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STORY BY CRAIG PERRONNE
OME
T RAC ERS A H
IVES BUDGE
LASS G
OF A C
THE RISE 1450 class has existed in some form for the last
decade, it hasn’t been until recently that the category
has achieved major momentum. With 36 entries at the
W
hen three dozen trucks lined up on the start- MORE race, it’s obvious that interest in the class is at
ing line of the MORE Kartek 300/Beard 1450 an all-time high.
Shootout this past May, it got our attention. The idea behind the 1450 class’s creation was sim-
They were all there to do battle in the 1450 class and ple: to get more people involved in the sport. “Our
the big turnout had made the field one of the larger to whole objective having the MDR series is to keep
take on the nasty desert terrain surrounding Lucerne ”
desert racing going, explains Patricia Williams, head
Valley in the heat of the California summer. While the of Mojave Desert Racing (MDR) and someone who
42 DIRTsports Magazine I The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports
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helped spearhead the creation of desert. Then, as Synder explains, Along with an
the class. “It’s an expensive sport “We went out to a desert race and increase in 1450
and we were trying to think of the saw these guys racing by and class entries,
easiest and cheapest way to get were like ‘Holy smokes, that’s interest from
new people it. ” bitchin’. He (Uncle Bob) calls me manufacturers
With plenty of prerunner trucks up the next day and says ‘You has also spiked.
infesting the streets of Southern want to go race my truck with me?’ Companies,
California, it was not long before Without even thinking I said ‘Oh such as Giant
Williams got an idea. “You have sure! Okay!’ Well another $15,000 Motorsports
people who had a pickup truck later and plenty of blood, sweat (above) and
that they might have gotten for and tears and my wife almost Total Chaos
graduation or something and divorcing me, we had a race truck. ” Fabrication
they’ve built it, but by the time Before the birth of the 1450 (opposite), have
they’re interested in racing, it’s not class, Schreiner and Synder found 1450
”
ready for any class, says would not have had a place to vehicles the
Williams. “We thought we would race. Like many of the existing perfect platform
have a class that this type of vehi- prerunners, their V-8 powered to develop and
cle would be ready for, where Chevy S-10 was built for fun and market the
there wouldn’t be too many rules. ” not to comply with a set of rules. products they
By constructing a class where To run in Class 7, the truck would produce.
there were few rules and targeted need to be returned to V-6 power,
at existing prerunners, MDR need a frame and have its engine
accomplished exactly what it set relocated to a stock position. The
out to do by enabling a larger only other option for the truck
group of people to go racing for before 1450 would have been
less money. Trophy-Truck. But that wouldn’t
Bob “Uncle Bob” Schreiner and have been feasible. “Obviously
Lloyd Synder are perfect examples we wouldn’t be anywhere near
of the viability of this concept. competitive in Trophy-Truck, ”
Originally, Uncle Bob had pur- Snyder says. “We would be about
chased a S-10 prerunner meant as 80 mph off the mark. ”
a play toy to take to the dunes and The loose set of rules governing
September 2005 I www.dirtsportsmag.com 43
RIGHT:
1450 allows
many to race
already-built
prerunners not
allowed in other
classes.
BOTTOM:
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Reliability is a
key to success
in the 1450
class.
the 1450 class? Well
they’re probably the
shortest set of rules governing a class in
the history of motorsports. Besides the
usual safety specifications that apply to
every category in MDR and MORE, the
rules for 1450 consist of needing a steel
cab and functioning doors. Other than that,
it’s wide open with less restrictions than a
teenage-sponsored keg party. By design,
the few rules in place are there to allow a
wide range of vehicles that weren’t built to
any set of restrictions to compete.
With such a wide range of vehicles
allowed in the class, costs to run in 1450 can
also vary widely. On the upper end of the
spectrum are Schreiner and Synder, who
estimate their truck consists of about
$40,000 in hard parts. The cost would be
much higher if the duo weren’t able to per-
1/2 page island.
form the fabrication and labor themselves.
4.375 X 7 The pair also spends about $1,500 a race on
tires, fuel, prep and everything else required
to race. Some teams, though, spend much
less on their race vehicles and entry fees
(see sidebar).
The 1450 class is also attracting more
manufacturers’ interest in the form of con-
tingency money and sponsorships. A recent
entry to the contingency field for all of MDR
and the 1450 class is Maxxis Tire. “We are
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44 DIRTsports Magazine I The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports
CRAIG PERRONNE
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TEAM PROFILE:
DOG EATER MOTORSPORTS
D og Eater Motorsports, while not a politically correct name, is
a perfect example of a 1450 class team. Heading the team
are JJ Hanson and Beldin Alivio. The thirty-something-year-olds
are a bit more mature than California’s typical horde of prerun-
ABOVE: the new guys so we’re going after ner-obsessed youth, but like many others, Hanson and Alivio
Lloyd Snyder, the grassroots, which is why we have found their place in 1450.
winner of the got involved in MDR and the 1450 Desert racing has been the duo’s passion since childhood. Alivio
Beard 1450 class, where the younger up and already owned a clean and ultra-cool 1968 Chevy prerunner and
Shootout, is at ”
comers are, explains Brad Hanson was in the process of building a race truck. The bug to
the upper end Williams, Maxxis’ senior sales rep- compete in 1450 happened when the pair came across an old
of the 1450 resentative. In addition, many of race truck for sale that possessed sentimental value for Hanson.
class with over the suspension companies that Originally owned by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, the truck
$40,000 invest- produce long travel kits commonly was then bought by Dave Westhem who raced it to victory in the
ed in his race found on many 1450 prerunners 1987 Baja 1000. After the construction of Westhem’s new truck,
truck. are also seeing the value in spon- the old-school racer was retired to duty as a prerunner. Westhem
soring racers to help to offset the graciously allowed the older truck to be raced in the Gran
BELOW: cost of racing. Carrera series in Mexico during the early 1990s, with driving
Less expensive, With the rise of 1450, there has duties split between Randy Salmont and Alex Bourland. Hanson
older race never been a better time to go helped to prep the truck, which he spent many sleepless nights
trucks and pre- racing for those looking for a more working on, and rode as a co-driver.
runners often affordable way to enjoy competi- Hanson immediately recognized the truck, which was for sale on
make excellent tion in the Southern California a used car lot. Alivio, a fan of anything old school, was also drawn
choices for a deserts. With the surge of interest, to the truck. It had the cool retro factor necessary for Alivio and as
campaign in there’s also no shortage of compe- he puts it, “if you got beat by it, you know you got whipped by an
1450. tition. Both MDR (www.mdrrac- old truck.”
ing.com, 626-442-9320) and MORE Before the creation of the 1450 class, there would have been
(www.moreracing.net, 702-254- no place for it. “If we tried to race it in Class 8, we would get our
4453) host the 1450 class at every ”
asses handed to us, says Beldin. Still, the two knew it could be
one of their races. competitive in 1450. Because the truck used mostly off-the-shelf
parts, it would be a lot cheaper to campaign then Alivio’s prerun-
ner with its exotic, one-off parts. After closing the deal for
$10,000, the truck was theirs.
To cut costs, Alivio and Hanson split expenses and did prep
work in Hanson’s garage. Like many other 1450 racers, Hanson
and Alivio spend their spare time after work and on the week-
ends wrenching. The simplistic nature of the racer has worked to
the team’s advantage, keeping costs down. Hanson estimates
that they spend roughly $500 each race as long as nothing major
blows up. The reliable nature of the truck has also allowed them
to be competitive. “Reliability is a big thing (in the 1450 class),”
CRAIG PERRONNE
Alivio says. “Some guys think that the fastest lap will win the
race but forget there are three or four more laps. The whole idea
is to have fun. That’s the point of what we do. ”
Fun without spending a lot of money, that is.
46 DIRTsports Magazine I The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports
IS 1450 BEING RUINED? those who initially came to the class looking for a way to
race on a budget get tired of being spanked by the big-
n the last couple of years, popularity of the 1450 class money rigs and eventually leave? As evident on many
I has grown rapidly. Along with the influx of vehicles into
the class has come a change in its nature. What once
popular prerunner Web sites, that debate and the future of
the class is one that rages on.
started as a budget entry-level class has evolved into Fortunately the organizers of both MDR and MORE have
something past its roots. Instead of existing vehicles noticed the change and want to keep the budget and
being used in its stock form, people are now building race entry-level nature of 1450 intact. “We don’t want to dis-
cars specifically to race in 1450 and very loose rules have courage new people from coming in if they think they’re
lead to some very high-dollar and fast vehicles showing going to compete against a super fast vehicle with a great
up to compete. While the growth of the class is a good ”
suspension, says Patricia Williams, head of MDR. The
thing, one definitely has to wonder about the future. Will challenge to both sanctioning bodies is to maintain the
open rules that allow a wide assortment of vehicles to
enter without losing the class’s original nature.
The answer might already exist, though, as alongside
1450 is Class 1400, its pro version, where drivers compete
for cash versus trophies but must complete all the race
laps. At this point, most drivers competed in 1450 simply
because that’s where the competitors are. With the
increased number of racers and fast trucks, Williams
wants to encourage the fastest racers to compete in 1400
versus 1450. Some racers have already committed to it for
the 2006 season, she notes. To help draw the faster racers
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into 1400, Williams says she plans to take the increased
manufacturer interest in the class and help create a larger
cash payout, thus keeping the nature of 1450 intact
without the mess of rule changes.
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September 2005 I www.dirtsportsmag.com 47