The Terrible’s 250 is special to us at Prerunner Maniac as this was the first race we covered for you. Last year the race was in Pahrump Nevada, and since then the Herbst family purchased Primm and because of their support of desert racing the race is now the Terrible’s 250 at Primm.
The Terrible’s 250 is titled the “Richest Off-road Race in Nevada” for a good reason. The Herbst Family puts up $10,000 to the overall winner of the race. This surely explains the high number of entries.
Best in the Desert Director Casey Folks, did a great job of laying out the track. We were told by some of the drivers that is was a very challenging (Read rough) race. I am assuming they were talking about the area that went into the mountains as most of the spectators’ areas looked completely flat. This may have come from pressure from the BLM to keep the dust down. Even with these limitations the action was non-stop, and proved to be too tough for some racers with the high number of DNFs we saw.
I guess if desert racing wasn’t tough it would not be called, Best in the Desert.
The Terrible’s 250 is broken down into two groups with the slower vehicles starting at a very early 5:30am. The second group consisting of the faster cars and trucks had plenty of time to sleep in as they started staging around 12:30pm.
From a photographers point of view I was a little disappointed with the way the start line was arranged in relation to the infamous Dike Jump. It started a few hundred yards away and off to the left a bit so the racers had to make a soft right turn before hitting this great jump. Even though this was a loop race this was the only time racers would see this jump. The only saving grace was the huge puddle at the very place where everyone was landing. This made for some great shots.
Crossing the finish line first and taking home the cash was the 1585 car of Steve Croll with a time of only 4:26:57 giving him the overall win and 1st in his class.
Taking second overall and second in class 1500 was Shawn Croll in the 1586 car a mere 25 seconds after the first place finisher with a time of 4:27:22.
First place in Trick Truck and 3rd overall went to Will Staats in the 42 truck with a total time of 4:31:42.
Chuck Hovey in the 1501 car took 4th overall and 3rd in class 1500 with a time of 4:31:42 just 10 seconds past 3rd place.
Fifth place overall went to another 1500 car driven by Randy Wilson. He completed the race in his 1524 car with a time of 4:36:12.
The 6th place finisher took second in the Trick Truck class, Rick Johnson drove the 71 truck to the finish line in 4:36:33.
Seventh overall and 3rd in Trick Truck went to Mark Weyhrich in what looks like a new truck from the Tube Specialties Company with a time of 4:38:36.
Mike Julson in the #20 Trick Truck took 9th overall and 4th in Trick Truck with his time of 4:42:57.
Rounding out the Top 10 saw Sam Berri crossing the finish line in his 1549 car with a time of 4:43:44.
Curt LeDuc had a great day taking home the class win for 8000 trucks with a time of 4:54:27 in his #8001 truck.
Second place in class 8000 went to the #8002 truck of Mark Beeler with an overall time of 5:13:48.
It took the 3rd place finisher Joe Patelli for class 8000 a long time compared to the other racers with a time of 7:25:29.
Class 1200 winner Ryan Staats had an overall time of 5:14:38 in his 1220 truck
Second place for class 1200 went to Jason Voss in the 1235 truck with a time of 5:20:36.
The 1207 truck of local Alan Levinson took home 3rd place with a time of 5:26:51.
Taking the win for class 1000 saw Kyle Conlon in his 1087 car cross the finish line in 5:25:13
Second place went to the 1051 car of James Hodgson with a time of 5:39:06.
3rd in class 1000 was the 1021 car of Steve Brown. His time was 5:47:05.
Having a great day taking home the win for class 7200 was Jonathan Swift in the 7220 truck with a really fast overall time of just 5:23:34.
Class 7200 second place finisher was Joe Stone and Randy Sorenson in the 7218 truck with a time of 5:51:09
Rounding out the top 3 in 7200 saw Shawn Giordano in his 7206 truck cross the finish line in 5:52:27.
Though we weren’t able to get to the race early enough to cover the morning racers the winners still deserve their props.
Class 1100 winner was Mike Williams in the 1133 car with a time of 4:56:26.
Class 2000 saw Andrew Neal in the 2006 car take the checker flag with a time of 5:18:19.
Class 7100 saw Aaron Dixon make a come back after a horrible time in Parker with a class win and a time of 5:48:59.
Stock Full-size class 8100 saw Josh Hall in the 8111 Hummer take home the win with a time of 6:03:39.
7300 class winner went to the 7302 truck of Jerry Fisher with a total time of 6:15:23
Chad Hall took the win for class 4100 in his Hummer with a time of 6:18:52.
Rod Hall took the win for 3100 with an overall time of 7:27:48.
Class 5000 winner was Eric Anderson with a time of 5:58:34
That wraps up the 3-lap racers. The morning racers seemed to have it a bit easier than the afternoon racers because the wind was barely a breeze. By the closing of the afternoon the winds were steadily over 25-30 mph making visibility almost non-existent.
Speaking of visibility we have chosen to give Chuck Dempsey in the 1528 car the Excrement Award for scaring the crap out of us.
Me and two other photographers were shooting from the 80 mile marker when Dempsey blew the corner. We expected him to turn further right to get back on the course when instead he turned left to dodge a bush and headed right at us. At the time the wind was blowing directly in our faces and when we finally saw through the dust he made in the corner Dempsey was only a few feet in front of us. We were all carrying heavy camera bags on our backs scrambling for our lives as we saw this buggy heading our way. Though it scared the crap out of us all, we now have a great story to tell.
We want to give special thanks to Casey Folks and all the people that make the Best in the Desert Racing Series what it is. Without them how else will we get dirt in our ears, in our noses, and down our pants. Keep up the great work BITD. See you all for the Vegas to Reno race.
More Great Pics from the Terrible’s 250 at Primm
