BITD: Nevada 1000: Team Hummer preview
pr...@motorsport.com
Reno, NV - June 15, 2002: The Nevada 1000, second event on Best in the
Desert Racing Association's `Silver State Series' schedule, heads for
Las Vegas, Nevada, June 19-23 where Team HUMMER is favored to win the
three day endurance race. The two months since our last race has been
a busy time for the Team HUMMER crew. Last month team owner, Rod Hall,
loaded up several HUMMER H2's to escort journalists from the New York
Times and Car & Diver Magazine on a re-trace of the original Baja
1000 to La Paz, Mexico. Shortly after Rod's return team driver, Chad
Hall, left for Iceland to do an H2 commercial and recently spent another
week at the factory at a dealership training program for the all-new
HUMMER. While all this was taking place, the crew has been moving the
race shop to a new location in Reno, so it has been a challenge to get
the trucks ready in time for the race.
Chief mechanics, Brad Falin and Sam Cothren have somehow managed to
carry out the preparation of both trucks with few problems in spite
of all the changes going on around them. Falin, installed a new frame
on the #8103 HUMMER Pick-up and upgraded the truck to a set of new
polyurethane motor mounts similar to the ones we had recently installed
on the SUV. "In spite of our first place finish at the Terrible's Town
250, we had problems with the gas pressure on the Pick-up's new shocks,"
said Falin. "We built and installed adjustable metering valves on each
unit to regulate the flow between the reservoir and the shock body and
this time there aren't going to be any problems."
The Team HUMMER SUV had suspension problems of their own at the
Terrible's Town event. One shock was destroyed when the upper mounting
tab broke on the driver's side front shock. There was a significant
amount of collateral damage to the shock tower and various other front
suspension parts, all of which needed repair or replacement. While we
were making a couple of new shocks, Cothren upgraded the mounting tabs
on the remaining units. After fabricating many new parts to repair the
damage to the front suspension, Sam prepped the #4103 SUV and met Rod
at the test track to make sure everything was ready to go. Limit straps
were made and installed in both trucks as an added precaution.
The event begins on Thursday, June 20th, about 75 miles Northeast of Las
Vegas and will be run over the course of three days in what BitD calls
a "staged" format. First introduced to U.S. desert racing at the Nevada
2000 two years ago, the Nevada 1000 is structured in separate stages,
much like the internationally renowned Paris/Dakar race. Each vehicle
draws a starting position within their class and takes the start at one
minute intervals, by group. At the end of the first day of competition,
starting positions are then determined by each entry's total time on
course. At the next stage the teams resume the race in order of overall
position regardless of vehicle class. In this way each stage becomes a
qualifying race for the following day's starting position. At the end
of each day the teams are each allotted a 70 minute time period in a
mandated work area to prepare their cars for the next stage, after which
the cars are impounded for the night. Any time over the limit will be
added to the entry's time on course so it is vital that the crews be
particularly well organized and efficient if this is to be accomplished.
Long distance endurance racing is an area which favors the HUMMER
because it is designed and built specifically to live over long
distances in hostile terrain. At Team HUMMER, we have the added
advantage of an experienced crew and winning drivers, like Rod and Chad
Hall, who regularly put on many miles of seat time between each race
testing the race vehicles and HUMMERs that they sell at Winkel/Rod Hall
HUMMER in Reno.
For more information about HUMMER vehicles visit www.hummer.com and
follow Team HUMMER at www.rodhall.com.
- grt -
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