Oh wow.... all that and a bag of chips! Buggies, trucks, jeeps, a dang trophy truck! What a weekend!!!
Headed out to Goldendale on Saturday morning.... ;D The drive was quick, and as soon as we broke over to the other side the Mountains the sun was shining and the temps climbing. It was nice, sunny and warm, but not to warm, a bit windy, but not cold... it was just about perfect....
After a quick drive we arrived at Starvation Ridge. We paid our admission and headed down pit road to find a place to camp. We ran into Brock just finishing up tech, said hi and then set up camp. I knew it was going to be tough with a tent, but I had no idea how tough....
We set up the tent, and honestly I think its easier if I just do it myself, but JT wanted to help, so we fought with the tent / kite and the wind, and after about an hour we had it set up, and staked down. The race track sits in this valley surrounded by windmills. That should have been a sign.... It was going to get windy, and I was already wondering if the tent would survive the night.
We walked down past the start, and then walked another mile or so out to a pond that the course curved around. It was a good view, with some cool dragon flies buzzing around it. We watched a few of the UTV's and Zuki's go by, and then I decided we would head up to the official spectator area.... It was just another mile or so up over the ridge.... JT was not happy with my decision, but off we went, and he trooped right up the hill with me.
We got up to the spectator area and watched the cars go by, but we didn't have any chairs.... Our previous spot was actually better. (I hate it when the kid is right!! ;D). So as I was trying to figure out how to explain to JT that we should walk back I over heard some folks talking about catching a shuttle...
Seems they had a shuttle we could have taken... oh well...
We caught the shuttle back, and trecked down to our campsite to grab the cooler and some chairs. We rested for a bit, and then headed down to the start / stop line, grabbed a couple burgers from the snack bar and caught the shuttle back out to the spectator spot. We watched a couple laps and then caught the shuttle back in.
The cooler I have is not so cool. I had packed up the night before we left and knew I would need to stop and get some ice.... but forgot to get some in Lyle before heading out to the track. For future reference, there is NOTHING near the track. You either trek into Goldendale or back down to Lyle for supplies. I chose Goldendale, so after a quick rest, JT and I headed off to Goldendale. On our way out of the track we ran into Larry Gipson and his family coming in. We chatted for a second and then headed out. I was in a hurry to try and make Goldendale and back before the buggies and trucks pre-ran the course that evening. We found the IGA store (which JT thought was cooler than anything we have here for some reason), and then made the tyreck back out to the track. It was kinda cool heading back out because you can't see anything but rolling hills and fields until you pop up over the last hill and then voila! Theres a whole RV city set up at the pits.
We pulled back into our site to find Larry had set up his site next to us, and that the wind had flattened our tent. The wind had kicked up a bit, it was gonna be an interesting night. We watched as Larry unloaded his truck, then jumped in our truck to head out to the spectator area to watch the pre-running. I had learned earlier in the day that if you behave and follow an escort, they would let you drive out to the spectator area. We sat and watched the trucks and buggies fly by... I knew it was only pre-running, but I could also see a few teams really testing the limits of the truck and the track. I chatted with a few of the teams after pre-running, and the course was far more technical than most had expected. The 10.2 mile track winds its way around the 850 acre like a snake. The straights are short, and the corners are plenty. It's basically one turn right after another for a full 10 miles. Not the wide open, full throttle some had expected. It was gonna be a good race on Sunday....
After we got back to camp I made the most boring chili you have ever been lucky not to eat. JT and I ate it though, we where hungry, but we both commented how it sucked, and while full of protein had no taste. I dont get it... I followed the receipe even... While I was cooking Larry came over and noticed our tent had blown over again. He asked how I was going tio sleep in it, and while I told him I was sure then wind would die down and we'd be fine, I was quite honestly pretty worried about it. I propped up the back wall that was facing the wind with anything I could find, and did a small anti wind prayer while the tasteless chili cooked. Larry offered to let us sleep in his trailer or under his truck, which was really nice... Honestly, he doesn't know me at all. The only way he knows me from is from the net and from the Olympus Rally where I basically mugged him and told him he had to race in Goldendale. After JT and I had forced down the chili Larry yelled over from his camp that he was getting ready to watch a movie and he had a chair for JT and I. We walked over and he welcomed us into the Gipson Cinetopia where we watched Grand Torino, ate water melon and licorice, and just enjopyed being out of the wind for a bit. I know he has a self inflicted bad reputation on the internet, but I thought it was pretty cool that he would invite JT and I into his camp to sleep with him and his family. He may not be a saint, but after offering a place to stay and inviting me to break bread with his family....the guy is allright in my book.
After the movie JT and I made our way back over to the tent. I had bungie corded it as best I could to the side of my truck, and it seemed to hold. The wind had died down a bit so that helped as well. I snapped open the 4 glow sticks I had brought, hung them to the tent cealing and as the wind made the glow sticks dance, I feel asleep dreaming of what was going to happen the next day. It was going to be an early morning, drivers meeting at 7:45, race starts at 8, and I wanted to head into town and get some breakfast before it all began.
I had warned JT the night before, first up wakes the other one up, and at 6:30 when my alarm went off I didn't even have to argue with him. he got right up and within 5 minutes we made our way into town for breakfast. I'd like to thank the folks of Goldendale for letting me into the town and establishments. We must have looked like quite the mess. We ate breakfast and made the treck back out to the track, and then straight out to the spectator area. We made our way down to a small jump, which really wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be. The jump was basically 20 feet from another jump and the track turned right after the second jump, so while I had hoped to see some air... really i didn't. It was a cool spot though because you could watch them come down the straight away, then over the jump and down the hill towards the barn. Once past the barn you could then see them wind there through a silt bed and then off towards a pond and up over the hill. The draw back though was that as each car went by you basically ate there dust twice... Oh well... thats what its all about.
We watched most of the buggie race and then made our way back to camp to take down the tent, pack up our gear, and then head back out to watch the truck race. I watched the derivers meeting, during witch Brock announced that they may do another event in September if there is enough interest. I hope so, but the track proved pretty tough with several DNF's.... not sure if people will be able to get there stuff back together and running in time for a September race... Hope so though, cause it was awesome and I am sure it will only get better....
Enough talkin / typing... pics or it didnt happen!
here are some pics from the pre-run...
Fresh from the Baja 500, a Trophy Truck... In Washington, who knew? ;DAnd here is the class one buggy they also own..
Bi-Polar racing protruck (They have a lot of cool toys... I mean a lot!)
I love this thing...
Gipson Racing's KOH truck coming into the silt bed
Some of the S&N fab crew I think... they brought like 3 jeep / buggies. They brought there KOH buggy as well... Awesome looking and its for sale, only 30K. ;D
On Sunday this guy battled with the TT neck and neck during the truck race. I think the TT may have caught him, he was definitely gaining on him.... but then they fried the tranny and lost all forward movement.
This guy flogged this jeep pretty hard on Sunday....
Some pics from the buggy race on Sunday morning. They actually had quite a few buggies turn out.
I NEED THIS!This thing threw some dirt!