Team HUMMER® Sets Their Sights On The McMillin 'Nevada 1000'

Las Vegas, NV (July 5, 2005) -- The McMillin ‘Nevada 1000’, third race on Best in the Desert Racing Association’s 2005 racing schedule, kicks off with registration and tech inspection in Las Vegas on Wednesday, July 9th before heading North for the first leg of the much anticipated five day event scheduled for July 6-10. The first stage begins in Beatty, NV on Thursday, July 10th, about 75 miles North of Las Vegas and will be run over a different course on each of the next four days before concluding in Tonopah, NV on Sunday July 10th in what Best in the Desert calls a “staged” format. First introduced to U.S. desert racing at the BitD ‘Nevada 2000’ five years ago, the ‘Nevada 1000’ is structured in separate stages, much like the internationally acclaimed ‘Dakar Rally’. The fastest vehicles qualify for opening day starting positions and the top twenty start at one minute intervals, based on their time trial results. The remainder of the field draws for starting positions behind the leaders. At the end of the first day of competition, starting positions are then determined by each entry’s total time on course. In this way each stage becomes a qualifying race for the following day’s starting position. At the end of each stage the teams are allotted a 70 minute time period in a mandated work area to prepare their vehicles for the next day, after which the cars are impounded for the night. Any time over the limit will be added to the entry’s time on course so it is vital that the crews be particularly well organized and efficient if they are to avoid a time penalty.

It’s been three years since the last ‘Nevada 1000’ was held in 2002 and Team HUMMER’s Rod Hall emerged from that event as the winner in Class 4100 driving the now retired H1 “Flag HUMMER” along with childhood friend and co-driver Roy Davidson of the renowned Hemet Jeep Club. Riding a streak of six consecutive victories, Josh Hall will be behind the wheel of the #4103 Team HUMMER Class 4100 H2 SUV and is unusually optimistic about his chances of winning this event. “During the past year we have focused all of our efforts on improving the front suspension and haven’t paid much attention on the rear until now”, said Josh. “We revalved the rear shocks for a softer ride and installed some new progressive springs which have made a phenomenal difference in the H2’s rear suspension and in it’s overall performance. In testing, the truck was so fast that my co-rider (Thad Stump) felt compelled to ask me to slow down. If these changes to the truck perform throughout the race as well as they did in testing, we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Chad Hall will be driving the #8102 Team HUMMER H1 Pickup with Cort Stoskoph in the co-rider seat. Chad finished second at the 2002 ‘Nevada 1000’ and is very excited about the return of the event to the Best in the Desert racing schedule. “These endurance races favor the H1,” observed Hall. “HUMMERs are built specifically to live over long distances in hostile terrain. That’s why they are the military vehicle of choice in the gulf war and why we have won the Baja 1000 for the past four years.”

The first stage will start in Beatty and finish in Tonopah, for a distance of 220 miles. The next three stages will form a cloverleaf around Tonopah which will serve as the start/finish each day. The Second stage will take a 331 mile route North of Tonopah through Redlich, Stinson Well and Gabbs. On day three the race will tour the mining areas southwest of town as the course takes us 323 miles through such historic spots as Coaldale, Dyer and Silver Peak. Finally, on Sunday the final stage will be a short 119 mile run to Goldfield and back to the finish in Tonopah after covering 993 miles of some of the toughest and most scenic terrain in Central Nevada.

For more information, call or write:
Best In The Desert Racing Association
3475 Boulder Highway
Las Vegas, NV 89121
(702) 457-5775, (702) 241-6431 fax
www.bitd.com