Buenas Aires, Argentina (January 3, 2009) Tom Geviss, known among the world of off road desert racers as "Turbo Tom" crossed the finish line in the first stage of the 2009 DAKAR in 44th position in the envious truck class. Geviss has piloted the #524 Monster Energy MAN race truck for Robby Gordon Motorsports for the past two DAKAR races and 2009 has been no different as he'll lend support to the NASCAR / Baja 1000 Champion Robby Gordon if he has problems along the way. Turbo Tom has long been a bad ass in the world of off road desert racing.
Geviss drives the #524 MAN truck as an assistance truck, however the truck race is one of its own incredible races. The truth is that the truck Geviss pilots is one of the oldest hand me down trucks racing in the competitive truck division.
Turbo Tom faces no chance at competing against the GINAF, TATRA and newer MAN built trucks in the race for the checkers. In fact, the truck that he races had serious front and rear suspension issues in 2008 and after a rebuild and redesign of the suspension, it seems not a whole lot has changed.
In the first stage of the race, he managed to finish in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 6 seconds, almost an hour behind the leaders. Stay tuned as we watch for the #524 MAN truck to cross the finish line each day and give you reports of their travels through South America.
