Race Day Parker 425 (Thursday February 1st - Saturday, February 3rd)

The time trials for the Parker 425 are held on Thursday.  This is a big deal as it sets up the starting order in each of the classes.  The driver with the fastest time trial goes out first.  We went up on Shea Road and watched as the races came through.  These machines are so amazing.  They just eat up the dirt!

Thanks Tama for this great picture!

After watching on the straight away for awhile, we moved up to one of the corners, but in reality, all we could see from there was the dust flying.

After the time trials are complete the racers move their cars, with police escort to the street fair, which is held on Main Street in Parker.  It gave the drivers a chance to show off their trucks and talk to all of the interested people.

Steve talked to Steve Olliges for awhile.  He drives the 27 truck and came in 3rd last year.  Of course he is hoping for the win this year.  He was a really nice guy and was so willing to talk through things with Steve.  We saw him in the time trials yesterday, so it was fun for Steve to get to talk to him.

As we were looking at the trucks, the cars from another class had finished their time trials and were showing up at the street fair.

There was some great entertainment as well.

The Arizona Peace Trail had a booth at the street show.

Then back to looking at trucks.  This is the truck driven by Robby Gordon.

When we finished at the street fair, we headed back to camp for some dinner and a camp fire with the rest of the club.  

The next day the contingency was held at the Blue Water Resort and Casino.  We headed down there with a bunch of our friends just to look through all of the booths.

Lunch time!  Green peas anyone?

When we got back to camp it was appetizer time.  The side by side club provided a fun little byob happy hour for everyone at camp, and some of the campers brought some appetizers of their own to share with the group.  It was the perfect combination of snacks, and I think most of us just made dinner out of it.  There was so much great food!

We all enjoyed another fun campfire before calling it a night. Tomorrow is the day of the big race and a lot of the club members will be officiating the race, so we will be up early getting some breakfast ready for them.

Steve and I got up at 5:15 on race day to help Joyce get breakfast ready.  The club bought all of the food and Joyce had it all in the trailer, so we were out by 5:45 getting it all set up.  Even though the days are hot, the mornings are pretty cold.  I had lots of layers on, including leggings under my jeans.  Burr!!

Joyce was so organized!  It didn't take us any time at all to get breakfast going.

And as we were cooking, the first truck came through.  The race started at 6:00 in the morning, and by 6:12, the first truck was already coming by our camp.

All of the club members that would be working the race started showing up for breakfast.  They were all so appreciative of the hot food that was ready for them.  

As the sun started rising, the dust was hanging in the valley below our camp.  It looked like a frosty morning in Colorado, but it was just a dusty morning in the desert.

We found a great spot in camp where Russ set up an easy-up for all of us and we spent the day watching the racers go by.

This is one of the "high points" races in the series.  By the end of the day, most of the vehicles were coming by with hoods and fenders missing.  The desert really takes a toll on them.  The race wouldn't end until sometime after dark, so Steve and I decided to head out before it was finished.  We were tired of the dust, and I was starting to worry about work, but it was a great time camping with the club and getting to know so many great people.  We feel so fortunate to be part of such a great group!