When I first learned about the publicity run for the 1996 Laughlin Challenge, I was psyched. I have wanted to go Off-Roading in that area for around a year now, but never found the time. Doing so on a race course was an added plus. A few days before the event, ORC Race Editor and CO-pilot Tim McElroy Called and said that SCORE was going to set each of us in with a couple of the racers , pre running the course. "Life does not suck" I thought to my self. My twisted little mind began forming story ideas for VW&SC even as I set the phone down.

When we arrived, we found that Murphys law applied to SCORE events as well. There had been a mix up and our rides were not to be found. Oh well, There's always the good old "Desert Beast" to fall back on. Hell this Baja has fought its way through some hairy territory before . Ever the realist, Tim asked the obvious question ; "Can this Bug make it through, or are we going to have to walk back" ? "Walk" ? what is this "Walk" , of which you speak Tim ? So far the Desert Beast has never left me stranded anywhere but my driveway, so we decided to forge ahead on the true spirit of off-roading .

Throwing caution to the wind, we signed on the dotted line of a release form that absolved SCORE of our potentially pending deaths and thus, good reader, began our 22 mile oddesey in the Nevada desert. "But wait", you say "the course is over 40 miles" ! Not for us it wasn't...Not today....

We pulled out onto the course in rare form, ready to enjoy the ride. The Official ORC stance is that we went to get some material on the course to report on in these pages, but you know better. That was secondary to a chance to go off-roading. (You know it, and we know it , but don't tell Pat and Dean ;-).We crossed over SR 163 and found ourselves staring straight into the mouth of hell (from a semi stock Baja point of view anyway). We were greeted by several miles of deep sand with a nice high center that did an outstanding job of polishing my belly pan. The whoops were not too bad but there was a constant feeling that we would "high center" at any moment. Fortunately the VW is a beast that is hard to stop , once it's in motion, and it kept on keeping on, through the entire section. Next up on the list of semi stock Baja Horrors was the mountain pass. Now I'll be the first one to admit that I love rock gardens. However , when they go up mountains on 45 degree angles , they become less than inviting to sane people . Never having been one to let reason interfere with the pursuit of good material however , we decided to go on. If the truth be told, we did'nt have a choice as there were no "outs" until the other side of the mountain. Tim was up for it and immeadiately started picking lines through the trail. This turned out to be nearly impossible, as the trail was about a foot wider than the Baja, with hair pin, full lock turns,with steep inclines and drops. The 100+ foot vertical dropoffs on either side tend to add to driver concentration . What totally destroyed that concentration however, was the grinding sound of granite on skid plate.

Let me say this here and now. On that day, I gained an unholy amount of respect for the class 11 Bugs and their drivers, that race the various series and races in the southwest. The Trophy Trucks get the Lions share of the media and glamour, and thier drivers deservedly become household words in the homes of race fans, but the skill it takes to drive a basically stock VW through a desert race course, and bring it in to finish, is nothing to be trivialized.

After turning off at several locations to allow faster traffic to pass, Tim and I entered the next section of the course which was a sandy road under and along a series of power lines. There were a fair amount of whoops, but overall, it was fairly smooth, 100 M.P.H. + territory for the big boys and thier toys.For some reason, Tim never looked out the window to see if my air filter was still attached. I guess he was too busy hanging on. Hmmm..?some people?..;-) Suddenly the road dumped into a deep wash which led to a sandy, highly bumpy uphill. It took every ounce of German VW fortitude to accelerate to the top just in time to see the course marker with - 3 - , count'em, - 3 - down arrows. When we crested the rise, we did so several feet in the air. Yes Its true. Bajas fly like rocks and we nose dove into a mogul field at around 20 mph. Uh,oh. After a few bumps worth of doing our best Rodeo rider imitations, we stalled the car out in the deep sand . Not good. After several racers stopped to ask if we needed assistance, we waved them on, (with thanks) and set out to find out the problem. It was then Tim stared in horror at the filterless carburetor. Let me set this up for you. I have tried to get the base (a rubber hose) off that carb before. I gave up after figuring I'd tear the hose or crack the cast metal body. Basicly, the AZ heat had worked with engine temp to vulcanize the hose to the carb over the summer. This is how rough the course was. (the high attrition rate in the race itself bears this out).

So here we are, 7 miles from the nearest "out" to the highway, in a sand wash and no air cleaner. Just dandy. Well, Onward ho! and deal with the consequences later. As it turned out, the bouncing had starved the engine for fuel and with a little effort, we were once again in motion. As we made it to the "out", we found it was another 4 miles or so to pavement. Boy this just keeps getting better and better doesn't it ?.

Once to the highway, We found what we thought to be a bent tie rod as the bug pulled hard to the right. Fortunately, it was only sand that had packed into the brake drum and created a lot of drag. Once back to the civilized world, we checked the car over and found that the skid plate had saved the motor from a grizzly death back in the mountains. Were talking SERIOUSLY pounded here. But it did its job well and nothing got by it. Thank God himself for the wisdom to install it.

Overall, besides scratched paint, a few dings, and the loss of the air cleaner, we came out about as good as we went in. We were not happy about having to abort the run half way through, but better that than a totally trashed motor. Would we do it again ? Hell yes ! If you have never experienced a desert race course first hand, you can't really appreciate what the racers go through every time they go out there. NASCAR takes nerves of steel. NHRA takes lightning like reflexes. Triathalons take supreme physical conditioning. Desert Off-Road Racing takes all of those and more. Our hats are off to you guys ! you deserve all the credit you get and a lot more.