TEAM HUMMER LOOKS FORWARD TO ‘PARKER 425’ AND 2006 RACING SEASON

January 31, 2006 Reno, NV: The 2006 off-road racing season is about to get underway for Team HUMMER. Currently the crew is busy wrapping up last minute details in preparation for the opening race of Best in the Desert Racing Association’s Silver State Series, the Blue Water Resort & Casino ‘Parker 425 Desert Race’, February 3-5 in Parker, Arizona. In spite of the fact that it has been two months since the final race of the 2005 racing season, a lot has been going on at the Team HUMMER shop, in Reno, Nevada and at the GM Desert Proving Grounds in Mesa, Arizona, where the new H3 was constructed and is maintained between races.

We had planned to have the new H1 Alpha Class 8100 Race truck ready in time for Parker but the lack of availability of various suspension parts caused us to move back the scheduled debut of the new H1 until the ‘Terrible’s Town 250’, in late April. So we have delayed the retirement date of the #8102 H1 Pick-up and will ask the 9 year-old race truck to respond to the green flag one more time. H2 Chief Mechanic, Sam Cothrun, has taken over the duties of preparing the H1 for the Parker season opener, replacing Brad Falin who left the team at the end of the 2005 season to pursue other opportunities. After finishing last season second in the BITD Class 8100 Points Championship, the H1 was not too far off it’s winning form. Cothrun did a detailed inventory of the Pick-up, reworked the entire brake system, which caused us considerable downtime at the ‘Henderson 400’ while replacing the transmission, the turbo and anything that looked like it might be worn in any way. The Parker course is as tough as they come and if anything is overlooked during the preparation phase, you can count on downtime during the race. The H2 was in pretty good shape after winning Henderson in December, having suffered only a broken idler arm late in the event. Considering the fact that the H2 is on an eight-race winning streak, you are faced with the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Still, some major maintenance is called for at the start of a new season so both differentials were rebuilt and the transfer case received an inspection and a new chain. To complete the maintenance, the transmission was replaced and the shocks were revalved and rebuilt. Driver Josh Hall feels that the #4101 Team HUMMER H2 SUV has a good chance of repeating as Class 4100 points champion in 2006 but acknowledges that to repeat as class points champion will take even more hard work and discipline than it took to win the title in 2005.

Coming off his Class 3100 victory at the ‘SCORE International Baja 1000’, in November, Team owner Rod Hall is anxious to get back behind the wheel after a three month layoff from competition. The #3111 H3 SUV went back to the Desert Proving Ground after the ‘Baja 1000’ and received a new, more powerful engine, adding about 40 horsepower to the Vortec 3500 powerplant. The wizards from Fox Shox have come up with a new configuration for the shocks which has improved the handling even better then it had been. With Rod Hall at the wheel, a more powerful Vortec engine and the improved handling provided by Fox Shox, the Team HUMMER H3 will be a hard truck to beat at the ‘Parker 425’.

In fact, every one of the Team HUMMER entries are in top form and ready to start the 2006 racing season. We are looking forward to a very successful event once the dust settles and the Checkered flag drops on Saturday evening, at the Blue Water Resort & Casino ‘Parker 425’, on the banks of the Colorado River...

TEAM HUMMER LOOKS FORWARD TO THE PARKER 425 DESERT RACE AND 2006 RACING SEASON

For More info on Parker Arizona visit: ColoradoRiverInfo.com/Parker