Leavitt Anger Issues Bronco to race BORE 250 (Jackpot 250)

[AngerIssues]

Howdy all!

Due to the fact that our truck is in Idaho, and we have more "local" friends, families, and sponsors up there, we have decided to once again race the Jackpot 250 put on by BORE. It's a great race and a lot of fun for our local buds who don't get the chance to come to the other races.

If anyone is close or plans on coming to the race, please stop by and say hello. We will be racing in Heavy Metal, against some serious class 8 trucks. Last time we did this, I believe we took 3rd out of 8, received a decent check, and even my crew chief Ray Leavitt (Dad) took a lap, turning "fast lap of the day" of the three drivers!

ken

[Blanco]

Wish I could go up & Co-Dog this one with you guys. :(

[Broncodawg]

Good Luck at the race. Do they run point to point up there or lap races?
I'd say have fun, but that goes w/out saying for Team Anger Issues!!:p

[AngerIssues]

I thought it was 4 laps, but my dad says it was 6 laps last time. After we talked about it, that seems to make sense. They have the COOLEST wash you could ever imagine... even with the SWB, we BARELY make the turns. it's 180 degrees right, then 180 left, then 180 right, and it just CONTINUES!!! If a car ever breaks down in there, I don't know what they will do? The sides are 6 or 7 feet high, with no way out. Awesome country!!

[fj40]

Lets get some pics of that..... good luck.

[AngerIssues]

I will get some pics of the "infamous wash" during the pre-run, if I remember!!

[locopny]

where is this? and what is the date of the Race.

my rig is no where near ready yet, but might be nice for future reference.

[AngerIssues]

Hi guys,

Well first off, this BORE race, although a small bunch of entries, was as good a race as you could EVER ask for. The course was the best course we've ever run. Pre-running, chasing, and spectating was wide-open, like the old-days. People were super nice and well-behaved. I guess that is the nature of the smaller, more local promoters.

We had to compete in Class 8 - or "heavy metal", as there were no other Class 3 legal cars there. Two others were 4x4, but one is an F-150 (a few inches too long), and the other is a jeep with a 3-link rear and lots of other cool stuff. We knew in advance of this, and even showed up with number 806. :D

Anyway, 6 laps of 35 miles each, we didn't even bother to chase or have additional pits. You could see the cars go by (in the distance) at 1/2 way, which was very cool. The course had amazing variety. SUPER fast roads, tight twisty pine-trees, they cut the legendary wash out (bummer) as this was originally supposed to be a night race. Anyway, they also have a rock-garden called "easy street"... which is like driving through boulders the size of volkswagens for about two miles. NOT FUN!! Lastly, there is a long narrow and very fast section, that goes from a "dike" (75 feet down on both sides) into a very narrow canyon with MASSIVE rocks around ya. I'm doing 65-70 down this road - if you screw up, as Tom Blair says: "severe penalty for early withdrawal". Gnarly. :eek:

Starting 8th of 9, we knew we couldn't really run with the hard-core class 8 trucks, but if there was EVER a course that lended itself to our cars, this was it. For those of you that know the name Monte Tibbets, he's a crazy-fast Indian and wins nearly everything he enters. To make matters worse, he has a NEW truck that rivals the likes of LeDuc.

We began by eating a lot of dust and it was getting worse. There was no breeze but the temp was absolutely perfect for a race (not too hot, not cold). Anyway, we could see that we were catching the green F-150 4x4, but were getting hung up in his dust and couldn't get close enough to let him know we were there. We nearly had him when a nice black Class 8 truck caught us and we promptly let him go.

About 10 miles later the green truck pulled over - a nice move since we never actually "caught" them. They could see us back there, I guess, and later we thanked them profusely! :cool:

Anyway, a very nice-looking Class 8 (72 chevy'ish) had a flat on lap one also, so we figure after the 54 minute lap, we had gotten by two trucks, and been passed by one (7th of 9 now). I didn't even know we were only two minutes behind the leaders in class... or I would have been running harder (I never even asked for split times, I just assumed they were "gone").

Lap 2 was just awesome. Almost zero dust, just Tom Blair and me having fun and running a good 90% pace. We chose to run 2x4 until we needed extra help, so we just left the hubs unlocked. The black truck pulled over for a repair, and we clicked off the 35 miles in 52 minutes, picking up our pace a little. So did the others, but we were all within 4 minutes of each other. At this point we are 6th of 9.

Lap 3 began to show some more attrition. A buddy I used to ride dirt bikes with back in high school (Gary Wise) was racing with his brother in a white chevy class 8. They broke something on lap 3 (later we found it was a tie-rod). Also there was a blue truck that was pulled over. We were very surprised at our fast pace that we hadn't caught the 3-linked, extended jeep (I know... where are the pictures?? :confused:)... When we arrived at the pits, they were doing a driver change and getting fuel. But because they started well in front of us, we were technically 3rd of 9 at this point!

Well I wanted to give my dad and crew-chief Ray a truck in good shape, and frankly I had to pee... so I got out. No more races without the pee-kit, I promise! (right Cam??) :rolleyes: Pop gets in and takes off, but right in the dust of the jeep and followed closely by a Ranger and now we are in the mix with a gaggle of buggies and other stuff. Later the ranger (Kenny McNight) tries to go around them and hits a rock, pole-vaulting him into the Anger Issues Bronco, which was stopped! They plowed into the door, and later appologies were accepted (well, almost). ;) Now the driver's door matches the marks from TT number 7 at Primm! The poor old girl is looking pretty beat-up.

We didn't hear from Pop for a while - hmmm. Eventually we see the jeep at the 1/2 way point. Hmmm. When the Jeep completes lap 4 - uh oh. We send Cousin Andy down the chase roads... hoping for radio comm. Turns out, my father had hit an unseen rock in the silt (I'd hit it earlier too), and the much-fatigued tie-rod broke (NOTE: right where the sleeve ends...). Raffo will laugh, but somehow our HAMMER HAD BEEN TAKEN OUT OF THE TOOL BAG:confused::confused: This left Tom and my dad beating the tie-rod out with rocks and using other stuff as pry-bars. Ick. No wonder it took so long. Well, by the time they got going again, our potential 3rd place finish had put us 2nd to last. Almost all the trucks were running again.

Well my Pop clicked off a nice 5th lap, and decided he was ready for a beer. I got back in (with Tom's wife Teri on-board, grinning from ear-to-ear in her first race :D). We ran in 4x4 now, with the silt beds seemingly appearing from NOWHERE. It was gnarly, because we'd be doing 50 or more, and some of the silt beds were only forming on one-side first... GRABBY! Anyway, after a few face-fulls of silt, we clicked off another fun lap, 59 minutes, I think. Sadly, the green F-150 thought they were the last ones on the course, and pulled over to check a slight oil leak... they were just standing there BS'ing with 5 miles to go when we came by! I slowed WAY down to see if we could help with anything - they just waved us on.

So when it was over, we believe we were 5th of 9. The results have not been posted, but it doesn't matter. The whole point was to race a local race (45 miles from home), get our friends and family out who don't normally make the LONG trek from Idaho, and have a damn good time. I think it was mission accomplished.

As of this time, I believe the whole Anger Issues crew made it home safely, although one member of the team felt the need for the obligatory run-in with the boys in blue? We don't yet have the whole story, but someone seems to have made a side trip on the way home. Is Elko on the way to Twin Falls? Not last time I checked!! :rolleyes:

Special thanks to the local friends and family members that came to the race and even helped with the costs. We couldn't have done this race without you. I'd try to name them, but I'd forget someone - so THANKS!

One last note: We should ALL consider the many benefits of racing with smaller, more local promoters, on courses that have NOT been used 500 times. I realize the ego gets a boost when you go run a SCORE race like Laughlin or the Baja 500, but pound-for-pound, dollar-for-dollar, there is NOTHING like this type of race. I just wish we could all start talking and agreeing on which races to race, and given the economy, save a few dollars but keep getting out there to compete and have fun. Isn't that the point? Maybe, if there is enough interest, the Class 3 Cup next year should consist of cheaper, local races, and the rich boys go run those Trophy Trucks until the cows come home. Hey, we can always spectate and drink beer!!

[Blanco]

Great story Ken Glad you guys had fun & did well.

& http://thewebwheeler.com/forums/images/smilies/worthlessw-opics.gif

[fj40]

Yea, waiting for the pictures to match your storie, good work.

[Yikes]

Great read as usual Ken. Sounds like a blast. X3 on pictures.

[Broncodawg]

Great write up! Pics x4?

[GHull]

Great write up! Pics x4?

hey Bore is still racing this year if any of you want to come race. The first race is May 2nd at Wendover,NV. At the moment 8 trucks are entered with 21 entries total. Bore has a web site if you need more info.