PRIMM, NV-  It was a moderate 85 degrees at 7:00am when Desert Rides arrived in full force behind Buffalo Bills Hotel and Casino.  Armed and ready with cameras, notepads, and a passion for desert racing, we started the day off with a photo shoot of Dennis Green’s Ford F-150 prerunner.  It was now 8:00am and the teams started to unveil their beautiful prerunners as they lined up for the course reconnaissance run.  Some teams were just arriving and were ready for the prerun, while others were trying to recover from the night before in the infamous Tree Bar inside Buffalo Bills.  A couple new prerunners received their race course christening, Scott Steinberger of PCI Race Radios had his Newline built Ford F-150 prerunner, Team Herzog, and Eli Yee’s team both had brand new Ford F-150 prerunners ready to tackle the Southern Nevada desert.  As the racers waited in line to start their run, Desert Rides met and chatted with a few of them.  Steve Sourapas was in his Dodge prerunner, Buddy Feldkamp, who races the Glen Helen class 1 car, was piloting his Ford F-150 prerunner, and Tim Price, owner of Baja Bros. Clothing Co., was driving his Ford Ranger prerunner

Contingency officially opened at 2:00pm, as the Wilson Racing class1 cars were the first to enter.  Flatbillers and true off-road racing fans mixed as they shuffled from booth to booth looking at what each company’s new products.  Rory Ward, owner and graphic artist of Racers Only Clothing, had his new ‘Old School’ t-shirt for sale.  H&M Motorsports had their nearly finished HM1 turnkey race truck and a new Ford Ranger leaf spring shackle on display, and Bob Bowers of Dirtworks Films had his latest video, ‘On The Gas-Volume 2’ out for purchase.  Tony Tellier and I had a deep conversation about the flatbillers that are infecting these races now.  He commented that ‘they need to tape levels on the bills of their hats to make sure they are totally flat’.  Alan Pflueger had his brand new Porter built Trophy Truck on display.  Sticking with the Chevrolet look of his Protruck, Alan’s new Chevy Trophy Truck front clip is the first of it’s kind.

The Faces of Contingency

Busy body Bob Bowers of Dirtworks Films on the phone at contingency.	Off-road artwork king, Rory Ward, discussing his new t-shirt design.	Tony Tellier relieves himself of the heat and of the flatbillers.
Danny Porter (right) with Steve Sourapas who looks ready to tackle Primm.	Alan Plueger (right) ecstatic about his new TT built by Danny Porter (left).	Nick Vanderway with his 'Got Milk?' class 8 Chevy waiting in line at contingency.
Buff (right) and Kevin from H&M Motorsports ready for any fabrication related inquiry.	SCORE director Sal Fish goes over the rules of Friday's prerun with Buddy Feldkamp.	Team Vildosola ready for action, Rob MacCachran (right), Gus Vildosola (center), and Willie Valdez.
Buddy Feldkamp of the Glen Helen Raceway gives the big thumbs up before Friday's prerun.	Tim Price, owner of Baja Bros. Clothing, is all smiles while waiting in line before prerunning.	Craig Turner ready to check the course out in his Ford F-150 prerunner.
A TT driver in the making, a young fan learning the controls of the Corona Trophy Truck.	Jimmy Messick and Casey Jefferies take the class 1 car of Rick Romans through tech.	Travis Fletcher readies himself for the brutal day of racing ahead of him in his 1600 car.

Every year you get to meet more and more great people at contingency.  Desert Rides was privileged enough to chat with the big names in desert racing, as well as the people behind the scenes who make it happen.We got to talk to some of the members of the Vildosola Racing crew; Gustavo Vildosola-owner and driver, Rob MacCachran-driver, Willie Valdez-riding mechanic, Loretta Pipkin-media director, Loretta was very nice and helpful to us.  We also met and talked with Jim Dizney and Ramsey El Wardani.

It was now 7:00pm, every booth was closed for the night, and was time for us to head back to Henderson to plan our logistics for the next day.  Twelve hours at tech, and another twelve expected for the race, all in the name of desert racing.

Questions? Comments? Please visit our forum