John Herder Leads Wire-to-Wire in Parker 425 Overall Win

• Robby Gordon Wins Trick Truck Division
• Larry Roeseler Victorious in Class 7200 Domination
• Vildosola/Freeman Capture Huge Pro Truck Victory
• FABTECH’s Greg Foutz Rolls To Claim Top Spot

Parker, Arizona (February 8, 2006)

A field of over 150 of the nation’s top off road desert race teams took up Best In The Desert’s CEO – Casey Folks challenge, to tame the race course where off road racing legends have been born. BITD Officials reported an official 183 starters in this year’s race.

In fact, the Best In The Desert Parker 425 race touts the slogan for this race to be, “The Legend Lives On,” and that was the real deal over the weekend at the Blue Water Resort & Casino.

Facing some of the most difficult racing conditions in recent history the nation’s top dogs of the off road racing nation battled like the legends of yesteryear. Without precipitation for well over 100 days, and some locals reporting no rain in Parker, Arizona for almost 180 days, the dry conditions tested the ultimate in performance racing products as well as testing the best off road racers in the world.

John Herder heading for an overall win at the 2006 BITD Parker 425

The first of the field left the line in downtown Parker, Arizona at approximately 7:30 a.m. facing directly into the rising sun across the desert floor. Mixed with the heavy dust and the fact that there simply was no wind or breeze, the conditions were ripe for what some off road racers later described as, “the worst dust conditions I’ve ever raced in over 20 years.”

However, Class 1500 racer and top qualifier in Thursday afternoon’s time trials, John Herder, didn’t see any problems with the dusty conditions as he roared his Jimco from the starting line into the morning sunlight. In fact, Herder’s lightening fast qualifying time set him in front of off road racing champion, Rob MacCachren, driving the Mexicana Logistics #4 Vildosola Racing truck, and in front of BITD Trick Truck Champion, Jesse Jones, driving the #1 Fabtech/Toyo Tires truck.

Gary Weyhrich pushing the TSCO Class 1500 to a 2nd place overall finish

Only Gary Weyhrich, driving the TSCO Class 1500 #1588 buggy, challenged Herder as a top ten qualifier. Each of the other top time trials qualifiers were driving Trick Trucks, the unlimited production truck, all except for NASCAR team owner and driver, Robby Gordon.

In fact, Robby Gordon drove his Hummer H3, which was just flown back from the recent Dakar Rally in Africa, against the high horsepower Trick Trucks.

Plain and simple, Gordon utilized his natural ability to set the record straight when he qualified in 8th position with nearly 400 horsepower less than the competition.

Nonetheless, bright and early on race morning, John Herder drove his Jimco-built single seat rocket ship into the incredible glaring sun light that blasted the Arizona desert floor.

At race mile 39, DirtNewz staffers heard the stammering of the WIKS-built motor in the distance and it wasn’t long before the purple, well it looks purple to us, buggy was raging by our location at top speeds. The #1526 Jimco Class 1500 car had a corrected time lead over Rob MacCachren in the #4 Trick Truck and Jesse Jones in the #76 Trick Truck by 7 minutes and 36 seconds.

By day’s end John Herder and Steve Melton had led the entire Parker 425 wire-to-wire taking the overall win with a finishing time of 7 hours, 11 minutes and 9 seconds.

Generally, unheard of in the off road desert racing world, winning wire-to-wire is often heard on the asphalt tracks of North America. In the world of off road racing, so many variable face champions. Flat tires, blown transmissions, exploded CV’s are only a few of the multitude of problems that off road desert racing teams face in each and every race, therefore for Herder to stroll at top speeds to a clean finish is that much sweeter for the 37-year old Tuscon, Arizona resident.

Listen to John Herder with DirtNewz at the finish line:

Of the 150 4-wheel starters racing the entire 425 mile race just slightly more than half of the field finished the long brutal race. Finishing the long race were just 81 race vehicles that raced the entire length of the race course. The slower classes of racers were limited to two full laps around the Parker, Arizona course totaling 272 miles of hardcore racing. A total of 32 starters fielded several slower classes and only 12 vehicles finished the race. Between the two combined groups of racers, BITD officials saw 182 total vehicles start the race and a total of only 93 finish this year’s Parker 425. These numbers surely demonstrate the level of difficulty teams faced in the Arizona desert.

The number of entries in the elite field of Trick Trucks was eye-opening as Casey Folks had not seen such a large field of the world’s top unlimited production race trucks attend his races in the past.

Seventeen of the nation’s top off road truck racers gathered in Parker, Arizona for this first Best In The Desert race of the year. Leading the charge was 2005 BITD Trick Truck Champion, Jesse Jones, driving his familiar Fabtech/Toyo Tires orange and blue Ford Trick Truck.

However, much of the attention in Parker, Arizona swirled around NASCAR team owner and driver, Robby Gordon. Gordon arrived to Parker with his Dakar Rally H3 Hummer and drove the wheels off during Thursday’s time trials garnering an 8th position start at the end of the qualifying period.

Gordon’s Hummer H3 has much less horsepower than the raging 800 horsepower Trick Trucks. Robby told DirtNewz that his Hummer H3 was about 350-400 horsepower down from the competitors trucks.

Robby Gordon airing it out- Takes 1st place in the Trick Truck class- 5th overall

Gordon’s strategy all along was to continue his quest for domination in the 2007 Dakar Rally. He told DirtNewz that his plan in this Parker race was to simulate a Dakar Rally stage and run the entire race without having to stop. Gordon’s Hummer H3 has a large fuel cell, which allowed him to only have to stop once for fuel and splash a few gallons in order to make it to the finish line. Although down on horsepower and carrying a huge load of fuel, Gordon’s performance was stellar. Within the first mile he pitched his Jim Beam/Toyo Tires Hummer H3 sideways as the race transitioned from the asphalt to the dirt in the city limits of Parker, Arizona.

Gordon’s regular co-driver, Greg Till, spent the day performing the navigating duties. At the Dakar Rally, Gordon relied upon the experience of Dakar Rally veteran, Darren Skilton, and although Skilton was in Parker for the race he was not suited up for duty with Robby in the Hummer H3.

The attrition of the elite field of trucks was huge in the first 200 miles of the race as Robby Gordon continued to push through the field of teams until he led the Trick Truck field and took the checkered flag along the east shore of the Colorado River.

Finishing fourth overall behind three Class 1500 buggies with a time of 7 hours, 39 minutes and 17 seconds was the NASCAR driver and 2005 SCORE Baja 500 Champ, Robby Gordon.

Gordon’s first place finish in the Trick Truck class also was important to tire manufacturer, Toyo Tires, who after capturing the BITD Trick Truck Championship on Jesse Jones Trick Truck in 2005, they began the 2006 BITD racing season with a big win in Parker, Arizona.

Finishing on the podium with Robby Gordon in the Trick Truck Class 1400 was Desert Assassin’s Pistol Pete Sohren who charged hard all day long in the Speedway sponsored three seat race truck featuring BFGoodrich rubber.

Steve Hengeveld all smiles at the finish line- 3rd place class finish for the first time Trick Truck drivers Hengeveld and Childress

In third place, the Jones Motorsports #76 Trick Truck driven by two off road motorcycle champions, Honda’s Steve Hengeveld and Mike Childress took center stage in an unlikely turn of events. BITD Champion, Jesse Jones, offered his “spare” Trophy Truck to the motorcycle duo and they rallied throughout the 425 mile race performing flawlessly as they put the flat black truck through the paces and drove up onto the podium in the parking lot of the Blue Water Resort & Casino. Neither one of the revered motorcycle champions had ever driven a Trick Truck before this race, but their in-car lesson with Jones Motorsports Team Manager, Jerry French, and words of wisdom from the BITD Champion paid off dearly as the dynamic duo captured third place in Class 1400. The Fabtech/Toyo Tires #76 Trick Truck ran clean all day long and the motorcycle duo kept the Toyo rubber in tact not flatting a Toyo Open Country M/T DOT tire all day long.

Yes, they raced an off-the-shelf DOT tire on the #76 Trick Truck as they diced it up with the best-of-the-best in the off road nation.

Gustavo Vildosola and Bryan Freeman capture a win in the competitive Pro Truck class

In a huge field of Ivan Stewart’s Pro Truck ranks, Gustavo Vildosola and his new teammate, Bryan Freeman, united for the win in the Arizona desert. The #1204 Toyota Pro Truck raged terror through the field of 20 Pro Trucks that started the day, as Freeman and Vildolsola both put in spectacular performances behind the wheel of the familiar red and white Pro Truck. Sponsored by Vildosola’s family business, Mexicana Logistics, their Pro Truck appears to be the baby brother of the powerful #4 Mexicana Logistics Trick Truck piloted by Rob MacCachren and Gustavo Vildosola Sr., the team owner.

The 2005 SCORE Baja 1000 winner, Larry Roeseler, driving his Class 7200 truck, put in yet another stunning performance as he put his limited truck in the mix of Trick Trucks, Class 1500 cars, Pro Trucks and Class 1000 cars before capturing victory in the Class 7200 category. Roeseler has long been known for his championship motorcycle career and more recently, his continued racing career with Terrible Herbst Motorsports.

In the ever growing Jeep Speed Class 1700, Ray Griffith drove his #1714 Jeep Speed to a win at the Parker 425. Griffith had a flawless run covering the two full laps over 272 miles of terrain in 7 hours, 27 minutes and 14 seconds. Finishing in second position was Eric Heiden of Castiac, California followed by Mike Barnett, the Jeep Speed Class 1700 Champion.

However, the Jeep Speed story of the race has to be the newcomer, Mike Shaffer, Carson City, Nevada who had never raced in a desert race in his life. Shaffer, the 2002 RCAA (Professional Rock Crawling) Champion has been a life long professional rock crawler traveling throughout the United States and Mexico participating in events on the rocks of North America. But off road desert racing is a far cry from professional rock crawling. In fact, its nearly the opposite in style. Professional rock crawling is mostly slow moving calculated moves with tremendous articulation, the exact opposite of off road desert racing's wide open pedal smashing raging terror.

Shaffer came to the BITD Henderson 400 in early December 2005 and checked out the array of Jeep Speed vehicles in contingency. It was then that Shaffer met with DirtNewz who questioned his appearance at a desert race, of course with speculation that the champion rock crawler could be in the midst of an off road competitive change of heart. And with the current state of affairs in professional rock crawling anything was possible.

DirtNewz indeed discovered that Shaffer and his posse of Northern California rock crawlers were going to race in the desert, but we didn't realize these guys were going home on that cold windy day in December and show up in January with a new Jeep Speed ready to race.

Well, we know these guys pretty good but who would have thought?

Twenty three Jeep Speeds took on the challenge of the Parker 425 and only twelve finished the race. Of those twelve finishers in 10th position was rock crawling champion, Mike Shaffer, who crossed the line. Shaffer told DirtNewz it was tough and not without trials and tribulations. Their new fuel cell foam kept clogging their fuel filters bogging them down requiring them to stop and change out the fuel filter countless times over the nearly 11 hours of being on the race course. Shaffer stopped more than 30 times to help out other racers stuck and stranded on the race course. His # 1705 Jeep Speed is four-wheel drive equipped making him one of the few four-wheel drive vehicles on the course and able to pull out the huge field of racers buried deep in the Arizona silt.

Shaffer commented, "We had a blast. We stopped at about every vehicle we came across to see if we could help out and basically we just kept moving forward and eventually we made it to the finish line. My co-dog, Jeremy, held a new battery for the Mastercraft Pro truck of Robbie Pierce for about 75 miles and when we got to where they were suppose to be, they were gone. So we just carried it to the finish line. It was a great race and we'll be racing the entire Jeep Speed Series and looking forward to the next race in the Mojave Desert."

The 2006 version of the BITD Blue Water Resort & Casino Parker 425 is in the record books for another year. Casey Folks and his dedicated staff of volunteers deserve great recognition from the fans, race teams and off road nation for a job well done in the Arizona desert.