FALLON 250 NIGHT RACE 2010

There’s a new definition in the dictionary for HOT! It’s called Fallon, Nevada! Hot it was, July 16th through the 18th for the night race. During the day the temps ranged from 105 degrees on Thursday to 98 degrees on Friday with a thunder storm coming through but not leaving any rain. Saturday- race day was over 100 degrees. Tech was held on Friday from 5- 9 p.m. in the parking lot of Stockman’s Casino. Stockman’s was the best for support of the race. When the drivers signed up they received a lei and a hat or visor courtesy of Stockman’s. Don and Ellen, Bob and Lois and Sam arrived on Thursday afternoon and joined the other 2 groups that had got there early, Grandpa Creasy and the Bradley big rig. Many more people arrived during the night and the next morning including the Harwells’ Off-Course Racing Team. Sam joined the Harwell family for a prerun around the course with Cheyenne doing the driving in the cool Toyota Prerunner. Thank-you, Harwells!

Next, it was time to haul the car into Stockman’s Casino parking lot and Tech and Register for the race. Once again Harwells came to the rescue, loaning Sam the car trailer to get the car to town. Thanks again Harwells! The drawing for the starting lineup was held by the VORRA officials during Friday night sometime and it was announced on Saturday, race day. Shannon Harwell was first off the line, next came 24 truck Rescue Racing driven by Rick Massey, and 3rd off the line the 125 Dave Morton Rescue Racing car, followed by Mike Decker in the 169 car and Sam Berri in 149, 5th off the line. The race started at straight up 7 p.m. as the cars started off the line we knew it was going to be a long night with dust hanging over the track with no wind. Sam would have his job cut out for him, trying to track down those four tough competitors. He played it conservative and waited for his chance and by the end of lap one he had moved into second place behind Shannon who had a comfortable 5 minute lead. The next two laps both Shannon and Sam held a steady pace. By lap four the wind started to stir clearing the track a little so Sam could see and was able to start gaining on Shannon. At the end of lap four both Shannon and Sam made a pit stop. Sam had cut the distance to approximately 30 seconds, with a great pit stop from Team Margarita with Rusty Wise and Chelsey Martin fueling, Lois in charge of refreshments for Sam and visor wipe. Ron Wise inspecting the front end and Bob Martin the rear end of the car with Cindy Gil-Blanco, in charge of the blue lights and fire extinguisher detail, Sam was back on the track in First Place! Where he proceeded to put distance between himself and Shannon and the rest of the field, to bring home another victory for Sam and Team Margarita.

Thanks to Don and Ellen for covering check point 1 and Pro Pit for being there at the farthest point with tires if needed. Thank-you Vince Viola’s crew for taking tires out to check point 2 in case we needed them Thank Goodyear, no tires were needed. Thank-you Stockman’s Casino for the great hospitality and the overall money. Hope to see you all at Hawthorne over Labor Day Weekend!

P.S. Also the Kent Wise Racing 1052 car driven by Guy Kent for three laps and Rusty Wise for three laps with Dustin Wise as the co-driver finished their second long distance desert race, coming in 4th place in class and last car to complete the race. Good job boys! Jake Povey’s night was not as successful because of electrical problems. He did finish 3 laps and won the longest lap time money. Let’s go get ‘em in Hawthorne.