HighRev Photography STORY BY CRAIG PERRONNE OME ERS A

HighRev Photography STORY BY CRAIG PERRONNE OME ERS A H T RAC BUDGE IVES LASS G OF A C 1450 class has existed in some form for the last E RISE TH decade, it hasn’t been until recently that the category hen three dozen trucks lined up on the starting line of the MORE Kartek 300/Beard 1450 Shootout this past May, it got our attention. They were all there to do battle in the 1450 class and the big turnout had made the field one of the larger to take on the nasty desert terrain surrounding Lucerne Valley in the heat of the California summer. While the W I has achieved major momentum. With 36 entries at the MORE race, it’s obvious that interest in the class is at an all-time high. The idea behind the 1450 class’s creation was simple: to get more people involved in the sport. “Our whole objective having the MDR series is to keep desert racing going, explains Patricia Williams, head ” of Mojave Desert Racing (MDR) and someone who 42 DIRTsports Magazine The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports helped spearhead the creation of the class. “It’s an expensive sport and we were trying to think of the easiest and cheapest way to get new people it. ” With plenty of prerunner trucks infesting the streets of Southern California, it was not long before Williams got an idea. “You have people who had a pickup truck that they might have gotten for graduation or something and they’ve built it, but by the time they’re interested in racing, it’s not ready for any class, says ” Williams. “We thought we would have a class that this type of vehicle would be ready for, where ” there wouldn’t be too many rules. By constructing a class where there were few rules and targeted at existing prerunners, MDR accomplished exactly what it set out to do by enabling a larger group of people to go racing for less money. Bob “Uncle Bob” Schreiner and Lloyd Synder are perfect examples of the viability of this concept. Originally, Uncle Bob had purchased a S-10 prerunner meant as a play toy to take to the dunes and desert. Then, as Synder explains, “We went out to a desert race and saw these guys racing by and were like ‘Holy smokes, that’s bitchin’. He (Uncle Bob) calls me up the next day and says ‘You want to go race my truck with me?’ Without even thinking I said ‘Oh sure! Okay!’ Well another $15,000 later and plenty of blood, sweat and tears and my wife almost divorcing me, we had a race truck. ” Before the birth of the 1450 class, Schreiner and Synder would not have had a place to race. Like many of the existing prerunners, their V-8 powered Chevy S-10 was built for fun and not to comply with a set of rules. To run in Class 7, the truck would need to be returned to V-6 power, need a frame and have its engine relocated to a stock position. The only other option for the truck before 1450 would have been Trophy-Truck. But that wouldn’t have been feasible. “Obviously we wouldn’t be anywhere near competitive in Trophy-Truck, ” Snyder says. “We would be about 80 mph off the mark. ” The loose set of rules governing September 2005 Along with an increase in 1450 class entries, interest from manufacturers has also spiked. Companies, such as Giant Motorsports (above) and Total Chaos Fabrication (opposite), have found 1450 vehicles the perfect platform to develop and market the products they produce. I www.dirtsportsmag.com 43 HighRev Photography RIGHT: 1450 allows many to race already-built prerunners not allowed in other classes. BOTTOM: Reliability is a key to success in the 1450 class. 1/2 page island. 4.375 X 7 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 perform the fabrication and labor themselves. 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 contingency money and sponsorships. A recent entry to the contingency field for all of MDR and the 1450 class is Maxxis Tire. “We are CRAIG PERRONNE CIRCLE 23 ON READER ACTION CARD OR VISIT DIRTSPORTSMAG.COM 44 DIRTsports Magazine I The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports HighRev Photography CRAIG PERRONNE TEAM PROFILE: DOG EATER MOTORSPORTS D ABOVE: Lloyd Snyder, winner of the Beard 1450 Shootout, is at the upper end of the 1450 class with over $40,000 invested in his race truck. BELOW: Less expensive, older race trucks and prerunners often make excellent choices for a campaign in 1450. the new guys so we’re going after the grassroots, which is why we got involved in MDR and the 1450 class, where the younger up and comers are, explains Brad ” Williams, Maxxis’ senior sales representative. In addition, many of the suspension companies that produce long travel kits commonly found on many 1450 prerunners are also seeing the value in sponsoring racers to help to offset the cost of racing. With the rise of 1450, there has never been a better time to go racing for those looking for a more affordable way to enjoy competition in the Southern California deserts. With the surge of interest, there’s also no shortage of competition. Both MDR (www.mdrracing.com, 626-442-9320) and MORE (www.moreracing.net, 702-2544453) host the 1450 class at every one of their races. 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 prerunner-obsessed youth, but like many others, Hanson and Alivio have found their place in 1450. Desert racing has been the duo’s passion since childhood. Alivio already owned a clean and ultra-cool 1968 Chevy prerunner and Hanson was in the process of building a race truck. The bug to compete in 1450 happened when the pair came across an old race truck for sale that possessed sentimental value for Hanson. Originally owned by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, the truck was then bought by Dave Westhem who raced it to victory in the 1987 Baja 1000. After the construction of Westhem’s new truck, the old-school racer was retired to duty as a prerunner. Westhem graciously allowed the older truck to be raced in the Gran Carrera series in Mexico during the early 1990s, with driving duties split between Randy Salmont and Alex Bourland. Hanson helped to prep the truck, which he spent many sleepless nights working on, and rode as a co-driver. Hanson immediately recognized the truck, which was for sale on a used car lot. Alivio, a fan of anything old school, was also drawn to the truck. It had the cool retro factor necessary for Alivio and as he puts it, “if you got beat by it, you know you got whipped by an old truck. ” Before the creation of the 1450 class, there would have been no place for it. “If we tried to race it in Class 8, we would get our asses handed to us, says Beldin. Still, the two knew it could be ” competitive in 1450. Because the truck used mostly off-the-shelf parts, it would be a lot cheaper to campaign then Alivio’s prerunner 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 weekends 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), ” 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 CRAIG PERRONNE HighRev Photography IS 1450 BEING RUINED? I n the last couple of years, popularity of the 1450 class has grown rapidly. Along with the influx of vehicles into the class has come a change in its nature. What once started as a budget entry-level class has evolved into something past its roots. Instead of existing vehicles being used in its stock form, people are now building race cars specifically to race in 1450 and very loose rules have lead to some very high-dollar and fast vehicles showing up to compete. While the growth of the class is a good thing, one definitely has to wonder about the future. Will 1/4 page vert. 3.25 X 4.625 HighRev Photography those who initially came to the class looking for a way to race on a budget get tired of being spanked by the bigmoney rigs and eventually leave? As evident on many popular prerunner Web sites, that debate and the future of the class is one that rages on. Fortunately the organizers of both MDR and MORE have noticed the change and want to keep the budget and entry-level nature of 1450 intact. “We don’t want to discourage new people from coming in if they think they’re going to compete against a super fast vehicle with a great suspension, says Patricia Williams, head of MDR. The ” 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 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. 1/4 page vert. 3.25 X 4.625 CIRCLE 25 ON READER ACTION CARD OR VISIT DIRTSPORTSMAG.COM CIRCLE 26 ON READER ACTION CARD OR VISIT DIRTSPORTSMAG.COM September 2005 I www.dirtsportsmag.com 47