This light bar has nothing to do with what I’m about to write, but it took me all winter to paint, clear coat and install the TrailGlow HIDs, so you’re gonna have to check it out.

We head out on Friday, March 19, for Prairie City for our first race of the 2010 season and between now and then we need to get the skid plate and bumper integrated, our transmission put back together and the engine installed. Piece of cake.

Creech is trailering 1107 to the race. Seth is cooking for everyone. Robert and Mike have been putting the finishing touches on the newly rebuilt engine. Skid will be there. Crusty and I will be working on integrating the skid plate with the rear bumper this weekend (technically, Crusty will be doing it and I’ll be standing around). Also, I’ve volunteered to do scoring because, as I told the organizers, “it makes it easier for me to black flag any other Stock Bugs that get too far ahead of us.”

Am I missing anyone?

While I can’t mention any names, I want to thank the anonymous sponsor who is providing us with equipment we need and who, for reasons I entirely understand, doesn’t want to be mentioned. Thank you.

So remember how, in the The Sporting Life interview, I said my favorite race vehicle of all time was one of the Kamaz trucks that won Dakar? Here’s a video and photos validating that statement.

Now if only I can convince our team manager to take a vacation to Russia in the winter.

Ricardo demonstrates his superior penmanship.

We’ve got three weeks til our season opener race at Prairie City and it finally stopped raining long enough for us to get some work done on 1107. Bob grabbed the engine and promised to bring it back next week ready to run. Crusty is working his way through the engine compartment, using an oxyacetylene torch to reinforce seams and welds. Bradford is working on our transmissions. We may have 1107 ready to race as early as next weekend.

While it has nothing to do with off road racing, congrats to Canada for winning Olympics mens hockey.

A gallery of photos from today’s work.

Brett Svatek did a piece on the team and I spent most of my time talking about eating.

INTERVIEW: Jim Graham – Desert Dingo Racing
The Sporting Life, February 24, 2010
Jim Graham and his Desert Dingo racing team set out to conquer the Baja 1000 in a car that most people wouldn’t feel safe driving to the 7-11…they are truly living The Sporting Life.

There’s gotta be enough good parts between the two of these for one good tranny.

The weather’s been so bad we haven’t had much chance to work on 1107, but we’ve got our fingers crossed for this weekend. Both transmissions are on the pallet and ready for shipping to Bradford Performance for a rebuild. Engine is also waiting for final assembly but otherwise is fresh.

The Valley Off Road Racing Association announced the return of Class 11s for the 2010 race season, beginning with a short course race at Prairie City on March 20-21.

VORRA OPENS 2010 RACE SEASON WITH NEW CLASS FOR STOCK VWs
Class 11 Stock Bugs offers an affordable entree to off road racing
January 31, 2010,  Reno, Nevada — The Valley Off Road Racing Association (VORRA) announced today that it is adding a new class for Stock Volkswagen Beetles for the 2010 race season.

Mike in mid-engine teardown.

Bob brought his ace engine guy Mike over today to help us tear apart the engine and decide how much of a rebuild we needed. Initially we planned to just change the rings, but on closer inspection we decided to do a complete teardown so we can start the season with an absolutely fresh engine.

Crusty focused on a redesign of our rear bumper, valence and skid plate, so that the whole back end mounts as a unit. Here’s a gallery of shots from today’s work day.

The team has decided to switch to the Valley Off Road Racing Association (VORRA) series for the 2010 race season and we’ll have our first race in April on the short course at the Prairie City SVRA just outside Rancho Cordova and just off Highway 50.

We loved racing the SNORE series (and finished third in class in the 2009 series), but the 1,000 mile round-trip drives to Vegas were taking their toll on the wallet. We’ll still be doing desert races in Yerrington, Fallon and Hawthorne, Nevada, but they’re quite a bit closer. VORRA Director Wes Harbor has been tremendously helpful in pulling this together and we expect to be joined by a handful of other Northern California Class 11 teams.

So here’s our full 2010 race schedule:

March 20-21 — Short Course — Prairie City, CA
April 24-25 — Short Course — Prairie City, CA
May 28-31 — Desert Race – 300 Miles — Yerington, NV
July 16-18 — Desert Night Race – 250 Miles — Fallon, NV
September 4-6 — Desert Race – 225 Miles — Hawthorne, NV
October 9-10 — Short Course — Prairie City, CA
October 30-31 — Short Course – Halloween BBQ — Prairie City, CA
November 17-21 — Baja 1000 — Ensenada, Mexico

We did a leak down test last week and the prognosis is “engine rebuild”, so we’ll be taking it apart this Sunday and making a run to Bugformance for the parts we need. Here’s a look at the Prairie City course: