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2009 |
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----- MERRITT SOLOS TO SECOND PLACE FINISH AT GRUELING BITD VEGAS TO RENO EVENT After three days and 996 miles of the roughest desert terrain Nevada could throw at him, Randy Merritt had only one thing to say: "Man, I'm tired." The off-road racing veteran from Parker, Ariz., had just finished the Best In The Desert Racing Association's 2009 TSCO Vegas to Reno The Long Way event. And he did it the hard way — solo — staying behind the wheel for all 996 miles.
"I know everyone on the team is disappointed that we didn't get the win we were hoping for, but considering everything we had to deal with in the last three days, I have to say that second place sounds pretty good right now," continued Merritt. "And the only reason we got here at all is because of this team and their dedication. The guys kicked ass all weekend keeping the truck running." After a strong run in Day 1, finishing second in class in 7 hours, 22 minutes, 12 seconds, Day 2 was just the opposite. A marathon-like 9:28:03 finishing time was the result of a broken wheel which caused a flat, and the truck losing power, a problem that could not be diagnosed during the one-hour work time each team was afforded after the completion of each leg. What the crew was able to do after Day 2, however, was change two front tires; repair a hole in the power steering filter; fix a crack in the rear end housing; and replace a broken water cooler fitting on the radiator. "Unfortunately, we saw any chance of taking the lead slip away," said Merritt. "But nobody was about to give up." But Day 3 didn't start out any better. When the transmission temperature hit a blistering 270 degrees, Merritt pulled over to stop and unfortunately spent the next 45 minutes getting out of a silt bed. And when he did, the loss of power problem from Day 2 reappeared, "and the truck would only rev to about three grand and started cutting out," said Merritt. Switching to a secondary fuel pump did not solve the problem so Merritt limped 45 miles to his crew to get another spare pump installed. Once reaching the pit, Merritt's navigator and on-board technician, Chris Golding, went to work swapping the pumps. "He's really something else," said Merritt of his long-time partner in the cockpit. "The pumps are at the bottom of the fuel cell, and the VP racing gas was burning his sweaty arm, but he got the job done. "And when we left the pit it was the fastest we ran all day. It was a blast having back all the power the truck has. We just didn't have enough time or miles to get the to finish line first." At the finish line Merritt was clocked in at 8:14:44 for Day 3, and a total elapsed time of 25:05:00. "Hey, we finished the longest off-road race in the United States," said Merritt. "There aren't a lot of teams that can say that." Next up for Merritt and the Mongo Racing Team is the Bilek Racing Silver State 300, scheduled Sept. 25, 26 and 27 outside Mesquite, Nev. Mongo Racing Team would also like to thank its sponsors for their continued support, including Ford Trucks; KC HiLites; Goodyear; Royal Purple Synthetic Oil Products; Yukon Gear and Axle; Sway-A-Way, Ump, Camburg Engineering, Autometer, Bodyline, EBC Brakes and Mongomade Grafix. #### |
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"When I get home and get to sleep, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to wake up," said an exhausted Merritt with as much of a laugh as he could muster at the finish line. He drove the Mongo Racing KC HiLites Ford F-150 to a second place finish in Class 8100 (stock full-size trucks), and a 44th place finish overall in the race which is billed as the longest off-road race in the United States.