The Parker 425 kicks off this year’s Best In The Desert race schedule in Parker, Arizona with Time Trials on February 1st and the race itself in the early morning hours of February 3rd.
With the race still a week away, more than 200 race teams have already signed up to run the event. The race field so far includes 49 Trick Trucks, 19 Class 1500 machines, 42 Class 6100 Spec Engine competitors, and 41 Class 1000 Cars.
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The 2018 running of the event will again once again feature a staggered two-start format beginning Saturday morning, February 3rd. The early morning start will be for open wheel class vehicles and smaller cars or trucks, taking place at an alarming 6:00am. Staging for the teams starts an hour earlier.
This first start will feature a ‘Gran Prix’ finish, which means when the overall leader receives the checkered flag, all others crossing the finish line after that will also receive the checkered regardless of how many laps they have completed.
Early that same afternoon, spectators will see the second start of the day, featuring the Trick Truck class, along with heavier cars and trucks. The two start format is in the interest of safety to separate slower classes from much faster classes such as the gonzo Trick Trucks.
The team who wins the Time Trials on Thursday will get a solo green flag start at approximately 1:30 PM. The remainder of the field starts two at a time after that start, with the finish line for all hands being in the parking lot of the BlueWater Resort & Casino. Awards will be handed out on Sunday.
Trophy Trucks are one of the desert’s fastest machines, kicking up dust while sounding like Chewbacca on a bad fur day. In the driver’s seat of these four-wheeled brutes you’ll find wheelmen like Robby Gordon and Rob MacCachren.
After the Parker 425, the Best In The Desert series continues on with the Mint 400 in March, running on to the fabulously named Pahrump Nugget 250 in December.