4-7-07
It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I could see the traffic out on the highway was all jeeps headed south to the rock race so I unloaded the Fat Dog and made a run down there too to see what a rock race was like. They had two lanes and they would each race the clock in their lane. They ran two at a time but they were running against the clock and not each other. This little drop off at the start doesn’t look that bad but they came down off of it almost straight down but the front wheels pulled them forward and kept them from tipping over.
This guy was sure hauling ass but got into a little trouble….
this guy just climed up out of a hole and they have amazing control on these cars. I think he has locked up the rear end and is pivoting himself around with the front end. They often just dig with the front wheels and then engage the rear when the going is straight.
Another hot shoe guy.
getting out of this hole was the toughest part of the course as far as I could see. These guys are amazing in what they can make these little cars do.
I took a walk back in the pits and found this guy fixing his car. He said the power steering pump got broke.
This car was probably one of the most powerful screamers that I saw run. You can see the controls that he has available.
and the power to move it………….. fast………..
This was another screamer that was totally high tech.
Ahh, the smell of the crowd.
He bonked this rock pretty hard. They often hit rocks hard and just coming down off the hills put an enormous strain on the chassis. That is why they are built so damn stout.
He had a hell of a time getting out of that hole.
But when he did he made that little car scream…..
This guy poked a hole in his tire and was squirting fluid out but he did finally make it out of that damn hole. I hadn’t realized that the tires must be filled with calcium cloride to give them weight.
This was another high velocity rig.
As I was leaving I went by this Montana rig. One guy that was walking by said that the guy had over a hundred grand in it. Interesting license plate……
I was hoping to see Charlie and Jeanne’s son Robert who lives over in Bozeman and has a business making monster trucks but I guess this rock truck is different than what he makes. I am sure he would like it down here for this event but he must be snowed in up there. It was tee shirt and shorts weather down here. The crowd was interesting too in that there were lots of young folks here and I think even more of them than us old gray hairs. There were even a few dogs that got to come to the race and I snuck a few pets when I could.
