It's no secret that we dig prerunners here at Off-Road. What began with a vehicle whose purpose was to help a racing team survey a course before race day has become a completely new vehicle genre. With more and more high-tech prerunners blasting through the southwestern deserts and the Baja peninsula, wouldn't it be great to see how the 'runners stack up against each other in the rough? Wait no longer. Think you've built a winning prerunner? Here's your chance to find out.
"Just a second," you say. "Why not just enter my prerunner in Class 7 or Class 7s?" While it's a great thought, let's take a few lines directly from SCORE's rule book to explain the situation. Included in the 7s list, "A-arms, I-beams, and front axles must remain stock as delivered on the chassis to which it is mounted. Front-wheel travel is limited to 12 inches." Class 7, the open-mini or midsize-pickup truck class, is less restrictive. Just the same, "the wheelbase must be stock, plus or minus 2 inches. Track width must not exceed 78 inches from outside of tire to outside of tire. No lengthening or narrowing of the frame is allowed. No removal of material is allowed from the framerail." If your wish list includes custom extra-long A-arms and notching the framerail above the rear axle to allow extra bump travel, you'll end up with an extremely capable and fun prerunner. The downside is that it won't pass during a Class 7 or 7s tech inspection. Your solution: the Prerunner class.
"We think the Prerunner class is one of the better classes," asserts Mojave Desert Racing President Patricia Williams. "Our goal with the Prerunner class is to bring more people into racing who wouldn't ordinarily be out there." Originally, the Prerunner class was known as the Street-Legal class. Since off-road race trucks are required to use non-smog-legal safety fuel cells, the trucks are technically no longer street-legal when equipped for racing. As such, the class has been rechristened the Prerunner Class.
Currently, Mojave Desert Racing and Best in the Desert are two of the major racing organizations that offer the Prerunner class. SCORE does not, but it does let prerunners race in the Sportsman Buggy class as an alternative. Most of the time, the Prerunner class allows mini, midsize, and fullsize trucks to battle directly against each other in the same class.
What are the Prerunner class rules? You must start the race with a windshield. Your truck must have a metal cab with opening doors. You must have the standard safety equipment, such as a full rollcage, racing seats, window netting, a rear-facing amber light, a fire extinguisher, and the all-important safety fuel cell. Engine swaps? No problem. Turbochargers or superchargers? Bolt 'em on. Four-link rear suspension that extends the wheelbase half a foot? Go ahead. Our single caveat here is to check with the racing organization you want to race with before plunging headlong into a buildup; this can save time, cash, and heartache. While the Prerunner class allows nearly unlimited vehicle configurations, this writing in no way seeks to substitute for a bona fide list of rules. Dial before you wrench.