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Day 1
The race would start at 10:30 Thursday morning with Rick
Graf and Alan Dillemuth leading the Banning cars in the dusty deserts of Nevada
with car 1156 driven by Gary Williams Jr. and then 1123 of Lee Sr. The first portion of the race would
turn out to be a good one with all three buggies running within 2 miles of each
other for a hundred miles and all be in the top four positions. Pit 4 would mark the position were the
drivers changes would take place with 1178 arriving first and Rick handing the
wheel over to Bryan Folks and they were away, continuing to turn up dirt with
the class lead. Next to stop was
Lee Sr. who would hand it over to Lee Jr. who would keep the rhythm going for
car 1123. Coming in behind Lee was
1156 and Tom Shaw would take over and be the man to keep 1156 up in the
hunt. By the end of the first day
1178 was the first to cross the line with a 10 minute lead over second position. 1123 would cross the checkered flag
with 1156 behind them. With only a
few issues during day 1, it was an overall great performance and a great start
to what is the most demanding race of the year.
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Day 2
With the start of the second day and 1178 leading the field. With that advantage it aloud the team
to make first dust in class starting the second day with Rick and Alan in the
buggy. Tom Shaw driving 1156 would
be the second Banning car, followed by Lee Sr. in 1123. Shortly after the start 1178 would make
contact with another vehicle do to the extremely dusty conditions. They would limp the vehicle to pit one
were repairs from Benny and Chris began.
Tommy Shaw would have the class lead for a majority of the first half of
the day. While leading coming to pit 4 were the driver change for the day would
take place 1156 would have a tire go down allowing 1123 to go around him and
come to the driver change first.
Lee Jr. would take the buggy and keep the hammer down finishing 1st
in class for the day. 1156 was
having a good day and would have another tire go down but it did not stop the
determination of the group to keep moving and finish 4th for the day
just before nightfall. With two
Banning cars running towards the front all day 1178 continued to have some
issues with the motor expiring just after Bryan Folks and Chris Godfrey took
over. The evening of repairs went
a little long for 1123 which added 30 minutes to there time as they made the
necessary repairs to ensure a flawless 3rd day. Great job to everyone that hustled on
the wounded 1178 car and getting the front suspension back in working order.
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Day 3
With two Banning Buggies left in competition and the top five buggies virtually under a blanket, the whole team new what had to be done in
order for a strong finish overall.
With Tommy Shaw leading the Banning crew off of the line due to the 30
minute time addition to 1123. Some
issues with the oil system on buggy 1156 almost deemed a dnf but again with
hard work from the team at pit 4 and 5 and the quick thinking by driver Tom
Shaw and Jeff Rhodes the buggy was saved and repaired for Gary to bring 1156 to
the finish. Lee Sr. and Kyle
Danielson kept a solid pace up and making up valuable time on the morning
session until Lee Jr. and Clayton got in the vehicle at pit 5 and put the
peddle to the floor which is second nature to Jr. At the end of the event both cars that started the day
finished 2nd and 5th respectively on the 3rd
and final day of the grueling and famous Vegas to Reno.
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