Bad blood seemed to run deep alongside the Colorado River upon ORC's arrival. The first indication should have been the presence of the Goodyear trailer. Not that Goodyear's return to the SCORE series is neither bad nor unwelcome, it's just that the presence of the tire company was strange and a bit out of place in the desert - especially for the SCORE series.

But, this deal wasn't about SCORE. The "Ironclad" deal going down was more about the Protruck Organization than anything, and it seemed to be breathing some new life into the sport that has taken a yawn at new blood and big dollar sponsorships.

This ain't NASCAR - deals aren't done in the multi-million dollar amounts. Deals are done more or less by the tire. Every buck counts, and Protruck jefe Ivan Stewart was watching over his roost.

"Little" Joe's been around and been a respected contributor to the sport of off-road racing for a long time. His and Goodyear's presence in the SCORE series is greatly welcome.

Where the Money Is

To get a better idea of what was going on, we dropped by the Goodyear trailer and paid a visit to our friend "Little" Joe, who runs the rig.

"I went from Kentucky to Detroit, and then they told me I had to come over here and change some Protruck tires," he said, gazing through the door with a bead of sweat from his brow overlooking a monstrous stack of fresh MT/Rs. Beyond the obvious, he wasn't saying nor even knew what was going on behind the scenes. For him, there was a job to do.

Next, we made our way to a man who's in the know when deals like this go down. He wears a dark cape and shades and goes by the name of Slash. In the off season, you usually find him digging through phone booths for change and hitting up the bartender for a free round. But on this particular cold and windy evening in Laughlin, he had something to share with us.

"Hey Fidel! What's the deal with this Protruck tire ordeal? Get this, Ivan calls up Sal and put's it to him this way: "Sal, if we ran a race on Goodyears, would there still be any access to SCORE/BFG Relay?" Well let me tell you Fidel, there is no such thing as SCORE/BFG Relay.""

The Inland Truss car of Dale Ebberts and company pulled a fast one with a remarkable win on a remarkably rough Vegas to Reno course last season, but his career didn't begin there. It started off with his dad and kick started with his first Class 1/2 1600 race and win at Parker in '92, where he continued on to win the SCORE points championship for that year. The Canyon Lake, Cal. resident took it one further in his first Class 1 car in '96 with a win in the first two races of the year and another championship year. This weekend, he'll look for a win with his Fortin 5 speed powered by the Fat Performance Toyota.

Down The Road

Now, it just so happened that Slash's brother Mister X was strolling through while we were on our way down pit row, he's the kind of guy that's also in the know but usually doesn't share much at that end. He's more of a hermit when it comes to such high profile cases, considering he's a hermit.

"Basically, BFG has him by the balls in the contract," Mister X says of the Ironman in a matter of fact tone. "What it's gonna come down to is what works in the desert, and the racers know where their loyalty lies."

What's interesting about this whole entourage of info is that from what we've gathered, Goodyear don't, or should we say doesn't go south of the border. And with the San Felipe race just shy of a month away, things aren't looking well for the Ironclad deal that brewed some bad blood by the river.

Pit Crew Challenge

At press time, the numbers for the Pit Crew Challenge weren't entirely tallied. But some of the first ones through the shoot were the Trophy Trucks of Mark Post's Riviera Ford on one hand and Damen Jefferies' Herman Motorsports Ford on the other. With a few blips on the air gun, Riviera Racing had its full set of tires changed and was heading off into the dirt.

Dale Dondel, who won last year's leap, used the belly pan of his Class 1 car as a sail, soaring a full 130 feet, 11 inches for his shot at the Laughlin Leap. Dondel made only one pass to prove his prowess. Perhaps, that was all his back could handle after a crossed-up landing that shook the ground like a California quake.

Dale Ebberts got the "get the hell out of the way" award for his crossed-up and out-of-control landing, but he didn't get anywhere near as far as Dondel's leap.

Not to stick soley to the performance of the Herbst, but it's about the only shot that came through due to the malfunctioning Nikon flash. They were fast, probably fast enough for the cash, but the results will have to wait until tomorrow.

Dondel didn't take the second of his two attempts off the 10-odd foot jump. Perhaps it was due to the harsh landing, which put a few out for the evening. Scott Steinberger also suffered the same fate, which placed a knot on his back big enough to put him out for the night. But that wasn't the worst of it, there was a mid-sized red and white truck whose co-driver appeared to cough up his spinal cord while the paramedics were checking him over.

From the looks of it, though not official, as the results are not yet in, Dondel went the furthest with his leap for the second year in a row, but Herbst again won the Trophy Truck division.

We'll bring you up to date with more news, results, photos and interesting workings that go on behind the scenes of desert racing 2002. Expect a contingency update shortly afternoon before we head our way south down river to Parker for the Whiplash/SNORE Parker 400.