At stake for the Ford-backed Pro 4 driver is more than just the $100,000 purse. At stake is a journey into off-road racing history, a history that transcends sanctioning bodies and fuses the gap between the legendary SCORE Baja races and the short-course racing’s capitol of the world, Crandon, Wisconsin.

In addition to his championship-seeking win-streak in both SCORE, and CORR, MacCachren also dominates the competition in both the Best In The Desert series and the SNORE series, both Nevada based desert racing sanctioning bodies, where he races a Stock Mini Ford Ranger and a Class 16 buggy respectively.

They're just the Good Old Boys.

"People really don’t realize what we’re on the verge of, winning four championships within four different series’ all within one year," said MacCachren as he fathomed the notion of such a history-making feat.

"We started off the year with a first place race in every series. From there, we just went with it," he said, citing the commitment of his crew to take on such a schedule. "It means a whole lot more to the morale of the team when you go home with a win. But even then, it’s asking a lot, and they’ve stepped up."

So far this season, MacCachren has tallied 19 wins in just 21 races. He is currently in contention for the overall points championship for each of the four series’. But, his broad win streak has yet to transcend the gap between the desert and short-course racing communities, which reside on opposite ends of the country.

Though, he sees winds of change beginning to soar. "This is what’s going good for racing right now: Ford and BFG have got the TV package here in CORR, and good coverage like (Off-Road.com does) is taking a hold in the desert. But, we still need TV out there."

In general, there are very few media outlets with the ambition and ability to provide timely coverage of desert racing. MacCachren says it’s not necessarily the fault of the promoters and that it’s time for manufacturers to step up with the support, siting the cost and logistic difficulty of putting together a television package for the desert races.

"I’m not in the promoters shoes, so I cannot say whether there is something out there that they could be doing differently," he said. "But, they are doing a good job putting on good races for the racers. I think it’s time for the manufacturers to step in."

It's In The Blood

MacCachren was born into the off-road community by his father, who put him on a 1973 Indian 50 and got him started in MRAN races out of his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. Shortly thereafter at the age of eight, he became state champion in his class.

In 1982, his dad, who himself raced buggies in the SNORE series at the time, saw it fit for MacCachren to do the same.

"In early ’82 my dad started me off in off-road buggies. In September ’82 I raced my first buggy race in SNORE. It was an old Hi Jumper. It’ll be 19 years ago this month. My first win was in ’83 at the first SNORE race of the season. That same year I was the overall champion. I think I may have even won all six races."

Brew and brauts? Hmmm.  Somehow that seems familiar. These guys have got to be readers.

MacCachren maintained his focus on the SNORE series, but also ventured off into others, racing SCORE as well as the now defunct HDRA series.

"I overalled the ’86 Firecracker in a Class 1 out in Barstow. And then in ’88, I went to drive for Walker Evans in a Jeep. I meet him through Jackie Gaughn who sponsored Walker with the Barbary Coast Casino in Vegas. He used to take me out prerunning with them in their Dodge Rams. They both had identical prerunners. While we were prerunning, Jackie asked me to drive. I guess he saw something in my driving and later came to me and said, "Hey, I’ve got this Jeep program for 7Ss, are you interested?" I thought it’d be a good deal so I jumped on board with them. Then in ’91 I joined the Ford Rough Riders and here I am."

MacCachren attributed much of his early success to several factors.

"Living in Vegas and growing up with motorcycles had a lot to do with it. But, I think more importantly was my dad who showed me and gave me what it took to win."

Good Old Boys

We had a chance to catch up with MacCachren at Bergstrom Ford in Rhinelander, where we also met up with a few guys who were prepping their trucks for the Good Old Boys race on Sunday.

John and Joel Huber were torching and welding away on the 86 Ford F-150, while John’s girlfriend Jess put the finishing touches on the paint job, going over the names of the various sponsors.

"Well, this thing’s a ½ ton with ¾ ton running gear. It’s got a 302 beneath the hood and a C6 tranny. I picked it up from a buddy’s girlfriend for a hundred bucks. This Sunday will be my fourth Good Old Boys race. My first on I got 16^th place and my second I got 10^th. I DNF’d last time and look toward kicking ass on the fourth one."

John works at Bergstrom Ford as a Service Technician, where he’s worked for the last five years. In recent weeks, he’s spent a lot of overtime prepping the truck, coming in early and staying late to work on it.

"Sean McAdam, the General Manager and Al Kuphal the Service Manager have very supportive with this. They support it a lot more than they need to. If it wasn’t for them, this wouldn’t happen."

Camp Crandon

On our way back through town, Mike Bartolotti and I stopped by the raceway to met up with some of this weekend’s campers who were quickly flooding into the area.

"Hey, what’s going on, man?" I yelled out to a couple guys hovering over a hibachi with a white bread wrapped Bratwurst in one hand and a coozy-wrapped MGD in the other.

"Brew and brats, that’s about all there is. You want me to throw one on the fire for ya?" said Donn Sutton of Lake Villa, Illinois.

After talking to the two for a bit, I asked both of them what kind of rigs they owned. Donn said he had an ’84 Jeep Cherokee XJ with a four cylinder and 180,000 original miles on it and was looking to swap a small block Chevy into the Jeep.

Immediately, it sparked my interest because I was exchanging emails on Off-Road.com’s Jeep Cherokee XJ Mailing List just days earlier. As it turns out, it is a small world indeed. The only thing I could conclude from this encounter was that all roads lead to Crandon, especially if the road you’re on begins with Off-Road.com

Until Then

We’re going to work on getting a full three hours of sleep before we wake up to bring you live updates throughout the day from Crandon, Wisconsin. Check out the schedule below to see where we’ll be and what we’ll be bringing you tomorrow.

Thereafter, we’ll be bringing you hard-CORR racing throughout both Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned, stay awake and check out the Photo Gallery!

 SPECIAL FRIDAY EVENT SCHEDULE

8:30 AM -- Sportsman, Pro Teams and Friday night vehicles assemble downtown Crandon.

9:30 AM -- Snap-On Pit Crew Competition

Noon -- 2001 World Championship Labor Day Parade

1:00 PM -- Trail Master Time Trials at Raceway

7:30 PM -- Special "Friday Night Extreme Thunderfest" under the lights at the raceway featuring; Monster Trucks, Fireworks, Motorcycles, Midget-Mania, Figure Eight Stock Cars and more.