The 2014 desert racing season has kicked off! The first race of the season is the Parker 425. A grueling 425 miles loop race that started and finished in the town of Parker Arizona . I was offered the opportunity to navigate for my brother(Rhys) in the Greene Motorsports trophy truck for this years season of the Best in the Desert championship. Though I’ve raced many BITD races this would be the first time I had navigated and not driven. The plan was to start the race navigating for Ryan Greene on the first lap, then navigate for Rhys and hop out on the third lap and have Ryan Greene navigate for Rhys.
The race started at day break and we settled into our rhythm. We had no flats and the truck ran beautifully for Ryan and I. Rhys jumped in and we really began to pick up the speed. Somewhere in the middle of my second lap we shredded a serpentine belt and had to stop to make the repairs. We got going again and it was apparent how brutal the course was by how many vehicles were on the side of the course. I had seen numerous roll overs and shredded tires. Rhys and I were getting close to finishing our second lap when we shredded another belt. At this point the first belt wasn’t a fluke and we had an apparent alignment issue. We were able to fix the belt and made it into the pit where I would jump out and Ryan G. would jump in. They continued on hoping to salvage points and gain valuable time on the vehicle. We got the call over the radio that the belt issues had gotten worse and they were shredding them every 2-3 miles and the decision was made to put the truck on the trailer and call it a day. The decision to quite is never taken lightly but we will be testing the next couple of weeks getting the issues solved and will be back for the Mint 400 in March!
There were a lot people out for the first big desert race of the season.
First lap complete, coming in for a driver change, new rear tires, and fuel.
Ryan Greene would get out and Rhys would get in.
Leaving the pit.
Rhys navigating the Parker python.
We made it to around mile 350 or so but had to call it a day to due a nagging belt issue. A lot of great positives were taken from the event. The truck is competitive and as we compete in more races the team will gather more experience.
