VEGAS TO RENO 2010

Flashfloods and fantastic lightning storms sparked Sam Berri to win the pole position in the world famous longest off-road race in the United States, Vegas to Reno Race held Friday, August 20th. Sam tested the car at Jean, NV on Tuesday, with the help of Don and Ellen and the Martin family. He would normally test in Barstow but that was where the flashfloods were happening. After some testing and adjusting of the lights, the car felt good and ready to race. Wednesday at Primm, NV was clear, with a few clouds and very warm. The qualifying was held at the short course and into the desert making it about a four mile track. Sam, Bob, Lois and Chelsey took a tour on foot around the course to check it out, which seems to be an advantage as Sam and Bob discuss different ways of approaching the technical areas. It seems to be working as Sam captured the spot again in a field of very competitive racers. Lou and Alex made their appreciated appearance at the time trials to help cheer Sam on. The announcement was made at the Red Bull party at the Aliante Casino, Sam won 1st place. Team Margarita was ecstatic, because this was a race that Sam had hoped to win for a long time as he had come in second more times than he cares to talk about. Sam and Team Margarita were on their way to a good start.
Thursday, tech and registration were held in the Aliante which we were able to cruise through with Sam having a few interviews, and being able to get out of the heat soon. The driver’s meeting was held that night where Sam accepted his 5th pole trophy from Team Ford. Once again, Thank-you Team Ford! Casey Folks approached his driver’s meeting with serious safety concerns due to the catastrophic accident that had occurred a week before our race in the off-road community. He had elected to include some new rules about approaching check points, ie pit areas and exiting them, which included driving 25 mph through them. Team Margarita would like to commend Casey Folks and his crew for such a professional and outstanding organization that he operates, and any time he adds something new to his race program it is usually beneficial for everyone concerned, and we commend him for it. Thank-you again for providing an exciting yet safe environment for us to compete in off-road racing. After the meeting we headed up to Beatty where the race was to begin at 9:30 a. m. with Sam at the front of the pack of numerous cars and trucks. Rusty, Dustin, and Matt had driven down to Beatty from Reno, and were there when we arrived. Brian, Lil Don, JT and Danica were at Pahrump and would give their assistance the next day at Beatty. Lou and Alex had to drive up from Hooterville the next morning. After a team meeting, everyone left for their prospective check points. The race began with Sam a minute ahead of B.J. Baldwin, gaining 35 seconds in the first 36 miles of the race. Sam came to the first road crossing and as chance would have it there was a string of chase vehicles that he had to wait for, for 30 seconds. He went through check 1 with a minute and 5 second lead. Sam had to take on fuel at 3 and BJ passed him in the pit. Rusty called in and said not to worry because the Baldwin crew was preparing to fuel at 4 and Sam could get back his first position, which he did. He went about ½ a mile and called on the radio that he had 2 flats, front and rear on the right side. He had a close encounter with a large rock while trying to pass a slower quad that had left 3 and ½ hours ahead of him. Sam turned around and went back to check 4 and Rusty, Chelsey and Matt got him all fixed up with 2 fresh tires and a swig a fluid and he was on his merry way again. This put him in about 9th position, but by the time he got to his second fueling at check 6 he had been working his way back up to the front. Before pit 7 we heard Sam holler, he thought he was losing an alternator. It turned out the problem wasn’t an alternator, but an idler pulley and belt which he carries a spare pulley and belt on the car with him that he had changed himself. He said he got the motor hot and told us all he needed was a lot of water at 7. Unbeknownst to Sam, we had lost one of our chase rigs to the same problem and had to leave Brian’s pick – up in Tonopah at the Napa parking lot and do some refiguring of who should go where. After regrouping we were able to give Sam an idler pulley, belt and a lot of water and sent him on his way. Pit 11 was the next fuel stop for Sam. We decided that this would be the best time to install the light bar where we had extra help before he ran into the dark time. At this time he was still running in 4th position. Things were going along pretty good and we still had hope. He had to replace a tire at Pit 14 Rawhide, and we would like to thank TJ Flores crew for the tire and assistance in changing it. This is the kind of sportsmanship that the off-road community has, where everyone helps each other. Sam got a splash at 15 Top Gun, from Lou and Alex and he was on his way to bring it home. Approaching Weeks, pit 16 we heard Sam on the radio say “ I need a tire, I have a flat,” the crew at sixteen responded, “ bring it here we’ll get her changed and get you back out there in a heart beat”. About a minute after that conversation Sam got back on the radio and said “we’re done”, these are the words you never want to hear in off-road racing. The Seymour crew at pit 16 said, “What!” And Sam said, “the motor blew up, we’re done”. He was able to get someone to tow him the mile he needed to get to pit 16, where the rest of Team Margarita congregated to help load up the broken car into the hauler and look to the west at the setting sun and the forty-six miles left to the finish line.
Again we would like to thank Casey Folks and his crew for putting on such a fantastic race. Also thanks to all our sponsors, Goodyear Tires, and the Team Margarita crew for all their help and dedication for Sam Berri Racing. Hope to see you all in Hawthorne. Safe and happy racing!