Way to go!!

Nice job guys! Congrats!

To our families, our sponsors and our crew,

The depth of our gratitude has humbled me beyond words . . .but I'll try anyway.

This race was brutal. The first half of the first lap was Dusty, rough, harsh, fast, smooth, slow. . .everything. The second half was all that with mud at the end. Don drove it like. . .well. . .like a champion.

Lap two was a completely different race. Slower, WETTER, muddier, and even rougher. Jose and Fozzie used the winning strategy for a brutal race track. FINISH and you will WIN. Every truck in our class lead the race at some point. For 90% of the race, we had visual contact with Kellon. Back and forth. We weren't pushing El Chivo, but El Chivo was pushing him. We wore him out and his equipment paid the price. In the end, 3 ot of 4 trucks in our class finished the race BUT out of 265 total starters, only 77 crossed the line. 29% finish rate. Over 70% of starters never saw checkers.

The crew was amazing. Both pit stops at Midway took less than 1 minute. Tim, Danny, Jobin and Devon flat out rocked. As it turned out, it very well could have made the difference in the race.

Keri, Brad, Mike/family, Poppy and the Empty Pockets extended family handled our driver change and full fuel stop at main in less than 3 minutes. Unbelievable.

We started and finished the race on the same 4 MT/Rs from Goodyear that we finished our last race on and they still have a lot of life left.

El Chivo, our new Ford Ranger FX4, held together through the roughest, nastiest terrain that anyone has ever raced on AND followed it up with mind boggling speed on the graded roads.

Communications were flawless. Radio Service Company saved us again.

The new gears and parts from www.4wheelingplus.com helped us stay in the powerband.

BUY things from our supporters and sponsors. Those mentioned above plus Pasco Auto Wrecking, Fastenal, and DJ Safety deserve your business because of the service they provide. Steller.

I'll do an official race story in the next day or so. . .after it all sets in.

We DID IT!!

Thanks again to Dave, Jake, and Jafo for your help with tracking and media. You guys rock it.

Every local and big-time racer complains about the dust...well, no more. They hated the rain and mud more. :roflmao: Our drivers are tough and strong for what they went through. And loving it all the while.

Desert racing is not just something that you do. It is lived right when it becomes lessons in life, when it becomes the thing that the rest of your life is just filler for, and something that doesn't bring understanding until you experience it. Yeah, I always wanted to be on a desert racing team. It was a serious desire and obtainable, much more than saying, "Yeah, I'd like to be a country singer". I can't sing. But you never know if it's right or meant to be until it is you. I was there, I am it. I want so badly to share my life, but the power in it is that it is all for me to feel. It's the place where people can have dangerously different things going on it their head but still succeed in a common goal without mistake, regret, or condemnation. That's freedom, acceptance, and success all in one place. It is the desert, a great place of unknown with just enough in place to make you safe. Kind of.

Very well said, Keri