............I don't plan on going straight to do what this truck can probably do with an experienced driver. I'm just looking for a good deal on a truck that has been built correctly.
I know Crawling/Mudding is a whole world onto itself but I have raced cars and motorcycles. On tarmac, have yet to get into Rally or Rally Cross..............
Your racing skills wont be of any use to you rock crawling, they are two completely different skill sets, unless you want to "rock race", where all you do is throttle down until something breaks.
Another way you might want to look at this from your racing background, how would you advise someone who could afford to buy a Formula one car/wanted race it in the Indy 500 but had absolutely zero racing experience? Would you tell him he could learn all the skills he needed to race at Indy if he first raced the F1 car against gocarts, or would you tell him the best way to learn how to race is to start off with a gocart and race other beginners, because there is more to racing than just driving fast?