Fud's Crud - March 2000

Just about everyone has heard of "Last Minute Prep", well this is being written by "Last Minute Author". I was supposed to write this before the King, however Boss Sherri forgot to call and remind me. When she called on Sunday I promised I would have this column written sometime Monday. Well, it never happened. I got involved with compiling the results of the King and soon the sun was down and the moon was bright.

Oh well, knowing that Boss Sherri considers 10:00 a.m. getting up early, I knew I could write this early in the morning Tuesday and by the time she was bright eyed and bushy tailed they would be in her computer. I slept soundly as the rain came down not knowing that I was being invaded by thousands of ants. When I walked into the office it was black! Instead of writing I was fighting to retake my office. Seeing as how it is on the second floor these critters were obviously not afraid of heights. It seemed like it took a whole can of Black Flag to defeat them. Finally it was Fud 1 and the ants 0, however, all hopes of sneaking this in to Boss Sherri were down the tubes.
Speaking of going down the tubes the marking of the King course started off looking that way. I had allowed two days to complete the stake pounding. It looked like two days would be required because of the logistics I had to complete before the first stake could be driven. I had to have a trailer tire replaced, drive to Saasta Chevron in El Centro where the stakes from the Barking Spider were stored because someone did not bring them to me at the Kamikaze and finally out to Lake Superstition to mark the course. In order to get an early start, the day before I went looking for 1x2x48 inch wooden stakes. The place I usually buy them was out but their sister store in El Cajon assured me they had plenty. At 7:00 a.m. the next morning I showed up only to be told there were none. Just when it looked like the whole day would be shot they found enough.
Everything else went according to schedule until I got behind Superstition Mountain. Some group had had some type of event and ribbon was everywhere. I spent more time tearing the ribbon down than I did pounding stakes. Plus this section is really technical with rocks, ups and downs and just plain miserable. While the map indicated it would only be 7 miles, in reality it was closer to 14. The sun was going down as I approached the Lake bed. However, there was no panic, the odometer on the FudTrax was nearing 27 miles and I knew I could finish before it got dark, unlike last year. The ironic part was because the route followed a pole line road for miles and miles I used the poles as stakes and did not need the new ones. The next week the wind started blowing and drifting sand changed many parts of the course. The sand fingers went from easy to razor backs. The trip down from the notch by Sand Dam looked like no one had ever been there before. It also uncovered a big pile of rocks. This was going to be one interesting King. I expected a lot of complaints because the course was so different, instead everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge.
Race dawned bright and nice. A little breeze would have been nice, however, when we asked for that on December 31 we got a hurricane so we were satisfied. The bikes ignited at 7:00 a.m. and were finished by 10:30. It was a High Noon Showdown for the Buggies, Cars and Trucks. They either broke early or finished at a frenzy pace. As the beautiful night turned into morning the pitter patter of rain drops got everyone's attention. When they turned to a downpour it was time to vacate the Lake bed now! Yet it didn't seem to matter, it was just another chapter to add to our bench racing folklore. The only disappointing aftermath was there was no snow in the mountains on the way home.
PS: Tim Staab was the Overall Bike winner. Doug Eichner won the ATV Crown and Rob Archibald is once again the DSL King. "Crazy" Larry McCallum won the Overall in a Class 1 buggy. Kevin Graves was second driving a 1/2-1600 Buggy. Ernie, not Vance, Allen won the trucks and Class 8.

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This page last updated on 10 May 2000