TT Killer 3 peats at Laughlin!!

Laughlin, Nevada January 17, 2010: Racers Only Motorsports went into The Laughlin Desert Challenge seeking its 3rd straight win at the event. With only 36 miles of racing each day, it would turn out to be much tougher than expected.

Friday: Pete VanRooy and Matt Clayton would push the race car through contingency and tech inspection, then head back over to the pits to get the car ready for the Laughlin Leap event. On the way back to the pits they noticed the radiator fans quit working. With an hour to go before the start of the event, Pete and Matt went head first into the electrical problem. The culprit turned out to be a bad wire that had ground out on the chassis. Once the car was fixed it was off to get in line for the leap. As we lined up to take our turn at the leap, the car was loading up horribly. The green flag dropped for our turn and the race car did not want to go over 45 mph. We pulled off the course and ran it around in the infield and that seemed to clear out the motor….so we thought. Our first attempt would net us 72’ but the car would not go over 70mph without cutting out. We would find out later it was a slightly damaged alternator hindering the performance of the motor.


Saturday: Mike Lindquist from Wide Open MRI would co-ride this race after missing his ride at the Baja 1000. The race started at approx 7:10am and we were off. We caught Peter Lang (#1400) at race mile 3 and were running in second place, trying to keep a good easy pace. #1402, Mark Weyhrich was leading but pulled into the pits, possibly adjusting the suspension on his car which in turn put us first on the road. Right before the end of the 5th lap, the transmission in the race car started slipping and leaking fluid badly. We limped the car around on the last lap and still finished first.

Sunday: With no spare transmission lying around the shop, Racers Only motorsports was forced to try and make a damaged transmission live for another 36 miles. After pouring a bottle of “LUCAS trans stop leak” in the trans, we started the race alongside Peter Lang on day 2. All we had to do was finish since Lang had shock problems the day before and was unable to finish. To add insult to injury, co-rider Lindsey Ward developed a bad case of the flu the night before and was unable to ride. Right off the start, Lang pulled us off the line as our trans was still slipping badly and unable to get over 45mph in the first mile. Miraculously, the transmission started working better and better as the race wore on. We stopped in the pits the first 3 laps to check the fluid in the trans and added a quart on lap 3, all the time keeping close to Lang on the track. By lap 4 we were running at 100% and decided we would chase down the #1400 of Lang. We caught and passed him on the last lap and finished in 1st place for the 3rd year in a row.



A huge thanks goes out to my crew (Pete Corwin, Matt/Jacob Bare, Pete VanRooy, Matt Clayton and Mario Gutierrez) for all the hard work they put in to get the race car ready for this event. Dr. Blake Stamper from Tri State CareFlight and Mike, Kim and Jason from Wide Open MRI really helped us out with sponsorship once again and their support got us to the finish line in 1st place.

Racers Only Motorsports year in review 2009

Mohave Valley, AZ. December 15, 2009: After a very successful 2009 season, we are finally finding time to sit back and look back at our season. We had a great time this year with some HUGE wins and only one DNF.
Our season started in January at the SCORE opener in Laughlin, Nevada. The Laughlin Desert Challenge is a very short “sprint” race, split up into 2 days of racing around a 6.5 mile course. After 2 days of racing and fighting tooth and nail for the lead, it wasn’t till the last lap that we finally secured our 1st place finish. BFGoodrich’s own Roberts Kukanis would ride shotgun on day one while Chuck Soper would ride on day two. Racers Only Motorsports would repeat as Laughlin Desert Challenge Champions.

Fast forward 2 weeks to the BITD season opener, the Parker 425 in February. This was our first race at Parker with a pretty heavy field, including the X-Andy McMillin Trophy Truck running in our class. Pete VanRooy and I started in the 15th position and by the end of lap 1 found ourselves in the lead by over an hour. The rain gods opened the sky and dumped copious amounts of water on the field, making visibility almost impossible. Matt Bare would jump in the car with me as we set out on our final lap with the mindset of just taking it easy and coming home in one piece. As it turns out, a Trophy Truck team had a different idea and rear ended our race car hard enough to damage the motor and put us out of the race, our first DNF ever in this car.
It was late March when we arrived for the SNORE MINT 400 in Las Vegas. After finishing last year’s MINT 400 in 3rd place, we wanted to improve our finishing position by two. This race was extremely dusty and would prove to be on tough race. My Daughter Lindsey would ride the first lap, Chuck Soper the 2nd while Matt Bare would finish the final 2. After 400 miles of Nevada’s roughest terrain, Racers Only WON our second race of the season while finishing an impressive 22nd Overall out of 194 entries.



The MDR California 200 race was not even on our schedule this year but we thought it would be a good race to test our lighting package we were planning on running at the Baja 1000. We started 7th and held our position for the majority of the race against cars worth 2-3 times more than our 20 year old car. The car held up fine without a prep from the MINT 400 and only had a minor problem with the front through rods loosening up and needing re-tightening. Racing in Class 1 unlimited for the first time, we came home with a very respectable 6th place finish and 15th Overall.



Finally, the race we had been dreaming about all year, the SCORE TECATE BAJA 1000. Besides our outstanding sponsors that have been supporting us all year (JETJOC, Tri State CareFlight and Wide Open MRI), Ironclad Gloves and the Laughlin Tourism Commission jumped on board to help with our cause. With a full list of co-riders including Ed Jaeger, Matt Ciccone, Matt Clayton and Pete VanRooy, the Trophy Truck Killer enjoyed yet another near perfect run at the Baja 1000, labeled one of the toughest Baja 1000’s ever. After 23 hours, 22 minutes, Racers Only Motorsports crossed the finish line 1st in class and 46th Overall (4 wheeled vehicles). I can’t say enough about my crew, they kept us going when we got tired and motivated us to get to the finish line…….Thanks guys! Racers Only raced two races out of five in the SCORE series, both wins, and ended up placing 2nd in points for the year! After 1487 miles, we had ZERO flats on our BFGoodrich tires…………..AMAZING!!!!!

TT Killer WINS the Baja 1000!!!

Ensenada, Mexico. November 20, 2009: After 23 hours, 22 minutes and 29 seconds, The Trophy Truck Killer crossed the finish line in downtown Ensenada Mexico with a 1st place finish at what could be one of the toughest Baja 1000 races ever. What the Baja 1000 lacked in mileage (672 miles), it more than made up for in toughness. This race was won in the race shop, not on the track and you better come with your “A” game. Racers Only motorsports did that, starting with a crew of 15 die hard guys, an amazing prep job, a list of committed sponsors and great pit stops.



It didn’t start out that good and looked like it was going to be a long day. Before we even hit the dirt, the race car spun out on the pavement running over its own fuel. Seems like a fuel filler did not seat right on the filler neck, causing fuel to leak out the filler. This was fixed in approx 4 minutes, but putting us almost dead last on the race course. Behind 193 cars. As it turns out, this would be the only time a wrench was put to the race car for the rest of the Baja 1000.

Ed Jaeger from Ironclad gloves would be co-riding the first 200 miles and did a great job as navigator for his first time in our race car. Ed has logged many miles in Baja on dirt bikes and race cars and proved to be a major asset as we took the lead at race mile 50 and never looked back. Race mile 166 would be our next hurdle as we got stuck in the infamous silt beds for approx 30 minutes. “Banda”, a Mexicali local would save our day as he pulled us out and sent us on our way.

Matt Ciccone would get in After Ed and co-ride the next 200 miles. Diablo dry lake would let the TT Killer stretch its legs a bit before the silt beds at race mile 155. The Turnkey motor powered through the silt with no problems but 15 miles later we would find ourselves stuck in a bottle neck behind a Trophy Truck in Matomi wash along with 10 other vehicles. After 30 minutes the TT was finally dislodged from its shallow grave and we continued on to the endless whoops in San Felipe. The Checkers pit at race mile 310 got us in and out in a matter of minutes, thanks to Chad, Kevin, Kras, DWhite, Martin and Mike Mc.



Arriving at the BFG pit at race mile 400, it was approx 12:30am and starting to get a little cold. Ollie, Pete, Shane, Dave, Justin, Christian and the rest of the guys from BFG fueled us and cleaned our lights. Matt Clayton would now co-ride the next 100 miles for the Mikes Sky Ranch loop. This loop was very slow going and help would be hard to come by.

We were slowed for approx 30 minutes with 2 bottle necks with stuck racers blocking the course, but were back under way without too much of a delay. Then came race Mile 472, what a mess. When we arrived it looked like a race car parking lot. Seems 2 class 8 race trucks got stuck in a small stream with no way around them. Approx 15 cars waited hours for the race course to clear, we would lose over an hour.


Our next pit was at race mile 492, another Checkers pit. Poolman, Jr, Eddie and the rest of the crew fueled us up again while Pete VanRooy got in for the final 182 miles. The sun was starting to come up on our way over to the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula, With a 100 mile lead over 2nd place, we just needed to keep the car together till the finish. We stopped again for fuel at race mile 590 as Ivan, Matt V. and Chuck chased us to the finish. Knowing that I had been in the car for over 22 hours (at the time) and was getting tired, Pete had his hands full as he tried to keep my mind off of everything but the race course….quite the chore since I was getting a little punchy.

Our last pit was at race mile 640; we were topped off with fuel, some food and an Ironclad energy drink. The hard part was over, now it was getting through the final 32 miles. We made our way through the back roads of Ensenada, then onto to the blacktop, into the wash, and finally around the corner to see the Tecate banner and Finish line that we left the day before. 23 hours, 22 minutes, 29 seconds……40th Overall……1st place in class 14!!!! A dream come true.

A special thanks to the sponsors that made this happen: JETJOC, Tri State CareFlight, Wide Open MRI, Ironclad, Laughlin Tourism Commission, BFGoodrich, Vision X, MSD, King, Beard, C&R racing, Artistic curbing, Got Sand, Tony Tellier, Noah Ostanik and Greg Krasnow.

To My guys:
Pete VanRooy- Crew Chief/Co-rider, Worked his butt off on the car for weeks, only whined a little
Matt Clayton- Same as above, did a great job co-riding his first race
Ed Jaeger- Baja Savvy, great navigator, hooked all the guys up with Ironclad gloves
Dave Hetzel- Kept the boys in line, took on some responsibilities for the team
Ollie/Ivan Penchansky- Baja Vets, key to our success in Mexico
Matt Ciccone- 1st time in the car, did well, did whatever was asked with a smile
Matt Vogler- Another Vet, great last minute ideas for our Baja run, as asset to the team
Chuck Soper- Chase truck went down, Chuck saved the day and used his….true team player
San Felipe crew: Chad Fryman, Kevin Davis and the Checkers, great pit stop
Baja Rookies: Shane Campbell, Christian Coughlin and Justin Cave…PERFECT.