Quick race recap..... Started with getting the holeshot on Jesse Haines off the start. Ran a steady pace for the first 12 miles or so only losing an antenna as our sacrifice to the desert. We pulled into the BFG pit for our first pit and got that replaced by my MEB brothers/Dust Junkies and we were off to run Crowbar. Before we hit crowbar we had passed 3 trucks "running" in the desert, and probably 8-10, " not running" in the desert. After dropping down into Low Range and settling into "crawler mode", we picked our way through Crowbar uneventfully. At the last drop exiting Crowbar, we did a 3-4 car pass on an alternate route around "Ballerina" and back into the desert we went.
After putting the rig back in High Range and turning the rear ARB off we settled into a nice 40-50 mph pace around one of the "not so dry" lakebeds. As we drove along admiring the landscape, we passed, a shredded BFG Krawler tread,2 Powertanks,multiple fire extinguishers, toolbags, recovery straps and at least 2 more broken rigs on the side of the road. A second trip through the BFG pit w/o stopping and we were back in the desert.
After several miles of moderate speed desert trail we came on some sand hills. There were two lines through, and both were littered with rigs in various states of chaos. We chose the looser sand hill that seemed to have less rigs on it. We ended up driving 3/4 of the way up and winching another 150-200 feet around other competitors until we were free. We managed to pass another 6-8 rigs in that location. Jason and i got about another 3-4 miles before we needed to take a "nature call" which was well needed but lost us at least 4 cars that passed us while we each waved with our free hand biggrin. From that point on we had a trouble free easy ride into the Main Pits which the Dust Junkies requested a quick "once over" before our largest desert section ahead.
After out 60 second checkup we were off to checkpoint 3 @ RM 35. We stopped at CP 3 and got our sticker and we were gone..... After about a mile we settled into a nice 30-45 mph groove through the varying whoop sections. We were feeling good the temps were great and it seemed like we could just "take it all in" for a while till our next rock section in more than 20+ miles ahead. About RM 41ish we were on a mild 2-3 shift in the desert and we got a GAWDAWFUL flareup on the shift and we lost all forward gears. We rolled to a stop and checked the fluid and looked for visible damage and there were no signs.
We sat there for a little bit while eating the worst tasting protien bars ever, as we reflected on our race and talked over our options. After about 10 minutes we knew we still had reverse and decided to drive backwards for a bit.We went about 2 1/2 more miles before we slowed to let the engine temps come down. That was when we saw the smoke from under the hood. Some wire look had melted onto the header wrap and caught the plug wires on fire. Just after we got the extinguisher out, and put the fire out , a spectator pulls up in a 80's 4 runner and asks if we could "do that again"! I asked, "the fire"? He laughed and said he wanted to see the driving backwards. We didn't give him a repeat performance but he did tow us back to camp where we called our official DNF into Race Ops, and went to watch some other competitors work their way through Sledge.
It was an experience of a lifetime and I would gladly do it all over again. I could have never done it alone. I had a lot of friends come out of the woodwork to help make this race a reality. I can't thank those people enough for stepping up with all the help to get us there and back! I never realized how many real friends I had until I asked for just a little bit of help with a dream.......