I was sadden to hear of this weekends tragedy out in Lucerne Valley! I have been to this race many times in the past 7 years and it is one of the best races ever that we have out here! MDR brings out the true drivers of our sport that have a dream to race and can fulfill it in this series! The racers in the 1400/1450 class are your true hardcore racers. These guys spend almost every penny they earn into their trucks to race only one weekend a month! Unlike professional teams that have crew members to prep and tune their trucks, these guys get their friends involved to help them prep and tune and test their trucks for practically free (maybe a beer while working in the garage or a beer after a race or a ride in the truck)!
Off road racing is not like alot of the other motorsport racing events. They don't race on a paved surface or a small stadium track....they race on NATURAL TERRAIN. the terrain can change with a wind storm or a days worth of rain. the course is never the same!!! You can prerun the course to get an idea of what it will be like but something can happen from when you prerun to when you race! You can hit a rock that wasn't there before or a whoop developed or booby traps made by other people. This is what makes our sport more unique than any other sport out there.
Over the years there have been many accidents in our sport. Most of the time they happen down in Baja when people stand to close to the course or are driving the wrong way or a driver doesn't see another racer in the dust. Accidents happen and this week is no different. 8 People lost their lives in the tragic event that happened this weekend and there are many different reports on why the truck rolled into the crowd but one of the main factors was that spectators were standing to close to the course! One of the rules of MDR is for spectators to stay at least 50-100 feet away from the course incase a incident like this weekend happens they have the time to get out of the way. I have been to the Rock Pile many times over the years for this race and I can honestly say I have been one of those people that stood close to the course but The minute I heard a vehicles engine I never took my eyes off the vehicle the moment it came into view! Now MDR can not police the whole course but I have seen in the past peopel with MDR try to keep people back by either using fences or having people there telling people to get back but most of these people have been drinking since morning and trying to control a drinking mob that can get violent with a hit of a switch is not something people want to deal with. There is no way to police a race course that is a 50 mile loop or more in Natural terrain on public land!
NOW!!!! On to Mike Overcast! This asshole will use any information if its true or false to post up his website! Mike is not a racer nor a real reporter! His site does nothing but spread lies and hurt our sport! For someone who supposedly loves racing why do you do it Mike? What are you hoping to gain by spreading your lies? Are you trying to close down this sport? Are you looking to get paid off to stop spreading your lies? I know one thing for sure...you will get a repeat of what happened to you at the MINT and thats for damn sure! Stop spreading your lies Mike and use your site to help promote our sport instead of hurting it!!! Quit the fakes stories about SCORE and any other desert racing league! If any of your stories are used to shut down our deserts you better make damn sure you leave to Mexico or somewhere we won't find you!
To Brett Sloppy! Brett.... Stay strong brother we are all here for you! Most people who see this in the news do not have a full understanding of our sport! You are a desert racer! Desert racing is racing on terrain that can change from one week to the next! we do not race on asphalt or the same tracks every weekends, thats is what makes our sport so unique! Sometimes things happen beyond our control and it can take the slightest bump or whoop or rock in the track to turn a great day into something else! Don't stop racing now, you can come back from this and make you a better racer than ever! Hope to see you soon in the desert!!!
RIP to the 8 that lost your lives and a speedy recovery to those that got injured! One of the most heroic stories to come out of this is of Andrew Therrin! right when he saw the truck go airborne he pushed his daughter and another child out of the way before he got killed himself! its because of the act he most likely got a hug from God himself when he entered the Pearly GAtes!!!
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