After the dust settles on the SCORE Baja 1000 in November, racers get a little time to breathe. Major repairs are made to race-weary trucks. Suspensions are rebuilt. Shocks are revalved. Engines are bored, blueprinted, and balanced. Then, the holidays are enjoyed.
Not long after the New Year's ball drops in Times Square, the SCORE season kicks off once again. SCORE's season begins mid-January in Laughlin, Nevada. Laughlin is named after U.S. Postal Inspector Don Laughlin, who transformed a boarded-up 12- room hotel into a major attraction by installing a dozen slot machines and five gaming tables. Since its small beginning in 1966, Laughlin has sprouted a swath of hotels and casinos, which line the western shore of the Colorado River below Davis Dam. The valley is ringed by craggy red mountain ridges, which hint at the rugged terrain lining the outskirts of town.
2004 marked SCORE's tenth year in Laughlin. We anticipate many more years of SCORE racing in Laughlin, and we're hoping that more desert racing events use the Laughlin Desert Challenge as a template for success.
Why is the Laughlin Desert Challenge unique? The event follows a format that's logistically easy on racing teams and attractive to race fans. The race starts and finishes at the Laughlin Events Park, an arena tucked behind the Ramada Express Hotel and Casino. Grandstands await eager fans, along with amenities such as rest rooms, concession stands, a theatre-sized LCD monitor screen, and a race announcer to make sense of the action on the track. The course follows turns and jumps inside the Events Park, then heads out into the open desert, where deep whoops, abundant boulders, and blinding dust combine to make the Laughlin course a true desert challenge. Is Laughlin a 1,000-mile race? Nope. Instead, the Laughlin Desert Challenge is a little like a can of juice concentrate; lots of desert racing action is condensed into 12 short, brutal miles.
Another unique aspect of Laughlin's format is that not all the classes are on the track at once. Each racing class is part of a racing group. Racing groups take turns on the track, trying to complete a specified lap count within a specified time limit. This makes vehicle preparation just as critical as in a long-course event. Why? Because there's no time to fix major breakdowns - anything more severe than a flat tire will take too long to fix, causing a DNF.
Laughlin is a four-day happening, kicking off with the Laughlin Leap long-jump contest Thursday night. For 2004, Riviera Racing's Jerry Whelchel sailed the Riviera Trophy Truck a phenomenal 160 feet 6 inches to set a new event record. Racers do not have to enter the Laughlin Leap Contest to sail over the huge jump - it's left untouched and is part of the racecourse. Friday is set aside for tech inspection and contingency. Racers can take a reconnaissance lap on the course and pit crews can square off in the $10,000 SCORE Pit Crew Showdown. The racing begins three minutes after the crack of dawn Saturday, and follows the same schedule on Sunday. Want to sleep in? No problem - the printed schedule allows fans to plan their schedules around their favorite racing classes. After a day's racing, racers and fans alike can relax and wash off the dust in Laughlin's hotels, or burn up a few paychecks in Laughlin's casinos.
So, who won? Gary Dircks of Dircks and Porter Racing piloted his yellow Ford F-150 both days, completing eight total laps for a combined 94.4 miles covered. The victory was especially sweet because Laughlin was only the fourth race for Dircks in SCORE's marquee Trophy Truck division. The Trophy Truck field is deep with talent, and Dircks admitted, "I couldn't look at the entry list for SCORE Trophy Truck because it was too intimidating for me to handle." Instead, the Anthem, Arizona, resident concentrated on handling the terrain and staying on the gas pedal. Dircks and Porter's Geiser Brothers-built Trophy Truck "never even sputtered once." What were the opinions about the Laughlin event? Dircks offered, "The format of the Laughlin race is a great way to ease into a new season and keep everybody excited about the next race." Thanks, Gary - we couldn't have said it any better.