Thursday
7am, Bakersfield. The day started off with a stop at Dan's house in Bakersfield, CA to work on a SM420 Landcruiser ToyBox (MC22).
1pm, Apple Valley. I stopped to do a timing chain, oil pump, and reassemble a 22R-E in a 1987 Toyota 4Runner using a rebuilt head for Mrs desertoy.
11pm, Apple Valley. I leave for the Hammers!
Friday
7:22am the #28 MC Buggy is race prepped and ready to go.
Here is Brett Porter of Western Fab with his new inline 5 cyl (L52 / Vortec 3500) with a 4L60E auto with a Dual Ultimate Marlin Crawler
transfer case ready for it's virgin race.
Here is the man of the hour (desertoy) talking with Brett about how his 4 in-a-row at 90-degrees per power stroke is going to go faster than Brett's 5 in-a-row at 75-degrees per power stroke.
Here is my fabricator, transfer case, and differential tech Rocky (middle) with his brother Ryan to his right and our close friend and good customer Carlos.
Here we are in the line up
Here is a shot Shannon Campbell (last winner's winner) in his new IFS buggy. This picture was taken just after he had taken a long look over her left shoulder at the Crawler Truck
Here is HT "The Man" (in the Turtle hoodie) who is the Team Marlin Crawler's faithful Crew Chief ready for another day of racing
Here I am hanging out on Means dry giving directions while sipping my cold coffee from the night before.
Here is what the starting section looked like!
Notice the photographer hanging out of the Heli on a harness holding a huge camera. They were all over the valley
This is my great friends Paul Morgen (glasses on) and Rusty. Paul had just finished putting on his sun screen. The Oregon boy is not used to the California sun shine.
Here I am caught yawning standing next to jon82toy (Jon from my sales team) who had just pulled up.
Here is a super clean FJ Cruiser. These are great customers of Jon Bundrant from All Pro.
10:49am. Here I am at checkpoint 1. This is the FU2 benders ride that only had a 7.5 gal fuel tank and had ran out of gas!
Here is Rob adding more fuel. The driver had to walk allllll the way back to the pits because you are not allowed to work on your vehicle except in the pits least you become disqualified.
Here is Jon Davis (in a T.I.T.S. shirt) and Mark Kolokowsky. Two GREAT customer and longtime friends from Highlands Ranch, Colorado and Aurora, Colorado.
This is Mark's super clean tube buggy built in typical first class Kilokawsky style.
Check out his authentic 1967 FJ40 button.
All three of us were very happy to be together again.
Here is my longtime good friend Jay Kopycinski from Gilbert Arizona getting buckled in to head out to another checkpoint. Jay was very happy to see me and it was really great hanging out with longtime supporters who are always so up beat and positive.
That is it for now! I have got to get to work. Lot's more to come soon!
Marlin