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.

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.

The VW Touaregs take first, second and third in the 2010 Dakar Rally.

Ok, the photo doesn’t have anything to do with us beyond that we both race VWs, but with this being the off season for off road racing in the U.S., I switched to watching the Dakar Rally in South America. Versus had great daily coverage, courtesy of Toby Moody and his production team, but Eurovision set the standard for all off road coverage with its daily coverage. Dakar organizers also set the standard for social media integration during the race. And VW had its iPhone app. Boston.com reprised their 2009 photo essay with a spectacular series of shots from this year’s event.

Bob reports that the engine will likely be close to finished with the rebuild by the end of the week or first part of next week. We run the engine pretty much non-stop at 6,000 RPM. When we rebuild it, I’m confident it will go to 6,011. The rain has kept us from getting much done, but once we get the transmission issue sorted out and the rear skid plate dialed, we’ll be ready to race.

With Dakar done, I’m following Marathon Rally and looking forward to Rallye Aicha des Gazelles in March. Nine days, no GPS, sat phones or support trucks. And you navigate with compasses and maps printed in the 1950s. I’m thinking, “Ok, where’s the fun part?” All that aside, the one U.S. team is Emily Sturges Miller and Wendy Fisher. Social media by Miss Motor Mouth, aka Michelle Naranjo. This is what it will be like:

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.

You should see the other photos that TPR (aka Trailer Park Romeo, aka Nathan) took of himself with Seth ‘n Kristy’s camera.

For some reason, I could never remember “TPR”, so I spent the week calling Nathan “Total Request Live”, “Standing Room Only” and “Survival Research Labs.” I think Lefty settled on “Trailer Trash Romeo.”

TPR and I bonded when he got hauled to the police station for parking Chase 2 on the wrong side of the street while the team was having dinner one night outside one of the many sidewalk taco places near the Estero Beach RV park, where we stayed. While he was in filling out paperwork, the senior cop and I stood outside checking out his lifted Ford F250 and the new Dodge Avenger police cruisers in the parking lot. I think that may have helped get the fine dropped from $40 to $20. We were back before our carnitas got cold.

Here are Seth ‘n Kristy’s shots from Baja. 1104 may be back in Felton tonight, parked at my place until after Thanksgiving and then heading back over to Richard’s for prep in advance of the SNORE Laughlin Rage at the River race.

I think this was about an hour before we headed for the start line. (I’m joking.)

Travis was a picture-taking machine. He even captured the only evidence of vandalism on the car. Here’s a gallery of his photos.

1104 takes turn two at the start of the Baja 1000 2009.

Kristy filmed this video of 1104 taking the second turn at the start of the Baja 1000 2009.

Richard chats with Gustavo Garayzar of 1149.

The extraction team and Scott and Seth just arrived here at Jeff and Robin’s place after spending a good chunk of the morning in a technical section in a ravine where our second (and last) tranny blew. The plan is to spend a couple of hours here, then pack up and head back to Estero Beach.

Here are my photos of our Friday morning prep and some work on the car when the first tranny blew.

This is what it looks like from here, thanks EMS SkyConnect. Click on the image to get the big picture.

A lot has happened since this post and the previous one. Tranmission got replaced, tie rod too.  Jim said something about ball joints. The RV is pulling into Jeff’s at San Felipe and I expect he’ll be online shortly to help track the team. Chase 1 is meeting 1104 shortly at Pit 4. Everyone’s in good spirits. Thanks for all the messages of support.