Shot of Jason Mace (1169) doing visualization exercises in advance of his very first race at Battle at Primm.

The cool thing about running the blog is that you can pick on other racers and, unless they know how to configure WordPress, they’re pretty much powerless to fight back.

We’ve switched from SNORE to VORRA (our first race is in three weeks), but SNORE went first with the Battle of Primm out at fabulous Primm, Nevada. You can see Jason and all the other SoCal Class 11s in this video from OMA productions.

(thanks to Pepper Cote of Tut Tech Racing for passing along the photo of Jason)

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.

Our personal version of Dust to Glory.

And we complete our first full season of racing with a podium finish in third place behind two amazing teams – Felipe Neri-Sanchez and Robert Johnson.

Six SNORE races and the Baja 1000. Third in class at SNORE and 32nd out of 535 entries. Not too shabby for our first full season of racing. Richard Palasik, our driver of record for the SNORE series, will pick up our trophy at the awards ceremony at the Golden Nugget in Vegas on January 9.

We have a lot planned for 2010. Stay tuned. And thank you for all your support.

Bob jacks up 1104 in preparation for removing the engine.

1104 moved from my place over to Desert Dingo Racing HQ (aka “Richard’s place”) to begin winter tear down. Powerwashed, engine pulled, transmission pulled, light bar removed, CV joints pulled. We’ve got three months to prep the car for the first race of the 2010 season. A lot of ideas to improve it. Gallery of today’s photos here.

Also, this is the greatest off road video I’ve seen in ages. Props to Trophylite.

Our sponsor, TrailGlow, is featured in the November 2009 issue of Dirt Sports magazine.

When I first saw a truck sporting a set of TrailGlow’s illuminated number panels at the SNORE KC Hilites Midnight Special race, I turned to my wife and said “As God is my witness, I will own a set of those.”

We’re now outfitted with a full set of TrailGlow custom built HID driving lights, multiple sets of illuminated number panels, and pit crew safety vests, courtesy of founder Paul Lukey and his son, Paul III.

As great as it is to have the support of a new sponsor, it’s been even more rewarding to meet Paul and his son, who love off road racing as much as we do. And I absolutely agree with Dirt Sport’s review:

“…the Dirt Sports Crew just discovered one of the neatest and most useful racing innovations to come along in quite some time – illuminated number panesl and decals…. TrailGlow founders Paul Lukey, and son Paul III, have perfected an entirely new way for 0ff-road racers and chase teams to add rugged, vibration-resistant illuminated numbers and custom  sponsor logos to their overall graphics presentation.”

TrailGlow’s panel’s make us easier to see at night, they’re going to speed us through checkpoints during night races, and the cool factor alone makes them worth it. If you’re looking to make your car stand out, I strongly recommend checking them out.

You can check out a full size version of the Dirt Sports product review here.

Here I was all set to get some great video of 1107 rounding the corner at Checkpoint One of the SNORE 250 in Primm, and this 16 car comes in and ruins everything!

Photos tomorrow. We’re all bushed.

Rounding the curve at Checkpoint 1…

One flat, but otherwise things went well. Unofficially fifth. Likely still third in class with one more race to go (two if you count the Baja 1000). More photos tomorrow, this place is charging us $11.99 a day for the internets.

We made it to Primm, Nevada with minutes to spare for the mandatory SNORE 250 driver’s meeting last night (3 hour layover at the Barstow Community Hospital). Got registered, picked up the radio, safety vests and tracking sheets where we’ll be doing Checkpoint 1, and got 1107 through tech.

Engine was still running rough and our guys, 14-time Baja winner Eric Solorzano and another team were working on it at 10 p.m. Appeared to be fouled spark plugs.

Roxanne and I are up now, getting ready to head out to set up at Checkpoint 1, where we’ll be for 12 hours. I’ll be tweeting updates from @desertdingo.

We’ll be running largely logo-less for the SNORE 250.

Loaded the toy hauler last night. Crusty got the TrailGlow light panels installed and we’ll wire them up sometime between now and the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal. Car goes in the toyhauler tonight and we all head off to Terrible’s Resort and Casino early Friday morning for the SNORE 250 (the race starts out behind the casino). Also, it has a cool roller coaster.

Updates from the road.

As a matter of fact I do know which end of an impact wrench to hold.

The SNORE South Point 250 is a week away and we’re buttoning up 1107. Crusty and Scott fiddled with the fuel pump pressure regulator. Carrie spray painted all the tools (so we can keep track of them) and packed the tool kits based on our laminated lists. Scott also installed the lights (we won’t need the night lights for Saturday’s race as it’s only two 60 mile loops.)

Crusty’s been welding 3/8s inch diameter rod into the rims and Richard will take them to Dixon Tires to get all the tires put back on. Oh, and I pulled the tires, installed the fenders and then put the tires back on, you haterz.

Car and equipment get loaded into Creech’s toy hauler Thursday night and we’re all wheels up gawdawful early Friday morning for the drive out to Vegas. This race is also the Stock Bug Challenge II, and we’ve got 13 Class 11s entered. Should be a good race. This race will have Richard and Crusty and Scott ‘n Carrie in the car. Roxanne and I will staff a checkpoint or road crossing for the bonus 25 team points.

Some shots from today’s work day.