Day at the Races

On Sunday we spent the day at the Vorra truck races at Prairie City, the local off-highway vehicle park.   Our son had just finished rebuilding his truck and it was ready to race.

Joel had painted the truck body parts at our house the week before and it’s now a bright orange color.  He then put all the pieces back on and as always, he’s designed and built his own roll cage and frame.

   

We told him the orange truck would be easier to spot when he’s on the track with all that dirt and dust flying and other drivers also on the track.  Actually it looks pretty good!

Joel does custom design and fabrication at his friend’s shop, Tuna’s Buggyworks.  They had just gotten the decals they designed for Joel’s truck the morning before the race. Now Joel’s logo is on his truck as well as Tuna’s for sponsoring Joel.

I love the design of the logo and they are using the cactus Tuna uses for his shop’s logo.  They build custom buggies for off-road and for the serious racers that race in races like the Baja 1000.

Joel’s rig used be his Toyota truck, his daily driver.  Rather than sell his Toyota when it wasn’t needed anymore he turned it into an off-road race truck.

Several of Joel’s friends come out to watch when he races, the support is certainly nice.

Here he is as the race starts.

I have a hard time getting pictures when they’re racing, they don’t stop to pose for the camera.  My husband’s gotten pretty good at getting the race shots though.

   

Joel finished second in the first race but had a slight problem in the second race.  His drive shaft fell out.

You can’t always finish first and sometimes you have to be towed back.

While it’s an inconvience, it’s also a learning experience and Joel will have the truck put back together and better than before.  His next race is next month in Nevada.  We’ll be there, so will all of his friends.

Speaking of his friends, here’s AJ’s rig.  AJ has been a long time friend of Joel’s and is always there for him.

  AJ’s pretty funny and doesn’t let his rig stay dirty for long, he’s always kept it so clean even out on the dirt roads.  We’ve always teased him about that.

One other of Joel’s friends also races and I know his parents well from when our kids were attending elementary school.  I spent a good part of the day during the races visiting with his friend’s parents and catching up on our lives now.

Well I’d better finish packing.  I leave for Oahu in the morning.  I’m both nervous and excited as I’m taking this trip by myself.  Of course you’ll see photos once I return.