at 40mph. Halfway to the Oasis the torque converter blew in a spectacular cloud of smoke. So we decided, this place was good as any to hang out for awhile. #303 chase came by and offered any assistance. They didn't have the time to give us a tow since Tom Swanson was still kickin' it on the race course, and since there wasn't much else we needed they hooked us up with some cold beverages and headed out to meet Tom. My chase crew (1 truck) was busy at the "Curio Chop" waiting for us to come by on the racecourse and couldn't be reached on the radio or through Whiplash main. Steve Kuker and Jeff Wells crew came by and graciously gave me a tow to the Oasis.

We stuck around at the Oasis and watched only two 8's and two 3's finish out of the 12 heavies. We bummed a few beverages off of friends and bench raced with the rest of the racers that were already at the Oasis for one reason or another. There was just enough tranny left to back the race truck into storage, I didn't think it was going anywhere for the night. Once the crew and the rest of our Tucson racer buds arrived we went into town and gratefully got a hot shower at a friend's rental house. We then made our way out to JJ's for some grub, support our fellow racers, drink some margaritas, dance a little, and watch Beeler's head get bigger.

Sunday morning we took our time in getting up, and was reassured that, yes, we did have much fun at JJ's. We had an awesome brunch at the fishmarket with huge bloodymarys, a cool breeze, and fish tacos. While we were there, there was a group of porpoises playing 50-100 yards from our table, para-sailors, and skydivers to be seen. We enjoyed a long scenic and relaxing brunch. It then of course got exciting (for lack of better word) again once we made it back up to the Oasis to load the race truck. Those who were there will know exactly what I'm talking about and will probably grin at the memory. And those that weren't there will probably see a picture in the SON or on the web site. I'll just say this, it is rather difficult to load a race truck on a tilt bed trailer with an intermittent transmission, and nothing was damaged.

The trip home was un-eventful. The Mexican atmosphere was awesome as always, and made up for only going 40 miles on the racecourse. I was looking forward to running down the asphalt for 11 miles and not that pound your truck to bits section, but for safety I guess... The new motor ran great, and our bodies were ready for another 160 miles of desert. Hopefully our unlucky cycle is coming to an end soon. Thanks to the Commons, Doherty, Kolt, Kuker, Wells, and Swanson crews, Peurto Penasco, The Oasis, and Whiplash.

#311 Scoob